Bangladesh disaster spurred reform: Column

One year ago this week, the Rana Plaza building collapsed — killing more than 1,100 workers and injuring thousands more. The tragedy was deeply felt throughout the world and all along the supply chain that drives ready-made garments from factories in Bangladesh into the retail stores of North America and Europe.

But nowhere were its impacts felt more acutely than within the garment factory workforce in Bangladesh, across factory floors and throughout the homes and communities of those who lost a loved one in the collapse.

Internationally, the only appropriate response was to take swift and collective action. Immediately following the building collapse, 26 North American retailers came together to form the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, an unprecedented partnership to dramatically improve garment factory safety conditions in Bangladesh. Working alongside stakeholders spanning government, business, labor, and civil society, significant improvements in factory safety have already been achieved.

But for many, the question remains: why are we working so hard to salvage an industry that has such a poor track record for protecting worker safety? Why not move operations elsewhere?

The answer is because no worker should have to risk her life to make a living, no matter where she lives. Formal employment in safe garment factories is one of our very best opportunities to help the working poor — and women in particular — gain the tools and opportunity to empower themselves and their families.

The Bangladesh ready-made garment industry employs about 3.5 million people — about 80% of whom are women. Most come to the garment industry looking for a path out of poverty. Many represent the first generation in their family to be formally employed. They are young, from poor backgrounds, sometimes illiterate and often single.

Employment provides independence and an opportunity for women to earn their own money, which they reinvest in their families. In addition to increasing incomes, it increases women's control over their finances and health. Women who gain formal employment often gain an alternative to early marriage, which in turn contributes to reductions in fertility.

For many, working in a garment factory isn't just an option — it is the only option.

So the question is not whether we should focus on improving worker safety — but rather, how can we ensure that the garment industry fulfills its promise and its potential to provide a safer, healthier, more financially secure future for these women and their families?

When the alliance set up operations in Bangladesh, one of its first priorities was to conduct a first-of-its-kind worker engagement survey to better understand workers' knowledge of how to prepare for and respond to an emergency. Not surprisingly, the survey found deep disparities in how women are treated relative to their male counterparts. Male workers are preferred over female workers for receiving health and safety training. As a result, women demonstrate lower levels of knowledge and awareness about how to protect themselves in the case of an emergency.

These inequalities must change. Training is underway to ensure that all factory workers — regardless of gender — receive the same access to information to help identify or respond to a potential safety threat. Women are being prioritized for leadership roles in worker participation committees.

Last week, the alliance announced that it has completed inspections in more than 50% of the nearly 700 factories where its member companies clothes are made. More than 400,000 factory managers and workers have been trained on fire and building safety issues, with the goal of training more than 1,000,000 by July 2014.

The solutions are complex and change won't happen overnight — but one thing is clear. The garment industry is a critical pathway out of poverty for millions of women. Our job is to make that pathway safe.

And the only way to do that is by uniting our resources, capacity, insight, and dedication to ensure that we take this moment to forever change the industry — and the lives of its workers — for the better.

Ellen Tauscher, the independent chair of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety's board of directors is a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and former undersecretary of State for arms control and international security affairs.

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