Z A M Khairuzzaman :
Construction is a vehicle for the growth of civilisation. It builds structures that sustain a nation’s economy. As to why, the construction sector has gained importance over the years across the country.
In recent times, the sector has experienced considerable growth, resulting in the creation of numerous jobs. Presently, a large number of men and women are working in this sector, which is encouraging indeed! But the country’s construction workers, particularly female workers, are exposed to hazardous conditions although they genuinely love their work. Every day, they come to work with a grin on their face and a real desire to do whatever it takes to complete their tasks. But it is widely alleged that particularly the employers do not promote and encourage positive attitudes towards women workers who suffer from discrimination and deprivation. Majority of them are prone to diseases, and suffer more from barriers of customs and patriarchal norms and values.
A vast majority of female labourers are poorly paid, without any working security or social security. This is because of the increasing unemployment, under-employment, and increasing cost of living. The most common type of harassment towards young women workers in this sector is abuse followed by eve-teasing. Women construction workers undergo mental depression due to various types of harassment. As to why, they feel restless and total uneasiness.
Lack of toilets in construction sites is a major problem for them. The issue has remained largely ignored although the number of female construction workers is increasing steadily in the capital and elsewhere across the country. In absence of toilets, they suffer from serious health complications due to regular practice of tolerating the pressure of urination for a long time.
This has been revealed at an event of a media consultation on workers’ rights in construction sector held at the office of the Solidarity Centre Bangladesh in the capital recently.The different type of event was also held under the aegis of the Solidarity Centre Bangladesh in collaboration with the Bangladesh Labour Rights Journalists Forum (BLRJF).
Sayera Khatun, a female trade union (TU) leader, affiliated with Imarat Nirman Sramik Union of Bangladesh (INSUB), shed light on the grave problem being faced by female construction workers. She narrated that a large number of female workers work in construction sites all over the country. “But for them, the construction authorities did not build toilets. Because of their indifference, most of these workers suffer from Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) and other health-related problems.”
According to health experts, people who regularly tolerate the desire for urination for a long time usually face recurrent UTI. Stones can develop in their urinary bladder; they observed explaining the health hazards people have to face due to lack of toilet facilities.
Suggesting for the setting up of adequate and well-maintained toilets in construction sites, they opined that toilets are essential on the spots for keeping female workers’ urination system safe. According to them, usually 300 millilitres of urine in the human bladder produces desire for urination. The bladder can tolerate the pressure of maximum 500 millilitres of urine. But regular practice of tolerating the pressure for a long time causes infection in the wall of the bladder and disturbs the entire urinary system including kidneys, they observed. Long-term presence of urine in the bladder often forms stones in the bladder.
Besides UTI, a large number of them suffer from musculoskeletal, skin and respiratory-related problems as well as other health-related problems.Apart from these problems, sexual harassment, gender biasness, and wage discrimination are the major factors due to which the working environment becomes difficult for female workers of the real estate industry.
Necessary measures are essential for their safety and security. Development and growth of a nation and healthy and harmonious growth of the society would not be possible unless women workers are protected in the construction industry.
Meanwhile, alongside women, around 40 lakh construction workers risk their lives daily due to unsafe working environments, weak legal protection and lack of accountability. Stakeholders of the construction sector observed this at the media consultation event.
Despite such a large number of workers in this sector, only 70 thousand of them have been enlisted as union members. Around 3,000 of them are women. In case of occurrence of any accident, a construction worker is eligible to get a compensation of two lakh taka which is too meagre to support the grieving family. But believe it or not, in reality, a victim gets a lesser amount. Moreover, there is a common practice of recording the construction site deaths as ‘unnatural deaths’ at most police stations without conducting any sort of investigation.
Moreover, supervisors allegedly remain absent at construction sites where lack of updated safety gears is a common complaint. Even when the gears are provided, workers sometimes refuse to use the ‘obsolete’ safety gears. The combination of negligence and non-compliance increases the likelihood of occurrence of accidents. So, the employers should promote and encourage a positive attitude towards the workers. Finally, the stakeholders of the vital sector gave a clarion call for extensive reforms in the country’s construction sector.
(The writer is the senior vice-president of the Bangladesh Labour Rights Journalists Forum (BLRJF). E-mail: [email protected] )
