Author: Tahrima Sumayara, Md. Ashraful Islam

Doi: 10.26480/mjhrm.01.2026.36.42

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Despite being the second largest exporter in the global apparel industry, Bangladesh is counted among the countries with lowest minimum wage. In spite of being the lowest paid female labour force compared to other apparel exporting countries, grass root female workers occupying almost 70% of the man-power proportion of RMG industry in Bangladesh is contributing to the country’s wider economy and also their individual economic empowerment. A new wage structure for RMG workers was set in November, 2023 and practically implemented from January, 2024. This paper aims to identify the correlation between the monetary increment and its impacts on the empowerment of female RMG workers both in their private and professional spheres of life, focusing on the elements of empowerment, such as: resource, agency and outcome. This is qualitative research, especially focused on meeting the requirements of feminist research methodology, conducted among 15 female RMG workers of two knitwear industries located respectively in Gazipur and Sreepur, near Dhaka. In addition, the opinions of the decision-making persons associated to RMG sector was assessed while preparing the paper. The study depicts that economic enhancement can’t be the sole indicator for ensuring macro-level empowerment in a working-class Bangladeshi women’s life. Rather empowerment is influenced, allocated and practiced mostly in light of the socio-economic practices and the norms of classic South-Asian patriarchy.