Street rally on truck (5)

ETI Bangladesh celebrates 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence

This weekend marked the end of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence. The campaign lasts from 25 November – 10 December and aims to raise awareness around the elimination of all forms of gender based violence (GBV).

This weekend marked the end of the 16 Days In the Bangladesh RMG sector, where around 60% of the workforce is female, this campaign is of importance. Like previous years, ETI Bangladesh took several initiatives to celebrate the campaign. This year we also collaborated with IndustriAll Bangladesh Council (IBC) and supported the women committee of the IBC in planning and implementing activities marking the campaign.

197 from 103 garment factories in Bangladesh participated and shared their experiences

ETI’s activities in this regard started with organizing a webinar on the UN 16 days of activism. As preparation of the celebration, ETI Bangladesh organized a joint consultation webinar in partnership with Fair Wear Foundation, for factories in the RMG sector. In the webinar, participants discussed the importance of the campaign and potential activities. 197 from 103 garment factories in Bangladesh participated and shared their experiences. The participants expressed their commitments towards celebrating the campaign in their respective factories.

This campaign reached more than 75.000 workers

ETI Bangladesh contributed with sharing information and communication materials with factories and federations along with providing technical and advisory support to factories in running the campaign. ETI shared their existing audio songs and video clips on GBV and gender sensitivity with factories, brands and federations.  ETI also developed a brand new poster for the factories for the occasion. The poster was developed jointly by ETI Bangladesh, Fair Wear Foundation, Mondiaal FNV and the IBC.  The objective of the poster printing was to raise awareness among factory workers and other employees with positive thoughts on gender equality at the factory level. The posters were distributed to 43 factories for hanging on different major place in the factory level. ETI Bangladesh also distributed the poster with IBC’s 15 women federations and brands like INDITEX and PRIMARK. This awareness campaign reached more than 75.000 workers in those factories.

ETI Bangladesh, jointly with Mondiaal FNV, organized a workshop on UN 16 days of activism against Gender Based Violence with the women committee of the IBC. 15 representatives from the forum attended this meeting and exchanged opinions. The workshop decided on doing specific activities with support from ETI. The two major such activities that have been implemented successfully are –

  1. Press conference: In the press conference, IBC women leaders made several demands including ratification of ILO C-90, ending all forms of GBV in workplace, establishing daycare centers and breastfeeding corners in all factories etc.

 

  1. Mobile rally on trucks aiming at mass awareness on GBV. The rally displayed ETI posters along with other relevant banners and festoons, played awareness raising songs and delivered awareness raising speeches on the streets and at factory gates.

 

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