A despeito do aumento da participação das mulheres no mercado de trabalho de Blangadesh, casos de assédio sexual e discriminação são cada vez mais comuns. Eis um excerto do artigo Urbanisation in Bangladesh proves a double-edged sword for women:
[...]Yet even as urbanisation has galvanised women's march towards greater economic freedom, the equality and safety of Bangladesh's new workers are still major issues.
In the garment industry, women are an easy target for exploitation and discrimination. With an average age of 19, usually unmarried and with little education or training, many women enter urban employment with a comparative disadvantage in terms of pay, working conditions, the possibility of promotion and even getting paid for overtime. They earn 60% of the salary of male colleagues.
According to a 2003 report (pdf) by the Centre for Policy Dialogue and UN Population Fund, there is a clear link between the increased sexual harassment of Bangladeshi women and their improved economic status, increased mobility and newfound visibility away from the home.
A 2011 War on Want report (pdf) on the Bangladesh garment industry found that 297 out of a total of 998 women workers interviewed reported unwanted sexual advances, while 290 said they had been touched inappropriately. A further 328 reported "threats of being forced to undress", while almost half said they had been beaten and hit in the face by their supervisors.
Sexual harassment of women on the street and in urban schools is on the increase, according to Bangladeshi NGO Brac, which in 2010 launched Mejnin, a project to tackle the increasing harassment of women and girls.
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