Bangladesh is one of the world’s leading garment producers.  The garment industry is responsible for more than three quarters of Bangladesh’s import earnings but its millions of workers – mainly women – earn less than their counterparts anywhere else in the world. 

It was only after intense protests that last year Bangladeshi garment workers got a pay rise from around US$25 a month to somewhere around $40-$50.

The hike in wages though was outstripped by rising prices and a global recession that has had an impact on the industry.  And the millions of girls and women who work as garment workers in Bangladesh are still being exploited, forced to work long hours in dangerous and uncomfortable conditions, often denied basic rights and generally at the mercy of their employers.  Factory fires claim dozens of lives every year, and unions and collective bargaining rights are not common.

But Kalpana Aktar is one woman who has fought back.  She started working in the garment industry at the age of 12, and over the years has been blacklisted, arrested and even charged with terrorism because of her attempts to help Bangladeshi garment workers.  For South Asia Wired, she relates the story of her journey from child worker to activist.