Global Affairs

Women in informal Economy in Bangladesh: Worst sufferer, least focused

Tahira Tazreen

While countries around the world have been trying to continue with everyday life under the “new normal”, in Bangladesh, some segments of the population have struggled to tackle economic collapses. In an overpopulated developing country like Bangladesh, women involved in the informal form of economy suffer the most from the pandemic – something we need to shed light on.

Every single stakeholder got affected as the pandemic hit the economy. However, the influence on women in Bangladesh is more severe given their existing economic disadvantage in the country. According to the April 2020 report by UNWOMEN, 60 percent of women around the world are involved in the informal sector. Informal economy refers to the form of economic activities which are not under state’s regulation/ protection. In Bangladesh, a large proportion of working women from the informal sector lives in slum areas in the cities. In most cases, they are the sole breadwinners in their families and supporters of their children’s education. The report projects that, under Covid-19, the economic impact on women from the informal sector would draw to an immediate increase in children school drop-out and child labor.

The Covid-19 also implies an overwhelming number of females working in high-risk environments with minimal appropriate health safety measures. Furthermore, in addition to economic hardship under Covid-19, working women would have to spend their income for health care purposes (be it for themselves or their children). This may force them to sell their property - implying more families living under poverty.

Women are major stakeholders of the informal economy in Bangladesh. There are different forms of informal works where women are employed throughout the country - as housemaids, day laborers, or small tea shop owners beside the road. Women involved in the informal economy have suffered much under Covid-19. Over the past few months, many have left megacities (e.g. Dhaka, Chattogram) because of job loss and inability to support their city living expenses. Some have shifted into new forms of jobs. According to a local newspaper report, many parlor workers who used to work in beauty parlors in the capital returned back to villages and started growing crops on their own.

In this sense, many women in the informal economy are faced with challenges. Many are losing their market, or are forced to go back to villages doing nothing (or in some cases trying to create new sources of

income). The lack of state’s regulation/ protection featured in the informal economy also means women in this sector have limited access to support for alternative livelihood (e.g. receipt of special grant from the government for starting new small businesses).

A recent research by SANEM predicts that the poverty rate may rise to 40.9% at the end of the pandemic. As the Covid-19 persist destroying the harmony of daily lives, the dilemma of hunger and virus becomes the basic question in the society, especially for those who do not have stable financial ground. For women involved in the informal economy, the situation would be much more challenging. Think about an extremely poor family shifted suddenly to a village. The mother who used to sell fruits, or work in the household, will probably start working in the farm. Her dream of financing her children’s education will be shattered. For the children, instead of going to schools organized by local university students, they will start helping their family, not knowing when the struggle will end.

Keeping the current situation in mind, on macro-level, timely policy actions should be in place with specific focus on women. Up-to-date databases should also be built so that influences on the target group can be tracked accordingly. Community NGOs can be a useful source of primary information in this regard. On micro-level, cash support for these individuals would also be helpful to temporarily relieve their economic stress and instability.

Ensuring support for women involved in informal economy will not only save them from indulging into deeper form of poverty and inequality, but also help the country to avoid sharp rise in child labor and further inequality. Leaving a huge part of the population behind, this would only leave us an even longer road towards the achievement of sustainable development goals.

Freshwater in Security and Health Crises

Kathleen Schwind

Freshwater is one of the most valuable resources on the planet. Some call it ‘blue gold’ and ‘the next oil.’ Water is essential for human life, but it is also a tool that can be used to control and influence others. One of the best ways to explain the huge strategic importance freshwater could have is through the central plot point of the movie Quantum of Solace, the 22nd installment of the James Bond film franchise. The villain, Mr. Greene, claims he has secured the resource that will ensure him ‘world domination.’ He is known to have bought up all the land in a particular area, but everyone is puzzled—this land is historically known for having no oil, which everyone assumes is the resource he is alluding to. What is Greene playing at? The answer, as James Bond discovers, is freshwater—by controlling the freshwater sources and cutting off water supply, Greene will control the very necessity required for human life. He now has power over migration patterns, food production, the economy, and people’s lives. This interesting plot twist of the 2008 movie highlights the value of water. Indeed, water continues to play a role in conflicts around the globe, and also has profound implications on health crises like the current pandemic.

A Thirsty Neighbor

In places like the Middle East, we see water disputes exacerbating already strained relations between countries and states. In Africa we see dam construction sparking conflicts and threatening agricultural activities in downstream countries. In California we see disputes between farmers and residents over who have the right to water during a drought. Local wars and international conflicts have roots in transboundary water disputes, and the problem of freshwater scarcity is not disappearing anytime soon as demand increases and supply dwindles. While no wars have been started exclusively over water, water has and will continue to strain relationships between countries and states. However, because of water’s importance in every part of society, water may also be the one thing that governments, who were historically at odds with each other, can agree on. A country that relies on the same water source as another cannot be water secure unless their neighbors are, and partnering on water retention, conservation, and sanitization efforts can lead to better livelihoods and stronger economies for all those involved.

Wash Your Hands…Without Water?

Population growth and the changing climate have often brought freshwater access issues into the limelight. Water plays a major role in

health crises too, including the ongoing pandemic. While it has not been referenced as often as, say, personal protective equipment or the transition to Zoom, the lack of clean water for hand washing and sanitizing has presented major challenges as communities around the world struggle to keep the virus at bay. It has been encouraged and even demanded that we wash our hands to prevent the spreading of the virus. For many of us, that means we simply go and turn on the tap. But in communities where there is no running water, and there are no proper sanitation systems, how can they keep their hands clean? This is a topic that has been explored in the WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) sector, but should be more closely looked at through the lens of the current pandemic. Worldwide, precovid, the UN estimated that two out of five people did not have basic handwashing facilities. UN experts write that without safe water for hand washing, especially for those in vulnerable areas, Covid-19 will not be stopped (UN.org). Even without the pandemic, individuals did not have the water necessary for hand washing, especially in the developing parts of the world. With the simple act of washing hands becoming increasingly difficult in the most vulnerable areas, efforts should continue to focus on ensuring that all people have access to clean, reliable, freshwater resources.

Not a Zero Sum Game

In both security and health matters, water can become a solution if we aim for mutually beneficial solutions rather than solutions that benefit one side at the expense of the other. Dr. Victor Fung, for the 2020 Virtual Fung Scholars Leadership Conference, titled his address “Geopolitical Shifts at the Threshold of a New Era”, spoke about the increasing impact that the pandemic, alongside digitization and the shift from a unimodal to a multimodal world, will have today and in the future. As we witness these shifts, I believe that areas like water security, that are vital to human survival, health, and well-being, cannot become zero sum games. As in regional conflicts, freshwater can be part of the solution in curbing Covid-19. By governing freshwater properly, and building regional cooperation over shared transboundary water resources, regions can reduce water stress. Innovation and entrepreneurship in the technology, science, and urban planning sectors can help mitigate the challenges associated with water scarcity, as can empowering local leaders and communities at the grassroots level. Multidisciplinary, cross-cultural solutions are needed if water is to become a solution to security and health issues both in our communities and around the world.