A study has found that two out of three female garment workers in Bangladesh marry before the age of 18, shedding light on the harsh realities faced by women working in the country’s apparel industry. The research, conducted by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), says almost 65 percent have had their first pregnancy before reaching 18. The research, which spans from August 2022 to December 2024, focused on garment workers in the slums of Karail, Mirpur, and Tongi. The findings were presented at a seminar on sexual and reproductive health and rights of women workers in the garment sector, held at icddr,b in Dhaka. Moreover, only one in five women reported workplace violence to the authorities, and this figure did not improve over the two years.
