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Women migrant workers and the Covid-19 crisis

The article is written on behalf of the UN Network on Migration in Bangladesh
The Covid-19 crisis is impacting women and men differently, depending on the sector they work in, the fragility of their employment situation, their access to labour and social protection, and their care responsibilities. Health, education, and other social and personal services are traditionally female-dominated sectors. Domestic workers, in particular, have been highly vulnerable as a result of containment measures and the lack of effective social security coverage.
There are an estimated 67 million domestic workers in the world, 80 percent of whom are women and 11.5 million of whom are migrants. Nearly three quarters of domestic workers are at significant risk of losing their jobs and incomes during or due to the crisis. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), there are over 1.2 million migrant workers from Bangladesh working in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and most women migrants are employed as migrant domestic workers (MDWs). From April to October 2020, a total of 20,788 migrant women returned to Bangladesh through Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.
“I worked in Jordan for a year and a half under difficult conditions where the houseowner made me sleep on the floor and she would kick me awake. I don’t want to return to Jordan,” said Safa, who returned to Bangladesh in September 2020.
Before the current pandemic, the domestic work sector was already one of the most marginalised, least protected and least valued employment sectors. Now, due to the movement restrictions, women MDWs are often placed in even more precarious positions. Due to employer’s fear of possible transmission of Covid-19, many MDWs were dismissed from their jobs early in the crisis. These women were stranded, unable to find new work or return to Bangladesh as borders were closed.
Rehena travelled from her hometown in Laxmipur to Saudi Arabia in 2018 where she worked as a MDW up until the Covid-19 outbreak, when her employer stopped her salary. According to Rehena, “Without a salary, I could not send money home to my family and soon I left the house, found somewhere to stay for long enough till I could borrow money to travel home to my family and my five children. But now I have no job and I need to pay back the loan. I need support to start a business to provide for my children.” For MDWs in Malaysia, Singapore, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, their work permits are tied to their specific employer and once the contract is terminated, often they irregularly reside in the country and are at risk of arrest or deportation, as well as trafficking, violence and exploitation.
Women MDWs’ work predominantly takes place inside the private home where, due to the intimate nature of domestic work, MDWs are at an increased risk of being exposed to the virus, especially when caring for the ill. During the crisis, there have been reports of employers locking MDWs inside households and not letting them outside due to fears of contamination. As a result, these women MDWs were trapped at home all day with their employers, and many faced violence within these households.
Many MDWs continue to lack labour and social protection; they have little to no access to health-care services and are unable to obtain unemployment or sickness benefits if they lose their jobs. In the absence of these protection measures, there is a risk of spreading the virus among communities, including those that are in the MDW’s care.
Migrant women’s labour is keeping many countries’ health and social care systems and households running during this crisis; however, migrant women are also in need of care and support during Covid‑19. Due to the pandemic and subsequent movement restrictions, job losses, cramped living conditions, and economic pressures that households are under, there has been a substantial increase in levels of domestic violence. However, many support services remain temporarily closed. Migrant women are particularly vulnerable in these situations, due to language and information barriers.
When movement restrictions were eased, and if they could afford to, some women migrant workers have travelled back to Bangladesh where the health-care system and the economy have been impacted by returning migrant workers, both in relation to the availability of jobs and the ability of the health care system to cope with the additional number of Covid-19 cases brought in by returning workers.
Women returnees are faced with multiple challenges to sustainable reintegration, some of which include stigma from the community, effects of social dislocation, limited job opportunities, accumulating debt burdens, and little recourse to social protection or unemployment assistance. And while national labour markets continue to contract, the loss of employment has a detrimental impact on the women migrant workers, but also on families and communities that rely on their remittances for their survival. Social protection and safety net programmes need to target those most at risk of falling into poverty as a result of the pandemic: particularly, remittance-dependent households of women migrant workers.
Since March 2020, women’s employment has contracted at a large scale, and if contractions in employment deepen, an upsurge in women’s unemployment is to be expected. It is crucial to do whatever it takes to prevent women from losing their jobs in their countries of work, maintain women’s representation in the labour force, and establish mechanisms for women to re-enter employment with enhanced measures to ensure job security and protect their dignity as early as possible. In the meantime, supporting women’s livelihoods and health is essential to avoid further impoverishment.
While emergency policies have helped alleviate some of the labour market impacts of the Covid-19 crisis, governments will need to put in place measures that support the transition into a job-rich recovery. It will be important to ensure that measures explicitly counterbalance the gender-specific effects of the Covid-19 crisis and create the conditions to support women’s decent employment creation.
The United Nations Network on Migration in Bangladesh is working with the government to identify and support returning women migrant workers. Similarly, the Network is working with governments in countries of destination, particularly Gulf Cooperation Council countries, to identify stranded migrants in need of support and also working with stakeholders to provide food, accommodation, medical, psychosocial, and repatriation support.
The Global Compact for Migration (GCM) is a tool to develop practical solutions to the greatest challenges in migration, now amplified by the pandemic. The Network recognises Bangladesh’s commitment to the implementation of the GCM and applauds the government’s pledge to become a GCM champion country. The Network is committed to support the government to develop and implement effective responses articulated in the GCM and guide collective action to support the Covid-19 response and recovery.
This article is written on behalf of the Bangladesh United Nations Network on Migration by Mia Seppo, UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh; Giorgi Gigauri, Chief of Mission, IOM Bangladesh; Tuomo Poutiainen, Country Director, ILO; Steven Corliss, Country Representative, UNHCR; Shoko Ishikawa, Country Representative, UN WOMEN; Sudipto Mukerjee, Resident Representative, UNDP Bangladesh; Asa Torkelsson, Representative, UNFPA; Tomoo Hozumi, Representative, UNICEF; and Sergey Kapinos, Representative, UNODC Regional Office for South Asia.
PHOTO:
AFP/MUNIR UZ ZAMAN