Reproductive health facilities for female RMG workers sought
Speakers at a roundtable yesterday urged the garment factory owners in the country to provide adequate sexual and reproductive health facilities to their female workers to ensure a healthy workplace.
The facilities, if provided, will also increase the production of the factories, they said at the roundtable organised by Bangla daily Prothom Alo in association with SNV Netherlands Development Organisation at the newspaper's office in the capital.
Some medium-scale garment factories ensure health facilities for their workers, but most of the small factories do not provide such facilities, which the workers are supposed to get from their employers, said Mushfiqua Zaman Satiar, senior adviser of sexual and reproductive health and rights at the Dutch embassy.
On the other hand, large factories are doing well in this regard, which increases their productivity, she added.
Sharing her experiences, a garment worker in the city's Badda area, Taslima Begum, said, “We don't get the health facilities properly and even cannot share the physical problems we face during the menstrual period, as most of our bosses are males.”
“Our sufferings will be minimised, if the authorities concerned take some steps regarding the issues,” she said.
A total of 3,700 factories are members of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). Of them, 2,200 factories have already been inspected by the government and BGMEA, said BGMEA President Siddiqur Rahman, adding that the inspected ones had been found to have maintained “all required facilities” for their workers.
Khadiza Akter, vice president of Sommilito Garments Shramik Federation, urged the authorities concerned to conduct more training and workshop on sexual and reproductive health issues to create awareness among the garments workers.
Lawmaker Shirin Akhter said a section on working women's sexual and reproductive health can be included to the existing labour law so that the employers are forced to follow it.
Talking about wage hike of the garments workers, Secretary of Labour and Employment Ministry Mikail Shipar said the wage of the workers will not be increased before 2019 as the government did it in 2013.
Shamsuzzaman Bhuiyan, additional inspector at the department of inspection for factories and establishments; Abul Hossain, a project director of women and children affairs ministry; Mohim Hassan, chief executive officer of Northern Tosrifa Group; and Rubina Husain, vice president of Bangladesh Federation of Women Entrepreneurs, spoke.
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