Democracy in Bangladesh
The cost of good intentions: “solidarity” in Bangladesh
The cost of good intentions: “solidarity” in Bangladesh
Naila Kabeer 24 June 2004
How can the lives and conditions of women garment workers in Bangladesh be improved? Naila Kabeer questions whether the workers themselves benefit from the campaigning approach of Anita Roddick and the National Labor Committee. Anita Roddick writes on openDemocracy with passionate anger about the conditions of women workers in the export garment sector based on testimonies of workers she met on her visit to Bangladesh. Her account is supported by the United States-based National Labor Committee (NLC) which has been active in the country on this issue. Farida Khan, citing the World Bank country director in Bangladesh, offers a different perspective on the garment industry’s importance in the national economy and to Bangladeshi workers, one that partly counters Anita Roddick’s and the NLC’s views. I have been engaged in research on different aspects of gender equality in Bangladesh, including the economic, for many years now; I have been particularly interested in how women themselves view their choices and life options. In contributing to this discussion, I will emphasise the issues that seem to me to be especially important in assessing the experience of women garment workers in Bangladesh, and where the best possibilities for improvement in their conditions might lie. Bangladesh in transformation Bangladesh, like much of south Asia, has always been a strongly patriarchal country. There are strict restrictions on women’s ability to participate in the public domain – whether to earn an income, attend school, or take part in politics. It remains one of the world’s poorer countries, classified by the United Nations as among its forty -eight least-developed economies. However, Bangladesh is also undergoing major social transformation. Poverty has been declining slowly but consistently over the past decade. The country moved,
The cost of good intentions: “solidarity” in Bangladesh
Naila Kabeer 24 June 2004
How can the lives and conditions of women garment workers in Bangladesh be improved? Naila Kabeer questions whether the workers themselves benefit from the campaigning approach of Anita Roddick and the National Labor Committee. Anita Roddick writes on openDemocracy with passionate anger about the conditions of women workers in the export garment sector based on testimonies of workers she met on her visit to Bangladesh. Her account is supported by the United States-based National Labor Committee (NLC) which has been active in the country on this issue. Farida Khan, citing the World Bank country director in Bangladesh, offers a different perspective on the garment industry’s importance in the national economy and to Bangladeshi workers, one that partly counters Anita Roddick’s and the NLC’s views. I have been engaged in research on different aspects of gender equality in Bangladesh, including the economic, for many years now; I have been particularly interested in how women themselves view their choices and life options. In contributing to this discussion, I will emphasise the issues that seem to me to be especially important in assessing the experience of women garment workers in Bangladesh, and where the best possibilities for improvement in their conditions might lie. Bangladesh in transformation Bangladesh, like much of south Asia, has always been a strongly patriarchal country. There are strict restrictions on women’s ability to participate in the public domain – whether to earn an income, attend school, or take part in politics. It remains one of the world’s poorer countries, classified by the United Nations as among its forty -eight least-developed economies. However, Bangladesh is also undergoing major social transformation. Poverty has been declining slowly but consistently over the past decade. The country moved,