Social transformation through women empowerment

These industries create high number of jobs, especially for women—apparel sector is the most labour-intensive followed by footwear. Apparels are 80- fold more labour-intensive than auto industry and 240-fold more jobs creating than steel industry—the comparable numbers for leather goods are 33-fold and 100-fold, respectively. As per the World Bank’s employment elasticities, it is estimated that rapid export growth in these sectors could generate about 5 lakh additional direct jobs every year. Enhanced opportunity for women implies that these sectors could be ‘vehicles for social transformation’—in Bangladesh, female education, total fertility rates, and women’s labour force participation moved positively due to the expansion of the apparel sector.