SLFUW symposium emphasises challenges faced by women

Thursday, 2 April 2015 00:05 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka Federation of University Women (SLFUW) organised a symposium to address the challenges faced by women in accordance to the international Women’s Day theme ‘Make It Happen’on 21 March at its Resource and Training Centre. The event highlighted the program and activities planned by the women ministers to uplift the conditions of Sri Lankan women and children. Minister of Foreign Employment Thalatha Atukorale graced the occasion and addressed the ‘Issue of Migrant Women Workers’. Atukorale stated,“This is a challenge for me. I have never had any experience before. Whenever International Women’s Day falls on 8 March we as politicians get on to the stage and we say that we are very proud to be women; we are the ones who bring a lot of money into the country as migrant workers and the women who workin the agriculture sector and Government sector.” Migrant women and impact The Minister said that there was a lot to talk about the social impact of migrant women to the country rather than considering only the contribution to the economy by them. Nearly 1.8 million people work out of this country and one million are women workers who are mostly going as migrant workers for just Rs. 30,000 and Rs. 40,000 income – it should be understood that this is because of the economy in the country where poor women leave the country just to earn some money. These are the grass root level people; the majority of them migrate just to earn some money to build a house, others are a very little percentage who just go abroad to get away from their husbands. These are the two main reasons to leave the country. The Government has introduced an age barrier for the children of migrant women workers by understanding the sombre of the children without their mothers. In the Middle East one in three female workers is a domestic worker irrespective of nationality because about 20 countries send workers to the Middle East..

Atukorale said,“I of course can’t agree with sending women to work in the Middle East. This is why I am trying to find another market for skilled labours, mostly in developed countries. Right now we are in the process of training caretakers mostlyto send toCanada, Cyprusand Europe, where there isa demand for caretakers. But our problem is in Canada PR can be applied after working two years. So once they are gone they will be permanently gone. We won’t be having any income coming after that. These are the basic problems that we have.” Impact on socioeconomic development Migration plays an important role in the socioeconomic development of Sri Lanka. It is bringing in so much foreign exchange. Many migrant women are not aware of illegal departures. Some agents are licensed agents who are eligible to send workers abroad and are registered with the bureau. The illegal agent gives a small amount of money to rural area women to leave the country. The amount would be as low as Rs. 20,000 to a maximum amount of Rs. 70,000. These women just get into the plane and leave the family and go to the Middle East where they are not even trained properly, dressed properly and are not fit to handle any sophisticated equipment in those houses. The contract is for two years and they can’t leave before that. Coping with illegal agents Atukorale further added that it is very difficult to cope with these illegal agents. One big problem in the illegal departure is after one or two monthstheir husbands come to the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau with the children they ask to bring down the wife. “They are not properly registered; they have not followed the emigration laws; just because some sub agent in the area gave them a little money they send their wife. Some agents don’t even inform our emigration office. The worst part is only when they go there will they know about the new culture especially in the Middle East. They are not even told about the rules and laws in those countries.” She asserted that one of the most terrible things was women migration via personal connections for their own businesses without being registered at SLBFE. Welfare-system However she asserted that the President and Prime Minister have included a welfare system for the wellbeing of their families into the 100 day program to overcome the issue. Describing the procedure of the welfare system she said three graduates have been appointed as the officers to work under this welfare system in every divisional secretary office and they will be responsible for the welfare of migrant women workers. Right now more than 12 officers have been interdicted because of giving false reportsabout the families they have been responsible for. The Ministry of Foreign Employment will provide development officers for all these 37 divisional secretary offices; they will be responsible for several families. She said considering the practical problems in reaching the beneficiaries’ hometowns the Ministry is negotiating with the Ministry of Public Administration to assign the officers for the field work. Atukorale further highlighted that once they have given these they will have to visit each family at least once a month. The data is being collected about children welfare; they will have to go to school and meet the teacher and principal for the well being of the children and then their health whatever the religion whether they attend the Dhamma School or other schools. And also about the money that they spend which the spouse sends. The development officers will be monitoring how the money is spent. Celebrating women Sri Lanka Federation of University Women President Indira Pumarasinghe said, “We dedicate this year 2015 to the women and children of Sri Lanka, the International Women’s Day is to celebrate the achievements of women and that is why we organised this symposium with some of the women in our country who are Government ministers that represent us. We are very fortunate to have these outstanding ladies to represent us in the new Government. They have been given important ministry positions related to women and children and they deal with problems related to women.” “This symposium is organised to address the challenges faced by women and to cover the significant Women’s Day,” she added.