The Invisible Workers: Bangladeshi Women in Oman

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Summary

Oman has been an important destination for Bangladeshi male migrant workers coming in 3rd position and being acknowledged in government records from 1976. A few women came as family dependents, but, as workers, their numbers significantly increased from 2013 onwards. Prior to the pandemic, women were estimated at 10 percent of some 750,000 Bangladeshi migrant workers.

Few ethnographic studies have been conducted on the working and living conditions of migrant women in Oman, and none on Bangladeshi. Drishti Research Centre, in collaboration with RAPID, conducted an ethnographic study in Oman on Bangladeshi migrants, with a special focus on women workers. The study was undertaken as part of the ILO Work in Freedom project.

The findings of the study titled 'The Invisible Workers: Bangladeshi Women in Oman' were unveiled at a webinar on 18 January 2021. Thérèse Blanchet, social anthropologist and the lead researcher of the study, presented the key findings at the webinar where Dr Atiur Rahman, former governor of Bangladesh Bank, and academicians were also present. Click here to see the media report by the Financial Express.

Read the summary of the study | Watch the webinar