Bangladesh
Homeworkers Women Association (BHWA) is an NGO working
with women homebased workers in the country since 1986
towards improving their socio-economic status. Our activities
encompass all aspects of developmental work related to
women homeworkers in our country. Along with our fight
for worker rights issues, we also work towards increased
awareness and financial independence for women homeworkers
in collaboration with like-minded international agencies
(HomeNet South Asia, UNIFEM etc.)
Ms. Dilruba Anguri, General Secretary, BHWA, has been
working in this sector for a long time. A homeworker is the first to arise
in the morning and the last to go to sleep at night. During
the day, she has to finish all the duties involved in
running a household as well as do other homebased work
that will give her some additional income. A home worker's
contribution to the social and economic development of
the nation cannot be overlooked. Her hard work is not
given due recognition and value. Homeworkers are a neglected
group in Bangladesh.
Many organizations including the ITGLWF
and its member trade union organizations have been supporting
us in our effort towards getting due recognition for the
homeworker by requesting the government to include homebased
women workers in it's new LABOUR CODE and adopt a NATIONAL
POLICY (based on the ILO
HOMEWORK CONVENTION 1996) on home based workers to
ensure better justice and representation to their cause.
Unfortunately, government support and recognition has
not been forthcoming in spite of the immense potential
of this sector in terms of export earnings.
Homeworkers
are a neglected group in Bangladesh. BHWA has repeatedly
presented statistics to show that though individual homeworker
contributions might be negligible, the vast numbers of
homeworkers make the total contribution to the national
economy quite substantial.
Given the poor financial and economic status of the majority
population in our country, women are increasingly looking
towards some alternate source of income to supplement
the wages that the male earning member brings in. However,
they cannot afford to overlook their primary responsibility
of managing the household and the children. So, working
from home provides them with the best of both worlds,
allowing them to utilize their skills to earn money and
keep an eye on the household at the same time. They can
also allocate time to all the duties at their convenience.
Creating various handicrafts from a wide range of raw
materials available locally, these hard working women
also need to look for appropriate outlets for their products.
Whatever they earn from their work is very often instrumental
in giving their children a better education than they
had or for family medical expenses. Thus their children
will hopefully be physically and mentally better equipped
to improve their living standards.
In the current economic scenario, globalization has meant
that many big business houses and factories have been
shut down because they were unable to cope with the various
difficulties arising from globalization. BHWA firmly believes
that their motto, "MY HOME,
MY WORKPLACE " is an idea that will help combat
the future labour and economic problems faced by the country.
If the government can equip and fund every home as a workplace,
then unemployment caused by closure of factories can be
dealt with effectively. And, as a result, the country's
economic downslide can be prevented.
Bangladesh
Homeworkers Women Association (BHWA) is an NGO working
with women homebased workers in the country since 1986
towards improving their socio-economic status. Our activities
encompass all aspects of developmental work related to
women homeworkers in our country. Along with our fight
for worker rights issues, we also work towards increased
awareness and financial independence for women homeworkers
in collaboration with like-minded international agencies
(HomeNet South Asia, UNIFEM etc.)
Homeworkers
are a neglected group in Bangladesh. BHWA has repeatedly
presented statistics to show that though individual homeworker
contributions might be negligible, the vast numbers of
homeworkers make the total contribution to the national
economy quite substantial.