Women are leaving the RMG labour force. What are the long-term implications?

Women's participation in the country's garment sector is decreasing. 

In a recent presentation titled Technology Upgradation of the RMG Industries in Bangladesh,' the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) researchers pointed to a statistical decrease of women in the labour force of the RMG sector: It decreased from 56% in 2014 to 53% in 2023. 

During the early years of the garment industry in the country, the number of women garment workers was more than 80% and this trend continued for many years. However, the automation of industries ushered in a change. 

Due to the adoption of automated technology and fewer opportunities compared to other sectors, the youth population's interest in this sector waned — and it's the women who have been leaving the sector more, according to BIDS.  

Additionally, the manufacturing sector underwent a new trend in the last 10 years: More technologically-skilled employees secured jobs, including more BSc and diploma textile engineers. However, the number of women in textile engineering is negligible. Researchers say that female workers are facing problems due to technological development in the industry. 

Once the backbone of the industry, women's share in the RMG workforce has dropped from over 80% at the time of the sector's inception in the 1980s to 53% in 2023, driven by automation and limited opportunities in textile engineering in recent years. 

As the industry evolves, experts and labour leaders say the exclusion of women from this pivotal sector will hinder their empowerment unless alternative paths, such as self-employment or policy interventions, can mitigate the effects of this shift.

Dr Binayak Sen, director general of BIDS, believes proper research is required before drawing any conclusion. "Earlier we would observe that participation of women from the middle-income groups in the overall workforce decreased while those from the higher and lower-income groups did not. However, we are noticing now that workforce participation along with  employment opportunities of the lower-income group of women is decreasing," Dr Sen said, "due to the automation of the sector."  

Dr Sen further explained the change in the overall female labour force in the industry for three reasons – one would be that the technology/automation is gender inclusive. Secondly, women could have become self-employed, ie, a woman who has worked as an RMG labour for a considerable amount of time may have switched to another job or she may have started her own business venture. 

Another explanation is that after working for a certain time, say for 8-10 years, the woman reaches a prime childbearing age. Many would have to decide whether they would continue with their job or they should take a break. 

"We have to see why technological change is gender averse, whether the women are going for other jobs, or they prefer to leave the job to have a child because they are in their late 20s or the early 30s and they cannot afford to delay it further," said  Dr Sen. 

Moreover, looking at other countries can offer some insight. We need to see whether this pattern is only prevailing in Bangladesh or if Cambodia and Vietnam are seeing similar trends. If so, then what labour policies have these governments taken? 

"There is scope for research on these points," said Dr Sen, adding "Without proper investigation, we cannot connect the dots like this."  

Taslima Akhtar, chair of the Central Committee of Bangladesh Garments Sramik Sanghati, however, believes that this shift will affect the women's social status and their empowerment. 

In 2024, a research paper published in the Journal of Business and Management, titled, The Influence of Employment on the Socio-Economic Empowerment of Urban Women in Bangladesh concludes that there is a direct connection between women's paid employment with their overall decision-making and empowerment. 

The paper, authored by Samia Shabnaz, Tahsina Khan and Bohi Shajahan, states "Urban employed women are more empowered than unemployed women in certain decision-making issues like decisions about purchasing expensive items, child health and employment. The employed women have more access and control over resources like access to their property, opportunity to save, control family budget, own property and saving and  purchase of  gift items than the  unemployed women."

So how can this shift of women leaving the RMG workforce be mitigated? "It is a policy-level decision whether the government would want them to be empowered. These women need proper training to run the new machines, there should be day-care centres in the factories so that the mothers can continue their work — otherwise, female participation will drop," Taslima replied. 

However, Dr Sen points out that these are private-sector changes that we are talking about and questions how the government can do anything here. "Whether we can subsidise in any of the sectors or bring any other policy level changes, that needs to be figured out. This is a private-sector issue, so I am not sure what the government can do here."

Will a decrease in women in the RMG labour force affect the sector? "We first need to question whether there is a wage gap in the male-female ratio. If female employment decreases, the competence that we get from the lowest wage now will probably be hampered. Because eventually more male workers will be hired in their place at the lower levels, they will be more into trade unionism, wage demand, etc," he replied. 

He added, "Till now no such phenomena can be seen, but down the line when you would want more technological changes to come, and eventually more males will be employed, how the environment will look – we will have to think about the probabilities."