43pc female workers sexually harassed at RMG factories

At least 90 per cent of the female garment workers are mentally tortured, 43 per cent get sexually abused and 51 per cent become victims of physical harassment, according to a research report released Tuesday.

The primary findings about violence against women at workplaces in Bangladesh apparel sector were released by Nagorik Uddyog and Bangladesh Labour Rights Forum in the capital.

But Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association president Rubana Huq in her immediate reaction told New Age that the study was designed to harm the export oriented apparel industry.

She said that the report would harm the poor female workers and harm the image of the garment industry internationally.

Rubana said that women face harassments in all the countries but this study focused on only the apparel industry of Bangladesh.

She rejected the findings as ‘incorrect and unacceptable.’

Researchers of Naogorik Uddyog and Bangladesh Labour Rights Forum interviewed  173 male and female workers  since November 2017 regarding violence faced by the female workers at their workplaces, public transports and rented houses’, Nagorik Uddyog’s policy and advocacy coordinator Manjurul Islam said.  

The respondents were from Mohammadpur, Mirpur, Uttara, Malibagh, Khilgaon, Rampura, Jatrabari, Sayedabad areas in Dhaka and some parts of Savar and Naryanganj, he said.

He said 39 per cent of the female respondents said that they felt insecure at workplaces where physical and sexual harassments affected the working environment.

The apprentice workers were the most vulnerable to violence, he said quoting the respondents.

He said 34 per cent of the female workers said that they found their male colleagues and superiors indifferent when a woman faced violence.

‘There has been infrastructural development in the industries but working environment is not improving,’ said Green Bangla Garments Workers Federation president Sultana Begum.

She said the female workers had been facing violence almost everywhere in the sector.

The garment factories should be worker-friendly to reduce all kinds of harassments, said Readymade Garments Workers Federation president Lovely Yasmin.

She demanded construction of dormitories for female workers so that they could avoid harassments at rented accommodations.

‘The research findings depict the real image of our society. The RMG workers have to struggle to ensure their rights and safety’, said Bangladesh Communist Party central leader Ruhin Hossain Prince.

Bangladesh Labour Rights Forum president Abdul Hossain chaired the event while Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation president Nazma Akhter, Nari Pakkhya project director Rowshan Ara, Samajtantrik Sramik Front  general secretary Razekuzzaman Ratan were present among others.

Nagorik Uddyog chief executive Zakir Hossain conducted the function.

He said their research would continue.  

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net