Bangladesh – The HERrespect Study to Address Violence Against Female Garment Workers – Intimate Partner Violence & Workplace Violence

This study is novel as it focuses not only on IPV(intimate partner violence), but also on workplace violence. Studies have shown that female workers face both forms of violence [18], but these are rarely discussed together in literature, nor programmed for simultaneously, despite being driven by similar dynamics of gender inequalities and attempts to control women [18]. This approach allows us to capture a wider picture of experience of violence or poly-victimization by this group of women.

Bangladesh – The HERrespect Study to Address Violence Against Female Garment Workers

Intimate Partner Violence & Workplace Violence

• Mahfuz Al Mamun^1 – Kausar Parvin¹, – Marat Yu², – Jessica Wan², – Samantha Willan³, – Andrew Gibbs³, – Rachel Jewkes^3, 4 and – Ruchira Tabassum Naved¹

Published: 18 April 2018

Abstract

Women in Bangladesh experience high rates of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). IPV is more prevalent against income earning women compared to their non-earning counterparts, and Workplace Violence (WPV) is also common. Such violence is a violation of women’s rights, and also constrains them from contributing to their personal growth, household, community and the economy at large. There is limited evidence on what works to prevent IPV and WPV amongst garment workers. This paper describes an evaluation of HERrespect, an intervention which aims to reduce IPV and WPV against female garment workers in and around Dhaka, Bangladesh.

To our knowledge this is the first study that seeks to evaluate the impact of group sessions with workers, and management; factory-wide campaigns and a community intervention on preventing IPV and workplace violence among female garment workers in Bangladesh.

Background and rationale

Women in Bangladesh experience high rates of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). In recent research, 54% of the ever-married women reported lifetime physical and/or sexual IPV and 27% of them reported exposure to this violence during the last 12 months [1]. Common correlates of IPV in Bangladesh include young age, poverty, low education, early marriage, witnessing abuse of mother by father in the family, childhood experience of violence, dowry, and poor spousal communication [2, 3, 4,5].

Gender inequalities shaping women’s experiences of IPV are widespread in Bangladesh. Women in Bangladesh are expected to be subservient, while men expect to control women and their sexuality. The social structure enforces this control by imposing confinement to home, purdah, restrictions on interactions with males and limits on employment. These norms constrain women’s social and financial power and skills, while positioning men in their “superior” role. Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is widely accepted and used as a tool for punishment of any transgression of social norms, for controlling women, and upholding men’s honour and status [6, 7, 8].

Despite the restrictions on women’s engagement in public spaces, more women are now involved in income generating activities. Women’s labour force participation rate is about 36% in Bangladesh [9], where 12% percent of the working women are employed in the manufacturing sector including garment sector. The ready-made garment (RMG) sector is the main driver of economic growth and formal employment in Bangladesh. In 2015, it contributed to 82% of Bangladesh’s total exports, valued at over $34 billion [10]. Over 4.2 million, usually low skilled, workers are formally employed in more than 4500 factories [11]. Similar to other labour intensive and export-oriented industries in developing economies, the RMG sector offers employment opportunities for women, particularly notable in a country where women traditionally do not work outside the home [12]. Approximately 80% of workers in the RMG sector in Bangladesh are women [13].

There are different perspectives on the impact of employment on women in the garment sector. For some young women in Bangladesh, it has contributed to their empowerment and changed their lives. Due to access to garment sector jobs, some young women delay marriage and childbirth [14]. And with their own income they are more likely to make their own decisions on spending that takes account of their health, leading to improvements in their well-being and that of their family [15]. Overall, formal employment and bringing home earnings may raise female workers’ value within their own family and may improve their capacity to negotiate within their households. They may see improvements in their position in the household vis-à-vis other family members [12, 14, 15, 16].

However, women’s employment may also increase their risk of abuse and physical violence. The literature on factors associated with IPV shows that in some patriarchal contexts, working women may be more vulnerable to IPV [3, 6, 8, 17]. According to the 2015 Bangladesh National Violence against Women Survey a higher proportion (33%) of income earning women reported physical and/or sexual violence during the past 12 months than their non-earning counterparts (26%) [1]. Some authors have suggested that employment may result in more violence if women are perceived to be challenging social norms and men’s provider role through their income-generating activities [18]. In addition, waged work may also increase conflict if women are tired after work and perceived as deficient in the domestic tasks that they are expected to carry out without male assistance, if men are suspicious about their wives meeting other men at work, suspicious when they come home late or intermittently work overtime, and if working and earning makes them challenge aspects of the gender regime at home.

Very little is known about workplace violence (WPV) against working women in low income settings. According to the Report on 2015 National Violence against Women Survey in Bangladesh women perceived the workplace as the second most likely place to experience violence after the household [1]. WPV against female workers in garment factories is also understudied. Scanty literature shows that despite the positive impact of formal employment in the garment sector on women’s economic and social empowerment, female workers are likely to experience violence in the factories. Fair Wear Foundation found that 75% of workers had experienced verbal violence at work, 20% experienced physical violence, and 30% had experienced psychological violence [13]. Sixty percent of female garment workers had experienced sexual harassment in the factories [13]. Qualitative research suggests that severe emotional and economic violence is common in this sector, while physical and sexual violence is not uncommon [19]. Most common perpetrators of workplace violence are mid- and low-level factory management staff, the majority of whom are male. The most common forms of violence facing female garment workers include name-calling, shouting, yelling, teasing, rough behaviour, being referred to using slang, and propositioning [20].

In general, evidence on what works in addressing IPV and WPV against working women, particularly garment workers is limited worldwide. Given the massive increase in women’s employment in factories globally, and specifically in Bangladesh, with the potential to increase women’s experiences of violence in the home and workplace, there remains a lack of effective interventions to reduce this. Although there is evidence that a combination of economic empowerment and gender interventions reduces IPV effectively in other settings [21, 22, 23] there has been no attempt at measuring the effect of gender interventions among female garment workers, who are relatively economically empowered compared to their peers. This paper describes an evaluation of HERrespect, an intervention which aims to address IPV and WPV against female garment workers in and around Dhaka. This research is being conducted by icddr,b in collaboration with South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and the intervention is being implemented by BSR, Change Associates Limited and WE CAN. The study is being conducted under the DFID-funded global programme “What Works To Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls?”

https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-018-5442-5

WEBSITE LINK GIVES FULL INTERVENTION STUDY INFORMATION.