Three months on, the age bar imposed upon women migrating to some Gulf countries for work continue to annoy rights activists. They demand that rather than restricting women based on the age factor, all concerned stake-holders, including the government should address other pertinent issues such as access to economic act-ivities and safety of Nepali women workers.

 

Insensitive and illogicalThe government’s decision to impose the age ceiling of 30 on Nepali women migrants working as housemaids is not only discriminatory but also a severe blow for women’s economic empowerment, argue women rights activists. “The government’s move is propelled by the patriarchal notion that women are better safe within the threshold of their own houses and should not venture out to earn,” rues Kala Rai, campaign officer at Women’s Rehabilitation Centre. She also complains that women below 30 in many districts are now facing difficulties in obtaining passports because of the new provision. “The age bar doesn’t make any sense. Does one cease to be a woman after 30 or are women over 30 not subject to any type of exploitation and violence?” she questions. Logics that women are victims of domestic violence abroad and that they gain maturity only after the age 30 are not genuine, according to Satra Kumari Gurung, secretary of Pourakhi, an organisation of returnee migrant workers. Some women aged 45 have returned pregnant whereas those in their mid-20s are working happily in the same area in the Gulf countries, points out   Gurung. “There indeed are some imminent threats to migrant women workers in the Gulf countries, but imposing the age ceiling is not the right solution,” she says, expound-ing how women are victims of widespread domestic violence in Nepal itself.

 

Females in Nepal opt for foreign employment as their work at home like taking care of the family and attending domestic chores are not credited and also because they are subject to abuse at the hands of in-laws and husbands, according to rights activists.

 

According to an 18-month long study by UN Women in 2010, 441 women returnees from some Gulf countries were afflicted with mental illness, 86 returned pregnant and 82 committed suicide.

Sociologist Dr Ganesh Gurung thinks that the government’s move to protect women   by imposing the age bar is unwise and ineffective. “The move is having unintended negative consequences as aspiring women migrant workers below 30 can end up in the hands of unscrupulous agents who levy hefty amount as services charges from gullible women. And since they do not have the right documents, they are in fact made  more vulnerable to violence and exploitation,” says Gurung.

 

Prudent protection Defending the government’s move, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Labour and Transport Management, Buddhi Bahadur Khadka explains that the measure was taken for the protection of migrant women workers and not aimed at discouraging them from being involved in economic activities. “Since we found many cases of violence and exploitation of women migrant workers in those countries, the government took the decision,” he says, adding that  the age factor is applicable only in four countries — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE — and affects only those looking to work as domestic help, it will not have a big impact on employment opportunities for women migrant workers.

 

According to him, the move was called for considering that it is an informal sector where domestic migrant workers need to toil for long hours and the law of the host country does not allow diplomatic missions to interfere with domestic issues, which complicates monitoring of Nepali women migrant workers.

 

Senior Economist Bishwambher Pyakuryal also thinks the government decision of imposing age bar on woman migrant workers in Gulf countries is appropriate. Age bars imposed by some governments in the global context for their workers ranges from 15 to 29.The measure of imposing age bar at 30 by the Nepal government seems prudent, as rural Nepali women gain maturity  late, accord-ing to Pyakuryal. “Most important issue is the nature and type of job that Nepali migrant women are involved in. Ours is not the workforce that is involved in the corporate world,” he says.

 

Dangling dagger Preliminary results of the National Population Census 2011 by Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) shows that the population of males and females in Nepal is 12.927 million and 13.693 million respectively. An Internatonal Labour Organisation (ILO) report states that women make almost half of the total migrant workers across the world. Whereas the share of remittance to GDP in the country is around 23 per cent, women migrant workers contribute 11 per cent to the total remittance value. As per the latest records at the Department of Foreign Employment, since April 2012, the total workforce of male migrant workers is 318,745 whereas that of women migrant workers is 17,540. Rights activists maintain that the number of women migrant workers is much higher than the official data as they leave the country through informal channels owing to the age bar factor.

 

Sociologists and rights activities demand that the government either provide employment opportunities for women  within the country or create a conductive environment for them to work abroad.

 

Physical exploitation is not the only grave issue. Apart from physical and sexual abuse, economic abuse at home and workplace is equally dam-aging, says Sharu Joshi Shrestha, programme specialist at UN Women. She notes that economic abuse starts right from home where poor women migrant workers are deprived of loan facility by the formal banking sect-or. “Unable to provide collateral, women migrant workers are forced to obtain loan at ex-orbitantly high rates of 40 to 50 per cent interest from local landlords. Women are reportedly deprived of two to three months’ wages. Hence, women — especially the poor and uneducated wishing to venture to foreign lands in the hope of better days — seem to have a double-edged swod dangling over their heads, no matter where they are.

 

Amicable alleys Dr Gurung opines that the country needs to train aspiring migrant works in care giving services to produce skilled human resources that could also open more doors to countries that grant more rights to women workers.

 

Acts, rules and policies in Nepal are highly favourable to migrant women workers. However, the government is still unable to implement them effectively and should concentrate on decentral-isation in terms of facilitating the women migrant workers, accord-ing to Shrestha.

“South India provides martial arts training to its women migrant workers as part of self-defence. Nepal can also provide necessary psychological counselling and training to ensure the safety of Nepali women migrant workers,” he says.

 

Besides exploring better markets for Nepali women migrant workers, the government should  do the needful by lobbying strongly with global civil society and INGOs to compel Gulf nations to abide by and practice international labour standards and norms where the rights of migrant workers are respected.