Differently-abled women face huge barriers when seeking jobs: experts

Differently-abled women face considerable barriers when seeking employment in Bangladesh and so changing any negative mindset must become a top priority, according to speakers at a webinar yesterday.

"The gaps in the labour market regarding employer confidence on people with disabilities and employment readiness and self-confidence of jobseekers remain as relevant in 2021 as it was in 2019," said Simon Brown, global technical lead (economic empowerment) of Sightsavers International.

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He was presenting a keynote paper at the webinar styled, "Towards a Covid-resilient disability inclusive labour market", jointly organised by the Bangladesh Business and Disability Network (BBDN) and The Daily Star.

Brown went on to say that cottage and micro industry and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) become even more relevant for employment in the economic cycle starting from 2021 compared to that at the end of the previous year.

Referring to a Labour Market Assessment in Bangladesh released by UK Aid in August, he said over 60 per cent of informal sector workers lost jobs amidst the pandemic, with a majority in April and May of 2020.

Of them, approximately 85 per cent were unemployed for more than a month, and just under 30 per cent were unemployed for more than three months, he said.

The report suggests that self-employment and day labouring accounted for 90 per cent of incremental jobs, indicating a shift to more informal sector employment.

Moreover, working hours were significantly reduced in the agricultural and industrial sectors (8 per cent and 4 per cent respectively).

Income impacts have been material, with an average decline of 12 per cent across all sectors, most noticeably in agriculture, forestry, and fishing (17 per cent), manufacturing (13 per cent) and wholesale and retail trade and motor vehicle repair (14 per cent each).

Income impacts were consistent across age groups and urban or rural contexts as well.

Shafiqul Islam, country director of ADD International (Bangladesh), said employers have less confidence on differently-abled people.

To address this issue, he suggested creating a differently-abled-friendly environment at the workplace, such as through the construction of wheelchair ramps.

He also suggested providing transportation and creating specialised rooms at offices for differently-abled people.

"We have to change the mindset toward disabled people in the workplace and ensure access to finance for them as well," Islam said.

MHM Fairoz, managing director and CEO of Singer Bangladesh and vice president of the Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), said they were committed to working with differently-abled people.

However, he said the 10 per cent tax exemption offered to organisations with differently-abled persons comprising 5 per cent of their workforce was too much at this moment and instead should be increased gradually.

Singer Bangladesh is preparing to create differently-abled-friendly workplace environments in collaboration with the BBDN, Fairoz added.

Md Humayan Kabir, vice president of the Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association (BFFEA), said although the fish processing companies suffered a lot due to the ongoing pandemic, they did not sack their differently-abled employees.

Sumon Chandra Saha, assistant general manager of the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Foundation, stressed on the need for policies that provide more support to differently-abled entrepreneurs.

He said entrepreneurs of the SME sector suffered a lot amidst the pandemic as they could not sell their products during the two Eid festivals and Pahela Baishakh, the three biggest sales seasons of the year.

However, some entrepreneurs learned to adopt e-commerce to help their business survive through pandemic, Saha added.

According to him, around 75 per cent of the Tk 20,000 crore stimulus package for the SME sector has been disbursed so far.

Till date, more than 1,000 SME entrepreneurs have received loans under the package.

However, there are some who were unable to avail the funding as they do not have official bank accounts, Saha said.

Monsur Ahmed Choudhuri, a trustee of the BBDN, suggested changing attitudes and minds toward differently-abled employees in the workplace.

"There is a requirement of skill development and training for availing decent jobs for disabled people," he said.

Murteza Khan, chief executive officer of the BBDN, conducted the webinar.