factory unless a certificate of fitness from registered surgeon granted to him is in the custody of the employer and such young person carries while he is at work a token giving a reference to such certificate. Section 42 prohibits the employment of young persons in underground or under water. Section 41 provides that no young person may be allowed to work in any factory for more than five hours in a day and 30 hours in a week. Section 46 of the Act state that every woman employed in any establishment shall be entitled to the payment of maternity benefit in respect of the period of eight weeks preceding the tentative date of her delivery and eight weeks of following the date of her delivery. The maternity benefit consists of a payment depending on current wages for eight weeks before and eight weeks after the birth of child. A safeguard has been provided in section 50 so far the maternity benefit is concerned. If the employer gives notice or order of dismissal, discharge or removal to a woman without sufficient cause within a period of six months before her delivery and eight weeks after delivery, she will but be deprived of the maternity benefit to which but for such notice she may have become entitled under this Act. But the reality is that most women become surprised when they were told that they were entitled to maternity leave under Bangladesh labour laws 29 . Kormojibi Nari conducted a survey in August 200630 in 100 garment factories in Dhaka city. According to the survey Sixty three per cent of the RMG factories did not grant maternity leave to women workers who were therefore compelled to leave their jobs before child birth and join afresh thereafter. An estimated two million workers, of whom 80 per cent are women 31 , are reported to be employed in 4,250 RMG factories32 across the country. In addition, another million are engaged in textiles and accessories industries (yarn, button, carton, etc. 33 ). Sexual harassment and discrimination is widespread and common phenomena in garment factories and women are threatened with dismissal if they speak out. The study conducted by Action Aid Bangladesh, a British NGO, estimates at least 20 percent of women workers were engaging in sex at the workplace. Exploited at work, and living in wretched poverty, many women workers have 29 ibid KarmojibiNari, Untold , Vol.13, January - March 2007, p 32. 31 KabirUddin Ahmed, former President of BGMEA, in an interview with Prothom Alo , 24 May, 2006. 32 Listed with the BGMEA. 33 Kabir Uddin Ahmed, op. cit. 30