What does it take for a woman to become a Bangladeshi garment factory supervisor?

The garment factory worker approaches her supervisor with bowed head and asks quietly for the day off to take her mother to the doctor. “Certainly not!” the supervisor snaps back. “We have a target to meet, how do you think I’m going to meet it if workers keep going absent? Get back to your workstation!”

“But, sir, I really need to take this time off she is really sick….”

The supervisor slams his fist on the table and yells in her face that the [expletive deleted] worker should stop bothering him and get back to work this minute, threatening to fire her if she doesn’t do as she is told.

Then they both sit back down on their plastic chairs, laughing and slapping each other on the back, as the rest of the trainees applaud the drama.

In fact, although this is a fairly typical exchange on the Bangladeshi garment factory floor, both the role players in this case were men. That’s because among the group of 24 supervisors attending ETI’s training session, all – except one – are men.

The session is part of ETI’s programme to improve ‘social dialogue’ – dialogue between workers and managers – in particular through effective worker-manager Participation Committees (PCs). PCs are required by a Bangladeshi law that is rarely implemented.

By contrast to the predominantly male supervisors in the training room, out on the factory floor almost all the workers are women. This is a common situation across most Asian garment producing countries. And it creates an even more unequal worker-manager power dynamic than normal because in Bangladesh (as in many other Asian countries), women are traditionally expected to be submissive, obedient and subservient to men. Having a powerful female Prime Minister has not changed this culture.

At ETI’s conference last year, another relatively (and untypically) powerful Bangladeshi woman Rubana Haq, Managing Director of the Mohammadi Group of garment factories, was on the panel discussing what makes a job empowering for a woman. She told us “There are almost 3.5 million women workers in the Bangladesh RMG sector. This gives them an income which, although not high, gives them empowerment in the home. However, they are rarely elected onto PCs. This is partly because of low expectations of them and low self-esteem” She gave the example of one woman candidate who didn’t even vote for herself as she was convinced she would not win anyway.

“They are extremely vulnerable to manipulation,” continued Haq, “few have studied beyond grade 10. Male workers assume female workers are not interested in or capable of being PC committee members.”

Shamima, the solitary woman at the supervisor training session, has broken this mould. With quiet determination, she has worked her way up through the ranks, proving her competence to her supervisors and managers and demonstrating that she could get better results from her fellow workers. She is now a floor manager, managing several male supervisors – including her own husband. She acknowledges that it was an enlightened (male) manager at her previous workplace that recognised her potential and gave her the opportunity to shine. What marks her out from so many other women in her situation, is that she had the courage to seize that opportunity.

After witnessing the training session in Dhaka last year, I asked some local people why there were so few women supervisors. They told me that women don’t want the job because it is too much responsibility on top of their domestic ones, or that the hours are too long and it would not be safe for them to travel home alone late at night. Shamima brushed aside such objections and said none of that had held her back.

She said she had faced resistance from her family, who thought it unbecoming that a woman should be pushing herself forward in this way, but she overcame it. Her husband in particular was not overly thrilled about her rising above him. But she has managed to smooth that over.

What Shamima’s story proves is that women most definitely do have both the desire and the ability to have positions of skill and influence in garment factories (and beyond). But it requires a supportive environment and an enlightened management willing to give women the confidence and the opportunity to prove themselves.

Becoming a PC member builds workers’ confidence, their knowledge of their rights and their skills in negotiating with management. With these benefits, it can also be a first step towards progressing from the factory floor towards supervisory or management roles.

Rubana Haq insisted that her female employees should be encouraged to become members of the PCs in her factories. As a result eight women were elected onto the committee next time around. Haq concludes “It takes focus and commitment to bring about change in this very male-dominated sector.”

Read more about ETI's work in Bangladesh and find out about Empowering Women Workers in global supply chains.