On July 26 2020, SNV’s Working with Women Project-II funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands organised a virtual roundtable titled “Access to general and reproductive health services for RMG workers during new normal: Challenges and opportunities”. Maheen Sultan, BIGD’s Senior Fellow of Practice and Head of Gender and Social Development Cluster was one of the guest speakers. She mentioned how we perceive the RMG sector as only an export mechanism where we have a whole range for local production and these factories need to be considered as well. Majority of the female workers are labeled as the lower range taskforce. They are the most vulnerable ones who would be the first to lose their jobs in terms of crisis and downturn. So whenever they are ill, or have any serious symptoms, they are less likely to seek help due to fear of losing their jobs. Also the number of sexual harassment at the workplace has increased and female employees are highly unlikely to report such incidents again for the fear of losing their income source. Job security in such times is very crucial for the wellbeing of the employees. These are aspects that need attention.
Farhtheeba Rahat Khan, Team Leader, RMG Inclusive Business Programs, SNV Netherlands Development Organisation mentioned that access to general and reproductive health services is just as important as protecting our garment workers from the impact of COVID-19. Health insurance is essential, and there are pilots on insurance in the garment sector. Lastly, there is an immediate need for a long-stretching vision of preparedness and collaborative approach to culminate the learnings and come up with a standardised framework to ensure health and gender issues for RMG workers.
On July 26 2020, SNV’s Working with Women Project-II funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands organised a virtual roundtable titled “Access to general and reproductive health services for RMG workers during new normal: Challenges and opportunities”. Maheen Sultan, BIGD’s Senior Fellow of Practice and Head of Gender and Social Development Cluster was one of the guest speakers. She mentioned how we perceive the RMG sector as only an export mechanism where we have a whole range for local production and these factories need to be considered as well. Majority of the female workers are labeled as the lower range taskforce. They are the most vulnerable ones who would be the first to lose their jobs in terms of crisis and downturn. So whenever they are ill, or have any serious symptoms, they are less likely to seek help due to fear of losing their jobs. Also the number of sexual harassment at the workplace has increased and female employees are highly unlikely to report such incidents again for the fear of losing their income source. Job security in such times is very crucial for the wellbeing of the employees. These are aspects that need attention.
Farhtheeba Rahat Khan, Team Leader, RMG Inclusive Business Programs, SNV Netherlands Development Organisation mentioned that access to general and reproductive health services is just as important as protecting our garment workers from the impact of COVID-19. Health insurance is essential, and there are pilots on insurance in the garment sector. Lastly, there is an immediate need for a long-stretching vision of preparedness and collaborative approach to culminate the learnings and come up with a standardised framework to ensure health and gender issues for RMG workers.
