Labour migration of illiterate, unskilled women should be stopped: Experts

Alliance for Women Migrant Voices (AWMV), a network of 22 women rights-based organisations, launched to strengthen women's safe migration

Migration of uneducated women labourers should be stopped as they are not capable of dealing with the adverse environment at destination countries, rights activists and policy makers said Thursday.

At the launching event of the Alliance for Women Migrant Voices (AWMV), on Thursday at the Probashi Kallyan Bhaban, they emphasised on sending only women who have completed at least eighth or ninth grade as well as have been trained as skilled labour force.

"We send completely illiterate female migrant workers which should be stopped at the earliest possible time. This would help reduce the torture on them," Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed said while speaking as the chief guest at the event organised by the Centre for Women and Children Studies (CWCS).

The CWCS, is supported by the Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF), and funded by the Global Affairs Canada.

According to both government and non-government data, thousands of Bangladeshi woman migrant workers had to return to the home country empty-handed, especially from the Middle East, after facing torture.

In this context, the Alliance for Women Migrant Voices (AWMV), a network of 22 women rights-based organisations, has been launched to strengthen women's safe migration.

The AWMV will work to establish and ensure equal rights and opportunities, address discrimination and violence in the workplace, advocate for enactment and amendment of laws and policies, and increase knowledge and awareness among women migrants.      

"No one is as helpless as a female illiterate migrant worker sitting in a plane and heading towards a foreign country. We have to play a strong role here," said Imran Ahmed.

He suggested that the education level should be class eight or SSC even for the job of a domestic help.

He also observed that no one can take advantage if the woman workers are half-educated or eight or nine grade passed. It makes the woman more aware and powerful, the minister added.

Imran Ahmed emphasised on sending skilled woman workers, especially in the service sectors like nursing and caregiving, as there is a huge demand from developed countries like Germany.

According to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), more than 10 lakh women migrated to different countries, including the Middle East, from 1991 to 2021. 

Around 80,143 Bangladeshi women employed last year in various foreign destinations accounted for 13% of the total overseas migration, according to the BMET.

The MJF Executive Director Shaheen Anam said that in many cases it has been found that the migration of the female workers is unsafe, they face sexual harassment at workplace, return home without a penny in hand, receive low wages and work extra hours.

"We do not want the female migration to stop completely. But we just want that the migration should not push them into more difficult situations," she said.