Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Film on Bangladesh's Garment Workers Spotlights Women Driving Change

Reuters

   DHAKA - A new film offering a glimpse into the lives of garment workers
   in Bangladesh is challenging stereotypes about women by showing them
   driving the economy and fighting for justice in factories.

   "Made in Bangladesh" is based on the life of Daliya Akter, a garment
   worker who escaped child marriage and went on to lead a trade union
   fighting for workers' rights in the capital Dhaka.

   Akter's story - securing pay for her co-workers despite a concerned
   husband and threats from her bosses - puts a rare spotlight on female
   triumph over adversity in conservative Bangladesh, the world's
   second-largest garment exporter.

   Nearly 80% of the 4 million people working in the sector that produces
   clothes for companies including H&M and NEXT are women who work long
   hours for minimal pay.

   Still, stereotypes of women workers as passive and powerless persist.

   "There is a narrative that garment workers are always oppressed. But
   while working on the film I realized that these women fight back
   strongly and are empowered," director Rubaiyat Hossain told the Thomson
   Reuters Foundation by phone.

   "These workers... need to be heard. It is because of them that our
   economy is improving and we have to acknowledge them."

   Bangladesh's apparel industry has come under pressure to improve
   factory conditions and workers' rights, particularly after the collapse
   of Rana Plaza complex in Bangladesh more than six years ago, when 1,136
   garment workers were killed.

   Low wages

   The disaster led to more factory inspections, the closing down of
   dozens of factories deemed unsafe, and government labor reforms.

   But low wages and a declining number of female union leaders remain key
   challenges.

   'Made in Bangladesh' premiered in the United States on Dec. 6 and
   Akter, who is played by actor Rikita Shimu, said she hopes the film
   will encourage garment workers to speak up when it screens in
   Bangladesh next year.

   "There are a lot more unions today than in 2013 but there still are
   workers who are afraid to voice their concerns and the film will help
   them," said Akter.

   Akter began working with internationally acclaimed film-maker Rubaiyat
   Hossain in 2016 after the factory she worked at closed after losing
   international contracts.

   Akter later joined the thousands of Bangladeshi workers who travel to
   the Middle East each year in search of work, arriving in Jordan's port
   city of Aqaba in 2018 to work as a machine operator in a factory
   producing trousers and skirts.

   She returned to Bangladesh months later after falling ill.

   Despite her trials, Akter plans to continue fighting for workers'
   rights.

   "I don't know for how long I will live, but I know that I will fight
   for workers' rights till my last breath," she said.