Bangladesh’s readymade garment (RMG) factories have a gender pay gap of up to 30% in favour of men for base wages, according to a study report.
The factories have the largest gender pay gaps of 22% to 30% for base wages, while at the garment factories in Turkey, the gaps are smaller but variable, at between 4% and 17%, said the report titled “Gender pay gaps in global supply chains: findings from workplaces in Bangladesh, Colombia, Morocco, Thailand and Turkey.”
Conducted by United States-based research organization Anker Research Institute, the study found that the gender pay gaps for gross cash wages, including overtime pay and cash allowances and bonuses, ranged from -5.5% to 25.9%.
The report said that in garment factories in Turkey and Bangladesh and at the farms in Morocco, women frequently earn less than men doing the same type of work.
The study identified that in Bangladesh RMG sector men might be able to earn more than women doing the same work by negotiating a higher base wage or by switching factories for higher pay, especially when there were shortages of skilled labour.
According to the report, at many workplaces, men are disproportionately likely to have contracts and/or forms of pay that are associated with higher wages, such as monthly rate pay and piece rate pay in Bangladesh.
The report revealed that in garment factories in Bangladesh and Thailand, women tend to work slightly more days per month than men, but in Turkey and Colombia, men tend to work slightly more days per month than women.
The report presented the findings of studies in five countries to test the Anker Research Institute’s new methodology for measuring the size and determinants of gender pay gaps at workplaces in global supply chains.
These studies involved analysis of payroll data for over 15,000 women and men working at 12 factories, farms, and packhouses in the garment and agro-food sectors, as well as over 350 interviews with workers, managers and stakeholder organizations.
Results from the 12 study workplaces in five countries and in three economic sectors of garments, bananas and fresh produce indicated considerable diversity in the size and causes of gender pay gaps.
The ARI conducted its study in three garment factories in Bangladesh with between 1,500 and 4,000 workers per factory.
The study recommended that the employers should monitor wages for women and men across the entire workforce and make a commitment to reducing and eventually eliminating gender pay gaps, where they exist.
The study also urged industry associations, trade unions, governments and brands to undertake comprehensive and gender-neutral evaluations of all occupations in the garment sector and agri-food sectors to ensure equal pay for work of equal value.
