The country should create more opportunities for women overseas job seekers to increase employment, speakers said at a webinar on Thursday.
They also called for disseminating proper information at the decision making stage of women outbound workers so that they do not face unwanted situations at workplaces abroad.
Academicians, researchers and rights campaigners, among others were present at the virtual discussion. It was jointly organised by the Economic Reporters Forum (ERF), Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID) and Drishti Research Centre (DRC).
Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, secretary, at the Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment, was the chief guest while Igor Bosc, chief technical advisor, work in Freedom, ILO attended as the special guest.
ERF general secretary S M Rashidul Islam moderated while President Sharmeen Rinvy chaired the event.
Economist and RAPID chairman, M A Razzaque delivered a keynote presentation at the event, showing the size of the country’s labour force at 63.5 million. The male labour force 43.5 million and female 20 million.
The unemployed labour force is 2.7 million. Additional 2.0 million jobs need to be created every year in Bangladesh.
Among the unemployed labour force, 3.1 percent is male and 6.7 percent is female, it also showed.
Razzaque said the employment opportunity for women workers in the readymade garment sector has declined currently. So, international migration is a good option for creating more job scope of women workers.
Social Anthropologist, Madame Thérèse Blanchet shared the findings of a survey titled: Migration and Gender in Bangladesh: An Irregular Landscape, that measures and compares women and men’s participation in the labour migration sector of Bangladesh.
Female outbound workers spend lower migration costs than do male migrant workers from Bangladesh. But the number of outflows of female workers abroad is much lower than those of male workers, she said.
According to her findings, about 14 percent of the women migrated without paying any fees to the recruiting agency. This practically never occurred for male migrant workers.
Again, 4.5 per cent of women paid up to Tk 10,000 but no male worker was found in this category.
Considerably lower costs for women make migration an attractive proposition. There are risks and pitfalls abroad, but most women willing to migrate consider the benefits worth taking the risks, Blanchet added.