Sustainability of Female Workforce in the Ready-Made Garment Industries of Bangladesh

Abstract

The Ready-Made-Garment (RMG) industries have emerged as the most promising sector in the socio-economic context of Bangladesh. Among the employee of this sector, maximum numbers are female which prefaces women empowerment as well. Despite being large in numbers, female workforce faces various types of difficulty in their workplace both physically and mentally. In addition, gender discrimination is severe in this sector. It was found that wages discrimination between male and female employee increases with the skill levels. Male managers are paid 21% higher than female counterpart. Job type has great influence on workers. Male workers are found to be less in helper and sewing department by about 86% and 78% respectively. Higher salary discrimination was found in small industries than larger one.