Explore the vast range of titles available.

The focus of this study is to understand the impact of internal migration (rural-to-urban) on the mental health of female garment workers in Bangladesh with reference to the psychological trauma of rural-to-urban migration. In detail, thirteen female migrant workers aged between 18 and 50 who moved within the past five years for job purposes in the garment industry were interviewed using a qualitative phenomenological approach. Based on the study, we find that work–related anxiety, working too long, bad working conditions, social isolation and separation from family lead to emotional stresses. On the other hand, it also underscores the fact that migration can offer economic opportunities, financial independence and empowerment which may increase self-esteem and give a sense of achievement. Our findings indicate that migration’s mental health effect is dual, positive and negative, depending on the individual experience. It highlights the urgency to develop targeted interventions to improve psychological dimensions of mental health services for this group, bring about workplace improvements, and create supportive systems within which female migrants can be supported to overcome their psychological challenges. There is still more to do in future research to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions intended to improve the wellbeing of migrant workers as well as the longitudinal effects of migration on mental health.

This article examines the effects of men’s and women’s participation in micro credit programs on various indicators of women’s empowerment using data from a special survey carried out in rural Bangladesh. These credit programs are well suited to studying how gender‐specific resources alter intrahousehold allocations because they induce differential participation by gender through the requirement that only one adult member per household can participate in any micro credit program. Empowerment is formalized as an unobserved latent variable reflecting common components of qualitative responses to a large set of questions pertaining to women’s autonomy and decision‐making power. The empirical methods are attentive to various sources of endogeneity, and the results are consistent with the view that women’s participation in micro credit programs helps to increase women’s empowerment. The effects of male credit on women’s empowerment were generally negative.

Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in raising living standards and reducing poverty, particularly in previously lagging regions. Rapid solar home system (SHS) expansion in Bangladesh to some 3 million rural households by early 2014 has drawn the attention of donors and governments of other countries. The books broad aim is twofold: (a) to assess the welfare impact of SHS on households, and (b) to evaluate the present institutional structure and financing mechanisms in place, noting that households want cheaper systems and good quality service while suppliers require a reasonable market-based profit to stay in business. The study entailed an intensive empirical investigation based on both primary and secondary data. The primary data consisted mainly of a large-scale, nationally representative household survey with appropriate geographic spread. Conducted in 2012 by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) and assisted by the World Bank, the household survey was designed to examine SHS benefits and costs. The book addresses a number of research issues, which are grouped according to general and gendered household impact, program delivery and monitoring of technical standards, market size and demand, and carbon emissions reduction. The book also analyzes household uses of solar-electric energy services. Typically, SHS models are used for lighting, powering fans and television sets, and charging mobile devices and other electrical equipment. Finally, the book evaluates the gender-disaggregated benefits and women's empowerment from SHS adoption. The gender analysis included two major research questions: (a) can the socioeconomic status of rural women be enhanced by increasing the opportunity to participate in alternative energy-service delivery, and (b) if SHS brings positive impacts in terms of social indicators, what additional efforts can supplement them to bring about a radical shift in gender roles and responsibilities. The book's findings show that better household lighting improves household welfare both directly and indirectly. The book has eight chapters. Chapter one is introduction. Chapter two describes the current status of Bangladesh's SHS expansion program, including salient features of system operation, as well as program delivery and financing. Chapter three reviews the role of electrification in rural development and international experience in using SHS as a complementary solution in remote off-grid areas. Based on the survey data findings, chapter four identifies the major drivers of SHS adoption and system capacity selection at the household and village level, while chapter five discusses and estimates the welfare benefits. Chapter six focuses on SHS market analysis and role of the subsidy, including consumers' willingness to pay and the potential impact of subsidy phase-out. Chapter seven turns to the quality of partner organization (PO) service and other supply-side issues, along with market constraints to meet future demand. Finally, chapter eight offers policy perspectives and a way forward.

Founded in 1972 and now the largest NGO in the world, BRAC has been lauded for its efforts aimed at lifting the poor, especially women, out of poverty. In BRAC, Global Policy Language, and Women in Bangladesh, Manzurul Mannan—while not denying the many positive accomplishments of BRAC—places the organization under a critical microscope. Drawing on his experience as a Bangladeshi native and BRAC insider, Mannan provides unique insights into not only BRAC's phenomenal growth and its role in diffusing western and development ideologies but also, more importantly, how target populations have been affected culturally and socially. He explains how BRAC has employed western ideas, theories, and philosophies of agency when engaging in development interventions in even the remotest villages, seeking to transform social structures, women's status, and the local polity. The resulting intermingling of exogenous perspectives with local knowledge leads to a degree of inconsistency and dissonance within BRAC's own operations, while generating opposition from local commoners and elites. Cautionary yet hopeful, the book advocates greater cultural sensitivity as a way to mitigate conflict between BRAC and the constituencies it serves.

The Bangladesh government, nongovernmental organizations, donors, and advocacy groups have attempted various interventions to promote gender equality and reduce intimate partner violence (IPV) against women, but rigorous evaluations of these interventions are rare and few published studies have yet to show that any of them has had a substantial impact. This study presents qualitative evidence from four villages in central and northern Bangladesh drawn from 11 group discussions (6 with men, 5 with women), 16 open-ended interviews with men, and 62 women's life history narratives. The findings strongly suggest that IPV is declining in these villages as women's economic roles expand and they gain a stronger sense of their rights. Periodic surveys are recommended to measure trends in the incidence of IPV in settings where transitions in gender systems are under way.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine two interventions toward women’s empowerment in Bangladesh – formal employment and microfinance, and to highlight two case studies supporting these interventions.Design/methodology/approachThis interpretive-evaluative inquiry of the state of employment and microfinance as important interventions in women’s empowerment in Bangladesh is based on both primary and secondary sources. Theoretical insights and empirical evidence from previous research along with data from various sources inform the arguments.FindingsBangladeshi women are making steady progress toward empowerment through a gradual increase in female participation in the workforce, especially in the ready-made garment manufacturing sector. The expanding microfinance arena has also been providing a growing number of women the opportunity to undertake productive small-scale business ventures that also provide informal employment to unemployed women in rural areas. However, social and cultural constraints and overt conservatism has been a daunting challenge for enterprising women and those in formal employment continue to suffer from discrimination, harassment and unfavorable working conditions.Originality/valueThe paper will be of value to both researchers and policy makers in Bangladesh as it seeks to relate two specific interventions toward women’s empowerment from a broad conceptual perspective and interpretive analysis.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the dynamics of institutional practices, socio-economic status and vulnerability of shrimp fry catchers in the south-west region of Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach This study draws on primary research conducted through face-to-face interviews with women fry collectors in the south-west region of Bangladesh. This study attempts to identify the nature and extent of the impact of institutional practices on the women engaged in catching fry regarding their positioning within the institutional framework. Findings In the coastal region of Bangladesh, the shrimp sector has opened up economic opportunities for women in terms of access to income and employment. However, women have to make a trade-off between employment gain in terms of wage and health hazards caused due to poor working conditions. The findings of the study indicate that shrimp fry catching, complemented by other sources of income, can only help women to survive. The study also finds that the vulnerability of the fry collectors is the end result of mutually interacting institutional practices under different institutional domains. Accordingly, recommendations are made with a view to effectively utilizing social capital at the community level, which will be particularly helpful in raising fry catchers’ voice in the local political arena and strengthening their position in the marketplace. Due to the higher preferences of buyers towards wild fry and the participation of a huge number of people in fry collecting, this study suggests rethinking government intervention in this regard. Originality/value This is original research focusing on the underlying structural and institutional factors behind the marginalization and vulnerability of women and devising policies that will enable modification of the factors that restrain women.

This report is organized in such a way that the key policy options and strategic priorities are based on the country context, including the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and associated risk factors and the existing capacity of the health system. Chapter one describes the country and regional contexts and the evidence of the demographic and epidemiological transitions in Bangladesh; chapter two outlines the disease burden of major NCDs, including the equity and economic impact and the common risk factors; chapter three provides an assessment of the health system and its capacity to prevent and control major NCDs; chapter four summarizes ongoing NCD interventions and activities in Bangladesh and highlights the remaining gaps and challenges; and chapter five presents key policy options and strategic priorities to prevent and control NCDs.

This article seeks to probe the influence of microcredit on the development of agency and empowerment of poor women in rural Bangladesh. The study was conducted on the clients of two leading NGOs-Grameen Bank (GB) and Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC)-in Bangladesh. The qualitative findings of the ethnographic study confirmed that poor women's involvement in microcredit programs does not contribute to the development of their agency and empowerment in a transformative sense due to structural problems in the programs and the patriarchal social structure of Bangladesh. It is true that microcredit has increased the mobility of women through group networks and organizations, but it has not added to their broader empowerment by easing their access to market transactions, unlike their male counterparts. An overwhelming majority of women do not have control over loans and credit-driven activities, although repayment responsibility rests entirely with them. In some instances, microcredit leads to spousal conflicts regarding repayments. Therefore, microcredit has not been very effective in promoting rational economic choices by women that would lead to their empowerment in the true sense of the term.

The global textile and apparel sector is critically important as an early phase in industrialization for many developing countries and as a provider of employment opportunities to thousands of low-income workers, many of them women. The goal of this book is to explore how the lifting of the Multi-fibre Arrangement/ Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (MFA/ATC) quotas has affected nine countries Bangladesh, Cambodia, Honduras, India, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam with the broader aim of better understanding the links between globalization and poverty in the developing world. Analyzing how employment, wage premiums, and the structure of the apparel industry have changed after the MFA/ATC can generate important lessons for policy makers for economic development and poverty reduction. This book uses in-depth country case studies as the broad methodological approach. In-depth country studies are important because countries are idiosyncratic: differences in regulatory context, history, location, trade relationships, and policies shape both the apparel sector and how the apparel sector changed after the end of the MFA. In-depth country studies place broader empirical work in context and strengthen the conclusions. The countries in this book were chosen because they represent the diversity of global apparel production, including differences across regions, income levels, trade relationships, and policies. The countries occupy different places in the global value chain that now characterizes apparel production. Not surprisingly, the countries studied in this book represent the diversity of post-MFA experiences. This book highlights four key findings: The first is that employment and export patterns after the MFA/ATC did not necessarily match predictions. This book shows that only about a third of the variation in cross-country changes in exports is explained by wage differences. While wage differences explain some of the production shifts, domestic policies targeting the apparel sector, ownership type, and functional upgrading of the industry also played an important role. Second, changes in exports are usually, but not always, good indicators of what happens to wages and employment. While rising apparel exports correlated with rising wages and employment in the large Asian countries, rising exports coincided with falling employment in Sri Lanka. Third, this book identifies the specific ways that changes in the global apparel market affected worker earnings, thus helping to explain impacts on poverty. Fourth, in terms of policies, the countries that had larger increases in apparel exports were those that promoted apparel sector upgrading; those that did not promote upgrading had smaller increases or even falling exports.