Gender Based Violence against Female Migrant Workers From Bangladesh

Abstract

This research has explored gender-based violence against female migrant workers from Bangladesh. This exploratory study comprises both primary and secondary data collected through KIIs and a review of the literature. The research has mainly reviewed secondary literature including news articles, organizational reports, official statistics, journal articles, and books to respond to the research problem. Moreover, it has interviewed some key informants chosen from among the people who deal with the issues of female migrant workers with different capacities. The research has found serious violations of human rights in the form of gender-based abuse. Housemaids are the main victims of such abuses, and Middle Eastern countries are the hot spots of this phenomenon. Many female migrant workers lose the minimum human dignity, lose the inviolability of their bodies, and get victimized in the forms of both sexual and physical abuse. Their dream of economic uplift of their family gets shattered when their payment is delayed or confiscated by force or due to some critical conditions of the contract that those workers have no idea about. Some of them not only lose all their dreams but also lose their mind from the traumatic experience there. Both the primary and secondary data repeatedly confirmed these aspects of human rights violations of the country’s women migrant workers. The woes of the mothers and sisters of this country not only disgrace the face of this country but also compromise the economic opportunity of the global labour market. Therefore, the policymakers must focus on the protection and promotion of their human rights for the sake of both their human dignity as well as the economic advancement of the country. All the cases of human rights violations must be reported well immediately, and the government bodies, especially the embassy offices in respective countries, must be sensible and capable of both protecting the citizens and ensuring remedies. Besides, the diplomatic priorities of the government must comprise the interests of female migrant workers since their protection is both morally and economically important for the government.

Social Science Review, Vol. 40(2), December 2023 Page: 113-126