Women’s Human Rights violations in the ‘Fast Fashion’ industry in Bangladesh. A new venue towards empowerment

The Rana Plaza collapse has been one of the most heart breaking displays of labour and Human Rights violations ever occurred. Witnessing the collapse of an eight-floor complex on April 2013, with an overall toll of 1134 victims , made the international public opinion starting to notice how the garment industry overseas - strictly linked with the Fast Fashion phenomenon - wasn’t flawless, but rather intrinsically rooted in careless overproduction and unregulated working environments . Researching and addressing the complex phenomenon of fast fashion entails a vast acknowledgment of the ready-made garment (RGM) industry and its consumer-oriented markets. Indeed, the fast-fashion industry didn’t end nor was born in 2013, when the Rana Plaza collapse occurred: this economic sector and its profitable history of growth, development and massive consumption habits revolve around wide phenomena which are deeply intertwined with Human Rights violations . It must be also acknowledged that the garment sector worldwide has been recognized as a female sector, with a percentage of 80 % of women employed in the industry. Addressing its gaps in compliance to international provisions, recommendations and laws becomes therefore an intersectional fight for rights, with Bangladesh female workers being at the forefront of this urgent challenge. Bangladesh in fact remains still the second most important exporter of the garment sector, whose revenues have grown drastically since the beginning of the century. Despite many steps forward made in particular after the Rana Plaza collapse, women’s human rights violations - especially at the workplace - are still reported and condemned by the International community, who is advocating for grassroot and deeply grounded change. Therefore - due to the urge to analyse new venues towards women empowerment in the working sector - this research will analyse the violations of women’s human rights in the Fast Fashion industries in Bangladesh, taking into account whether empowerment (Sustainable Development Goal 5) can be achieved for women and girls working in this sector. The First Chapter will be devoted to the evolution of supply chains and Corporate Social Responsibility, and will give an overall overview of the regulatory framework which entangles women and girls in the garment industry, on an international level. The Second Chapter will be devoted to better shape the concept of human rights violations and women’s rights, with a specific focus on Bangladesh human rights framework and compliance to International Conventions and treaties and to shape trade unions involvement in RMG sector in Bangladesh. Sustainable Development Goals, and in particular SDG5, will become the core issues of the Third Chapter and Women’s Human Rights violations and rising empowerment opportunities will be deeply tackled, with a specific focus on women conditions at the work place. The last chapter will draw conclusions on the pivotal concepts of bargaining rights and grassroot achievements recently gained, taking into account successful and specific case studies. In order to collect the data, qualitative and quantitative research methods have been used, diving deep into Primary and Secondary sources. I have chosen to appeal to a literature review methodology. This work was drawn up with the help of numerous specialist journals, single scientific articles, monographies, essays, books, visual materials, reports and websites of international organizations, trade unions and non-governmental organizations, newspaper articles and social media content of multiple institutional and non-institutional actors which are involved in activities and development projects related to the topic.