Editorial
Impediment to women working abroad
Unfriendly conditions need addressing
The negative feedback that returnee female workers bring back from lucrative markets in the Middle East has been known for some time but remains unaddressed. The list of abuses, according to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training includes poor pay, long working hours and violation of basic human rights that even entails locking up workers against their will.
Needless to say, such dismal conditions are not going to help encourage other women to tap into this lucrative market. The apathy of recruiting and government agencies to properly train expatriate women workers along with the swindling activities of middlemen have not helped matters at all. Once abroad, these workers have little recourse to legal aid through our missions abroad. Obviously some fundamental rethinking is required here. There is no reason why conditions cannot be improved provided diplomatic efforts are directed at host countries to bring about an improvement in the working conditions for women.
The other area that has long been neglected is the fraudulent and exploitative practices that dominate the largely unregulated recruitment business in the country. It is high time that the ministry concerned formulated proper guidelines regarding workers' pay and privileges that must be agreed upon between prospective employers and employees as our diplomatic missions are equipped with trained officials to better handle employment issues.
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