The woes of female migrant workers

Despite the immense contribution of our migrant workers to the economy in the form of remittance, among other things, we have not done enough to ensure their welfare—more so when it comes to our female migrant workers. Some of the challenges faced frequently by our female migrant workers such as language barriers and lack of skills were raised recently at a seminar on migration policy.

One of the biggest problems is that over the years, structural constraints have given rise to a migration system that condones conditions of abuse and exploitation. Private recruitment agencies and brokers in both the sending and receiving countries, who mainly control work permits, have essentially held migrants hostage, resulting in both excessively high fees and a lack of protection of migrant workers. Similarly, female migrants are heavily dependent on informal networks—which consist of dalals—and oftentimes end up becoming victims of fraudulence. In the absence of effective state monitoring, what all this has done is create a situation where ensuring the protection of migrant workers has become a challenging feat. It is thus no wonder that thousands of female migrants have returned from the Middle East, recounting horrific stories of abuse and torture.

We have a horde of well-intentioned laws and policies, such as the Overseas Employment and Migrants Act 2013 and the Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Policy 2016, but clearly, these are not enough. Concrete action needs to be taken at the grassroots and meaningful reforms undertaken. The manpower sector has to be streamlined and monitoring increased to bring to book unscrupulous recruiting agencies and to remove the middlemen. The Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment should establish a unit dedicated to women, and local governments, which are critical for addressing issues at the grassroots, need to be sensitised to migration issues of women. Greater coordination is needed among consulates and missions in destination countries and relevant ministries in Bangladesh, and labour attachés need to be more proactive in providing protection for our female migrants. In the short- to medium-term, the government should come up with a well-rounded strategy, in consultation with all the stakeholders, to put in place standard terms of employment for our migrants. And a long-term vision is also needed to boost the skills of our migrant workers so that they do not remain trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty, low-skilled jobs and exploitation.