Plight of exploited female workers
Due to their poverty, female farm labourers in the district are compelled to work at much lower rates than their male counterparts.
Fuleshwary Bala, 46, of Karnapur village in Sadar upazila said women are paid Tk 150 to Tk 180 per day, while a male labourer is paid Tk 300 to Tk 350 for the same work. “We know we are victims of wage discrimination but we have to work for less wage due to our poverty,” she said.
“We work as much as a male labourer do, but we are paid much less, which is discrimination,” said Arati Bala, 43, of the village. “We have no other option to earn livelihood so we sell our labour at low rate,” she said.
“If we demand the same wage as a male labourer, farmers do not want to hire us,” said Rahela Begum, 36, of Sarpukur village in Aditmari upzila, demanding fair wages for women.
“The wage we get is insufficient to maintain a family,” said Shabana Bewa, 48, of the same village.
Taherul Islam, 38, of Bhadai village said women labourers are more sincere than male labourers, but they are deprived of fair wages, which is injustice against them.
Farmer Zahir Uddin, 55, of the village said women farm workers are easily available, so they can be hired for low wage.
“We are working to build up awareness among employers and women labourers for paying the same wage to male and female labourers,” said Maniruzzaman Manir, general secretary of Bangladesh Sangjukta Sramik Federation's district unit, adding that there are around 30,000 women labourers in different sectors in the district.
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