Sad state of domestic workers in Bangladesh
Not only is it shocking that child labour in domestic work has not been made illegal, but employers are being asked to facilitate their schooling-something that is the responsibility of the state
Nasiba Khan
The number of domestic workers in the country stands at 2 million, out of which 4, 20,000 are children and 83 per cent of these workers are female. This pertains to the last quantitative research carried out on domestic workers in Bangladesh in 2007 by ILO and UNICEF. Despite their staggering number, domestic workers are not entitled to any legal rights in Bangladesh. They are excluded completely from the countrys only labor related law, namely Labor Act 2006, under Section 1(4). This means that they can neither go to labor courts in case of injustice at work, nor can they form trade unions to represent their interests. As such, employers are not accountable for the way they treat their helping hands. Domestic workers receive pitiful wages, work and (in case of live-in workers) live in dire conditions, and are frequently subjected to physical, mental, verbal, and sometimes sexual, abuse.
The only ordinance in which domestic workers have been explicitly mentioned within the territory of present day Bangladesh is Domestic Servants Registration Ordinance 1961. This applied to only 5 police stations in Dhaka and was formed primarily to track down domestic workers should they commit any offence and run away from their employers household. Bangladesh has not yet ratified ILO convention 189 that mandates decent work for domestic workers. Never in the history of Bangladesh has any law been implemented specifically to protect domestic workers interests, although The Children Act 1974 and Nari O Shishu Nirjaton Daman Ain 2000 apply to all Bangladeshi women and children in general. To that end, on July 19, 2010, the Domestic Worker Protection Welfare Policy was drafted.
On February, 2011 a High Court bench dispensed a 10-point directive to the government. This commanded the recognition of domestic workers as labor under Labor Act 2006, monitoring mistreatment of domestic workers, ensuring punishment of miscreants, restrictions on employing child domestic workers, facilitation of vocational training, and implementation of Domestic Worker Protection Welfare Policy in general. It is March, 2016 and none of these have happened yet.
It has been found that 185 out of 400 child domestic workers are below 12 years of age. While there is no place for child labor in Labor Act 2006 ( the only labor-related law in Bangladesh) the Domestic Worker Protection Welfare Policy plans on allowing child labor of 14 years and older. This should spark indignation for two reasons:
1. Why should child labor be allowed in formalized domestic work when it is illegal for all other formal work?
2. The Domestic Worker Protection Welfare Policy 2010 was drafted in 2010. It was only approved on December 21, 2015- after relentless effort of Domestic Workers Rights Network (DWRN). Why has it still not been implemented more than five years after being drafted?
Apparently, the reason is, Since the Labor Ministry has been occupied with problems in garment industry, they got little time to focus on other issues , as opined by Mikail Shipar, Secretary, Ministry of Labor and Employment in a roundtable organized by Prothom Alo et al in 2013. Focus on RMG sector worker safety came under consideration only after the Tazreen Factory and Rana Plaza tragedies which took place on November, 2012 and April, 2013 respectively. The policy was drafted on July; 2010. Surely 2 years is enough time to finalize a draft policy?
Now let us take a look at some aspects of the policy itself. The policy calls for introducing a helpline for domestic workers to be called when workers need help. Although this is by all means an absolute necessity, scores of workers may not be able to use this facility in case of real emergencies unless they own their own phones. A monitoring cell will also be created to constantly monitor whether employers are abiding by the policy. But does the government have sufficient resources to constantly monitor all the employers of domestic workers? What would be done to ensure the quality of this monitoring? It has also been stated that, where necessary, a shalish will be allowed to resolve issues between domestic workers and employers. A shalish is an informal medium of conflict resolution that has no legal authority in criminal cases. Hence, it is questionable whether allowing a shalish to resolve issues between domestic workers and employers is appropriate.
On the bright side, this policy pushes for minimum wage legislation in domestic work, and this minimum wage excludes expenditure on food, shelter, clothing and healthcare. It also calls for 8 hours of sleeping time at night and four hours for rest and relaxation during the day. This was necessary as 63.33 per cent of domestic workers feel they are overworked and 53.33 per cent have no recreation. The policy also calls for one day off per week, 14 days of annual leave around the time of workers religious festivals and 16 weeks of maternity leave- something unprecedented in the history of domestic work in Bangladesh. Moreover employers must also ensure safe and hygienic sleeping place for them and this is especially important because only 6.67 per cent of workers were given a separate room to sleep in as per the 2006 BILS study. The majority of the rest were left to sleep on kitchen floors, followed by bedroom floors, drawing room and balcony. Allocation of inappropriate heavy jobs to domestic workers has also been prohibited. This policy also mandates making domestic work contractual.
However, one mandate under this policy is that child domestic workers who used to go to school before starting work must be allowed to continue schooling even when they start working. Not only is it shocking that child labour in domestic work has not been made illegal, but employers are being asked to facilitate their schooling-something that is the responsibility of the state.
On 6th March, 2016, a domestic worker in Mirpur was allegedly raped and thrown off the building in which she worked. Her corpse was found on the ground floor of the building with a piece of cloth tied around her mouth .Upon medical examination, her body was found to have several broken bones, smashed elbow, a bloody nose and bruised knees. The shocking points in this case are, this domestic worker was 15 years old and working at a government officers home. The police refused to file a murder complaint from her parents on the day of her murder.
Under the Domestic Worker Protection and Welfare Policy, 15 year olds are eligible to work. Under the policy, the same judiciary system would be responsible for handling this murder case.
This case brings into question once again, why child labor is being legalized in domestic work sector when clearly they are put through unbearable torture/death. It also illumes the fact that with or without this policy, the quality of judicial system in Bangladesh will remain the same, so there is no guarantee that employers who mistreat their helping hands will receive punishment. At least, the recent cases of violence against children seem to point that way-complaints are filed, people are arrested but no trial begins or ends. In case of government officers, dare we hope there will be any repercussion besides suspension from work?
Several things need to be kept in mind when implementing this policy. Minimum wage legislation in any sector usually leads to increased unemployment and, over time, leads to the creation of an informal sector where workers are paid less than the minimum legislated wage. Often times when employers are forced to pay minimum wages, they alter other constituents of employee reimbursements. In case of domestic workers, adjustments may be made in provision of food and clothing. Domestic workers fall under the category of unskilled workers, and when minimum wages are legislated, it is the most unskilled workers in any sector who are laid off. Hence, the government needs to have a back up plan for workers who might be laid off and a monitoring system to ensure that an informal domestic work sector does not sprout where workers are paid less than the minimum legislated wage.
Moreover, over time, people may actually reduce or stop hiring domestic workers and start doing their own work like people in western countries, as advised recently by our Prime Minister. In this case, alternative employment opportunities and vocational training should be provided for domestic workers. However, given the current pace of policy formulation and implementation, that day seems far, far away.
Hence, whether domestic workers will see light at the end of the tunnel depends not only on the implementation of a sectorspecific policy, but also on various other factors. We can only hope that the ultimate fate of these workers is a good one.
The writer is pursuing Master of Development Studies at BRAC University
