New Delhi, July 27 (SocialNews.XYZ) Bangladesh’s care economy holds one of the country’s largest untapped economic opportunities, but it cannot be expanded on the backs of children and must be formalised to deliver decent work and rights, a new report has said.
The report from Dhaka-based publication The Business Standard said the care economy which is nearly valued at 18.9 per cent of GDP remains largely invisible and unregulated, with many households relying on underage domestic workers to meet rising demand for household and care services.
It also flagged that child domestic labour is rising with 9.2 per cent of children aged five to 17 are estimated to be engaged in work, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and UNICEF figures.
It was common for a poorer relative to live with a Bangladeshi family, one generation ago. They lived in these families based on an implicit social contract that food, shelter and often education would be provided in exchange for help around the house.
"That contract has quietly dissolved. As urban life has grown busier and more transactional, families have become less willing to take on the long-term responsibility that came with hosting a relative," the report said.
Now households seek labour that works faster, cheaper with relatively less demands.
"So, when they need help, they increasingly turn to the most vulnerable labour pool available: children from impoverished rural families," the report flagged the stark reality.
Only policy moves can transform the sector, which include formalising the care economy and staffing it with adults, who are paid fair, standardised minimum wages.
Further, the Domestic Workers Protection and Welfare Policy must be converted into enforceable law, with inspections, meaningful penalties and effective enforcement against employers and agencies that hire underage workers.
"Supporting struggling families means helping parents earn enough to keep their children in school, not shifting the burden of survival onto a 10-year-old," the report added.
—IANS
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Source: IANS
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