Pathways for Promise, an initiative within the Asian University for Women, is providing free education to talented women from among Bangladeshi garment factory workers. The first programme of its kind provides full scholarships for exceptional female workers to earn Bachelor’s degrees. The ‘promise’ is in empowering women by giving them skills and knowledge to expand as people and leaders, as well as on those which increase work opportunities. The boom in the export-oriented Bangladeshi garment manufacturing industry has caused more women to enter the workforce than ever before. With 65 percent of girls married before the age of eighteen and 29 percent before they are 15 years old, many young women in Bangladesh raise families alongside holding down low paid jobs and in poor conditions. “Pathways for Promise aims to demonstrate to the world that the millions of women currently working in garment factories represent an untapped pool of human potential,” explains Miranda Morrison.