South Asian Journal of Social Studies and Economics

This study explores the barriers hindering women’s advancement into leadership roles within Bangladesh’s Ready-Made Garment (RMG) sector through an intersectional feminist lens. Drawing on a meta-analysis of secondary sources, including academic studies, policy papers, and organizational reports, it identifies key obstacles such as workplace harassment, gender wage disparity, unpaid care burdens, and institutional policy gaps. The findings reveal that while gender inclusion initiatives have improved representation, structural inequities persist due to weak enforcement of labor laws, entrenched patriarchal norms, and limited union participation by women. The paper argues for transformative policy interventions that integrate gender-responsive governance, collective bargaining mechanisms, and care economy recognition to ensure sustainable gender equity in the sector. Drawing on a qualitative meta-analysis of over 50 secondary studies conducted between 2010 and 2024, this paper discovers how structural, institutional, and socio-cultural ecosystems interlock to reproduce gender inequality.

Findings uncover that weak labor law enforcement, gender-blind human resource practices, patriarchal norms, harassment, psychological barriers, gendered perception, limited opportunities, and unpaid care burdens jointly hinder women’s agency and leadership mobility. Economic stress from global buyers further discourages investing in women’s training and career development. At the psychosocial level, fear, self-censorship, and internalized inferiority sustain a culture of silence and docility, limiting collective action.

The study argues that women’s career stagnation in the RMG sector is not a result of individual deficits but a demonstration of systemic patriarchy inserted in global production regimes. Taken together, the findings of this study argue that, the continual lack of women’s advancement in Bangladesh’s garment sector cannot be described by individual limitations or lack of ambition. It reflects a much deeper pattern rooted in corresponding structures of patriarchy, market dependency, and institutional neglect. Women’s work has been a requirement for the growth of industry, yet the systems surrounding it continue to define them as replaceable labor rather than potential leaders. Moving toward genuine gender equality. Therefore, pressures more than isolated reforms call for a rethinking of how the industry values and organizes women’s work. The transformation of the RMG sector into a space of recognition, fair opportunity, and leadership is not only a matter of justice for women workers but also a prerequisite for building a resilient and sustainable industrial future.