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BRAC University
Course Code SOC101 Title Introduction to Sociology

Term Paper on

Migration and Women Empowerment in Dhaka City

Prepared for
Lutfun Nahar Lata Faculty, Department of Economics and Social Sciences (ESS)

Prepared by
Fahad Munir Md. Kamrul Hasan Ishtiaq Ahmed Zaki Anan Ibrahim Bin Mohiuddin 11201014 11201032 12104011 12101060 12101062

Submission Date December 4, 2013

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Table of Contents

Page 1. Abstract 2. Introduction 3. Objective of the Study 4. Operation Definition of the Concepts 5. Methodology 6. Limitation of the Study 7. Descriptive Results 8. Conclusion 9. References 2 2-3 3 3 3-4 4 5-8 9-10 11

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Abstract
In reality Migration and women empowerment are truly co-related matter in our present situation. After migrating from different areas to Dhaka city, its extremely abstruse to cope up with new environment. Most of the time they face various types of problem, often it seems bizarre to them. Searching for work is the first priority for them and this is the truly first step of being empowered. It discussed in detail in the paper and how women are earning and becoming the decision taker of their families and the impact of migrating and the steps of empowering. The topic is split in segments for higher understanding and discussions in details. Women of different sectors from Dhaka city are interviewed on their migration and empowerment. In our group, we are 5 members and we took interviews of ten people from different slum in Dhaka city. Our research pattern was questionnaire method. Our data collection source was from two sectors like primary data collection and secondary data collection method. After analyzing the data collecting from field survey, this report concludes that female workers who migrated from different areas to Dhaka city are mostly poor or ultra-poor. After presenting the main findings in a descriptive fashion, the article provides a marrow that this contemplative idea of migration was the colossal verdict for their life as well as for empowering themselves.

Introduction
There are always two variable sides of coins that is life and the other part is struggling. Women who have occupied a strong position in case of economic sector that positions have enable to resist them with all sorts of difficulties confidently. They left their traditional, black, dark, submissive, gloomy life at the other side of the door and simply moved and discovered the new, unknown, mysterious faces of their own in front of the mirror which have made them successful, fearless, courageous, aware, and strong and to be the self-judge. The financial power is the core agenda of life. When they become the earning member and contribute for the benefit of her family, her position automatically has ranked high. In this modern era they have captured a principal proportion which is entirely a positive signal for the welfare of the world. Now they are no longer lead a life with full of dependency though now they are the master of their own fate. The era of feminism is taught them a lot which definitely has made them bold to depict the inner talent as well as quality to the universe. The opportunities of the urban sectors have been the

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platform for them. Obviously, they are making literal use of their opportunity to empower them. It might not be possible to spread the tremendous empowerment of women if there wouldnt any migration to urban area. It needs no telling about their hard working and immense labor has made their way easier and remarkable.

Objective of the Study:

The core objective of the study was to know about the impact of Women migration on Women Empowerment in Dhaka City. To fulfill the broad objective the following specific objectives are identified: I. II. III. IV. To know the migration rate of female migrants of Dhaka City. To know the workers rate of migrant women To know the increase rate of Women empowerment in different working sector. To know the problems of Female migrants.

Operation Definition of the Concepts:

Migration: The word migration means the movement of people from one place to another. Empowerment: The word Empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social, educational, gender, or economic strength of individuals and communities. Decision Making: This is the way of making decision about important matter in family.

Methodology:
Research Design: The study was conducted through the use of survey method. Data were collected from the migrant female workers of Dhaka City. In this study data were collected through questionnaires and are analyzed and interpreted by using descriptive techniques. For our project, we make some specific questions. Those questions are actually open minded short questions.

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Unit of Analysis: We choose 10 female migrants workers for analysis our research. Those women were very poor mostly works in Garments, house workers or shopkeepers. Study Area: We choose few slums of Dhaka City Corporation area for our research area. We physically went there and took interviews. Population: All the Female migrant workers of Dhaka City Corporation area Sampling: Purposive sampling was used to collect data from the field. Total sample size was 10. Sources of Data: The data were collected from two sources. Primary Sources: Data were collected from the field by using sample survey. Secondary Sources: Various articles, research papers, related books, official documents and the Internet. Techniques of Data Collection: A questionnaire was developed and finalized through pre-test and used for data collection. Methods of Data Collection: Data were collected through survey method. Data Collection from the Field: Five interviewers were selected to collect data from field. Five people collected those data from five different places. Data Processing and Analysis: Data were computerized, analyzed and interpreted by using frequency distribution, percentage, etc.

Limitation of the Study:

The major limitations of the study are as follows: 1. Some womens were very reluctant to talk about their personal information. So, we had to convince them in many ways to speak up. 2. The present political situation was the barrier for our study. 3. Security risk was another problem.

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Descriptive Results:
We divided the analysis of the focus group into 8 sections. This section consists of some important points like head of the family, reason for migration to Dhaka, sources of income, income, how they spend their earnings, problems faced in workplace, relationship between income and decision e power, future plan about job etc. Besides these there are some other points too. The descriptions of the points are given below.

Reason for Migration to Dhaka:

Most of the woman we interviewed given almost the same opinion about this. Due to

urbanization in our country, people are leaving village and coming to the city for getting the taste of urbanization. For instance, one of the woman we interviewed named Parvin said, I migrated to Dhaka due to lack of work at village. Another one named Jayeda said, I migrated to Dhaka due to Poverty. So we can find some taste of urbanization. We know that due to urbanization, there will be lack of work in village area and poverty will attack the rural families. This is the perfect example of urbanization.

Head of the Family:

Bangladesh is a country where most of the families are male dominated. In lower class families this domination are very much expanded. Though the women we interviewed were all working class their head of the family is their husband. One of the woman we interviewed named Rashida said, My husband is the head of the family. Another woman named Parvin said the same thing, My husband takes all the important decision and he is the head of the family. Only one woman named Banu said, I and my husband both takes the important decision of the family. So we both are the head of the family. From the above conversation, we can say that male dominated family is the majority.

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Wage and Spending the Earnings:

All the women we interviewed were all workers. So they have a specific monthly income. The average is 4000 taka. They spend this money in house rent, foods and education of children. One of the women named Parvin said, I earn 3000 taka every month and I spend this money in house rent, foods and education of the children. Another housemaid named Banu said, I earn 5000-6000 taka every month. I spend the money for paying the house rent, foods and for the education of children. This indicates that they spend their hard earned money for their family and their improvement.

Most Spent Sector: From our interviews, we can see that most of the woman spends their income mostly in their house rent. Now days the house rent of Dhaka city are very high and residence is the most important basic need of human being. Mrs. Banu said, I spend 2000-2500 taka in house rent which is almost half of my monthly income. Another woman named Jayeda said, I spend half of my income for paying the house rent .Most expensive basic needs of human being are now house rent. It is also affecting lower class people.

Improvement of Family from the Income:

We asked the participants about the improvement of their family from their income. Here we found out difference between the answers of our participants. One of the participants Rashida is very happy with her improvement. She said, Now I have my own house in my village. I bought cultivable lands there. Parvin also admitted her family status improved. My family is now better than before, said Parvin. We also didnt get any different answer from Shefaly as we asked her the same question. But as Jayeda is the only earning member of her family so her income didnt bring any extra improvement for her family. We also have seen some negative answer. Banu said her income couldnt bring any improvement as the cost is getting high day by day.

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Problems Faced at the Workplace:

The problem our participate face, directly indicate few major problems of our country. The problems are Corruption, Weak Law System and Malnutrition. Rashida and Banu both said as they are getting older they are becoming weak, which is reducing their work power. So they cant work many places at a time like before. Though both of them are middle age women, their strength become much lesser than average. This thing points out the malnutrition problem of our country. Shefaly also said she faces lots of problems but she didnt want to talk about them. Parvin and Jayeda , both has similar kind of complain about the problem the face at work place. This is about corruption and weak law system. Jayeda complained that she has to give bribe to police to run her business. Beside saying that Parvin also added that some time local goons take different goods from her tea stall without paying for them.

Problems Faced After the Migration:

As all our participants had no family member or familiar person in Dhaka before migrating into Dhaka, they all faced same kind of problem. Rashida said she didnt have any work and any place to stay back then. She first got a job into garments, and then later eventually she got familiar with this place. Jayeda had to starve for many days. Parvin had to sleep under open sky. Banu also had to struggle to get her into a job. We also have seen that, those who had familiar person in Dhaka, they didnt have face that much problem. Shefaly said that she didnt have to face any problem, as friend of her husband gave them place of accommodation and helped them to find jobs.

Finding Any Relationship between Income and Decision Making Power:

Though there were some significant differences in answers of other questions, here we found quite similar situations while we asked the participants about their decision making power in family matters. They all said as they earn and contribute a good portion of family needs, they take part in decision making process well. As Mrs. Banu and Mrs. Zayeda said, I take almost all important decisions of my family matters. Adding to that, as Mrs. Banus husband lives in village she has to take all decisions here. Moreover, when we asked the question to Rashida,

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Shefali and Parvin, their answers were pretty much same as all of them take decisions along with their husbands holding equal power. If we look at the whole scenario, we find their earnings are making them powerful and more or less dominating in their own family.

Influencing the Family Matters with Decision:

While taking interviews and analyzing them we found, women are now involved in taking major decisions of their respective family. They take decisions like-where to live, will their children go to school or not and which school they should choose. As we found one of our participants Jayeda said that she takes all the major decisions of her family. Adding to that Shefali and Banu said As my husband is living in village, I take all the decisions like residence choice, childrens education and every major decision. On the other hand, Rashida and Parvin answered similarly as they said that they and their husbands take decisions with mutual understanding. So, here we can see they take quite important decisions of their family along with their husbands which makes them very important person of both families which largely indicates to the society.

Future Plan:
Rich or poor, living under extreme poverty or staying at a seven-star hotel, people never stop dreaming of a beautiful future better than they live now. Here we found some very beautiful and sensible dreams while asking our interviewees about their future plan. Some hoped for a solvent future, some dreamt of their own business. Here we could see Parvin, house-maid dreams of setting up a tea stall and she was saving money for her dream to come true. Whereas, Jayeda who has already a tea stall dreams of making it bigger and maybe a general store someday. On the other hand, along with all others Banu and Shefali want their children to get educated and dreams of a prosperous future. So, we could see some similarities in the dreams of struggling people of our society. Their dream is to educate their children from which they were deprived and get some economic stability in their lives which are very obvious.

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Conclusion:
Migration and women empowerment is the unquestionably a very prevalent matter in our present contemporaneous situation. In our country after migrating to Dhaka city especially women faced different kind of spacious problems. Often they need more time than their expectation for coping up with complete different environment. This migration the life changeable settlement has some quantities impact of their life including their family head, wage earnings, spending the earnings, decision making power of the family, facing distinctive problems and so on. Though this is truly struggling challenge for their life but most them are usually survived in this new environment quite brilliantly, whereas few cannot struggle and end up with smashing consequences. It is very essential decision for empowering themselves and undeniably it is the quite recommended needs of women empowerment in Dhaka city. Poverty is the preeminent hindrance for migrating of our countries women. In rural areas, women usually do some home based work and make less contribution for their family improvement. When they started too struggled for their needs then they consider moving to urban areas like Dhaka city. This might be the best diction of her life or worst. After migrating to the new place they make themselves a true complete warrior and started a crucial war for surviving in this cruel world. Often the most important pain of their life is when they sense the world of inequality is surrounding them with lots of crack. Even Sometimes they harass physically. This kind of vulnerable situation is very unavoidable for them. Women empowerment is currently the most prioritize matter in our country. Though this is spreading dynamically over the year but there still existing lots of barrier and problems. Sometimes we see in different sector men is preferable over women because of physical factor. The further study talks about gender discrimination and so on. After all, the hopeful concept is because of women empowerment, women are now considers as a prime member of their family. Now they are head of their family, the take the decision, they spend their earning as their wish. One remarkable considerable aspect is workplace problem which is bit countable as a hindrance of women empowerment. As this is the world of modern civilization, this is going to be very prevailing to everyone that women empowerment is very paramount object and the migration of women workers from

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different places is playing impressive role. Though few things are working as a hitch behind this modernize process. This is truly apprehending by our people that government should make some noteworthy act for developing the lives of those migrant who have potential to contribute to the socio-economic development of the country. Obviously, by this way the process of women empowerment will be augmented over our country.

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References
Jolly, S and Reeves, H(2002). GENDER and MIGRATION (pp.13-14) German, E and Pyne.S.(2010).Disasters drive mass migration to Dhaka. http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/asia/100831/bangladesh-megacities-part-three-migrant Meagher, D and Farhana, T.(2012).Bangladesh: Climate Change Drivers Rural-Urban Migration to Dhakas Slums. http://www.asafeworldforwomen.org/global-news/asia/bangladesh/2967-dhakas-slums.html