Economic Restructuring, Women's Work, and Empowerment in Bangladesh

Southern Illinois University At Carbondale, Carbondale IL

Investigators

Abstract

This project follows 300 urban women workers in Bangladesh from 2003-2005 in order to assess the impact of global and national economic changes on their types of employment, income-earning strategies, and empowerment. This research uses quantitative and qualitative methods to generate individual level data during a period of rapid change in global trade to answer two general questions: First, what are the macro and individual level determinants of Bangladeshi women's work histories and their shifts to another sector, staying in the same sector, or migrating abroad? Second, what are the effects of women's work within a particular sector, sector shifts, and work history on their empowerment (resources, agency, and outcomes)? Data are drawn from annual surveys and quarterly follow-up interviews that explore women's background characteristics, work, family, migration and life activities. These methods generate work interval and duration data used in life table and hazard models to estimate dynamic models that reflect international, national, and individual determinants of women's work and moves among different types of formal, informal, and household work over two years. The analyses estimate probabilities of women staying in one work area and/or their moves to other work that occurred during changes in trade rules, an important issue for policy makers who seek solutions to unemployment. This research evaluates the competing claims of World Bank and other researchers such as Ward, Pyle, Carr, Chen, Pearson, and Kabeer on the effects of economic restructuring and economic development on women workers. This project's broader impacts lie in its potential contribution to economic policy makers, women's rights groups, and scholars interested in understanding the consequences of global restructuring for women, families, and countries that depend on garment work; the project also will provide opportunities for international faculty collaboration and student training in the U.S. and Bangladesh.