Z A M Khairuzzaman :
“Dogs and natives not allowed,” proclaimed a notorious 1930s signboard at Pahartoli European Club in Chittagong during British rule in the country.
Today, in the 21st century, in recreational and residential spaces throughout Bangladeshi cities, there is an invisible sign which says: “No domestic workers allowed”.
Sultana, who works for three different households in Dhaka knows all about this unspoken rule.
“Residents in posh areas take their dogs downstairs through lift. Their dogs walk in the garden, but we (domestic workers) are shooed away by security guards”.
Kohinur Akhter, a 35-year-old domestic help tells the daily sun: “I had to climb to a sixth floor apartment, because I wasn’t allowed to take the lift. Seventy-four steps at a go! I had to quit.”
Sultana and Kohinur Akhter are not exceptions; they are just two of the vast majority women – working in private households in Bangladesh as domestic help, cleaners, cooks and carers.
Hundreds of thousands of them endure untold suffering because of their perceived subordination due to class and simply because of what they do for a living.
Abuses range from unto underpaid wages to forced labour, physical violence, including sexual assault, starvation and even death.
International Labour Day is observed and celebrated by the workers and common people on May 01 to rejoice the accomplishments of international labour movement in alleviating the condition of labour all across the world. But, May Day makes no difference to Bangladeshi domestic workers.
The theme of this year’s International Labour Day 2018 was “Uniting Workers for Social and Economic Advancement”.
This was to motivate workers all over the world to unite for their rights and demand social and economic advancement from the governments. The theme also calls upon the labour leaders to collectively fight for the improvement in working conditions and press for decent work.
Domestic workers perform a vital role in Bangladesh’s economy. They are now considered crucial to the smooth running of national economies, but, as a workforce they remain one of the most vulnerable to exploitation, abuse and modern-day slavery.
Domestic work is one of the few areas of work available for the majority of unskilled female workers.
They frequently work seven days a week, enduring poverty wages (despite often working in multiple households), no paid leave, zero maternity or social protection, violence and unhygienic living and working conditions.
“We are not given off days and when we fall sick or take leave, our wages are deducted for that day. When we return the amount of work is double, but the employers don’t take that into account,” says Hawa, a domestic worker from Mohammadpur in Dhaka.
To coincide with the International Labour Day, Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) and Domestic Workers Rights Network (DWRN), a combined platform of National Trade Union Federations and Human Rights organisations, held rallies and meetings about how to create awareness on the burning issue, how to better organise domestic workers, and how to ensure Bangladesh’s ratification of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 189 on the Rights of Domestic Workers.
BILS has catalogued a litany of exploitation faced by domestic workers at the hands of their employers, including forced labour, rape, daily beatings and being forced to work long hours with no breaks.
According to BILS, 68 domestic workers fell victims to torture and accidents in 2016. Of them, 17 female domestic workers died following torture inflicted on them. Seven female domestic workers and two male domestic workers died in accidents at workplaces. Forty-two domestic workers sustained injuries during the period. Of them, 39 females and one male sustained injuries from torture and two females sustained injuries from accidents.
From 2001 to 2015, seven hundred ninety-seven domestic workers fell victims to torture. Of them, 100 female domestic workers were sexually tortured. Three hundred ninety-eight domestic workers died of torture and 299 others sustained injuries during the period.
In 2015, seventy-eight domestic workers fell victims to torture. Of them, 39 died and 39 others injured. In 2014, fifty-five domestic workers fell victims to torture. Of them, 27 died and 28 injured. In 2013, fifty-six domestic workers fell victims to torture. Of them, 32 died and 24 injured. In 2012, seventy-eight domestic workers fell victims to torture. Of them, 46 died and 32 injured. In 2011, fifty-eight domestic workers fell victims to torture. Of them, 38 died and 20 injured.
Thirteen female domestic workers were sexually tortured during the period. Most of them were tortured by the house masters. Last year, they were also sexually tortured by security workers, house tutors, drivers and even by the neighbours of housemasters.
Fifteen domestic workers committed suicide to get rid of the torments. In 2016, four domestic workers died of road crashes while 42 others sustained injuries.
It said the vulnerability of domestic workers is rooted in the nature of their work – typically undertaken behind closed doors in private homes far from their own communities – and the lack of legal protection they receive.
Poverty plays an unavoidable role in the lives of domestic workers in Bangladesh, where poor families still continue to work as bonded labourers for upper class households.
Poor people are seen as dirty which is why they are considered “suited” to task of performing household chores.
“Even if I go to work after taking a bath, my employer doesn’t trust (that I am clean) until she sees water dripping from my hair”, says a domestic worker from Banani area in Dhaka.
“The employer pours water on everything I have cleaned and sprinkles water in places where I have walked to ‘purify’ the area since I am of a lower caste,” she says.
“I bath the baby of my employer. But, I am not allowed to touch the baby after that,” she says, revealing that she is often verbal assaulted and taunted. “Even the small child calls me names. It hurts.”
The discrimination against domestic workers also extends to the issue of sanitation.
Domestic workers are usually barred from using the toilets inside the houses they clean.
In multi-storied apartments, they are asked to use the common toilet which is always on the ground floor.
Dulee, a domestic help with arthritis works in a eighth floor apartment. She tells the daily sun: “My work starts at 8.00 am and continues until 6.00pm, but I have to take the stairs to go to the toilet on ground floor, which makes life miserable”
She says: “We are the ones who clean the toilets and keep them spick and span, but we cannot use them because we are servants”.
This has serious health consequences.
BILS sources revealed that most domestic helps suffer from urinary tract and bladder infections, as well as the mental tension they undergo to control urination.”
In India, religion also plays an unavoidable role in the lives of Bangladeshi migrant domestic workers.
In New Delhi households, there are a large number of Bangladeshi immigrants, but many of them have to replace their traditional Muslim dress and even their Muslim sounding names in order to get work.
Abuse and exploitation of migrant domestic workers servants is widespread in the countries of the Middle East. They are subject to extremely long working hours-63.7 hours a week is the average in Saudi Arabia-physical and sexual abuse and are sometimes forbidden to communicate with the outside world or even spend time outside the household. Workers often flee to their countries’ embassies, as they cannot always get help from their recruitment agencies. When fleeing their employer, they are “absconding” and violating the labour laws of the countries. This, in turn, puts them at risk of arrest or worse, of deportation.
“Replacing the usage of ‘servant’ to a more sophisticated word like ‘domestic help’ will not change the situation. Society should learn to acknowledge them as workers”.
In spite of these challenges, Bangladeshi trade unions are currently working with domestic workers.
And the government has a number of other steps to promote decent work for domestic workers.
Thanks to the initiatives from the government of Bangladesh for adopting the Domestic Workers Protection and Welfare Policy 2015. But it is unfortunate that till now a large number of domestic workers do not know about the same. Awareness building is the call of the day.
(The writer is a media activist.)
“Dogs and natives not allowed,” proclaimed a notorious 1930s signboard at Pahartoli European Club in Chittagong during British rule in the country.
Today, in the 21st century, in recreational and residential spaces throughout Bangladeshi cities, there is an invisible sign which says: “No domestic workers allowed”.
Sultana, who works for three different households in Dhaka knows all about this unspoken rule.
“Residents in posh areas take their dogs downstairs through lift. Their dogs walk in the garden, but we (domestic workers) are shooed away by security guards”.
Kohinur Akhter, a 35-year-old domestic help tells the daily sun: “I had to climb to a sixth floor apartment, because I wasn’t allowed to take the lift. Seventy-four steps at a go! I had to quit.”
Sultana and Kohinur Akhter are not exceptions; they are just two of the vast majority women – working in private households in Bangladesh as domestic help, cleaners, cooks and carers.
Hundreds of thousands of them endure untold suffering because of their perceived subordination due to class and simply because of what they do for a living.
Abuses range from unto underpaid wages to forced labour, physical violence, including sexual assault, starvation and even death.
International Labour Day is observed and celebrated by the workers and common people on May 01 to rejoice the accomplishments of international labour movement in alleviating the condition of labour all across the world. But, May Day makes no difference to Bangladeshi domestic workers.
The theme of this year’s International Labour Day 2018 was “Uniting Workers for Social and Economic Advancement”.
This was to motivate workers all over the world to unite for their rights and demand social and economic advancement from the governments. The theme also calls upon the labour leaders to collectively fight for the improvement in working conditions and press for decent work.
Domestic workers perform a vital role in Bangladesh’s economy. They are now considered crucial to the smooth running of national economies, but, as a workforce they remain one of the most vulnerable to exploitation, abuse and modern-day slavery.
Domestic work is one of the few areas of work available for the majority of unskilled female workers.
They frequently work seven days a week, enduring poverty wages (despite often working in multiple households), no paid leave, zero maternity or social protection, violence and unhygienic living and working conditions.
“We are not given off days and when we fall sick or take leave, our wages are deducted for that day. When we return the amount of work is double, but the employers don’t take that into account,” says Hawa, a domestic worker from Mohammadpur in Dhaka.
To coincide with the International Labour Day, Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) and Domestic Workers Rights Network (DWRN), a combined platform of National Trade Union Federations and Human Rights organisations, held rallies and meetings about how to create awareness on the burning issue, how to better organise domestic workers, and how to ensure Bangladesh’s ratification of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 189 on the Rights of Domestic Workers.
BILS has catalogued a litany of exploitation faced by domestic workers at the hands of their employers, including forced labour, rape, daily beatings and being forced to work long hours with no breaks.
According to BILS, 68 domestic workers fell victims to torture and accidents in 2016. Of them, 17 female domestic workers died following torture inflicted on them. Seven female domestic workers and two male domestic workers died in accidents at workplaces. Forty-two domestic workers sustained injuries during the period. Of them, 39 females and one male sustained injuries from torture and two females sustained injuries from accidents.
From 2001 to 2015, seven hundred ninety-seven domestic workers fell victims to torture. Of them, 100 female domestic workers were sexually tortured. Three hundred ninety-eight domestic workers died of torture and 299 others sustained injuries during the period.
In 2015, seventy-eight domestic workers fell victims to torture. Of them, 39 died and 39 others injured. In 2014, fifty-five domestic workers fell victims to torture. Of them, 27 died and 28 injured. In 2013, fifty-six domestic workers fell victims to torture. Of them, 32 died and 24 injured. In 2012, seventy-eight domestic workers fell victims to torture. Of them, 46 died and 32 injured. In 2011, fifty-eight domestic workers fell victims to torture. Of them, 38 died and 20 injured.
Thirteen female domestic workers were sexually tortured during the period. Most of them were tortured by the house masters. Last year, they were also sexually tortured by security workers, house tutors, drivers and even by the neighbours of housemasters.
Fifteen domestic workers committed suicide to get rid of the torments. In 2016, four domestic workers died of road crashes while 42 others sustained injuries.
It said the vulnerability of domestic workers is rooted in the nature of their work – typically undertaken behind closed doors in private homes far from their own communities – and the lack of legal protection they receive.
Poverty plays an unavoidable role in the lives of domestic workers in Bangladesh, where poor families still continue to work as bonded labourers for upper class households.
Poor people are seen as dirty which is why they are considered “suited” to task of performing household chores.
“Even if I go to work after taking a bath, my employer doesn’t trust (that I am clean) until she sees water dripping from my hair”, says a domestic worker from Banani area in Dhaka.
“The employer pours water on everything I have cleaned and sprinkles water in places where I have walked to ‘purify’ the area since I am of a lower caste,” she says.
“I bath the baby of my employer. But, I am not allowed to touch the baby after that,” she says, revealing that she is often verbal assaulted and taunted. “Even the small child calls me names. It hurts.”
The discrimination against domestic workers also extends to the issue of sanitation.
Domestic workers are usually barred from using the toilets inside the houses they clean.
In multi-storied apartments, they are asked to use the common toilet which is always on the ground floor.
Dulee, a domestic help with arthritis works in a eighth floor apartment. She tells the daily sun: “My work starts at 8.00 am and continues until 6.00pm, but I have to take the stairs to go to the toilet on ground floor, which makes life miserable”
She says: “We are the ones who clean the toilets and keep them spick and span, but we cannot use them because we are servants”.
This has serious health consequences.
BILS sources revealed that most domestic helps suffer from urinary tract and bladder infections, as well as the mental tension they undergo to control urination.”
In India, religion also plays an unavoidable role in the lives of Bangladeshi migrant domestic workers.
In New Delhi households, there are a large number of Bangladeshi immigrants, but many of them have to replace their traditional Muslim dress and even their Muslim sounding names in order to get work.
Abuse and exploitation of migrant domestic workers servants is widespread in the countries of the Middle East. They are subject to extremely long working hours-63.7 hours a week is the average in Saudi Arabia-physical and sexual abuse and are sometimes forbidden to communicate with the outside world or even spend time outside the household. Workers often flee to their countries’ embassies, as they cannot always get help from their recruitment agencies. When fleeing their employer, they are “absconding” and violating the labour laws of the countries. This, in turn, puts them at risk of arrest or worse, of deportation.
“Replacing the usage of ‘servant’ to a more sophisticated word like ‘domestic help’ will not change the situation. Society should learn to acknowledge them as workers”.
In spite of these challenges, Bangladeshi trade unions are currently working with domestic workers.
And the government has a number of other steps to promote decent work for domestic workers.
Thanks to the initiatives from the government of Bangladesh for adopting the Domestic Workers Protection and Welfare Policy 2015. But it is unfortunate that till now a large number of domestic workers do not know about the same. Awareness building is the call of the day.
(The writer is a media activist.)
