Reza Mahmud :
A considerable number of female Bangladeshi workers are now returning home from Saudi Arabia empty-handed.
Recruiting agencies have mounted their woes, the returnees blamed.
“The main problem of Bangladeshi female workers is they are incapable for adaptations in a foreign country. They failed to stay long time abroad from their beloved children and family members. Most of these workers have no hard working experience so that they cannot stay long in a hot weather country,” said, Shamim Ahmed, a Bangladeshi national working at Jeddah, in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
Around 350 female workers are staying in different Bangladeshi missions shelter camps in the KSA, according to an official of the Bangladesh embassy in Riyadh. Who talked to the correspondent over phone. Many others were waiting for returning home as they were unwilling to live in that country any more. As many as 502 female workers were sent back to the country last month, the official also said.
Some female workers said they had dreamt of earning a lot of money from the Middle-Eastern country, but the reality was far from imagination.
Most of them alleged that the recruiting agencies assured them of providing better jobs like nurses, waitress and chefs. But they had been offered jobs of cleaners, house maids and others. The salaries were also lower than the amount the agencies offered initially.
“The agents told me that I am going there to join as an assistant nurse in a posh hospital in Saudi Arabia. But, on arrival at that country they had put huge pressure on me to join as a cleaner there. The wage was also very low. It had broken my heart,” said Josna, a female worker in a shelter camp in the Bangladeshi Embassy in Riyadh.
Some women alleged that the agents tortured them on arrival at Riyadh. The Bangladesh International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) leaders however, denied such allegations. They shifted the blame on the local agents who collect those workers for the recruiting agencies.
The local agents often conceal the actual condition to the migrant workers. They also lure them with false statements.
“We always try to brief the migrant workers on the proper working condition abroad,” Md.Ruhul Amin Swapan, the BAIRA Secretary General, told The New Nation.
Saudi Arabia is the largest labour Market for the Bangladeshi workers.
The kingdom reopened their labour market for Bangladeshi workers after seven years. But they were imposed a condition to send 25 percent female workers, which many recruiting agencies failed to fulfill.
Meanwhile, the kingdom is also trying to cut their job market for foreign workers as they have given importance to employ their native workforces. The country recently has also announced not to recruit foreign nationals in their shopping plazas.
Experts said when the labour markets abroad is shrinking and the remittance reducing such return of workers will worsen the condition.
A considerable number of female Bangladeshi workers are now returning home from Saudi Arabia empty-handed.
Recruiting agencies have mounted their woes, the returnees blamed.
“The main problem of Bangladeshi female workers is they are incapable for adaptations in a foreign country. They failed to stay long time abroad from their beloved children and family members. Most of these workers have no hard working experience so that they cannot stay long in a hot weather country,” said, Shamim Ahmed, a Bangladeshi national working at Jeddah, in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
Around 350 female workers are staying in different Bangladeshi missions shelter camps in the KSA, according to an official of the Bangladesh embassy in Riyadh. Who talked to the correspondent over phone. Many others were waiting for returning home as they were unwilling to live in that country any more. As many as 502 female workers were sent back to the country last month, the official also said.
Some female workers said they had dreamt of earning a lot of money from the Middle-Eastern country, but the reality was far from imagination.
Most of them alleged that the recruiting agencies assured them of providing better jobs like nurses, waitress and chefs. But they had been offered jobs of cleaners, house maids and others. The salaries were also lower than the amount the agencies offered initially.
“The agents told me that I am going there to join as an assistant nurse in a posh hospital in Saudi Arabia. But, on arrival at that country they had put huge pressure on me to join as a cleaner there. The wage was also very low. It had broken my heart,” said Josna, a female worker in a shelter camp in the Bangladeshi Embassy in Riyadh.
Some women alleged that the agents tortured them on arrival at Riyadh. The Bangladesh International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) leaders however, denied such allegations. They shifted the blame on the local agents who collect those workers for the recruiting agencies.
The local agents often conceal the actual condition to the migrant workers. They also lure them with false statements.
“We always try to brief the migrant workers on the proper working condition abroad,” Md.Ruhul Amin Swapan, the BAIRA Secretary General, told The New Nation.
Saudi Arabia is the largest labour Market for the Bangladeshi workers.
The kingdom reopened their labour market for Bangladeshi workers after seven years. But they were imposed a condition to send 25 percent female workers, which many recruiting agencies failed to fulfill.
Meanwhile, the kingdom is also trying to cut their job market for foreign workers as they have given importance to employ their native workforces. The country recently has also announced not to recruit foreign nationals in their shopping plazas.
Experts said when the labour markets abroad is shrinking and the remittance reducing such return of workers will worsen the condition.
