The Rights of Women Employees under Bangladesh Labor Act: The Case of Ready-Made Garment Industry in Bangladesh

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the reality of practices of Bangladesh Labor Act (BLA) in protecting the rights of women employees in the Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry in Bangladesh. Moreover, this study finds the barriers in romoting gender equality in the workplace particularly in the sector under study. Methodology: This study follows interpretative paradigm, qualitative in nature and cross sectional in data collection. Using convenient sampling technique 20 women employees from different RMG factories are interviewed in Mirpur, Dhaka. Through the content analysis of the data obtained from the interviews, the reality and accuracy of constructs, sub-variables, and items are examined. Findings: The findings of the study depicted that most of women workers have limited educational qualification and they also have the limitations in the knowledge regarding different provisions of BLA. All provisions specially related to women rights in the working place are not fully applied in RMG sectors. Gender discrimination is very common here in case of supervision, wages, and overtime facilities. Maternity leave, which is not enforced according to the law, was one of the major violations of rights mentioned by all of the women workers interviewed. Practical Implications: The practical implication of this study is to make awareness among the women employees regarding their rights according to the BLA and fill up their discrepancies by the stakeholders (i.e. management, owner, government agents). This study fills the gap in the literature regarding the reality of gender inequality practices in the working place particularly in the RMG sector in Bangladesh. Originality: The researchers focus on the provisions of BLA, 2006 and their practices in women employees’ rights protection in Bangladesh in workplace particularly in the context of RMG industry in Bangladesh along with the barriers hindering the practicing of such provisions which are not earlier studied so far. Limitations: The implicit assumption that the study’s conclusions would not be applicable to all industries because data were collected solely from small RMG industrial zone. In this study only women employees were included its sample. Moreover, quantitative or mixed-methods is absent in this study.