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Women’s employment in the textile manufacturing sectors of Bangladesh and Morocco households had little left over from their paycheck after paying for their living expenses. In other words, even if they wished to send money home, they did not have the means to do so. Often neglected in current discussions of the garment industry is the point that becoming a garment worker, particularly for those who do not live with their families, requires some financial investment. The job of helper is essentially an informal apprenticeship for the position of sewing machine operator. Those who work as helpers can sustain themselves on their own income only with great difficulty. While the financial situation of women improves when they move into operator positions, most of those interviewed indicated that they had little or no surplus income, or money left over from their paycheck, once basic living costs were paid. Sending family households were thus an important economic resource and safety net for the rural migrant women. Also of note is that marriage continues to represent an important strategy of economic security for women. 5. Some policy implications The mobilization of women into the garment industry in Bangladesh reflects the operation of deep-seated and long-term economic and socio-cultural shifts. In the coming years we are likely to see important changes in the garment industry, such as an increased demand for trained and skilled workers. Given the long-term and structural nature of the “push” factors that lead women to garment factory employment, it is recommended that steps be taken to ease the potential dislocation of women workers as a result of industry changes. Alternative wage employment opportunities as well as training and education programs can help to minimize the potential dislocation of women garment workers. Many of the women who enter the garment industry are single rural migrants. Among the major problems faced by these women is that of safe and affordable housing in the city, as well as safe and affordable forms of transportation from the residence to the factory. Policy measures that address these concerns will contribute significantly to the well-being of the garment labour force. A related issue is that of sexual harassment in the workplace. It is recommended that factory managers institute a programme of education and enforcement of regulations against the harassment of workers. 174
Becoming a garment worker Endnotes 1. For a review and critique of how culture is emphasized as an explanatory factor in discussions of women in Bangladesh see Kabeer (1991) and White (1992). 2. Majumdar and Chaudhuri (1994) note that 49.1 per cent of the workers surveyed had been unemployed/at home prior to working in the garment sector, and 23.9 per cent had been students. 3. As far as household incomes, 15.3 per cent reported Tk 1,000 and below, 27.7 per cent between 1,000-2,000, 29.9 per cent between 2,000-3,000, 20.9 per cent between 3,000-5,000, and 7.5 per cent over 5,000. The occupations of household members included typist/clerk, garment worker, labourer (Majumdar and Chaudhuri, 1994). 4. Majumdar and Chaudhuri (1994:29) report 38.6 per cent of their respondents to be married, 54 per cent unmarried, 2.1 per cent widowed, 3.5 per cent divorced and 1.9 per cent abandoned. 5. It is theoretically possible for a worker to not live with her sending family household even when it is located in Dhaka, but this is rare. 6. While outside the scope of this paper, these different budgetary practices may have different implications for women’s power, or the extent to which women derive power from their wage work (see Kabeer, 1995). 7. In this sample, seven of the women had mothers or older sisters who had worked as domestic servants, and 11 of the women had themselves worked as domestic servants. 8. The idea that the woman’s income was being accumulated for her dowry expenses was presented despite the fact that the income of the women in all these cases was being used immediately to pay for living expenses. But the idea that the woman’s income was used for a dowry savings pool also reflected the perception that when the family economic situation stabilized, the woman’s income would indeed be diverted into such a pool, rather than being used for basic household expenses. 9. No one talked of keeping garment employment a secret from mothers or other older female family members. This is perhaps because men are more likely to be out of the home all day and thus do not miss the absence of the woman worker. It could also be because the opposition comes mainly from men rather than women family members. 10. For classifying categories of landlessness, I draw on those reported and used by the Analysis of Poverty Trends Project, BIDS as reported by Sen (1995). Landless households are those with less than 0.05 acres, functionally landless are those with 0.05 to 0.49 acres and marginal owners are those with 0.50 to 1.49 acres. 175
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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 women have been tradit
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Introduction The chapters on Bangla
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Introduction women workers related
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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 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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