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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Women’s employment in the textile manufacturing sectors of Bangladesh and Morocco women and men came for work-related reasons (Table 3). Although 43 per cent of women migrants from other manufacturing industries came for economic reasons, 29 per cent were associational migrants (marriage/family migration) who accompanied their husbands to Dhaka. It is instructive to compare these findings to the global review on reasons for women’s migration by the United Nations Secretariat (1993), which indicates that: • a significant proportion of women migrate for economic reasons (including migration for education, which leads to seeking better employment opportunities later); • worldwide, more women migrate for family than economic reasons, including to accompany other family members or spouse and to get married. While the present study departs significantly from the above pattern, it is consistent with the findings from Bangkok metropolis (Phongpaichit, 1993). In Bangkok, female migration occurred as a direct response to the demand for cheap labour for the export-oriented manufacturing industries. This can be substantiated in the present study by the finding that nearly two out of every five garment factory workers, irrespective of gender, came directly for the present job. Those who migrated directly for the present job constituted 35 per cent of the male workers and 14 per cent of the female workers from other manufacturing units. Although employment-related reasons always dominate in the case of male migration, this increased significantly in the 1990s (90 per cent) compared to the 1980s (68 per cent) (Afsar, 1998b). Afsar (1998b) also indicates that 76 per cent of recent female migrants, as opposed to 36 per cent of the long-term female migrants, came for employment-related reasons. These findings confirm the importance of greater employment opportunities in Dhaka city as a “pull” factor to explain recent migration patterns, particularly for women. Cross-classifications by marital status and age at migration provide a useful tool to confirm results of subjective data on “reasons for migration”. Nearly 75 per cent of women respondents from the garment factories migrated for work-related reasons, whether married or unmarried. Divorced and widowed workers came exclusively for this purpose. Excepting married women, none of the sample workers from the garment factories were associational migrants. Further, among female garment factory workers, those who migrated for education-related reasons were substantially higher (2.5 times) for unmarried than other marital categories. Although nearly 43 per cent of the women respondents from the other manufacturing industries 110
Gender dimensions of labour migration in Dhaka city’s formal manufacturing sector migrated for work-related reasons, the number increases substantially (two thirds) for unmarried workers. Those who migrated in search of a job falls to two fifths in the case of married migrants from other manufacturing units. A third of married women migrated for associational reasons and a quarter for higher studies. The response pattern on the reasons for migration by female workers from other manufacturing units appears to be logical. An unmarried woman worker from those units is younger (27 years old) and better educated (4.7 years schooling), than a married woman worker who is 33 years old and had 3.6 years of schooling on average. In the case of female garment factory workers, while the unmarried women are younger than married female colleagues by eight years, the latter had slightly more education (3.0 years of schooling) as opposed to 2.3 years of the former (Table 4). If education is taken as a rough indicator of the level of aspiration, no marked divergence is found in the response patterns of workers of garment factories on reasons for migration by marital status than the simple frequency distribution on the reason for migration. A large percentage of the migrants found in RMG factories come from central and southeastern districts of Dhaka, Mymensingh, Faridpur, Barisal and Comilla. Over the years, it has been observed that migrants in Dhaka slum and squatter settlements are also from those districts (Afsar, 1997, 2000; Majumdar et al., 1989; CUS, 1990). 2 The districts from which these workers migrate in greatest numbers are characterized by highly disproportionate land-population ratios. Four out of every five female workers from the garment factories and two out of every three female workers from the other manufacturing industries were functionally landless. Nearly half of male workers, irrespective of type of industry, were functionally landless. Although women workers in general are landless, female garment factory workers are more disadvantaged in this regard. On average they had 1.3 acres of land as opposed to 2.0 acres for their male counterparts in the same factory and 2.3 acres for female counterparts from other manufacturing units. 3 It is important to note that the level of education of female garment factory workers is higher that either their age cohort in rural areas or their counterparts in slum and squatter settlements. In Bangladesh, education is positively correlated with household income. Seven out of 10 female workers from landless households either had no education or incomplete primary education. By contrast, nearly three out of every five female workers from other industries had secondary education or above. They belonged to small and large 111
Page 1 and 2:
Women’s Employment in the Textile
Page 3 and 4:
This United Nations Research Instit
Page 6:
Acknowledgements Many people have b
Page 9 and 10:
notwithstanding the inertia of the
Page 11 and 12:
Carol Miller is a policy analyst on
Page 13 and 14:
xii VII. Contribution of different
Page 15 and 16:
Introduction 1 Introduction 1 Shahr
Page 17 and 18:
Introduction Table 1: Basic indicat
Page 19 and 20:
Introduction women have been tradit
Page 21 and 22:
Introduction The chapters on Bangla
Page 23 and 24:
Introduction occurs, on average, at
Page 25 and 26:
Introduction women workers related
Page 27 and 28:
Introduction in low-income countrie
Page 29 and 30:
Introduction by repaying their “d
Page 31 and 32:
Introduction participate in labour
Page 33 and 34:
Introduction their bargaining power
Page 35 and 36:
Introduction processing zones hypot
Page 37 and 38:
Introduction IV. The case studies T
Page 39 and 40:
Introduction experience in garment
Page 41 and 42:
Introduction V. Conclusion Although
Page 43 and 44:
Introduction improved technology. T
Page 45 and 46:
Introduction References Afsar, R. (
Page 47 and 48:
Introduction Household Power Relati
Page 49 and 50:
Wage discrimination by gender in Mo
Page 51 and 52:
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56:
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74: Wage discrimination by gender in Mo
Page 75 and 76: Gender and employment in Moroccan t
Page 117 and 118: Gender dimensions of labour migrati
Page 121 and 122: Table 1: Total number of male and f
Page 123: Gender dimensions of labour migrati
Page 143 and 144: Table 9: Distribution of the sample
Page 165 and 166: Becoming a garment worker 5Becoming
Page 167 and 168: Becoming a garment worker garment w
Page 169 and 170: Becoming a garment worker Table 1:
Page 171 and 172: Becoming a garment worker view of t
Page 173 and 174: Becoming a garment worker that time
Page 175 and 176:
Becoming a garment worker 2. “I e
Page 177 and 178:
Becoming a garment worker out that
Page 179 and 180:
Becoming a garment worker being. Th
Page 181 and 182:
Becoming a garment worker support t
Page 183 and 184:
Becoming a garment worker they firs
Page 185 and 186:
Becoming a garment worker V. Conclu
Page 187 and 188:
Becoming a garment worker is a job
Page 189 and 190:
Becoming a garment worker Endnotes
Page 191 and 192:
Becoming a garment worker Cole P. D
Page 193 and 194:
Women’s employment in the textile
Page 195 and 196:
Page 197 and 198:
Page 199 and 200:
Page 201 and 202:
Page 203 and 204:
Page 205 and 206:
Page 207 and 208:
Page 209 and 210:
Page 211 and 212:
Page 213 and 214:
Page 215 and 216:
Page 217 and 218:
Page 219 and 220:
Page 221 and 222:
Page 223 and 224:
Page 225 and 226:
Page 227 and 228:
Page 229 and 230:
Page 231 and 232:
Page 233 and 234:
Page 235 and 236:
Page 237 and 238:
Page 239 and 240:
Page 241 and 242:
Page 243 and 244:
Page 245 and 246:
Page 247 and 248:
Page 249 and 250:
Page 251 and 252:
Page 253 and 254:
Page 255 and 256:
Page 257 and 258:
Page 259 and 260:
Page 261 and 262:
Page 263 and 264:
Page 265 and 266:
Page 267 and 268:
Page 269 and 270:
Page 271 and 272:
258 Women’s employment in the tex
Page 273 and 274:
260 Annex Table 2:Level of wages an
Page 275 and 276:
show all

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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?