by Hana Shams Ahmed
Standing Up and Standing Out
[Daily Star, March 7, 2008]
Garment workers demonstrating for their rights (Photo by Syed Zakir Hossain)
Begum Rokeya’s ‘Sultana’s Dream’ was an early work of fantasy fiction. But if any group of women have come close to achieving that state, it is the 18 lakh garment workers in the 4,500 factories all over the country. In a society where a woman’s first responsibility is always seen as the caretaker of the house and mother to her children, where her career is secondary to her husband’s, it is these garment workers who have at many homes become the sole providers for their families. In many cases, it is the husbands who do the family cooking because of the late work hours wives have at the factories.
But their work is not without its share of troubles. It is an everyday struggle they have to face, and they do so with determination from offensive behaviour at the workplace, to long and tiring repetitive work, lack of recreational facilities, and the constant fight for fair pay and good working conditions. Circumstances like these can make or break a person. One woman who has been fighting these barriers for years is 33-year-old Najma Akhter. Starting out as a shy 11-year-old who had to leave school in 5th grade and join a factory as a helper, she has become one the most vocal garment worker leaders of the time.
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One of the big problems for women working in the garment industry is the constant harassment faced from outsiders while commuting. From making comments about their bodies to stalking, groups of men make their work travel a daily ordeal. “People harassed us all the time and made awful remarks at us when we walked down the road,” says Najma, “and even when we did protests and marches people would say bad things about us: that we were not good people and that our character was bad.”
Najma has a commitment to the cause of these workers. “Because I am a sufferer I know first-hand the kind of problems they face, that’s why I always try to empower them and I want that more people take such leadership roles from the grassroots level so that they can solve their own problems,” she says, “We have had to overcome a lot of barriers to get where we are today. Now I can talk to the government, to the owners, I can talk to the buyers about the workers’ problems, and can make national and international negotiations. Everyone knows me and I can talk about how this industry can be more efficient, and I feel very proud of that. But I feel more people need to come out and take such roles.”
Najma believes that the garment industry is actually a progressive place for women in Bangladesh. “These women are working and sometimes their husbands cook for them,” she says, “you won’t even find this trend in most educated families. I don’t have to tell my husband where I’m going or when I’m coming home. When I first got married he didn’t like the kind of work that I did, but I suffered a lot to come to this position and I couldn’t go back from there.”
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