Starting with the new year, COVID-19 has already managed to create a crisis of an epic scale. In Bangladesh, the number of detected cases is multiplying in recent days. And to prevent this pandemic situation, social distancing, self isolation and lockdown causes immediate and drastic reduction of domestic economic activities.
The economic impact of practicing social distancing is already evident. And the low-income people are the quickest and hardest hit, especially those living in Dhaka and working in the informal sector. There are numerous domestic workers in the capital whose future is hanging by a thread of insecurity.
In the first week of March this year, some employers have given their part-timers paid leave until the crisis ends, in a bid to avoid a threat to themselves. Those with full-time help have chosen to retain them. “I had two part-time maids. I requested one of them to move in full-time. The other maid will get paid leave. I cannot expose her to a crowded place and let the infection into my home,” said Sumaiya Sharmin. Maids worry about losing their jobs if the crisis continues for a longer period.
With families facing job loss, delayed wages, or other economic insecurity, this gradually lead employer to delay or refuse to pay domestic workers, prioritising their own family members. In this situation, most of the maids and their family living in slums are spending their days starving. A domestic worker, Sabina, said that she works in a house with a wage of Taka 2200. But her employer asked her to take leave and furthermore refused to pay her salary. She was informed that the business of her employer is being shut down due to this pandemic. So, due to financial crisis they cannot provide her a month's salary. After the situation gets normal, they promised to keep her in work again and will also provide salary, she added.
Ambia, a house worker living near Voteghat Mosque area, said, “Where will I go now and what will I feed to my family? How long can I survive with a family of five subsists at the end of the day! We are out of work and our income has stopped.” Salma, another maid, said, “The employer asked me to stop going to work to avoid infection. But they provided me with 2 months’ wage and food. But I am wondering what will I do after this? This economic shock will bring us into food insecurity within weeks. Thus, we will have to skip meals.”
However, exception has been seen in the capital. Many employers have continued in provided their maids with a monthly salary. Hazaribagh’s resident Minu works in Dhanmondi. She said her employer paid a month’s wage and at the same time, provided her 30 kgs rice, five liters of oil, potatoes, six soaps, three kg pulses, two kgs of puffed rice and other dry foods. The employer has assured her that they will provide her monthly kitchen market until the situation gets normal.
According to statistics from the Law and Arbitration Center, the number of such domestic workers in Bangladesh is around 20 lakhs. More than 90% of them are women. More than half of these are under-aged or under-18. Calling to look into the current situation as well as the rights of domestic workers, Monjun Nahar, Manager, Advocacy and communication at Marie Stopes Bangladesh told media, “Workers engaged in informal employment like maids, do not enjoy the same social protection mechanisms that come with formal employment. But these workers are working silently. We must ensure their right to live. Those who are not paying their maids in the midst of this pandemic situation are doing it wrong. It is immoral even if it is easy to cheat in the eyes of law. They have to be accepted as one of the family. And we must be by their side in this time of trouble. '
Meanwhile, housewives have been frostbite since March as they do not have any helping hands (maids). One of them is Khadija Binte Monir Tiyasha. The resident of Kalyanpur said, “My maid is on paid leave. As a result, I have to handle all the workloads. In such cases, I have reduced the cooking items and also the expenditures.
For these workers — who survive hand to mouth daily — the consequences of quarantines and lockdowns, however medically necessary, are dire without robust government provision of food and supplementary income.
