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

Women’s employment in the textile manufacturing sectors of Bangladesh and Morocco
of the sample workers bargained for overtime, here too the share of
women workers from garment factories is much higher (13 per cent)
than their male colleagues (8 per cent) or women in other
manufacturing units (3 per cent). The low wages of female garment
workers and greater assignment of night duty might have prompted
such demands.
Although gaps between male and female garment factory
workers who bargained for higher wages, paid leave and change in
night shift are narrow, they nonetheless demand some explanation.
Education is often considered a means to raise the level of workers’
consciousness. Although the average male worker has a higher level
of education than a woman, the latter has a longer length of service in
the same factory than the former (Table 15). Hence longer length of
service of female workers might have encouraged them to demand
better terms and conditions almost at par with their male colleagues.
More than 90 per cent of the sample workers, irrespective of gender
and type of factory, applied for better terms and conditions with the
help of supervisors. They did not involve unions or other influential
sources such as employers’ agents in making their demands. As
garment factories operate by the private entrepreneurs purely with a
profit motive, lack of discipline on the part of workers is not tolerated.
Given the heavy competition for wage employment, the workers
generally abide by existing rules and regulations of the factory (see
Kahn, this volume).
2. Results of bargaining
As regards outcome, excepting their lower wages, women are
in a slightly better position in comparison to their male counterparts.
For example, paid leave was granted to 80 per cent of female and 73
per cent of male workers in the garment factories (Table 15). The
corresponding figures for other manufacturing units are 96 and 87
per cent respectively. Similarly, one fifth of the women workers who
demanded overtime were granted it, whereas none of their male
counterparts received a positive outcome in this regard. Conversely,
more women were denied higher wages (70 per cent) than their male
colleagues (64 per cent). However, on the whole, the difference
between men and women workers with regard to outcome is marginal.
It would be difficult to explain the employer’s justification for
conceding or rejecting demands without a case by case examination,
although clearly questions of profit margin and the dictates of buyer’s
schedule come into play. However, even once a demand is acceded
134