Psychosocial Stressors and Ready-Made Garment Industries in Bangladesh:An ethno-epidemiological study of its causes and consequences (Extension)
Final Report Abstract
The aim of the present study was, first, to elicit the embeddedness of Bangladesh’s textile industry in overarching global structures and networks. For this purpose, an ethnographic approach was chosen, consisting of both participant observation and interviews with key industry actors (e.g., representatives of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, factory owners and garment workers themselves). To this end, PD Dr. Strümpell undertook a four-week research trip to Dhaka and the surrounding area at the end of 2019 to talk to producers, industry associations, trade unions and workers in order to capture their (different) perspectives on the situation of the garment industry in Bangladesh and, in particular, its embedding in global contexts. In spring 2022, another four-week visit to Dhaka took place in order to expand the findings in further discussions with factory owners, managers, workers and trade unionists and to find out about the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic on the industry. In this phase, interviews and observations during visits to factories and while staying in workers' neighborhoods were used in particular to examine the concrete production processes and social relationships in order to identify stressors during and outside of work. Further objectives of the study were to describe stressors of RMG workers with a focus on stressors outside the workplace, the role of social relationships in the workplace, and their possible associations with self-reported health. A final objective was to replicate a key finding of our previous study, which found a positive relationship between good promotion prospects and elevated hair cortisol concentrations among RMG workers. To answer these questions, interviews were conducted with 1,118 workers in labor colonies. Participants voluntarily provided hair samples for hair cortisol determination. The strongest stressors outside work were financial obligations in form of support for one’s children or spouse. In terms of social relationships at work, participants reported high levels of support from both colleagues and supervisors, high levels of vertical trust between management and employees, and low to moderate levels of workplace bullying. Participants reported high levels of various health complaints, such as headache and back pain. Worse (working) conditions were associated with poorer health. The positive association between promotion prospects and elevated hair cortisol could not be replicated. Our findings could help to improve working conditions of RMG workers in Bangladesh in the long term and are of particular interest to governments or companies in bilateral trade relationships with Bangladesh.
Publications
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The Transnational Ready-Made Garment Industry in Bangladesh: Shifts and changes, late 1970s until now
Strümpell, C. & Ashraf, H.
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Of ‘Nimble Fingers’ and ‘Jacquard’s Soldiers’: Up-scaling, up-skilling and the remasculinization of labor in Bangladesh’s garment industry. In TRAFO – Blog for Transregional Research
Strümpell, C. & Ashraf, H.
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Re-masculinizing Labour in Bangladesh’s Ready-Made Garment Industry. Mainstream 59 (37), 28.08.2021
Strümpell, C. & Ashraf, H.
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Social stressors and social resources at work and their association with self-reported health complaints among ready-made garment workers in Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health, 22(1).
Dreher, Annegret; Yusuf, Rita; Ashraf, Hasan; Ahmed, Syed A. K. Shifat; Strümpell, Christian & Loerbroks, Adrian
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Work–family conflict, financial issues and their association with self-reported health complaints among ready-made garment workers in Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 96(4), 483-496.
Dreher, Annegret; Yusuf, Rita; Ashraf, Hasan; Ahmed, Syed A. K. Shifat; Strümpell, Christian & Loerbroks, Adrian
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Introduction: The Relevance of Trotsky’s ‘Uneven and Combined Development’ for the Anthropology of Industrial Labour. Industrial Labour in an Unequal World, 1-18. De Gruyter.
Hoffmann, Michael & Strümpell, Christian
