A crisis in plain sight: Child marriage and violence stalk RMG sector in Bangladesh
Of those surveyed in a recent Icddr'b research two-thirds married and nearly 65% experiencing their first pregnancy before age 18
The findings from the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (Icddr'b)'s recent study are not merely statistics; they form a stark portrait of a systemic crisis unfolding within a community that forms the backbone of a national industry.
The research took place from August 2022 to December 2024 in regions monitored by Icddr'b's Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System, particularly in the Korail and Mirpur slums of Dhaka and a slum in Tongi, Gazipur. This research, which surveyed 778 young female garment workers over these two years, reveals the shocking prevalence of child marriage and early pregnancy, with two-thirds married and nearly 65% experiencing their first pregnancy before age 18.
Even as we celebrate the economic empowerment factory jobs are supposed to produce, these numbers suggest a profound social failure before they even enter the workplace. In other words, the factory floor is not the origin of their vulnerability, but a stage where pre-existing inequalities and traumas are compounded.
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What this implies is that economic participation alone is not a magic bullet for women's empowerment and liberation. Instead, this particular narrative is a profoundly contradictory one: it combines reasonably optimistic insights, such as the increased knowledge of contraception and gender equality, with abominable patterns, creating what the study reveals as a catastrophic shadow of violence.
The continued "very high" and increased prevalence of most forms of spousal violence is devastating, while rising workplace psychological violence creates a pincer movement of abuse. The worst part is the near-total silence from survivors, who are increasingly less likely to seek out even informal help, which reflects a devastating depletion of trust and support systems.
From this perspective, the situation is a tragic tangle of progress and regress, where hard-won knowledge is rendered almost useless without the safety to act upon it. A woman may know about emergency contraception, but what power does that hold if she cannot refuse her husband? She may claim to favour gender equality, but then how is she supposed to practice it if she faces retaliation at home and harassment on the job?
The gap between knowledge and action, highlighted by the data on unintended pregnancy and abortion, is the critical issue. The study isn't just an indictment of poor health outcomes; it is evidence of catastrophic failure to protect and ensure justice.
So, what must be done? The solution cannot be a single, isolated programme. A holistic, multi-pronged initiative is urgently required. Factories must be compelled to establish and enforce zero-tolerance policies for workplace violence, with confidential, trusted reporting channels. Simultaneously, community-based support systems need strengthening by integrating legal aid, counselling, and reproductive health services into the very neighbourhoods where these women live.
We must build bridges between their economic roles and their social well-being, ensuring that the dignity of the worker is protected with the same vigour as the productivity of the factory. The goal must be to transform these workplaces from sites of compounded risk into genuine platforms for empowerment.
Dr Selim Raihan is the executive director of the South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (Sanem).
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.
