"Make women workers visible”: South Asia partners meeting of Women Workers Forum
The South Asia partners of GAATW’s Women Workers Forum met in Kathmandu, Nepal from 17 to 20 August. This was the second regional gathering of the programme after the Southeast Asia partners meeting in Bangkok in July.
We had participants from eleven organisations across four countries. From India there was Women’s Initiative (WINS), which works with sex workers and farmers in Andhra Pradesh; the Kerala unit of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), a trade union for women in the informal sectors; and Shramajivi Mahila Samity (SMS), which works with indigenous and rural women in Jharkhand. From Nepal we had Aaprabasi Mahila Kamdar Samuha (AMKAS), an organisation led by returnee migrant women workers; Women Forum for Women in Nepal (WOFOWON), a network of entertainment sector women workers; Tarangini Foundation, a feminist organisation working to document and advocate for women’s right to work, bodily autonomy and identity; and Women’s Rehabilitation Centre (WOREC), which works on prevention of trafficking from a human rights perspective. From Sri Lanka, there was Eastern Self-Reliant Community Awakening Organisation (ESCO), which works with migrant workers, and Center for Human Rights and Community Development (CHRCD), which works with returnee and prospective migrants. From Bangladesh, we had Badabon Sangho, which works on land and water rights of women in the Sundarbans and Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program (OKUP), which works with prospective and returnee migrant workers.
Addressing issues lying at the intersection of gender, labour and migration, our broad aim was to, as one participant said, “make women workers visible”.
We began by asking simple questions: Why isn’t women’s work recognised as work? Why do governments treat women’s work differently? Participants pointed out that many times women themselves don’t recognise their work as work. Women’s self-perception is low, and they perceive their own work as having little or no value. Patriarchal beliefs cause this undervaluation, where women’s labour like care work, sex work, domestic work is seen as part of “their nature”. On the other hand, men’s work is considered skilled. This underlines the need for women’s organisations to work on building up women’s self-confidence and changing self-perceptions. It is also a pre-requisite for any organising effort. In addition, affirming women’s identity as workers enables us to gain access or at least make a claim to social security provisions. Considering that more than 90% of workers in South Asia are informal workers, asserting this becomes very important.
We then discussed the reasons why women are forced to migrate for work in larger numbers. Participants shared that primarily it is the need to earn money and take care of the family’s needs. Sometimes, it is to escape domestic violence and other violence at home and seek safety. In some cases, women may not be aware of the opportunities available at home, but mostly, there is simply no work available in the home country. The political situation in the country and being displaced from their homes by governments and corporations also force some women to migrate.
Another point of discussion was the identity of “returnee migrant worker”. Does this term reduce them to one identity and contribute to the perception that they are different from local workers? The participants shared that one reason to use the term is because governments have specific policies for this group and this label enables them to access certain provisions. It was felt that apart from this strategic purpose, the label may become restrictive for the women. It may suggest that they are distinct from the citizens of the country and may lose out on the entitlements of citizens. For example, a citizen may be considered for employment but a returnee migrant worker may get only “skills training” from the government. It is important to think through the use of these concepts and their impact on the ground.
A core aspect of Women Workers Forum is to strengthen the documentation of our work, activities, struggles and campaigns. Different participants shared their reasons for documenting, ranging from the need to consolidate our knowledge and learning and its role in assisting fact-based advocacy. It is also important to tell our stories in our own words and ways.
The organisations discussed, created and shared slogans for workers’ demands. The common thread across these was the need to recognise the contributions of migrant workers to their home country’s economy and demand social respect for them; asserting the dignity of women’s work; self-respect, consent and safety of sex workers.
Public event on Reintegration of women migrant workers
After the four-day Forum, we held a public event, in partnership with WOREC and Tarangini Foundation, to provide feedback and critical review of the new Nepali guidelines for reintegration of migrant workers and to launch a regional campaign across Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh calling for social protection for women migrant workers.
The event began with the launch of the regional South Asian campaign. Attendees included women’s rights organisations from the four countries, government officials from the Department of Foreign Employment and the National Commission for Women, and the Minister of Labour. Banners in Bangla, Sinhala, Tamil, Malayalam, and Nepali displayed the campaign slogan “Our sweat, our labour, brought you foreign currency! Now we, demand, social security!”
Shruti PK from SEWA Kerala explained that like Nepal, India is also sending people across the world for work. She gave an overview of the existing mechanism in Kerala for migrant workers and explained that women were not getting the benefit of the schemes if they had migrated through unofficial channels. The schemes also fail to recognise many women domestic and informal sector workers. Shruti asked the Minister to ensure Nepal does not make the same mistake. From Babadon Sangho, Lipi Rahman shared the findings of their research in Bangladesh with returnee women. She said that despite the many reintegration schemes, women in Bangladesh still face stigma upon return and have difficulty finding jobs.
Renuka Dahal a Nepali woman who had worked in Malaysia, spoke very movingly about her experiences: “I was working hard but I was not getting any recognition and there was no social security for me back in Nepal.” She concluded by stating what she described as “our common demand” that “we are all women workers, government agencies should look after us and recognise us”.
Rejina Shrestha from WOREC then provided a feminist critique of the Reintegration Guidelines. She said that the word “woman” is not included once in the guidelines, and that lawmakers clearly do not understand the reality of women workers. Rejina stated that the guidelines need to focus on the specific situation of women workers, and then listed several concrete issues.
Bandana Pattanaik from GAATW-IS commented that while Nepal has taken a very good step in bringing the Reintegration Guidelines, the loopholes need to be addressed. She then asked the Minister whether it made sense to be talking about reintegration when women workers are not treated as an integral part of society. Directly addressing the Minister, Bandana said “show that you have heard these women and make them an integral part of your reintegration policy”.
The Minister committed to meeting with returnee migrant women a year after the policy has been in force to find out if it is working.