Women account for an estimated 90 percent of the 180,000 workers in Myanmar’s garment industry, which is expanding again following the easing of international sanctions. News of job prospects in the city is spreading, and thousands of young women from villages and towns across Myanmar are pouring into city factories for their first ever taste of financial independence. Myanmar’s Deputy Minister for Trade and Commerce Pwint San is currently in Dhaka trying to promote his country as an effective manufacturer of ready-made garments. Pwint San wants Myanmar to compete with Bangladesh in the lucrative sector. Myanmar’s export value of garments rose to US$1.2 billion in 2013, representing more than 10 percent of the country’s total exports.