A discussion seminar titled “Advancing Gender-Sensitive Workplaces: Implementation of Comprehensive Learning and Monitoring Resource Pack” was held on Thursday, 23 October 2025, at Lake Shore Hotel, Dhaka.

The event brought together key stakeholders from Bangladesh’s RMG industry to share experiences, learning and ideas on fostering gender-sensitive workplaces. It was organized under the BKMEA-STITCH collaboration.

BKMEA Executive President Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, mentioned that the Government of Bangladesh has recently signed ILO Convention 190 (ILO-C190), which addresses violence and harassment in the world of work.

He stated, “The ILO-C190 ratification reinforces our responsibility to improve workplace safety across the country.” He also emphasized to continue such initiative in the long run.

STITCH is a consortium project of Fair Wear Foundation, Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) and Mondiaal FNV. As part of this initiative, learning and monitoring resource pack on Gender Based Violence (GBV) prevent has been co-developed and implemented in 50 garment factories across the country to address and prevent violence and harassment against both female and male workers.

Representatives from factory management also shared their successes in implementing gender-sensitive training programs through resource pack toolkit. They reported significant improvements, including greater awareness among workers about harassment, enhanced communication between male and female employees and increased confidence among women to assert their workplace rights.

A panel discussion concluded the event, featuring Mr. Minhazul Hoque, Director BKMEA, ETI representative Mr. Munir Uddin Shamim, Mr. Bablur Rahman, Country Manager of Fair Wear and Mr. Babul Akter, General Secretary of IBC.

The panelists emphasized the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration, Meaningful stakeholder engagement in whole supply chain, including government bodies, brands, business associations, factory management, trade unions and workers to effectively implement the resource pack and promote gender-sensitive workplaces in the RMG sector in line with global standards.

They urged the Government to provide comprehensive support to scale up the initiative and integrate it into national policy frameworks.

Md. Belayet Hossen, Director, BKMEA Ashfike Khalaque, STITCH Bangladesh Coordinator, high officials of BKMEA, BGMEA and other stakeholders related to RMG sector were resent at the event.