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

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Female employment under export-propelled industrialization share of women in manufacturing employment in particular, are quite low in Bangladesh. However, there is evidence that both these indicators are experiencing an up-turn, particularly in the urban areas, and among relatively young women. The sectoral distribution of female manufacturing employment remains highly concentrated in RMG, although virtually all sub-sectors demonstrating growth in recent years are important from the point of view of the femaleintensity of their labour force. There are substantial female-male wage differentials in the country’s manufacturing sector, but these gaps are lower in the export-oriented industries. Wage differentials are also lower among production workers, and there are indications that the situation is improving. It is possible that such apparently positive trends in industrial employment of women in Bangladesh are a result of the increasing integration of the national economy into the global trade circuit. This, in turn, has been propped up by the deregulation and liberalization measures that characterize current macroeconomic policies. The mechanisms that have led to such positive outcomes must be identified rather than assumed. III. Bangladesh’s apparel sector: Growth correlates 1. Genesis Female workers in Bangladesh were traditionally linked to global markets through export of tea and raw jute. It is only with the emergence of the RMG sector in the late 1980s as Bangladesh’s leading export industry that the country’s female labour force was integrated into international markets in a more direct and intense way. The transition from traditional to non-traditional export-oriented activities is of considerable significance, because it brings out some critical dimensions of the evolving pattern of female employment in Bangladesh. First, export-oriented RMG, a manufacturing activity, differs from the previous agro-based exports. Second, RMG units are concentrated mostly in urban areas, whereas earlier female-intensive processing activities were located in rural areas. Third, the rapid growth of the apparel sector and its increasing share in the export basket testifies to the importance and potential of female employment in exports, as well as industrialization, in Bangladesh. These three distinguishing features, inter alia, have important implications from a gender perspective, particularly in terms of employment opportunities, skill development and wage level. 229
Women’s employment in the textile manufacturing sectors of Bangladesh and Morocco Bangladesh’s RMG industry has come a long way since 1977 when Reaz Garment made its first shipment of products to France. The Desh-Daewoo collaboration in 1978 catapulted Bangladesh’s unknown RMG industry onto a trajectory of fast growth. Several factors contributed to this remarkable success. In 1980, the Bangladesh Bank (the central bank of the country) granted “back-to-back” letters of credit (L/C) and bonded warehouse facilities to RMG producers/ exporters, decreasing their working capital requirements and allowing duty-free access to inputs for the sector. Quotas imposed on some neighbouring countries compelled intermediate buyers to shift sourcing of RMG products to countries like Bangladesh where prevailing low wages ensured competitive prices. Moreover, in the US and Canadian markets quotas imposed on imports of apparel meant guaranteed access for developing countries like Bangladesh, while in the countries of the European Union preferential treatment under various schemes, such as the General System of Preferences (GSP), provided crucial price support and, consequently, a competitive edge for RMG exports from Bangladesh. According to a recent study (Bhattacharya, 1996b), knit and woven RMG accounted for 7 per cent of units, 11 per cent of fixed assets, 21 per cent of annual investment, 30 per cent of the employment and wage bill, and 23.5 per cent of gross value added and returns on capital attributable to the private manufacturing sector in Bangladesh in 1992. More than 95 per cent of the output of the RMG units and about 90 per cent of that of the knitwear units catered to foreign markets. Table 4: Inter-temporal compound growth rates of RMG exports (1987-1997) Exports FY 1987-FY 1997 FY 1990-FY 1997 FY 1992-FY 1997 Woven RMG 21.6% 19.5% 14.7% Knit RMG - 75.5% 45.0% Total RMG 25.4% 24.4% 19.4% Source: Computed from Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) database. Annex Table 3 shows that, in just over 15 years, the share of RMG in total exports increased from less than 2 per cent to about 66 per cent. Table 4 provides information on export growth rates registered by Bangladesh’s RMG sector. Between 1987 and 1997, the compound growth rate of RMG exports was more than 25 per cent. 230
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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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Gender dimensions of labour migrati
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Table 1: Total number of male and f
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Becoming a garment worker 5Becoming
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Becoming a garment worker Table 1:
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Becoming a garment worker support t
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Becoming a garment worker they firs
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Becoming a garment worker V. Conclu
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Becoming a garment worker is a job
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Becoming a garment worker Endnotes
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