A cultural revolution is underway in
Bangladesh. Middle class women, who traditionally stayed home after marriage,
despite their much higher level of education, have been entering the labor
force in unprecedented numbers since the mid-2000s. And poor women from the
countryside are staying in school longer and aspiring not only to a job in garments,
but also to a position as a driver, a police woman, or a garments supervisor. by Marianne Scholte
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| Female line supervisors in a garment factory |
Millions of young
Bangladeshi women have moved, often on their own, from the rural villages of
Bangladesh to the cities of Dhaka or Chittagong to take up a job in a garment
factory. The work is repetitive, the hours are long, pay is low, and safety
standards are at times hopelessly substandard, but these jobs have brought a
generation of Bangladeshi women economic and social independence that their
mothers and grandmothers never dreamt was possible.
Women have never enjoyed much status in Bangladeshi society. Girls are viewed as an economic drain on their families and are thus quickly married off, many before the onset of puberty, well over half before the age of 18. To arrange the marriage, the majority of families see themselves obliged to provide a dowry to the groom’s family.
