Staff Correspondent

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has written a letter to British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Sarah Cooke regarding The Guardian article defaming women.

On December 23, The Guardian published an article titled “Woman making Christmas jumpers for UK turns to sex work to pay bills".

The BGMEA, the country’s apex trade body of garment manufacturers, strongly condemns The Guardian article “defaming” ready-made garment (RMG) women workers.

In the letter sent to the media on 3 January, BGMEA President Faruque Hassan said, “It is with deep concern that I write to you regarding the article published in The Guardian. This article paints a skewed and inaccurate picture of Bangladeshi women working in the garment industry, perpetuating harmful stereotypes that denigrate the dignity of millions of female garment workers in our country.”

“While acknowledging the individual hardships some may face, the article fails to grasp the bigger narrative—one of remarkable progress in women's empowerment, fuelled by the very industry it seeks to disparage. It reduces the complex lives of these women to a binary choice between factory and brothel, overlooking the immense strides made in areas like economic independence, social dignity, and empowerment,” Faruque added.

The BGMEA president also said, “Given the damaging impact of such articles, I humbly urge you to, please, engage with The Guardian editors so that the stories are told fairly and accurately and a nuanced understanding of the context is realised. We would also urge you to highlight the positive transformation that showcases the story of women's empowerment in Bangladesh.”

However, the export earnings from Bangladesh’s RMG sector in 2023 reached $47.39 billion, which was $1.68 billion (3.67%) more than that in 2022.