Human Security and Employment Relations in the Ready-Made Garments Industries of Bangladesh: Perspective of Women Workers

Abstract

Ready-Made Garment (RMG) is the largest export earning sector of Bangladesh and the second largest provider of RMG products in the world. The RMG industries generate more than eighty percent of the country’s total export by creating employment for nearly4.4 million people out of which more than eighty percent are women. The health, safety and working condition of workers in the RMG industry do not comply with global standards and in many of these factories, insecurity of women workers, faulty infrastructural standards, violation of labour law, labour exploitation by low wage and over work; remain matters of serious concern. Obviously, employment in the RMG industry has reduced the social exclusion of women in Bangladesh, but more analysis is required to know how the RMG industry enables the women worker to re-negotiate their roles in society. Therefore, the present article is an attempt to examine how the human security system in the RMG sector has influenced the women workers’ job satisfaction and employment relations in Bangladesh.