by Sohana Khandoker

Women constitute half of the world’s population, perform two third of its working hours, earn one fourth of the world income and own tenth of the world’s property. Women experience various forms of discriminations due to gendering of family and production relations.  

The work of women is central to the social and economic aspirations of the countries of South Asia. Their contribution to agriculture, industry and services is critical. However, planners and policy makers frequently ignore women’s economic roles, drawing simplistic conclusions from inadequate data. In almost all developing countries, particularly in Asia, there are innumerable women workers who work in their homes in under exploitative conditions. They are home-based workers. Home-based workers are invisible to society, they work within their homes: officially they do not appear in the census.  

Available official statistics on the home-based workers can be classified into two categories. First, those who are given the raw materials by their employers and paid by piece rate according to the amount produced. And second, those who buy all their raw materials by themselves and earn by selling their finished goods. One of the greatest difficulties in the study of home-based workers is the absence of reliable statistics at the national and international levels. The employer enjoys tremendous advantage from home-based producers in the labor force: no overhead costs or need to invest in tools or machinery, no trade unions to contend with, no minimum wages or social security benefits. Wages are often so low that every family member is called upon to assist in some aspect of production, resulting in large-scale child labor in these home-based industries. 

ILO describes the conditions under which the informal sector operates: 

They are informal in the sense that they are for the most part unregulated and unrecorded in official statistics: they tend to have little or no access to organized markets, to credit institution, to formal education and training institutions or to many public services and amenities; they are not recognized, supported or regulated by the government; they are often compelled by circumstances to operate outside the law and even where they are registered and respect aspects of the law, they are almost invariably beyond the pale of social protection, labor legislation and protective measures at the work place. Informal sector producers and workers are generally unorganized. And in most cases beyond the scope of action of trade unions and employers organizations and they generally live and work in appalling, often dangerous and unhealthy conditions.  

The activities that the women perform in this sector are quite unmotivating in terms of wages and job satisfaction. The work involves lengthy hours of labor for very low returns. They possess very low levels of education, skills and training. The skills associated with their jobs are often acquirable and duplicated. In this sector, women labors lack social security measures such as different kinds of funds, maternity benefits, childcare facilities, health care facilities, health care and safety.  

Regarded as the poor man’s cigarette, the consumption of bidi takes a significant portion of poor household’s spending. In recent years, bidi factories have out grown in number. There are a number of areas in the northern part of Bangladesh where 80% of its population are directly or indirectly involved in bidi making. It has a stable market in rural areas and the manufacturing establishments are mostly placed in rural or semi urban areas.

This is a labor-intensive production where the producers enjoy the maximum profit mostly violating the Bidi and Cigarette Act. Bidi production is officially submitted to a number of state controls and regulations. There are a number of regulations, which are mentioned as follows:

Firstly, each worker is supposed to receive a letter of appointment

Secondly, the laws specifies that no worker is to be made to work 6 hours at a stretch without an hour or two half an hour breaks

Thirdly, the factory laws stipulate that there must be one latrine for 25 female and one per 25 males.

Fourthly, large factories are also supposed to provide adequate working space with proper lighting facilities.

Fifthly, minimum wage legislation rate for 1000 bidi is fixed taka 23.20.

Sixthly, the Factory Act of 1965 stipulates that the labor inspectors will observe whether minimum wage is paid or not and examine working condition.  

The reality holds a different picture. The above mentioned regulations are not at all followed. The workers largely remain at the mercy of contractors and receive less than minimum wage. A complex subcontracting system is enduring in bidi production that could be otherwise seen as a long chain of exploitation starting from the employers’ end towards the home based workers.

An estimated number of 3,70000 workers are involved in bidi factories, although women and children comprise a large number of the workforce in bidi production.  

The Existing Operational System in Bidi Factory at Rangpur

Rangpur district is the most renowned for bidi production in Bangladesh and Haragach, a thana under Rangpur district has the largest concentration of bidi factories in the Country.

In Rangpur, every worker holds a number, which can be sold, mortgaged, or offered as dowry. The numbers are considered as wealth. The prices of these numbers usually increase every year. Many non-workers buy it as an investment. When fathers die, numbers are usually inherited just like other property. It has been observed in Haragach that people prioritize numbers much more than agricultural land as it provides regular income in this zone. An individual can own many numbers from the same factories or numbers of different factories.

In Rangpur, bidi making is mostly done at home; the task of closing the end of the bidi may take place at a factory or at the house of sub-contractors. It has been reported that the most common practice is that the real number holders do not involve themselves in production at all, but rent out (adi deoya) their quota to others who will produce and supply the bidi (adi kora). If the wage bill is for 1000 bidi taka 14, half of it is appropriated by the (non-working) number holders and rent his number to sub-contractors. If the sub-contractor hires members other than employing his family members, he or she has to pay them taka 3 per thousand. Finally, a sub-contractor hires someone at the factory gate to close the end of the bidi, which is usually, paid taka 1.50- 2.00 per thousand.    

Bidi is a traditional sector in Bangladesh where households have been associated with bidi making for a long period. In Rangpur, the whole bidi making process being household based where more than 85% women are involved.

It has been reported that a woman makes 3000-4000 bidis a day, which occupies more than 6-8 hours. The making of thosh requires great care. It is very tiring for the eyes. The bidi making is done along with other domestic tasks and women involved in this work inevitably stretch their working day.

The work done by women is devalued and underpaid, there is no denying the fact that the home based workers play a significant role in bidi production. The low wages of the home-based workers has significant implications on the wages of the bidi sector as a whole. Bidi owners do not recognize the home base workers as their employees, but they usually refuse to increase the wages of the factory workers on the ground that they can hire home-based workers for thosh making at the low cost. The official minimum wage legislation (1996) states that the minimum pay for every 1000 bidi made should be Tk.23.20, but pre-testing reports show that the highest prevailing rate is 14 Taka and minimum is 7-8 taka. The appropriations of the money of firm owners are at the cost of massive exploitation of home-based workers.

Conclusion:

‘Exploitation is life’ to the women in the Bidi sector. This area is completely overlooked by the policy makers as well as to the non-profit organization. There is an urgent need to solve the problem of women in bidi making. Their work has not been recognized by the family or by the state. They are always overlooked and remained behind the veil.

Note: This article was previously published at Alochona Magazine