WOMEN’S POVERTY, MIGRATION AND POLICY: REFLECTIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF BANGLADESH

This article synthesizes the reflections of Bangladeshi female migrants’ life experiences on poverty, migration and policy issues, and throws light to the protection challenges. In this way, the article analyses the policy initiatives, chalks out the policy gaps and draws recommendations for addressing the protection concerns of female migrants in order to create a positive link between migration and poverty alleviation, so that the outcome of migration is resulted into sustainable development. By taking the steps outlined in this article, concerned authorities can increase the protection of Bangladeshi female migrants at home and abroad. Writes DR. MD. MAHBUBUR RAHMAN

Jarina, Rahima, Komola and others were female labour migrants within the age of 25 to 30 years. Although their faces were stricken by poverty, their eyes were sparkling with aspirations for future prospects and developments. I first met them in a government technical training centre (TTC) at Tangail district of Bangladesh when I was facilitating an awareness raising training on ‘safe, orderly and regular migration’ for pre-departing female domestic workers to the Middle East.

YOU CAN ALSO READ: BANGLADESH’S COMMODITY CONUNDRUM: WHAT’S BEHIND THE ABNORMAL SURGE?

Their life stories have drawn my attention to the theme of women’s poverty, migration and policy, and enabled me to observe and analyse their life experiences on the theme in the context of Bangladesh.They lived in three separate slums among the nineteen slums under the jurisdiction of Tangail municipality. I visited their places several times in order to gain in-depth idea on women’s poverty and migration, and to see to what extent the current migration policy of Bangladesh benefits the female migrants. In the slums, I also met some other female migrants who had more or less the similar life experiences, and who largely represent the rural but youthful community of Bangladesh and who normally suffer from unpaid domestic works or underemployment. I noticed that approximately 70% of the population of those slums was women and children. I further observed that a good number of women in those slums were the household heads due to either breaking of their families or, death of their husbands.

When I asked them how they ended up in those slums, I came to know that poverty along with natural disasters like riverbank erosion and cyclone, or local conflicts over land possession displaced them from their habitual residences and forced them to migrate from their origin to the slums in Tangail. This internal migration was not smooth too. They informed that during the transit, they were actually victims of multiple displacements. Because, before settling into those slums, they had to settle temporarily in other areas, and subsequently they were also forced to leave those places. On transit, some of them who were unaccompanied by male family members, faced sexual exploitation.

Slum-women’s contribution to the local economy of Tangail and the national economy of Bangladesh needs to be acknowledged. It is to be noted that a significant section of them is working as domestic workers and as labourers in the local garment and other small industries. Some commute daily to and from nearby semiurban industrial areas. In some instance their female family members temporarily migrated to Dhaka for working in big garment factories, and others recently migrated to the Middle East as domestic workers. In these ways they are contributing to the national economy of Bangladesh. Since those women were workers in profession, their movements from rural to urban in the first instance, and finally from urban to international destinations should be treated as labour migration which acts as a vital poverty alleviation and assists the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) in addressing unemployment and underemployment. Against the backdrop, Bangladeshi female labour migrants can be broadly divided into two categories: internal female migrants and Bangladeshi female migrants working abroad. Female migrants of both categories face multi-dimensional protection challenges.

PROTECTION CHALLENGES OF INTERNAL FEMALE MIGRANTS

Whilst internal migration may seem like a safer and more comfortable option for the female migrants in Bangladesh, there are in fact a number of key concerns regarding living and working conditions of internal female migrants in the big cities in Bangladesh. These concerns include but not limited to the poor living conditions in slums and other insecure places or, areas; exploitative work conditions; physical insecurities; and poor access to services including affordable transportation, childcare, health and sanitation. Conditions can be particularly harsh in slums, with 5 to 6 families often sharing water taps and up to 90% of slum dwellers using hanging toilets and other unhygienic facilities. Of yet more concern is the sexual safety of female migrants in poor urban dwellings, not only with regard to abuse, but also to sexual health.

PROTECTION CHALLENGES OF BANGLADESHI FEMALE MIGRANTS WORKING ABROAD

Many Bangladeshi female domestic workers are migrating to Hong Kong and Singapore. However, the popular international migration routes for Bangladeshi female labour migrants are the countries under the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and other Middle Eastern countries. Although Bangladesh has Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with Jordan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE), it is largely the middle-men or, personal connections of the aspirant female migrants that influence their choice for countries of destination.

I have chalked out seven protection challenges of Bangladeshi aspirant female migrants, and who are already working abroad.

1. Migration cost for the Bangladeshi migrants are extremely high in comparison to migrants of other labour sending countries. For female domestic workers, the cost of migration should ideally be nil in Bangladesh. However, practically it reaches up to 200 dollars.
2. There is a lack of skills training for female migrants. Although there are 40 technical training centres (TTCs) in Bangladesh, only 14 of them provide training to the aspirant female migrants.
3. There are problems with the middlemen and recruiting agencies. It has been observed that the Government of Bangladesh does not do much to regulate the recruiting agencies and to tackle the middlemen, particularly as they can be a source of financial advantage.
4. A high number of migrants do not have sufficient access to information regarding migration formalities, protection and rights. In most cases migrants, especially female migrants, are not aware of working and living conditions in host countries. There is also the lack of information regarding regular migration channels.
5. There is a lack of responsive and supportive Labour Attaches. Bangladeshi female migrants working abroad do not have sufficient contact with support networks, particularly what should be provided by Bangladeshi diplomatic missions.
6. Measures are often put into place in host countries in order to discourage temporary migrants settling or becoming longer-term migrants. These measures include prohibiting marriage to locals, not allowing family reunion, frowning upon migrants having children, and limiting protection efforts for these children.
7. There is often a significant lack of cultural awareness, both from the employer and the employee sides. Bangladeshi female migrants are often ill-prepared to cope with the cultural and language conditions of the countries of destinations.

POLICY ISSUES

Although poverty is one of the main drivers of female migration in Bangladesh, migration can stimulate the economic and the social development of women in the country through remittance, provided appropriate policy measures are taken. However, despite making significant contribution through remittances very little policy attention is given for the welfare of Bangladeshi female migrants.

The principal regulatory instrument in the overall migration policy of Bangladesh is the Emigration Ordinance of 1982. Other relevant national legal and policy instruments are the Emigration Rules-2002, the Wage Earners’ Welfare Fund Rules-2002, the Recruiting Agents’ License and Conduct Rules-2002, the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act-2012, the Overseas Employment and Migration Act2013, the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board Act-2016, and the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Policy-2016.

The principal governmental agency involved in the management of the migration process in Bangladesh is the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment (MEWOE). Other two governmental agencies are the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), and the Bangladesh Overseas Employment Services Limited (BOESL).

There are at least five good policy practices for female migrants. Those are:

• SMART card has been introduced to store the personal and job information of migrant workers. This machine-readable card has checked the practice of using forged passports and visa by the unscrupulous recruiting agencies.
• Specific employable and competence-based skill training for aspirant female migrant workers have been introduced.
• Minimum age of the female workers has been fixed at 25 years for migration for domestic work purposes.
• Compulsory tests for female workers migrating in housekeeping have been introduced to reduce the vulnerability to exploitation.
• The Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment (MEWOE) continues to operate shelter homes in some missions abroad for Bangladeshi female migrants who are victims of abuse and exploitation by the employers.

There are a number of key policy gaps for female migrants that put them in situations of increased vulnerability and far from the protections enjoyed by other workers both in Bangladesh and the countries of destination. I would like to highlight on the most striking policy gaps.

First of all, the existing migration policy of Bangladesh is not effective enough to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets by 2030 through addressing all the challenges face by female migrants. It is to be noted that the 2030 Agenda treats migration as one of the important contributors to development as opposed to a byproduct of lack of development.

Secondly, in line with the spirit of the the ‘Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration’ (GCM), it may be critical to promote gender-sensitive perspectives across all aspects of migration in and from Bangladesh through its current migration policy. I think so, because the Global Compact for Migration urges all States to ensure that gender issues are appropriately addressed at all levels of laws, policies and practices of migration.

In the given context, I would like to propose three policy recommendations.

1. The Government of Bangladesh does not need to take any new migration policy initiatives but needs to bring about major changes in the existing migration policy to make it a truly gender sensitive and responsive one.
2. The stories and voices of female migrants must be taken into full consideration before making any changes in the policy.
3. The sustainable development goals and achievement targets for female migrants, as mentioned in the 2030 Agenda, should be included in the revised policy.

I would like to conclude with Begum Rokeya, the pioneer feminist writer and activist of Bengal. In Ardhangi (the better half), one of her essays, she says that ‘the vehicle in which one wheel is bigger and another is smaller cannot move far, rather circles in a same area’.

Here, she wants to indicate that if power is not equally shared between men and women in a family or, an organization or, a policy initiative, then the project in all likelihood will end up in failure. Therefore, the protection challenges that female migrants face should be addressed with due importance that their male counterparts get in all local, national and international policy initiatives. Only then migration will have positive impacts on poverty alleviation and development.