Bangladesh maternity leave expands, but garment workers dispute childcare access
Bangladesh extended maternity benefits to 120 days in April 2026, but garment workers say factories’ breastfeeding rooms and daycare facilities are often too small, poorly staffed or unusable during long shifts.
- Bangladesh extended maternity benefits from 112 to 120 days in April 2026.
- Factories with 40 or more women workers must provide childcare rooms for children under six.
- Morsheda’s Gazipur factory has about 3,000 workers but a daycare for only 12 or 13 children.
- Bangladesh’s garment industry employs about 4.5 million workers, more than 57 percent of them women.
- An ILO-supported study found 54 percent of working parents saw inadequate childcare as a major barrier.
International brands and factories point to maternity policies, breastfeeding rooms and on-site daycare as signs of progress. Garment workers say those facilities are often too small, poorly staffed or unusable during long shifts.
Bangladesh’s Parliament amended the labour law in April 2026, extending maternity benefits for eligible workers from 112 to 120 days. The law requires establishments with 40 or more women workers to maintain suitable rooms for children under six, with trained or experienced female caregivers and access for mothers.
Morsheda, 33, has worked in the garment industry for 15 years and works at a Gazipur factory. After four months of maternity leave, she returned to shifts that may last 10 to 14 hours. Her five-month-old baby stayed with the child’s paternal grandmother, who brought the infant to the factory twice a day.
"The breastfeeding room was always there. But there was no one to bring my baby to me," Morsheda said. She said she had to finish hourly production targets before leaving to breastfeed, or the supervisor got angry.
At her factory, about 3,000 people work and nearly 2,000 are women, but the daycare accommodates only about 12 or 13 children and has two caregivers.
Mina, 38, has worked in the garment industry for around 20 years and works in Savar. She received 56 days of maternity leave when her now-five-year-old was an infant. She used her mother, then a paid caregiver, then factory daycare. Her child became sick there, and she stopped using it. Her elder son eventually took on care.
"I knew it was affecting my elder son’s studies, but I had no other option," Mina said.
Bangladesh’s ready-made garment industry generates more than USD 36 billion in exports and employs about 4.5 million workers, more than 57 percent of them women. An ILO-supported study found 54 percent of working parents viewed inadequate childcare as a major barrier to women entering or remaining in employment, while 18 percent said they had left a job because of childcare responsibilities.
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