Early marriage, teenage pregnancy rampant among female RMG workers, study reveals
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Two out of every three female garment workers were married before reaching 18 years of age, and nearly 65 per cent of them had their first pregnancy before turning 18, said an icddr,b study on Monday.
Furthermore, about one-third of the participants reported at least one unintended pregnancy, while one in four had an experience of abortion or menstrual regulation procedure.
icddr,b, at its headquarters in the city, shared the study results in a seminar titled “Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights among Female Garment Workers Living in Urban Slums of Bangladesh: Insights from a Longitudinal Cohort Study”.
The 24-month cohort study on women working in Bangladesh’s ready-made garment (RMG) sector, conducted by AdSearch by icddr,b with support from Global Affairs Canada,is the first study of its kind in Bangladesh.
The research was conducted from August 2022 to December 2024 in areas under icddr,b’s Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System, specifically in the Korail and Mirpur slums of Dhaka and the Tongi slum of Gazipur.
The study was carried out through surveys conducted every six months, covering a total of 778 garment factory workers aged 15-27 years.
Awareness of long-acting family planning methods among these women rose significantly from 49 per cent at the start of the study to 70 per cent at the two-year follow-up, according to the study.
Knowledge about emergency contraceptive pills or tablets also increased notably, rising from 15 per cent of women at the start to 39 per cent later on, and positive attitudes towards gender equality in family planning increased from 54 per cent to 71 per cent.
Female garment workers are also victims of violence, both at home and in the workplace.
The rate of violence by their husbands against the female workers was very high in the last 12 months, and all forms of violence, except sexual violence, increased further over the two years.
The prevalence of psychological violence in the workplace was also notably high, rising from 48 per cent of workers at the start to 55 per cent after two years.
Worryingly, almost none of the women who experienced violence sought formal help.
The percentage of women who sought informal help (from family or friends) dropped sharply from 35 per cent at the start to only 21 per cent at the end of two years.
In cases of workplace violence, only one in five women reported the violence to the authorities at the beginning, and this figure remained unchanged after two years.
Among the factories where the surveyed workers are employed, only 22 per cent were found to provide sanitary pads, and only 14 per cent reported supplying family planning materials.
The presentation concluded with a panel discussion.
Dr Ubaidur Rob, former Director of Population Council Bangladesh, said, despite being relatively economically advanced, the sexual and reproductive health status of female workers in Bangladesh's garment industry is worse than that of other women.