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STRATEGIES FOR PEACE AND RECONCILIATION: Human Security or Military Security Afghan Women: Securing a Seat at the Table The Middle East — Possibilities for Peace? What Has Happened to the Women of Kosova? A Glimpse of Global Fund Grantees in Conflict Zones ----------------------- Women's Funds Gathers Despite Global Turmoil Looming Catastrophe in Bangladesh ----------------------- |
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Many people in the US are saying that the attack on the World Trade Center suddenly made the world seem much smaller. The impact was also felt halfway across the globe in developing countries like Bangladesh. My recent visit to meet Global Fund grantees in the capital, Dhaka, in January 2002 made this painfully clear. The US serves as the target destination for 55 percent of garments made in Bangladesh. When the US economy weakened, the garment sector abroad was directly affected. The garment sector is the heart of Bangladesh's industrial economy and its workforce is 90 percent female, mostly between the ages of 15 and 25.
Even for those garment workers who remain employed, life is not easy. Low wages virtually guarantee that home is in the slums, where women's health and security are challenged daily. For a decade, Nari Uddug Kendra (NUK) [Centre for Women's Initiatives], a Global Fund grantee, has been working with garment workers to improve their housing conditions and provide transportation to work. A majority of them emigrate from rural regions to the capital, where they are suddenly exposed to the dangers of urban life. NUK has provided safe and affordable housing for women and girls in dormitories and well-managed apartment complexes. Although there is no law against women riding the buses around Dhaka, patriarchal tradition virtually prohibits it. Therefore, a large majority of the 1.5 million apparel industry employees walk to work, up to two hours each way. When you add that to a 10- or 15-hour work day, six or seven days a week, little time remains for rest and recovery, let alone adequate caretaking of children or elderly parents. Phulki is another Global Fund grantee in Dhaka that improves garment workers' conditions by negotiating directly with factory owners. Phulki's dynamic director Suraiya Haque, has been able to persuade owners that ensuring the well-being of women results in more productive workers. In doing so, Phulki has achieved two important benefits. One is adult classes on sexual and reproductive health, held on company time and property. In addition, Phulki has persuaded 22 companies to offer on-site childcare. In the Korean-owned factory that I visited in Dhaka, which subcontracts the production of baseball caps for companies like Nike and Reebok, women were permitted to visit their children (see photo) as much as four times a day for breast-feeding or simple comfort. In many cases, Phulki receives the contract to operate the childcare services directly. This is how Phulki turned a $12,000 grant from the Global Fund into a self-sustaining program.
In the meantime, NUK's Executive Director, Mashuda Khatun Shefali, is building alliances to prevent further erosion of jobs in Bangladesh. When US Congressmen Joseph F. Crowley and James A. McDermott visited Bangladesh in January 2002, she promoted cooperation between the Government Workers Protection Alliance and the newly formed owners association in order to influence trade policy in the US. Together they encouraged the visiting congressmen to support fair trade agreements such as duty-free and quota-free exports. NUK predicts that this current crisis will inevitably become a catastrophe in 2004 when World Trade Organization (WTO) regulations eliminate trade preferences for exports in the name of "free trade." The WTO's attempt to level out competition in the global marketplace results in a severely unfair trade bias against developing countries. Shefali is already making plans to try to save the apparel sector and the livelihoods of thousands of female garment workers and their families. The alliances built now may prove to be a saving grace in the future.
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