…In a country with more than 4,000 factories – which now relies on the ready-to-wear garment industry…women have become a powerful economic force…Employment in the export-oriented garment industry, and in other industries such as electronics manufacturing, has directly opened up the labour market for poorer sections of the population, most notably young rural women with limited local employment options…Migration…is helping raise the status of women in their families and home communities…Yet even as urbanisation has galvanised women's march towards greater economic freedom, the equality and safety of Bangladesh's new workers are still major issues. In the garment industry, women are an easy target for exploitation and discrimination.