"Tackling ‘ineffective’ Bangladesh anti-harassment committees", October 12 2023

The anti-harassment committees are charged with helping female Bangladesh garment workers avoid and prevent unwanted attention and approaches from male colleagues and managers.

However, a summary shared with Just Style ahead of full publication later this month (October 2023) said: “Women workers in RMG [readymade garments] are plagued with problems of different natures where harassment and violence of several forms significantly affect them… The gender-based violence (GBV) and harassment in this industry have multiple facets — verbal, sexual, physical, and psychological.” And it concluded committees were ineffective: “Except in a few cases, most of the committees could not provide any solid/robust example of solving issues/problems through the committee initiative,” said the shared summary.

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The study, entitled ‘Assessment of Functionality of the Complaint Committee (cc)/Anti-harassment Committee (AHC) in the RMG workplaces’, reinforces the findings of other studies and claims from union leaders that the Bangladesh clothing and textile industry is failing to ensure a safe working environment for female workers, where reports of sexual harassment are common.

Indeed, a vast majority of Bangladesh apparel factories do not yet have anti-harassment committees according to Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) data.

NGOs say they anti-harassment committees for female garment workers are needed ...

Nazma Akter, a prominent workers’ union leader in Bangladesh, president of the Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation and executive director of Awaj Foundation, which aims to protect workers’ rights in the ready-made-garment sector of Bangladesh, told Just Style: “It [harassment] is not limited to common workers or supervisors; instead it has spread to employees at a higher level as well. It’s been soaring since the pandemic,” said Akter.

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Mostafiz Ahmed, the academic who led the BILS study, said there are several factors why these committees are not effective. A key problem, he said, is the motivation of the factories that formed these committees: “All the [representatives of] factory managements [where the study was conducted] said [committees were formed] because of pressure from the buyers,” said Ahmed. “So, the basic motivation has a lot to do with buyer-driven demands, their compliance, code of conduct etc.,” rather than addressing the issue properly.

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Asif Ibrahim, BGMEA director, however, does not agree with the study.

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