The BBC's recent Panorama investigation, Dying for a Bargain, brought welcome attention to the issue of workers' rights in the Bangladesh garment sector, where more than 1,100 people recently died in the collapse of a garment factory at Rana Plaza. It rightly pointed out that up to a million people work in dangerous or illegal conditions at constant risk from fires, poor health and safety standards and a host of other labour rights abuses. However, there is one crucial fact that Panorama left out: the vast majority of workers they are talking about are women.

What about women?

Around 82% of all garment workers in Bangladesh are women – but you wouldn't know it from watching Panorama. The reporter was male. The managers who were interviewed were men. The workers who were interviewed were men. Apart from some well-spoken civil society representatives, the women who represent the vast majority of the victims at Rana Plaza and are the daily victims of the poor working conditions of the garment sector were largely relegated to the background.

Why is this a problem? First, it ignores the vital role that women play in driving the nation's single largest source of economic growth. Second, it glosses over a huge number of human rights violations, such as discrimination in pay rates and widespread sexual harassment, which harm women disproportionately. In the words of Linda Scott from Oxford Said Business School: "make no mistake, this is a women's issue."

Empowering women can change the garment sector

Ignoring women doesn't just overlook many of the garment sector's most pressing concerns, it overlooks potential solutions as well.

Empowering women can help address the reasons why tragedies such as Rana Plaza occur in the first place. CARE International has worked in the Bangladeshi garment sector for more than 10 years. Experience has repeatedly shown that training women in their rights makes a tangible difference in improving their ability to negotiate improvements in wages and working conditions. Building women's literacy, numeracy and technical skills is also essential – women who know how to calculate their pay and overtime properly are less vulnerable to having their wages stolen by managers.

Besides this, there is also a solid business case. According to the World Bank, eliminating barriers that discriminate against women working in certain sectors or occupations could increase labour productivity by as much as 25%.

Whose responsibility is it?

Bangladesh competes mainly on the basis of cheap labour, and the purchasing practices of international firms facilitate this. The buyer-manufacturer relationship does not allow for long-term approaches that could facilitate capital to invest in women's empowerment worker skill-training.

Change has to come from the buyers, manufacturers, regulatory authorities, governmental and international stakeholders in the supply chain, and workers partnering to better the industry. The garment sector is important to the future of Bangladesh and the sustainable livelihoods of millions of women. There is a mutual responsibility of all stakeholders in the garment industry to ensure that no woman or man dies trying to make a living.

Change at every level

Preventing another Rana Plaza will require transformation at every level of the garment sector – from the purchasing practices of European and American companies to the improved rule of law by the Bangladeshi government. But more than anything, it requires a change in mindset from all involved; an acknowledgement that women's rights are workers' rights.

We're not there yet. Panorama isn't the only actor ignoring the role of women. Of the six signatories to the National Action Plan on Fire Safety and Structural Integrity signed earlier this year, not one was a woman.

Still, it is not too late to make this a moment of change. While no single company has made exceptional progress on the issue of women's empowerment, over 100 companies, alongside major trade unions, have joined together in two European and U.S based groups, respectively called the Accord and Alliance, to help address worker health and safety in the garment industry. Together, these groups can make a major difference in improving the lives of garment workers, but in order to be successful they need to prioritise women's rights.

To do so, the organising committees of the Accord and the Alliance, as well as their individual members, should ask a number of key questions. Are women adequately represented on the committees of the Accord and the Alliance? Do the safety systems being put in place take into account the barriers women face, and seek to overcome them? This is just the start.

Most of all, everyone who has a stake in the sector should remember this: women are at the centre of the Bangladesh garment industry, and they should be at the centre of the solution to fix it.

Alexa Roscoe is a private sector advisor at CARE International UK

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