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

Women’s employment in the textile manufacturing sectors of Bangladesh and Morocco
most illiterate or semi-literate and unskilled rural women from
landless households prior to the 1980s. 14
4. Safety and odd working hours 15
In the absence of cheap and safe public or factory operated
transportation systems, young migrant women are generally protected
against violence, physical or sexual assault on their way to and from
the factory by their co-workers and family members. Nine out of 10
female garment factory workers live in the same ward as the factory,
or nearby, and therefore walk to their workplace. The remaining 10
per cent of the female workers travel either by tempo 16 or rickshaw.
However, whether they walk or ride on a rickshaw, they are always
accompanied by co-workers and or family members (Table 17). Seldom
do they go to the factory alone, particularly at night. Their strong
group identity on the road works as a protective shield in the
otherwise unprotected lonely dark roads and lanes. Only a fraction
of female garment workers (3 per cent) reported being teased while
returning from the office at night. However, the survey technique is
not often useful to capture sensitive areas like sexual abuse/
harassment, since women often are inhibited about sharing their
personal experience. Both men and women unanimously considered
mastaans (muscle men), whether from their own communities or
neighbouring ones, as the main threat, indicating that the problem
requires serious attention by the authorities.
Community-based focus group discussions (Afsar, 1998b)
revealed many instances of threat of mastaans and other forms of sexual
abuse/harassment faced by female garment factory workers. “Eve
teasing” on the road and kidnapping of the female garment factory
workers are not rare. 17 Within the factory, there is evidence of sexual
harassment. Some women complained that their male co-workers treat
them as “garments” to be used for some time and then thrown away.
Taking advantage of women’s weaker economic position and
bargaining power, male co-workers, technical, and even managerial
staff make false promises of promotion or marriage. Once sexual
relations are established, the women workers are often abandoned
by their male colleagues. There are also cases reported where women
do use relations with technical or even managerial staff to improve
their position and end up leaving their own husbands. It is also worth
noting that in the less-protected living and working environments
found in urban settings, both male and female workers are susceptible
to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) (Afsar, 1998b) 18 , particularly
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