Prevalent Workplace Sexual Abuse of Ready-Made Garments Female Workers in Bangladesh: Understanding the Pseudo Dynamics of This Offence from Socio-Criminological Perspective

Abstract

Safe workplace for women is a matter of great concern. Despite extensive empirical research  focusing on crime as sexual harassment across various spheres of human existence, even in  the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, sexual harassment remains a painstaking global thorn  in the flesh. Though the sexual harassment is at its peak, a significant proportion of society  normalizes this as a custom and manifests it by keeping silent about sexual harassment  against RMG female workers. The objective of this study is to understand the major factors  contributing the sexual harassment at ready-made garment factories in Bangladesh. This  study utilizes qualitative research methodology employing purposive snowball sampling of  20 garments female workers and 5 KII in-depth interviews, aiming to understand the  underlying factors of this behavior from a socio-criminological perspectives. The findings of  the research highlighted several issues, including gender inequality, the normalization of  sexual harassment in the workplace, the significance of sex education in institutional  education, power dominance within the organizational structure, and the repercussions for  those who report such behavior. The recommendations emphasize how critical it is to boost  women's involvement in trade unions, update HR rules, and provide sex education and gender  equality training via the RMG industry's Human Resources division. These steps can go a  long way towards reducing sexual harassment in the RMG industry.