Women's Employment - United Nations Research Institute for Social ...

Women’s employment in the textile manufacturing sectors of Bangladesh and Morocco
The broader sample of workers drawn through quota sampling
revealed that more than 90 per cent of workers in garment factories
are migrants. By contrast, migrants constitute nearly half of the total
respondents in other manufacturing industries. Almost no divergence
is found along gender lines in this regard. It should be noted that
migration is defined using both geographic and temporal criteria. A
person who was not born in Dhaka and migrated there between 1980
and 1996 is defined as a migrant. Further, those who migrated between
1991 and 1996 are defined as “recent migrants”, whereas those who
migrated between 1980 and 1990 are “long-term migrants”. It is
assumed that 15 years is sufficient to adjust to the urban environment.
Hence, those who came before 1980 were treated as non-migrants.
Consequently, around 37 per cent were classified as recent migrants
and 46 per cent as long-term migrants, yielding a total sample of 83
per cent migrants and 17 per cent non-migrants, among the sample
respondents finally studied (Table 2).
As indicated above, the spread of RMG in the mid-1980s and
early 1990s generated greater employment opportunities for women
than men. During the sampling stage, it was observed that women
workers predominated in unskilled and skilled categories in both
RMG and other manufacturing industries, while men predominated
at the managerial level. According to the employers, women are
preferred over men as both unskilled and skilled operators mainly
because:
• female labour is cheaper than male labour;
• women workers are more docile, loyal and law-abiding in
nature than men;
• women workers are also more hard-working and sincere than
their male counterparts; and
• women workers have less contacts, exposure and bargaining
power than male workers.
The perception of the employers reveals that women workers
are preferred not exclusively as a cost-cutting measure. Their
performance, sincerity and law-abiding nature are also valued by
employers. However, this suggests that women workers are likely to
be in a disadvantageous position compared to their male counterparts.
Male migration is an established phenomenon in South Asia, in
general, and Bangladesh, in particular, and mechanisms have evolved
to facilitate their migration over the years. Independent female
migration is a relatively recent phenomenon. It is important, therefore,
to explore the mechanisms which facilitate female migration and
settlement in urban areas.
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