Alternative work is uncertain too

Nazlee Laila Mansur

Asiya worked as a maid for three different households in the capital. The outbreak of coronavirus forced her to leave Dhaka and return to the village with her family. Her husband sold fish before the pandemic, but had to close business even before the outbreak as the makeshift market was cleared away. Asiya has been in grave financial crisis since mid-March.

“At first, I spent my savings to survive, but could not go on any longer. Then I left Dhaka. As I worked as a domestic help, how can I do any other work?” she said.

Asiya is considering to return to Dhaka as one among the three households paid her a partial wages regularly and has promised to let her resume work. She is uncertain about the two other houses.

A recent survey, jointly conducted by Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) and BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), found 54 per cent of the domestic workers in Dhaka and other cities had lost their jobs. Among them, only five per cent succeeded to manage other jobs.

According to the survey, women losing jobs during the pandemic also include small traders, women farmers, unskilled and skilled workers, salaried office-goers and so on.

The government had declared a general holiday in the country since 25 March in order to limit coronavirus spread. Lockdowns along with the general holiday were lifted at the end of May.

In the informal sector, women lost work more than men. The loss was 16 per cent for men and 35 per cent for women. For unskilled workers, the ratio was 20 per for men and 31 per cent for women

PPRC and BIGD first conducted a survey in April and then another in 20 June-2 July. Some 7,638 families from villages, cities and the Chittagong Hill Tracts took part in the survey regarding post-lockdown economic activities.

It was found that 35 per cent small traders lost their work followed by unskilled workers, salaried office-goers and farmers. Job losses were less in factories with 17 per cent workers losing their jobs.

In the informal sector, women lost work more than men. The loss was 16 per cent for men and 35 per cent for women. For unskilled workers, the ratio was 20 per for men and 31 per cent for women.

Small-scale traders and domestic workers had the least opportunity to change their profession while salaried women workers had the highest opportunity. Some 13 per cent salaried women managed others jobs, according to the survey.

“Domestic workers are losing works more or not being able to manage other works, because the demand has been poor. The employers, the middle-class, are not yet so confident. There is no hostility against the workers, it’s for health concerns. Demand is not increasing because of these concerns,” says Hossain Zillur Rahman, executive chairman of PPRC.

Zillur, also former advisor of the caretaker government, considers lack of capital and supply system as the prime obstacles for small-scale traders. “Women traders have to pay house rent along with rent for businesses too. As they need a place to do the business. This is a big burden.”

Ribha Rema (pseudonym), from Dhobaura, Mymensingh, worked at a prominent beauty parlour in Dhaka. Her husband is a salesman at a bakery. As the parlour closed down at the end of March, the family with their only child fell in financial crisis. In May, her employer paid her Tk 5,000 and asked her to go home. The following month she was asked to look for a new job. Riva, staying in her village home, said she still could not find any job.

The lack of alternative jobs or difficulties to get new jobs has complicated the situation of poor working women further
Nazneen Ahmed, senior research fellow, BIDS

“My husband hasn’t lost his job, but has not been receiving any salary as the bakery has not reopened. I never thought I would fall in such a crisis. We’re in grave distress,” she said.

Mamata Begum owned a tea stall in Tejkunipara. She was forced to shut the shop during the lockdown. All her money was spent to run her family in the last several months. She is now trying desperately to manage capital. Working as an employee at a vegetable shop in a local market, she said, “I cannot break bricks on the roads, what else can I do?”

The lack of alternative jobs or difficulties to get new jobs has complicated the situation of poor working women further, said Nazneen Ahmed, senior research fellow at Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).

Some 88 per cent of the total employment in the country are in informal sector. Assessing the government role in order to normalise the informal sector, Nazneen Ahmed said, it’s hard for the government to grant any formal assistance in the sector, but it should fund the sectors that are a source of livelihood for the extremely poor.

Enamur Rahman, state minister for disaster management and relief, admitted that though economic activities resumed in the country, the situation has not turned normal for the low-income women and many have lost jobs too and added, but the government had strengthened relief activities during the pandemic.

*This piece, originally published in Prothom Alo print and online, has been rewritten here in English by Nusrat Nowrin.