‘Promoting gender justice for women workers in the Readymade Garment sector and advocating women’s safety during local commute and public spaces in Bangladesh’

Shojag (awaken) is a coalition formed in 2017 consisting of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), Naripokkho, and Christian Aid formed with the aim to end gender-based violence at workplace in Bangladesh, especially in the RMG sector. This coalition has implemented two projects since 2017: a) Ending Gender Based Violence in Garments Sector and b) Demanding accountability of the corporate actors to ensure the labor and human rights of the workers impacted by COVID 19 driven economic crisis.

At present, the coalition has begun a 36-month project co funded by European Union titled ‘Promoting gender justice for women workers in the Readymade Garment sector and advocating women’s safety during local commute and public spaces in Bangladesh’. The Project will intervene at RMG factories; public sphere (local community and transport); and Civil Society Organizations and Human Rights Defenders (HRD) to increase their capacity and awareness to combat inequality of women in workplace and violence against women (VAW) in public space to bring about systematic change. The project will address the root causes of GBV, including unequal power relations in the garments sector.

Overall Objective: Strengthen capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) involved in women workers’ rights to reduce violence against women (VAW) and uphold gender equality in the RMG factories and public places.

Project Location: Savar, Gazipur Sadar, and Kaliakoir

Project participants: 328 Shojag Sathis (HRDs) from among Garment Workers; 500 mid-level factory management staff; 30 Welfare Officers; 30 Sexual Harassment Prevention Complaint Committee, 30 women led CSOs; 300 landowners/shopkeepers/members of transport association; 5 Trade Unions in 30 factories.

Specific Objectives:

  1. To facilitate women garment workers to be aware of their protection rights, speak out against gender based violence, and access comprehensive support services (legal, health, psychosocial).
  2. To sensitize RMG factory adjacent communities and key stakeholders and increase awareness on GBV to ensure that women workers feel safe in the public spaces.
  3. To facilitate and hold the government, trade authorization bodies, factory management, and buyers in the garment industry to be held accountable to support the protection of women’s right to representation and safety in the workplace.Image

Sustainable Management System Bangladesh is proud to be a part of this project as implementing partner.

To know more details about this project, please click here.