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Women’s employment in the textile manufacturing sectors of Bangladesh and Morocco garment workforce. As I have noted, a significant proportion of the sending family households of the garment workers are female-headed, a condition that is related to the poverty of the households. Also, for some women, the decision to enter into garment work may be triggered by the experience of a failed marriage. A number of these marriages are dissolved immediately or shortly after they commence, often due to demands for dowry on the part of the bridegroom and his family. In general, the problem of dowry seems to play a critical role in the dynamics of garment work entry among single rural women. Further research and analysis is sorely needed on the issue of dowry inflation, in particular its causes and consequences for women. In the event that the problem of dowry remains and perhaps even increases over time, it is possible that wage work before marriage may become a “normalized” life stage before marriage for a stratum of women in Bangladesh. That is, as is the case in some East Asian societies, it will come to be expected that young women work for a few years before marriage. Such a development will be more likely if employment opportunities such as that represented by the garment sector continue to develop. However, the achievement of a state of “normalization” of young women’s garment work requires greater socio-cultural acceptance of garment work than is apparent at the present time. Particularly in the rural areas of Bangladesh, women’s garment work continues to carry a certain stigma. 3. Community networks and the “pull” of garment work It is perhaps stating the obvious to say that the entry into garment work does not occur in a social vacuum. Information and support from community members is a critical part of the garment entry process. Those who come from communities where garment work is an established course of action are more likely to enjoy the assistance of sending community members in the garment work entry process. The information provided by community networks about garment work is effective in mobilizing women because of the distinctive opportunity that garment work represents for women. For many women in both urban and rural households, garment work is financially more lucrative than other available opportunities. But the perceived advantages of garment work cannot simply be understood in financial terms. Garment work has certain image and status connotations that make it attractive to some women. Garment work 172
Becoming a garment worker is a job (chakri) or occupation; work is of more significance and status than informal income-generating activities. Few who actually work in garment factories would claim that these jobs are not taxing or restrictive in many ways. However, the accounts of garment workers suggest that garment work may be seen as less physically strenuous than other available employment opportunities. It has also developed a certain image and reputation that may be attractive to young women. Garment work connotes social and economic independence and, more generally, modernity. 4. The absorption of women’s wages into the household economy As far as patterns of wage absorption into the household economy are concerned, a clear distinction is apparent between those workers who live with their sending family households and those who do not. For the former, wages are more likely to be absorbed into the collective household pot and used to meet household needs in a collective sense. Of course, this is not to say that conflicts over the control and use of wages are not part of the experiences of these women. But for those who live apart from their sending family households, the pattern tends to be very different. In general, I found economic remittances to the sending family household to be a limited affair among the rural migrants. This is quite different from the situation noted by studies of “working daughters” in many other societies (Greenhalgh, 1988; Harevan, 1982; Ong, 1987; Tilly and Scott, 1978). As I have mentioned, this finding must be interpreted with caution, given the fact that most of the women interviewed have been working in the industry for a short period of time, usually under four years. Longitudinal studies that trace the remittances of workers over several years are needed. Nonetheless, I suggest that the absence of a pattern of regular remittances from the worker to her household reflects the attitudinal context in which rural migrant women tend to enter into garment work. An attitude of “she’s taking care of herself” was a prevalent one. That is, the woman’s entry into garment work is understood to be a means for her to take care of her own needs rather than those of the household. Among garment workers, however, there is a widespread desire and even anticipation of eventually using earnings to help out the family. Perhaps a far more fundamental issue than attitudes is the fact that most of the women who did not live with their sending family 173
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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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Table 1: Total number of male and f
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