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Women’s employment in the textile manufacturing sectors of Bangladesh and Morocco education and labour force participation by migrant than non-migrant women workers at areas of destination. However, it is argued that these differences need to be documented systematically and analysed in terms of the processes leading to them (Hugo, 1993:65). Moreover, none of these studies attempt to combine the interactions between women’s economic roles and their social situation in urban society. Historical evidence suggests that the expansion of the manufacturing sector is one of the key elements in the urbanization and migration processes of developed and developing countries. In Bangladesh, the sudden and rapid boom of the ready-made garment industry (RMG) in the 1980s generated considerable female employment in the formal export-based manufacturing sector. Bangladesh is a classical case of female-led industrialization. Here the degree of female intensity in manufacturing industries is very high, far above the norm for other developing countries. The share of women in the total labour force in manufacturing industries was 64 per cent in 1994, compared to 35 per cent in some other developing countries (e.g. Morocco and Jamaica), which experienced a steady rise in manufacturing output. In Bangladesh export-oriented manufacturing contributes two thirds of the country’s total foreign exchange. Export earnings from garments rose from US$ 976.98 million in 1991 to US$ 2,488.50 in 1995 (BGMEA, 1996). The country’s dependence on clothing is evident from the fact that in 1992, it alone accounted for 72 per cent of the total merchandise exports compared to 37 per cent in 1988 and 0.4 per cent in 1980-1981 (Rahman, 1992). The garment industry alone absorbed nearly a fifth of the women employed in the manufacturing sector and two thirds of those employed in medium and large-scale enterprises (Zohir and Majumdar, 1996). According to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Employers’ Association’s (BGMEA) statistics, garment factories alone absorb 1.2 million workers of which 1.08 million or 90 percent are women (BGMEA, 1996). Figures differ in some other surveys (Zohir and Majumdar, 1996; Afsar, 1998b) which found that these factories are composed of nearly two thirds women and one third men workers. Given the composition of the labour force, it is important to understand the mode of entry of female migrant workers in the formal manufacturing sector of Bangladesh, and their position in the labour market and urban society, compared to men and non-migrant coworkers. This study explores the ways in which migrant women enter and cope with the demands of the urban labour market and society, 104
Gender dimensions of labour migration in Dhaka city’s formal manufacturing sector compared to male migrants and non-migrant workers of either sex. More specifically, it addresses the following questions: • Is there any difference in the socioeconomic characteristics of migrant men and women who enter into the urban labour market and do these characteristics differ remarkably from those of non-migrant workers; • Is there any difference in motivations for and processes through which migrant men and women enter the labour market; • Do men and women migrants receive differential treatment in the labour market and in the urban community (e.g. living conditions); and • Do men and women migrants adopt different strategies to deal with and improve their living and working conditions. The study is primarily based on a small-scale sample survey of the migrant labourers in five garment factories in Dhaka. Comparison was also made with a small sample of male and female workers of other manufacturing factories, namely electronics, pharmaceuticals and food processing. Although not as female-dominated as the RMG sector, these factories also absorb a large number of women workers. Using a quota sampling technique, 213 workers were drawn from a list of 530 workers from five garment and three other manufacturing industries (pharmaceuticals, electronics and food processing) in Dhaka city. Table 1 presents the sample workers selected for the study by gender, category of work and factory type. The numbers of male and female workers were 107 and 106, respectively, selected to facilitate comparison and to identify appropriate policy measures. Because the RMG industry has generated considerable female employment since the 1980s, a larger sample of 153 was drawn from garment factories, compared to 60 workers from other manufacturing factories. The workers were interviewed in both their workplace and home. The sample garment factories were established between 1984 and 1994 and excepting the pharmaceutical industry (CIBA Geigy Ltd.) which was founded in 1984, the remaining two (food processing and electronics) were established in the 1960s. The size of the sample factories varied between 250 and 2,500 employees. The other sample manufacturing units have nearly 100 employees. However, the food processing industry employs 530 workers. The share of women workers is almost double that of men in the sample garment factories, while in the other manufacturing industries, excepting pharmaceuticals (in which men are over-represented), there is almost equal representation of male and female workers. 105
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Women’s Employment in the Textile
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This United Nations Research Instit
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Acknowledgements Many people have b
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notwithstanding the inertia of the
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Carol Miller is a policy analyst on
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xii VII. Contribution of different
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Introduction 1 Introduction 1 Shahr
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Introduction Table 1: Basic indicat
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Introduction women have been tradit
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Introduction The chapters on Bangla
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Introduction occurs, on average, at
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Introduction women workers related
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Introduction in low-income countrie
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Introduction by repaying their “d
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Introduction participate in labour
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Introduction their bargaining power
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Introduction processing zones hypot
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Introduction IV. The case studies T
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Introduction experience in garment
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Introduction V. Conclusion Although
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Introduction improved technology. T
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Introduction References Afsar, R. (
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Introduction Household Power Relati
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Wage discrimination by gender in Mo
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Becoming a garment worker V. Conclu
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Becoming a garment worker is a job
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Becoming a garment worker Endnotes
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Becoming a garment worker Cole P. D
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Women’s employment in the textile
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260 Annex Table 2:Level of wages an
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