The Cultural Environment that MNE Staff are likely to encounter in the Textile and Apparel Workplace in Bangladesh and Pakistan

The Cultural Environment that MNE Staff are likely to encounter in the Textile and Apparel Workplace in Bangladesh and Pakistan

Cultural Environment encounters- Bangladesh

MNE staffs will experience that a majority of the Muslim women workers have identified themselves with a novel independence as well as escalated living standards for their families. In most of the cases, these women are the breadwinners. The impact on Bangladesh’s economic structure is likely to be compounded by the ongoing struggle; a more religious or fundamental Islamic and a secular identity.

The population in Bangladesh’s textile and apparel industry is characterized by a remarkable cultural and ethnic homogeneity (Bhattacharya & Rahman, 1999). More that ninety eight percent of the employees are Bengalis and the remainder constitutes of non-Bengali Muslims, Biharis, as well as indigenous tribal peoples. It is very evident for the MNE staff to note that particularly, the Bangladeshis are very proud of the rich linguistic and cultural heritage. This is founded on the fact that Bangladesh is an independent nation is partially as a result of a solid movement to preserve and uphold their culture and language. Owing to the fact that the Bangladeshis closely associate themselves with Bangla, the national language, it is the dominant language in the industries.

The country is purely a conservative Muslim nation and, therefore, there is a strict adherence to the religion’s traditions. People take breaks while at work so as to make their prayers and Friday is acknowledged as the day for worship. Young people are always respectful to the superior and elderly.

It would not be wrong to refer to Bangladesh’s custom as the ‘Garment’s Culture’ owing to the fact that garments industrialization is regarded as the country’s lifeblood of economy. According to Tewari (2006), the workers engage in restless work beginning from dawn until midnight in a bid to ensure a fabulous wealth growth. In reality, the workers have no time to concentrate on their amusement separately. They interact within themselves and intermarry. A majority of these couples work in the same industries or factories. The workers reside in huts or semi-pucca houses in densely populated areas.

The textile and apparel workers send their children to madrashas, government primary schools, or NGO’s schools (Tewari, 2006). Some of the children are sent to private kindergartens. The workers always live in a rush and lack the scope and time to interact with other professionals. They usually put on colorful clothes and fancy cheap cotton clothes so as to prevent sweating as a result of the longstanding working hours.

The workers in these industries are ill paid and suffer from immense diseases including malnutrition (Abernathy, Volpe & Weil, 2006). Payments are not made regularly. As a result, the workers engage in strikes and break rules and regulations. This makes part of newspapers headlines.

Pakistan

The extremely high population in Pakistan implies that there is a high demand for more workforces and textile products. The country is not facing the challenges of an aging workforce. According to Tewari (2005), the gradually changing lifestyle of people influences the increasing apparels’ demand. The changing needs and lifestyle in various demographics also affects the customers’ demands. Moreover, designers have to create novel attractive and different designs owing to the rich heritage and cultural diversity.

Textiles and apparel designs in Pakistan have to embrace the values of the Pashto, Sindhi, Balochi, and Punjabi (Muneer, Maubleu & Asif, 2006). In addition, it is worth considering that there are foreign culture influences from USA and India. This is mainly via media exposure and this offers Pakistan designers a taste for novel designs, inspiration, and fusion of the designs. This promotes impressive and attractive designs and style creativity.

Pakistan women are paid very poorly and many of them remain at home to take care of their households. Faith issues greatly influence the labor market as many of the workers are Muslims. Moreover, they display their faith via Islamic dresses. In addition to employer protestations, this is also a discrimination basis.

Conclusion

Considering that the Pakistan and Bangladesh textile and apparel industry operates on a global economy, the culture and society plays a great role. In this regard, the industries and companies should comply to the social systems so as to promote an appropriate public image and good reputation. A majority of the workers in Bangladesh’s textile and apparel industries are Muslims and have intermarried among themselves. Their working conditions are not very desirable.

References

Abernathy, F. H., Volpe, A., & Weil, D. (2006). The future of the apparel and textile industries: prospects and choices for public and private actors. Environment and Planning A, 38(12), 2207.

Bhattacharya, D., & Rahman, M. (1999). Female employment under export propelled industrialization: Prospects for internalizing global opportunities in the apparel sector in Bangladesh. Occasional paper, 10.

Muneer, T., Maubleu, S., & Asif, M. (2006). Prospects of solar water heating for textile industry in Pakistan. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 10(1), 1-23.

Tewari, M. (2005). Post-MFA adjustments in India’s textile and apparel industry: emerging issues and trends.

Tewari, M. (2006). Adjustment in India’s textile and apparel industry: reworking historical legacies in a post-MFA world. Environment and Planning A, 38(12), 2325.