AS THE transition to a 24-hour economy in Bangladesh, there has been an increase in women joining garments, services, healthcare and digital work where night shifts and extended working hours are the norm. But still, our legislation and its practice is lagging behind female workers who have to go home at midnight or balance between work and housework after overtime. Taking a closer look at our legal system and comparing it to others, we must admit that Bangladesh has gained some ground but there are still some significant gaps in the legal system namely protection, safety and equal treatment.
Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 has established that an adult worker must not be employed to work more than eight hours a day or 48 hours a week. This may increase to 10 hours a day and 60 hours a week by overtime but the annual average should remain at 56 hours. Meanwhile, section 109 provides a special protection that no woman should be employed to work between 10pm and 6am without her consent. However, in the truth of the matter, there are many low-paid workers who worry that saying no will only cause them to lose their jobs.
In 2022, the Labour Rules 2015 was updated, which provided an additional level of protection. New Rule 361A spells out the meaning of sexual harassment and mandates all work places to establish a complaint committee headed by a woman, majority of who are female, and distribute written instructions and a complaint box. This is a reaction to the historical issues of harassment at the workplace and on the way to work. Bangladesh, nonetheless, still emerges in the evaluations as among the most challenging countries to work in and specifically to be a woman with gaps still present in real protection and enforcement. The fear of retaliation, ignorance and ineffective inspections remain the reasons why women are silent when harassed during or after night duty.
These laws of most countries and international standards take the step further than Bangladesh in dealing with night work as a specific risk. The ILO Convention on Night Work, 1990 (No 171) recommends regular free health examinations of night workers and a safe working environment, proper remuneration of night workers and special maternity care. In the European Union, the Working Time Directive usually limits the average working week to 48 hours, provides rigid minimum hours of rest per day and per week, and (as to most night workers) the working hours averaged over 24 hours to approximately eight hours, supported by health assessments and special safeguards where the work is hazardous. These frameworks view night work as an economic problem, as well as a health and safety issue with gender effects.
The labour law in Vietnam has a very protective attitude towards pregnancy and early motherhood. The 2019 Labour Code does not permit an employer to have a woman work at night, work overtime or make extended business trips unless the worker agrees to it within the seventh month of pregnancy (sixth month in some locations) or is looking after her child, who is under 12 months. The pregnant women who engage in heavy work are to be shifted to the less heavy work or the number of hours worked should be minimised, at full pay. Also as per Philippines Republic Act 10151 (2011) superseded these provisions and amended them to include a gender-neutral approach to addressing night workers, which nevertheless insists on special treatment of pregnant women and health and safety inspections of all night workers.
The labour system of Bangladesh is not complete because it fails to recognise night work as a unique health and safety hazard requiring additional protection against women. Employers are not required to offer safe transportation, safe waiting areas, frequent health examinations or special precautions against pregnant or nursing night-shift workers, which exposes women to exploitation and under-recorded overtime. The government ought to revise the labour legislation to categorise night work as a hazardous undertaking, have high standards of safety, the night work and health plus maternity safeguards should be in line with the ILO standards and the enforcement enhanced with trained inspectors, active complaints commission and publicity to enhance the government enforcement. As there are already millions of Bangladeshi women employed at night, their safety and the lack of exploitation should be a primary concern of employers and the state.
Mrinmita Sen Dia is a law student at Brac University.
