National Conference of Domestic Workers 5 March 2024

Women taking part in capital market

Keynote of the Conference

“It’s time for Domestic work and workers to get recognition from society and state under the Labor Law as workers”

The participation of women in the development of Bangladesh has visibly increased as a result of the multifaceted measures taken by the government and the private sector. The role of domestic workers in this progress is immense. According to the Labor Force Survey of 2015-16, 80 per cent of 1.7 million domestic workers in Bangladesh are women, and most of them are under the age of eighteen. About 0.3 million domestic workers work in the city of Dhaka who are mostly illiterate or poorly literate with no

professional training and awareness of rights and duties.

Moreover, domestic workers are socially undignified with no recognition of their value of work including no contract agreement, no day off, no limitation of working hours, no health benefits or even minimum wage. In addition, they often come across physical and sexual harassment. From research of the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies-BILS found that there was news of the killing of 341 domestic workers and 321 were the victim of violence in a decade from 2011 to 2022. The government of Bangladesh ratified ILO’s Domestic Work Convention 2011 (C189) and established a Monitoring Cell.

However, there are no structural initiatives to implement it. On the other hand, the amended Labour Law increases the maternity leave for a working woman to 120 days (November 2023). Unfortunately, the domestic workers are still unrecognized and deprived of this legal right.1

In this context, for socio-economic development and rights, dignity and protection of domestic workers, Oxfam in Bangladesh, and Global Affairs Canada in collaboration with BILS, Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE), Dushtha Shasthya Kendra (DSK), HelloTask Platform Ltd., Karmojibi Nari, RedOrange Communications, and UCEP Bangladesh is implementing the project "Securing Rights of Women Domestic Workers in Bangladesh-SUNITI". The objective of the project is to raise awareness about the rights, dignity, and protection of sixteen thousand (16,000) domestic workers and provide professional and life skills development training. Under the project, Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB) and National Skill Development Authority (NSDA) have developed training courses for domestic workers, where twelve thousand (12,000) domestic workers have already received training.

Recently, the labour law was amended (November 2023) to increase the maternity leave of working women from 112 days to 120 days. It was expected that domestic workers would be included in the revised Labor Act, however, such an initiative was not taken. Therefore, domestic workers need to be united to raise their voices in demand of legal rights, stopping physical and sexual harassment and violence.

To highlight the issue of inclusion of domestic workers in the Labor Act to the policymakers and speed up the implementation of the Domestic Workers Protection and Welfare Policy, 2015, DSK in collaboration with the implemented partners and domestic workers in Dhaka is organizing the National Conference of Domestic Workers 2024 in the auditorium of Krishibid Institution Bangladesh (KIB) Complex on 5 March 2024 with the objective intending to draw attention to the policymakers and the wider society to address the issues in the existing policies, practice changes and formalize the occupation of domestic workers through the entitlement of their rights with dignity.

The slogan of the conference is “It’s time for Domestic work and workers to get recognition from society and state under the Labor Law as workers” and has the motto of “Ensuring the rights, dignity and protection of domestic workers and inclusion in Bangladesh Labor Laws. It is expected that representatives of various classes and professions including representatives of related public and private organizations, underprivileged populations especially more than five hundred domestic workers, human

rights organizations and representatives of civil society will participate in this conference.

The following are the anticipated results of the conference:

• Creating a legal framework for the implementation of the 2015 Domestic Worker Protection and Welfare Policy

• Social and State recognition of domestic work as a dignified profession

• The ILO Convention 189 should be ratified as providing decent work for domestic workers

• Fixed the pay scale, working hours, and strategy of its implementation.