IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i12p6326-d573072.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Prevalence of Suicide Thoughts and Behaviours among Female Garment Workers Who Survived the Rana Plaza Collapse: An In-Depth Inquiry

Author

Listed:
  • Humayun Kabir

    (School of Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia
    Department of Sociology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh)

  • Myfanwy Maple

    (School of Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia)

  • Md Shahidul Islam

    (School of Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia)

  • Kim Usher

    (School of Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia)

Abstract

The Rana Plaza building collapse occurred on 24 April 2013 in Savar, near the capital city of Bangladesh, killing more than 1130 garment workers and injured about 2500, mostly females. Those who survived face ongoing challenges, including socio-cultural constraints, economic hardship, post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD), depression, and critical health issues, which may lead to suicidal ideation and death. The aim of this article is to explore why and how female garment workers who survived the Rana Plaza collapse are now at risk of suicide thoughts and behaviours, and suicide death. Unstructured face-to-face interviews were held from April to July 2018 with 11 female garment workers who survived the Rana Plaza building collapse. Interviews continued until data saturation was reached. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim while simultaneously being translated into English from Bengali/Bangla. Transcripts were coded and thematically analysed. The study found that all participants were living with multiple risk factors of suicidal ideation (including low socio-economic status, poverty, social stigma, psychological distress, and trauma) which the participants directly linked to the collapse of the Rana Plaza building. Our analysis uses the three-step theory of suicide (3ST, Klonsky & May, 2015) to understand female Rana Plaza survivors’ suicide risk. Female survivors’ overall vulnerability requires urgent attention while taking the socio-cultural setting of Bangladesh into account. In addition, a lifelong caring system (combining financial security and free healthcare) needs to be initiated to accommodate the female survivors with mainstream society to avoid possible future suicides. They require long-term social and economic security and psychological support.

Suggested Citation

  • Humayun Kabir & Myfanwy Maple & Md Shahidul Islam & Kim Usher, 2021. "Prevalence of Suicide Thoughts and Behaviours among Female Garment Workers Who Survived the Rana Plaza Collapse: An In-Depth Inquiry," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-15, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:12:p:6326-:d:573072
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/12/6326/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/12/6326/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rashedur Chowdhury, 2017. "Rana Plaza Fieldwork and Academic Anxiety: Some Reflections," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(7), pages 1111-1117, November.
    2. Javed Siddiqui & Shahzad Uddin, 2016. "Human rights disasters, corporate accountability and the state," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(4), pages 679-704, May.
    3. Breeda Comyns & Elizabeth Franklin-Johnson, 2018. "Corporate Reputation and Collective Crises: A Theoretical Development Using the Case of Rana Plaza," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 159-183, June.
    4. Humayun Kabir & Myfanwy Maple & Md Shahidul Islam & Kim Usher, 2019. "The Current Health and Wellbeing of the Survivors of the Rana Plaza Building Collapse in Bangladesh: A Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-21, July.
    5. Christopher Adam Bagley & Afroze Shahnaz & Padam Simkhada, 2017. "High Rates of Suicide and Violence in the Lives of Girls and Young Women in Bangladesh: Issues for Feminist Intervention," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-17, November.
    6. Noemi Sinkovics & Samia Ferdous Hoque & Rudolf R. Sinkovics, 2016. "Rana Plaza collapse aftermath: are CSR compliance and auditing pressures effective?," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(4), pages 617-649, May.
    7. Shumona Sharmin Salam & Olakunle Alonge & Md Irteja Islam & Dewan Md Emdadul Hoque & Shirin Wadhwaniya & Md Kamran Ul Baset & Saidur Rahman Mashreky & Shams El Arifeen, 2017. "The Burden of Suicide in Rural Bangladesh: Magnitude and Risk Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-16, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Syadani Riyad Fatema & Kylie Rice & Adam Rock & Md Shahidul Islam & Leah East & Kim Usher, 2023. "Physical and mental health status of women in disaster-affected areas in Bangladesh," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 117(3), pages 2715-2733, July.
    2. Humayun Kabir & Myfanwy Maple & Md. Shahidul Islam & Kim Usher, 2022. "The Paradoxical Impacts of the Minimum Wage Implementation on Ready-made Garment (RMG) Workers: A Qualitative Study," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 65(2), pages 545-569, June.
    3. Robayet Ferdous Syed & Kazi Tanvir Mahmud & Ridoan Karim, 2024. "Do Labour Welfare Policies Matter for Workers? Evidence from the Garment Supply Chain Industry in Bangladesh," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 67(1), pages 237-253, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Md Sultan Mahmood & Nilima Haque Ruma & Toufiq Ahmed & Yukari Nagai, 2021. "Exploring Suppliers’ Approaches toward Workplace Safety Compliance in the Global Garment Sector: From Bangladesh Perspective," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-31, March.
    2. Humayun Kabir & Myfanwy Maple & Md. Shahidul Islam & Kim Usher, 2022. "The Paradoxical Impacts of the Minimum Wage Implementation on Ready-made Garment (RMG) Workers: A Qualitative Study," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 65(2), pages 545-569, June.
    3. Enrico Fontana & Muhammad Atif & Ammar Ali Gull, 2021. "Corporate social responsibility decisions in apparel supply chains: The role of negative emotions in Bangladesh and Pakistan," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(6), pages 1700-1714, November.
    4. Humayun Kabir & Myfanwy Maple & Md Shahidul Islam & Kim Usher, 2019. "The Current Health and Wellbeing of the Survivors of the Rana Plaza Building Collapse in Bangladesh: A Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-21, July.
    5. Anthony Goerzen & Simon Peter Iskander & Joerg Hofstetter, 2021. "The effect of institutional pressures on business-led interventions to improve social compliance among emerging market suppliers in global value chains," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(3), pages 347-367, September.
    6. Fahreen Alamgir & Ozan N. Alakavuklar, 2020. "Compliance Codes and Women Workers’ (Mis)representation and (Non)recognition in the Apparel Industry of Bangladesh," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(2), pages 295-310, August.
    7. Robertson, Raymond, 2019. "Working Conditions, Transparency, and Compliance in Global Value Chains: Evidence from Better Work Jordan," IZA Discussion Papers 12794, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Bossavie, Laurent & Cho, Yoonyoung & Heath, Rachel, 2023. "The effects of international scrutiny on manufacturing workers: Evidence from the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    9. Jo Crotty & Diane Holt, 2021. "Towards a typology of strategic corporate social responsibility through camouflage and courtship analogies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(3), pages 980-991, May.
    10. Germano Glufke Reis & Carla Forte Maiolino Molento, 2020. "Emerging Market Multinationals and International Corporate Social Responsibility Standards: Bringing Animals to the Fore," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(2), pages 351-368, October.
    11. Jia Xu & Jiuchang Wei & Liangdong Lu, 2019. "Strategic stakeholder management, environmental corporate social responsibility engagement, and financial performance of stigmatized firms derived from Chinese special environmental policy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 1027-1044, September.
    12. Noemi Sinkovics & Jihye Kim & Rudolf R. Sinkovics, 2022. "Business-Civil Society Collaborations in South Korea: A Multi-Stage Pattern Matching Study," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 62(4), pages 471-516, August.
    13. Jia Xu & Jiuchang Wei & Haipeng (Allan) Chen, 2019. "Strategic responses of stigmatized Chinese manufacturing firms to formal and informal environmental regulative pressures through enhanced corporate social responsibility effort," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1235-1260, November.
    14. Jill Atkins & Federica Doni & Andrea Gasperini & Sonia Artuso & Ilaria Torre & Lorena Sorrentino, 2023. "Exploring the Effectiveness of Sustainability Measurement: Which ESG Metrics Will Survive COVID-19?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(3), pages 629-646, July.
    15. Anne Antoni & Haley Beer, 2024. "Ethical Sensibilities for Practicing Care in Management and Organization Research," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 190(2), pages 279-294, March.
    16. Julia Hartmann & Sebastian Forkmann & Sabine Benoit & Stephan C. Henneberg, 2022. "A consumer perspective on managing the consequences of chain liability," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 58(4), pages 58-89, October.
    17. Cecilia Smaniotto & Anna Saramin & Laura Brunelli & Maria Parpinel, 2022. "Insights and Next Challenges for the Italian Educational System to Teach Sustainability in a Global Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, December.
    18. Ralph Adler & Mansi Mansi & Rakesh Pandey, 2022. "Accounting for waste management: a study of the reporting practices of the top listed Indian companies," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2401-2437, June.
    19. Tera L. Galloway & Douglas R. Miller & Kun Liu, 2023. "Guilty by Association: Spillover of Regulative Violations and Repair Efforts to Alliance Partners," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(3), pages 805-818, January.
    20. Matilal, Sumohon & Adhikari, Pawan, 2020. "Accounting in Bhopal: Making catastrophe," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:12:p:6326-:d:573072. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.