Rights of domestic workers

In most houses of Dhaka, many domestic helps work well beyond the standard eight hours a day. But they do not receive any extra money for the overtime. They also cannot enjoy weekly holidays. Some are also deprived of enjoying some leisure time. Domestic workers have been silently enduring all this for a long time as hardly anyone wants to speak for them.

They deserve to be treated better, as human beings and individuals. We cannot fight for our rights outside, if we continue to deny their rights' of people in our homes. It is high time that the people from the middle and upper income households focused on the rights of domestic workers and took steps to address the situation. The government can also draft a policy for them.

Mohammed Sohel Hara

Banasree, Dhaka

sohelhara@hotmail.com