Recognizing invisible work: The women domestic workers' movement in Bangladesh

Abstract

ABSTRACT Domestic work is a highly feminized sector of work in Bangladesh, where women from poor neighborhoods of Dhaka city are found laboring for very low wages, without legal or social protection. Such work remains unrecognized and invisible, although it has been done for generations. Over the years, mobilization of domestic workers (DWs) by the National Domestic Women Workers Union (NDWWU) has helped to develop the leadership and negotiation capacities of its members, resulting in some improvement in their working conditions. This article is based on the qualitative findings of a study on social protection for DWs in three South Asian countries, namely, Bangladesh, Nepal and India, conducted by the Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) in collaboration with International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF). This article presents the challenges and major risks such workers face in Bangladesh. In addition, it also examines the struggle that the biggest domestic workers union, NDWWU and its allies have undertaken in order to ensure decent work conditions as well as legal and social protective measures for DWs in the country. In doing so, I aim to contribute to the limited literature on mobilization of the workers and related policy concerns in Bangladesh and the wider region.