Social Impact of the Growth of Garment Industry in Bangladesh

Salma Chaudhuri Zohir
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Salma Chaudhuri Zohir: Former Senior Research Fellow, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).

Bangladesh Development Studies, 2001, vol. 27, issue 4, 41-80

Abstract: This paper analyzes the data from two BIDS surveys of readymade garment (RMG) industry workers conducted in 1990 and 1997. The paper compared not only men and women workers in the garment industry over time but also makes comparison between workers engaged in the RMG units located in EPZ and non- EPZ areas. The findings in this paper suggest that employment in the garment industry has definitely empowered women, increased their mobility and expanded their individual choice. But this they have achieved at the cost of their health and increased risk of harassment. Hence, the process is complex, and there is both decomposition and recomposition ofwomen's subordination through employment in the garment industry. The analysis in this paper suggests that on the whole there has been improvement in worker's well-being over the period 1990-97. The improvement in the worker's well-being will be sustained in future if proper policy supports are extended to the garment industry and its workers. The main challenge lies in meeting the phasing out of MFA in 2005. The paper suggests some measure, which needs to be undertaken on an urgent basis.

Keywords: Working women; Employment; Men; Development studies; Survey data; Diseases; Wages Clothing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:badest:0424

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