Women Empowerment or Gender Equality: Which One Should Come First for Augmenting Satisfaction and Performance of Female Employees: A study on the Ready-made Garment Sector of Bangladesh
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18533/ijbsr.v9i1.1142Keywords:
Employee Performance, Gender Equality, Job Satisfaction, Ready-Made Garment (RMG), Sector Women Empowerment.Abstract
In this era of globalization, numerous court rulings and laws have legitimized women empowerment and their right to be treated equally both at the society and at the workplace. Yet certain discriminatory behaviors remind females that they are not truly equal at the workplace. Ready-made Garments (RMG) sector, especially of a developing and a male dominated country like Bangladesh, is also not an exception to that. Although women empowerment and gender equality are interrelated concepts; this paper tried to find out among these two concepts which one should be emphasized to enhance the job-satisfaction and performance of the female employees' in the RMG sector of Bangladesh. Data were gathered following a quantitative survey by a structured questionnaire conducted among a diverse group of female employees (N = 350) working in 30 different ready-made garment factories of Bangladesh following convenience random sampling method. For analysis purpose, several statistical techniques have been applied using SPSS software. Based on the analysis it was found that gender inequality impedes women empowerment. This study, therefore, recommends that gender equality should be emphasized over women empowerment to augment the job satisfaction and performance of the female employees in the RMG sector of Bangladesh.
References
Abdin, M.J. (2008). Women Empowerment in Bangladesh. Social Science Research Network.1-17. Retrieved from http://scholar.google.no/scholar?q=+percentE2percent80percent9CWomen+ Empowerment+in+Bangladeshpercent2C+Abdin&btnG=&hl=no&as_sdt=0percent2C5 (accessed on 10-12-14)
Absar, S. S. (2001). Problems Surrounding Wages: The Readymade Garment Sector in Bangladesh. Labor Management in Development Journal, 2(7), 3-17. Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/41832/4/2-7-ssharmin.pdf (accessed on 21.12.14)
Ahmed, J. U., & Hossain, T. (2009). Industrial Safety in the Readymade Garment Sector: A Developing Country Perspective. Sri Lankan Journal of Management, 14(1), 1-13. Retrieved from http://sljm.pim.lk/admin/uploads/industrial_safety_in_the_readymade_garment_sectora_developing_country_perspective.pdf (accessed on 21.12.14.)
Baden, S., & Reeves, H. (2000). Gender and Development Concepts and Definitions, BRIDGE (development - gender). Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies.
Baird, K., & Wang, h. (2010). Employee empowerment: extent of adoption and influential factors. Personnel Review, 39 (5), 574-599. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Cornwall, A., & Anyidoho, N. A. (2010). Introduction: Women's Empowerment: Contentions and Contestations Development, 53 (2), 144-149. Retrieved from http://www.palgrave-journals.com/development/journal/v53/n2/pdf/dev201034a.pdf (accessed on 20.12.14)
Dejene, A. (2003). Integrated Natural Resources Management to Enhance Food Security: The Case for Community-Based Approaches. Ethiopia, Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Falk, R. F. & Miller, N. B. (1992). A Primer for Soft Modeling. Akron, Ohio: The University of Akron.
Ghiselli, R., La Lopa, J., & Bai, B. (2001). Job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and turnover intent among food-service managers. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 42 (2), 28-37.
Ho, K. H. (2007). Structural Violence as a Human Rights Violation. Essex Human Rights Review, 4 (2), 1-17. Retrieved from http://projects.essex.ac.uk/ehrr/V4N2/ho.pdf (accessed on 21.12.14)
Hossain, I. (2018). RMG exports saw 8.76% growth last fiscal year. Dhaka tribune. Retrieved from https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2018/07/05/rmg-exports-saw-8-76-growth-last-fiscal-year
Hossain, N. (2012). Women's Empowerment Revisited: From Individual to Collective Power among the Export Sector Workers of Bangladesh. IDS Working Papers, 389, 1-40. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2040-0209.2012.00389.x/pdf (accessed on 20.12.14)
Hossain, I., & Al-Amin, M. (2012). Employment of Women in the Globalization of Production in the Ready Made Garment sector of Bangladesh: Welfare or Exploitation?. Empowerment, Women for Women, 19, 1-16. . Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Jamaly, R., & Wickramanayake, E. (1996). Women Workers in the Garment Industry in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Development in Practice, 6(2), 156-161. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4028981 (accessed on 21.12.14).
Kibria, N. (1998). Becoming a Garments Worker: The Mobilization of Women into the Garments Factories of Bangladesh, 9, 1-22. Geneva: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. Retrieved from http://www.unrisd.org/unrisd/website/document.nsf/ab82a 6805797760f80256b4f005da1ab/523115d41019b9d980256b67005b6ef8/$FILE/opb9.pdf (accessed on 21.12.14).
Kabeer, N. (1999). Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment, Development and Change, 30 (3), 435-464. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-7660.00125/pdf (accessed on 21.12.14).
Kabeer, N. (2001). Conflicts Over Credit: Re-Evaluating the Empowerment Potential of Loans to Rural Women in Bangladesh. World Development, 29, 63-84.
Kabeer, N. (2005). Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment: A Critical Analysis of the Third Millennium Development Goal 1. Gender and Development, 13 (1), 13-24. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13552070512331332273 (accessed on 21.12.14).
Khosla, N. (2009). The Ready-made Garment Industry in Bangladesh: A Means to Reducing Gender-Based Social Exclusion of Women?. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 11 (1), 289-303.
Lorber, J. (2010). Gender Inequality: Feminist Theories and Politics, 4th edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://poliscifi.pbworks.com/f/lorber_feminisms_2010.pdf (accessed on 21.12.14).
Li, L., & Leung, R. (2001). Female managers in Asian hotels: profile and career challenges. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 13, 189-90.
Luthans, F. (2006). Organizational Behavior, Indonesian Edition. Translated by Andika, V. et al. Publisher : Yogyakarta .
Mukhopadhyay, M. (2016). Mainstreaming Gender or “Streaming” Gender Away: Feminists Marooned in the Development Business. In: Harcourt W. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Gender and Development. Palgrave Macmillan, London.
McCuddy, M., Pinar, M., & Birkan, I. (2010). Gender bias in managing human resources in the Turkish hospitality industry: is bias impacted by demographic context?. Proceedings of ASBBS, 17 (1), 479-93.
Muni, N. (2006). Women Empowerment: Dynamics and Dimensions. In B. Dasarathi, & R. L. Panigrahy (Eds.), Women Empowerment (pp. 24-30). New Dehli : Discovery Publishing House. Retrieved from http://www.google.no/books?hl=no&lr=&id=sGUDVmN4IkYC&oi=fnd&pg=PA24&dq=women+empowerment+dynamics+and+dimensions&ots=NC_hqZ1T2Y&sig=QkP4NwftHdbFQknhi6S7Og41LLw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=womenpercent20empowermentpercent20dynamicspercent20andpercent20dimensions&f=false (accessed on 20.12.14).
Mosedale, S. (2005). Assessing women's empowerment: towards a conceptual framework. Journal of International Development, 17 (2), 243-257. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jid.1212/pdf (accessed on 21.12.14)
Miller, H. E., & Rosse, J. G. (2002). Emotional reserve and adaptation to job dissatisfaction. The psychology of work: Theoretically based empirical research, 205-231.
Mahmud, S. (2003). Is Bangladesh Experiencing a Feminization of Labor Force?. The Bangladesh Development Studies, 29(1/2), 1-37. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/40795670.pdf?acceptTC=true&jpdConfirm=true (accessed on 21.12.14).
Mangkunegara, A. A. A. P. (2005). Human Resources Evaluation. Reflika Aditama, Bandung.
Nasarudin. (2001). Job Satisfaction and Organization Commitment among Malaysian Workforce, 270-276. Proceeding of 5 Asian Academic of Management Conference, Klatang Pahang.
Nick, N., Jack, l. S., Warren, R. N., & Barbar, W. (1994). Empowerment in organisations, 2(3), 45-55. Clarendon, oxford: The reader's Digest Oxford word finder.
Ogato, G. S. (2013). The Quest for Gender Responsive Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) Policy in Least Developed Countries: Policy and Strategy Implications for Promoting Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in Ethiopia. International Journal of Technology and Business Management, 15(1), 23-44.
Okumus, F., Sariisik, M., & Naipaul, S. (2010). Understanding why women work in five-star hotels in a developing country and their work-related problems. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 11 (1), 76-105.
Pieterse, A. N., Knippenberg, D.V., Schippers, M., & Stam, D. (2010). Transformational and transactional leadership and innovative behavior: The moderating role of psychological empowerment. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31, 609–623. Retrieved from Wiley Inter Science (www.interscience.wiley.com)
Prawirosentono, S. (2000). Employee Performance Policy.Yogyakarta, BPFE.
Paul-Majumder, P., & Begum, A. (2000). The gender imbalances in the export oriented garment industry in Bangladesh. Policy Research Report on Gender and Development, The World Bank, Development Research Group/Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network, 12, 1-40. Retrieved from http://iiav.nl/epublications/2000/gender_imbalances.pdf (accessed on 21.12.14).
Ripley, R., & Ripley, M. (1992). Empowerment, the cornerstone of quality: Empowering management in innovative organizations in the 1990’s. Management Decision, 30, 20-43.
Rusbult, C., Farrell, D., Rogers, G., & Mainous, A. III. (1988). Impact of exchange variables on exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect: an integrative model of responses to declining job satisfaction. Academy of Management Journal, 31(3), 599-627.
Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2008). Organizational Behavior. Salemba Empat, Jakarta: Twelve Edition of Book 1, Translation of Diana, A.
Statistics Solution. (2018). Complete dissertation by Statistics Solution. Retrieved from https://www.statisticssolutions.com/mediator-variable/
Spatz, D. (2000). Team-building in construction. Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction, 5(3), 93-105.
Senem, E. (2016). How to Study Gender Equality Policy Cross-Nationally? Aggregate or Disaggregate Gender Equality Policy Indices?. Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, 125 (1), 47-76.
Spector, P. E. (1997). Job satisfaction: Application, assessment, causes, and consequences, 3. Sage publications. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781452231549
Sen, A. (2001). The Many Faces of Gender Inequality, 466-477. New republic. Retrieved from http://prof.chicanas.com/readings/SenInequality.pdf (accessed on 21.12.14).
Solimun. (2011). Testing for Mediation Variable. International Conference of Basic Science. FMIPA of Brawijaya University.
USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development). 2013. “Strengthening Economic Growth through Investments in Gender Equality.” http://ukraine.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/fact_sheets/eg_ gender_factsheet_fin al.pdf.
Wright, D. (2000). Industrialization and the Changing Role of Women in Bangladesh. Asian Studies Review, 24(2), 231-242. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/ 10357820008713271 (accessed on 21.12.14).
Zikmund, W. G., Babin, B. J., Carr, J. C., Adhikari, A., & Griffin, M. (2013). Business research methods: a South-Asian Perspective. Delhi, India: Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
