This is utter cruelty

WE are appalled by the photograph of female garment workers walking barefoot on hot concrete during lunch hour, as their footwears were kept in possession of the employers lest the former traveled too far during lunch break. The news item on the front page of The Daily Star on Sunday says that it is done so not on a one-off, but regular basis to compel workers to come back to work after a short while as they would not be able to endure the rough walk for long. It is beyond comprehension that female workers are subjected to such cruelty right in the middle of the capital city and well into the 21st Century. By all means, the whole episode smacks of gender discrimination of the worst kind, because the male workers are not meted out such treatment. Such practices remind us of the days of bonded labour and barbaric treatment to workers that civilisation was thought to have consigned to oblivion.
The readymade garment sector still earns huge amount of foreign currency and remains the largest employer of workforce, especially of female workers in the country. Notwithstanding tough international competition, entrepreneurs have managed to sustain through demonstrating sheer tenacity and business acumen. But at the other pole, the questions of ensuring working environment, healthcare and safety of the workers, especially that of female workers, have remained largely unaddressed. Many of the factories do not have sufficient number of toilets or separate ones for the female workers. On top of it, newer aberrations come to light often, as exemplified in the photograph in this daily on Sunday.
We are so outraged by the oppressive behaviour of the garment owners in Banani that we demand an immediate investigation into the scandal of barefoot walking of female workers. The perpetrators must be punished and steps taken to deter such practice in future.