Difficulties facing migrant female workers: survey

Female labourers working in the foreign—invested (FDI) sector received an average monthly wage of 5 million VND (233 USD), below that received by the opposite sex and their peers working for domestic companies.
Female labourers working in the foreign—invested (FDI) sector receivedan average monthly wage of 5 million VND (233 USD), below that receivedby the opposite sex and their peers working for domestic companies.

The finding was unveiled at a workshop held insouthern Dong Nai province on June 3 which reviewed the outcomes of asurvey on income and living standards of migrant female workers.

The poll was conducted in northern Bac Ninh province, southern DongNai province and Ho Chi Minh City since late 2014. In each locality, theresearch team questioned 13 exporters to the EU operating in apparel,fisheries, footwear and food processing.

According to the survey, access to safety equipment for women workingfor FDI companies was 10 percent lower than those for local femaleworkers.

The migrant group also faceddifficulties in finding housing, educating children and accessing healthservices due to problems with personal finances, official proceduresand distance from their work place to those facilities. Particularly,69.1 percent of the group had trouble looking for schools andkindergartens, compared to only 3.7 percent among their peers workingoutside the FDI sector and 1.1 percent with the locals.

Hoang Thi Thu Hai, a representative from the management board of BacNinh’s industrial parks, revealed that there are currently 130,000 womenamong 189,000 labourers working across her province.

The Government should invest in developing social infrastructure suchas kindergartens, schools and social housing near industrial zones toimprove the living conditions of the migrant female workers, sheproposed.

Meanwhile, Tran Anh Tuan, DeputyDirector of the HCM City Centre for Human Resources and Labour MarketInformation revealed there are 890,000 female workers in the city, andin the next ten years the city will demand an additional 270,000labourers, half of which will be women.

The expansion of programmes facilitating migrant access to bank loans will be very helpful, he continued.

At the workshop, Dr Bui Sy Tuan from the Institute of Labour Scienceand Social Affairs suggested establishing additional support centres,improving the quality of local vocational training courses andcompleting relevant regulations that ensure the rights of the vulnerablecommunity.-VNA

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