When we think of urban poor, we typically think of people living in slums.It’s not quite as simple.

"My husband says not to look for work too far from home since I have to do the household work as well and asks me to wait." Mita (not her real name) went on to express her frustration by saying, "If this pandemic hadn't arisen, I would have surplus money to spend on my kids, I would've had a job."

A parliamentary watchdog yesterday asked the foreign ministry to prepare a specific work plan to stop torture and sexual harassment of female expatriate workers, saying that even a single such incident was not acceptable.

Kabirun Nahar sat on a luggage trolley as she got out of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka yesterday. She had nothing with her bearing signs of her life overseas, apart from her right leg bandaged from above the ankle to her toes, the doing of her Saudi employer.

The influx of millions of female workers to work at the garment factories has created unique health challenges, issues and needs that have mostly remained unstudied and unaddressed.

This is a dreadful and cautionary tale: a 30-year-old woman gets duped into bonded labour after she went abroad to work as a domestic help. She suffers both physical and mental abuse in the households where she is employed.

Saudi Arabia has sought two lakh female workers from Bangladesh, says Nurul Islam, minister for expatriates' welfare and overseas employment ministry.

Increasing female labour force participation will help the country break the decade-long 6 percent growth barrier, the World Bank said yesterday.