No place for female jobseekers
When Farzana Islam enrolled in the department of mathematics at Dhaka University (DU), she was high-spirited to reach her aspirations.
The girl from Chandpur passed with flying colors in both undergraduate and post-graduate levels, which gave wings to her dreams.
But the reality unfolded later on, when the Rokeya Hall resident had to vacate her safe haven, following the submission of her thesis.
She could opt to live in sublet arrangements, but failed to compromise on security, she said regretfully.
Left with no other option, Farzana finally bought herself a ticket to Chandpur, packed her bags and left the city, leaving behind her dream to build a career.
She got married soon after and is now a home-maker, but deep inside, the sting of leaving her dreams unfulfilled still leaves her overwhelmed.
Farzana is one of those thousands of women who are failing to start their career in the city due to inadequate accommodation facilities for them.
Although there are some living arrangements for working women, there are no government or private initiatives for female jobseekers in the city.
Therefore, these educated women get little or no opportunity to prepare for the competitive job market or interviews.
Farzana, who stood first in her post-graduate exam and sixth in the undergraduate level, said, "I could not get myself prepared for the highly competitive job market for lack of proper support. I faced some interviews with inadequate preparations and unsurprisingly I failed."
She also said if she could manage good accommodation in Dhaka after leaving the university dormitory, probably by now she would be holding a good job.
Another job seeker, Kamrunnahar Nazifa, who recently graduated from the department of economics at DU, had to vacate her dormitory allotment and now lives in a private female hostel in the city.
Stating that the environment of the university dormitory and the private hostel are completely different, Nazifa expressed high dissatisfaction over her present accommodation conditions, citing security and poor study environment.
"In sublet houses three or four persons have to share a small room which is very insecure and we get very little room for our study. The government provides hardly any facility for job seeking women," she said.
She further said the high living cost in metropolis like Dhaka is a big challenge for a job seeking woman.
There are only seven government-run hostels for working women in the country, of which three are located in Dhaka.
According to the information given on the website of the Department of Women Affairs, there are 886 seats for “working women” in Dhaka's government-run hostels but, no spot for the unemployed ones.
Which means “having a job” is the qualifying trigger for getting a spot in one of those hostels.
On the other hand, women who are looking for jobs have to depend on sublet houses, private hostels or go back to their districts. In most cases, if not all, they are being forced to choose to go back home. Jannatul Ferdous Nila, a former student of Dhaka University, demanded that the government address the accommodation problem of educated job-seeking women, who come to Dhaka with high aspirations but apparently fail to pursue their dream.
Contacted, State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Meher Afroze Chumki, told the news agency that her ministry has residential dormitories for working women but still they do not have any plan for job seekers.
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