Our Correspondent :
Rokeya Begum (37) works as a bricklayer in Adamdighi, Bogra. Her job is to fill the soil brought to the ebb by truck and take it to the ebb.
After 10 working hours from 7 am to noonm she gets Tk 130 when Samsul Alam (42), a male worker doing the same with Rokeya Begum gets Tk 400. Even after working for a long time, such a picture of low wages and inequality is present in most of the brickfields of Adamdighi upazila of Bogra district. Even with equal work with men, women’s wages are almost three times lower.
The owners of the lowlands claim that they never object to this. It has been found out that the picture of this inequality in the wages of women workers in this upazila is not only in brick kilns, but also in agriculture, farms, house building and factories. Year after year women have been working through this inequality.
Hundreds of weaving factories have sprung up around Shawil Bazar in Adamdighi upazila. Hundreds of male and female workers are involved in making blankets from dyed fabrics. A male worker in a spinning mill or weaving factory in Shawil gets a wage of 350 to 400 tk. But women worker Khorsheda Begum (45) doing the same thing gets salary of Tk 150 to 180 per day. Khorseda Begum said her husband Sujan Ali was a construction worker by profession. They have two daughters. The family does not run properly on the sole income of the husband. She started working here 10 years ago with a salary of Tk. 40, at present she gets Tk. 180, but have to spend Tk. 100 a day as family expense excluding food and travel.
There are 70/80 rice mills in Adamdighi which is known as a food store. Thousands of workers work in these mills. Women workers are paid less than male workers even if they work in a hut or a driver. In the case of house construction workers, women workers are paid less than male workers.
In this regard, the female leader Adv. Mina Begum said that as long as the attitude and mentality of the patriarchal society towards women does not change, they will continue to be victims of exploitation and discrimination. Where men get the same wage of 450 to 500 tk for the same working hours, why women get less with the same work? In order to eradicate inequality, women have to be defendants and have to be vocal in demanding equal pay.
