SEXUAL harassment, widespread in both formal and informal sectors, has significantly hindered women鈥檚 participation in the workforce. This form of abuse extends beyond the workplace and appears to be pervasive, occurring on commutes and in their living environments, restricting the lives of those who aspire to work.
Out of the 60.8 million employed, approximately 5.5 per cent have reported experiencing sexual harassment (with 7.4 per cent being urban women), particularly in industrial sectors. However, this is likely a significant under-reporting. According to the 2015 Violence Against Women Survey for Bangladesh, 76.8 per cent of physical violence occurred in the husband鈥檚 home, while 21.9 per cent took place in the workplace, highlighting the severity of the situation.
Data on the prevalence of sexual harassment in workplaces varies due to differences in definitions and perceptions. As a sensitive issue, it is challenging to accurately capture through surveys, and the situation can differ significantly based on the type of workplace being examined.
The Brac Institute of Governance and Development, in partnership with the Institute of Development Studies, conducted a study titled 鈥楾he Gendered Price of Precarity: Young Women Navigating Workplace Sexual Harassment.鈥� The research focused on the experiences, voices, and agency of women employed as domestic workers and in agro-processing firms. It found that while there is a general awareness of workplace sexual harassment, there is limited language available to clearly express it.
Harassment is a common experience, with women and girls employing different strategies to prevent and cope with it, both at the workplace and during their commute. If the abuse becomes intolerable, they may quit their jobs or use informal methods to report or address the perpetrator.
Gender-based violence has been a significant issue since the early development of the ready-made garment industry. Workers were often discouraged from using formal channels to file complaints or express grievances due to the managers鈥� control over them and fear of job loss. In the sector鈥檚 early years, the absence of fair complaint mechanisms exacerbated the situation, leading to the normalisation of sexual harassment and GBV within factory workplaces.
A significant number of female garment workers are migrants from rural areas and low-income families, which often leaves them without local social support networks. The majority of supervisors at these workplaces are male, creating power imbalances that make women more vulnerable and less likely to report abuse. Despite the economic benefits of steady employment in the apparel industry, women still face various forms of violence. According to the Fair Wear Foundation, 75 per cent of female garment workers have experienced verbal abuse, 30 per cent have faced psychological violence, and 20 per cent have been subjected to physical violence.
Although Bangladesh has yet to ratify the ILO Violence and Harassment Convention 2019, its government policies and laws already acknowledge the importance of ensuring that workplaces are free from all forms of harassment and abuse, including sexual harassment.
The national action plans under the National Women鈥檚 Development Policy and efforts to eliminate violence against women emphasise the need to address and end sexual harassment in the workplace. Additionally, a 2009 High Court directive established guidelines to prevent sexual harassment in both educational institutions and workplaces, which included raising awareness and setting up prevention and complaints committees across all such establishments.
However, implementation remains weak, and even workplaces that have established such committees have struggled to make them effective.
Although awareness of workplace sexual harassment has grown in the apparel sector, we still have limited knowledge about its prevalence in other formal sectors, the public sector, and even less in informal sectors where most women are employed. The BIGD-IDS research has highlighted aspects related to identifying and protesting such behaviour, but further research is needed to explore the variations, opportunities, and challenges in addressing this issue. This effort is crucial for establishing complaint mechanisms that enable women to report incidents and seek justice.
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Md Habibul Haque is a lecturer in English at ZH Sikder University of Science and Technology.