ANJALI SUBEDI

A study done by UN Women states that majority of women who have been to the Gulf nations on foreign employment would prefer to stay back in the country if they could earn as little as around Rs 8000 per month at home.

The extreme level of exploitation they face in alien lands is the reason behind the aversion toward foreign jobs.

The evaluation of a project under "Economic security of women migrant workers (WMW); a pilot reintegration program making remittance work for women," carried out by UN Women reported that 94 percent of women freshly returned from the Gulf countries would remain in the country if they found an employment that paid them around Rs 8000 per month.

Among 708 women migrant workers approached and trained by the organization, 603 said that they would love to choose an alternative that paid them about Rs 8500 in Nepal only as that would save them from the inhuman exploitation they faced in the Gulf countries.

 The women immediately started their own small scale business with the support of the organization after they were trained.

The initiative of the reintegration of the women from Sunsari, Kathmandu and Kaski districts was documented in the ´Global Forum on Remittance´ in May 2013.

“Aimed at bettering the life of WMW and their families, UN Women had carried out the project in 3 districts initially with the support of donors and the government.

It was disheartening to see how the women loved to be with their children and family rather than leave the country for a foreign job,” said Sharu Joshi, regional coordinator for UN Women, Nepal. “But unemployment is a huge challenge across the country, forcing our people to look for jobs abroad.”

According to her, while 56 percent of Nepali households have a member working outside the country, women are increasingly adding to the remittance too. However, as few women go to the Gulf countries following due legal process, there is lack of concrete data on the number of women working abroad.

Pourakhi, an NGO for WMW, states that 90 percent of women working in the Gulf countries lack proper documentation, while 80 percent of them are domestic help. As per the data, 70,000 Nepali women are working in Saudi Arabia, 30,000 in Kuwait, 14,000 in Israel and 15,000 in Lebanon.

"Trafficking or unsafe migration of women is still a huge challenge and the steps taken by the government and other bodies to curb the problem have been very ineffective,” said Joshi.

The lack of training and awareness centers in remote areas prevent women from developing needed skills, making them easy prey for unscrupulous agents. According to Joshi, proper awareness and training centers for the women interested in foreign employment and support for establishing small scale business for women who would love to stay in the country should be the immediate priority of the government.

According to Manju Gurung, president of Pourakhi, 100,000 Nepali women are working in the Middle East are without proper documentation which makes them vulnerable to exploitation.

Published on: 2 January 2014 | Republica