TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD OF FEMALE GARMENT-FACTORY WORKERS IN BANGLADESH

This article examines data from a study on garment-factory workers in Bangladesh to explore the implications of work for the early socializa tion of young women. For the first time, large numbers of young Bangla deshi women are being given an alternative to lives in which they move directly from childhood to adulthood through early marriage and child bearing. Employment creates a period of transition in contrast to the abrupt assumption of adult roles at very young ages that marriage and childbearing mandate. This longer transition creates a period of adole scence for young women working in the garment sector that is shown to have strong implications for the women's long-term reproductive health .