Thesis Paper - B-Amma Mallika, 1905152

Humanitarian Action for dealing with Covid - 19 impact on women workforce in Dhaka city
BANGLADESH UNIVERSITY OF PROFESSIONALS

MIRPUR CANTONMENT, DHAKA
Thesis on
“Humanitarian Action for dealing with Covid -19 impact on women

workforce in Dhaka city”
Course Code: MDS -516
Paper Submitted to:

Al Jamal Mustafa Shindhani
PhD Fellow
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Faculty of Arts and Social Science (FASS)
Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP)
Email:mustafashindaini@bup.edu.bd
Paper Submitted by:

B-Amma Mallika
Roll No: D1905152
ID No: 1901915
Registration No: 100907180052
MDS-5th Batch
Session: 2018-19 B
Masters in Development Studies (MDS)
Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP)
24 November 2020
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DECLARATION
I, B-Amma Mallika, hereby declare that the work presented in this dissertation is a
genuine work done originally by me, under the closer guidance and supervision of Al
Jamal Mustafa Shindaini, Assistant Professor of Sociology, FASS, Bangladesh University
of Professionals (BUP). I declare that the same report has not been submitted to any other
University or Institution for the award of any degree or diploma. All sources of
information referred in this work are acknowledged with reference to the respective
authors.
____________________________
B-Amma Mallika
Roll No: D 1905152
ID No.: 1901915
Session: 2018-19B
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Acknowledgement
I would like to thank Professor Al Jamal Mustafa Shindhani for his guidance throughout
this process. He was an incredible mentor and inspiration for me from the moment I
started brainstorming possible thesis topics.
I would like to express my gratitude to the authority of Bangladesh University of

Professionals for nominating me and gave me support to continue this course. Thanks to
all my respective teachers, program coordinator and staff of the Faculty of Arts and Socia
Science (FASS) of Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP)
I would like to thank my current organization “Safety and Rights Society (SRS)” and all
the garments who were giving me the access to their platform and allowing me the time
and space needed to meet the demands of completing this research. This work would not
have been possible without the support & guidance of my Team leader Md. Sekender Ali
Mina & my colleagues. I would also like to thank the entire female worker for sharing
their information regarding the study.
Special thanks to Tapon Biswas my ex colleague who helped me to conduct &

accompanied me to complete this research. Last of all ,Thanks to my friends and family
who game me support to complete this course.
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Letter of Approval
This is to certify that this thesis on “Humanitarian Action for dealing with Covid - 19
impact on women workforce in Dhaka city” is solely prepared by B-Amma Mallika
Roll No.: D1905152, Session: 2018-19B, Masters in Development Studies (MDS),
Bangladesh University of Professionals, has worked under my supervision and guidance,
and that no part of this thesis work has been submitted for the award of any other Degree,
Diploma, Fellowship or other similar titles or prizes and that the work has not been
published in any journal or magazine.
_______________________
Al Jamal Mustafa Shindaini
PhD Fellow
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Bangladesh University of Professionals
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Abstract:
In developing economy women play an important role by contributing to household

income, adding to supply of labor for economic activities, and above all by empowering
women. Women workforce is an important factor of production. In Bangladesh, there are 60
million people in the workforce and 18.9 million of them are women.
Participation of any type of economic activities makes women empowered and establishes
them in strong positions in the society. Economic security is a great success in a women’s
life. Women employment is fueled by the same industries that pay the lowest wages in
Bangladesh. Vulnerable low paid employment still persists in Bangladesh and RMG
sector mostly employ female workers. As of last year 12.8 million women worked in
vulnerable jobs. Among the 63.7 million total employed people in Bangladesh last
year,36.6 million or 57.45% worked on vulnerable jobs in 2017. Among the industries,
quality of jobs has increased for women in the RMG sector. But the workers are not well
paid. Nearly 60 percent of women around the world work in the informal economy, with
low wages. These women are at an even higher risk of falling into poverty.
The COVID-19 outbreak has brought the formal & informal sector in Bangladesh to a standstill
situation and added to the difficulty the sector was already experiencing. With numbers
mounting daily, COVID-19 is already having significant and disproportionate effects on
Bangladeshi women.
This paper reflected the infection of new corona virus, Humanitarian support from
different organization and its socio-economic impact exposes the long-standing
discrimination that women and girls face at home and in the economy where women
worker from different professions to have a deeper understanding of their situation during
the pandemic.
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Contents
1Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 8
2 Problem Statement..................................................................................................................... 8
3 Research Questions (Primary Question. Secondary Question) ..............................................9
4 Research Objective .................................................................................................................... 9
5 Literature Review ...................................................................................................................... 9
5.1 Humanitarian Aid is for Emergencies .................................................................................. 9
5.2 Theoretical /Conceptual Framework .................................................................................. 12
6 Research Methodology ............................................................................................................ 14
6.1 Theoretical background ....................................................................................................... 14
6.2 Research Methodology ......................................................................................................... 15
6.3 Mixed method approach....................................................................................................... 15
6.4 Why mixed method ............................................................................................................... 15
6.5 The Study Area ..................................................................................................................... 16
6.6 Sample Procedure and Sample size ..................................................................................... 16
6.7 Technique of data collation and analysis ............................................................................ 16
6.8 Reliability and validity ......................................................................................................... 16
6.9 Ethical consideration ............................................................................................................ 17
7 Data Analysis, Result and Discussion..................................................................................... 17
7.1 Workers category .................................................................................................................. 17
7.2 Number of women received humanitarian support from GoV and NGOs ..................... 18
7.3 Types of humanitarian supports received from Government and NGOs ....................... 19
7.4 Whether humanitarian assistance was justified................................................................. 19
7.5 Do they get salary in lockdown situation ............................................................................ 20
6
7.6 Possibility to lost job due to lockdown ................................................................................ 20
7.7 Types of problem faced by terminated women .................................................................. 21
7.8 Strategies to cope with problems ......................................................................................... 22
7.9 Increased gender based violence.......................................................................................... 23
7.10 Legal support against gender based violence ................................................................... 24
7.11 Mental health counselling................................................................................................... 25
7.12 Future plan of women ......................................................................................................... 25
8 Findings of the Study ............................................................................................................... 26
9. Significant of the study……………………………................................................... .26

10.Limitations of the Study ........................................................................................................ 26
11. Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................................ 27
12. Recommendation……………………………………………………………………28
References ............................................................................................................................... 28-29
Annex………………………………………………………………………………….30-31
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1. Introduction
COVID-19 is having an unprecedented impact on all countries, both in terms of promoting

the scaling of public health preparedness and response and protection of vulnerable
populations, and in terms of requiring mitigation of broader social and economic impacts.
COVID-19 has been declared a worldwide pandemic and therefore the first case of Covid-
19 in Bangladesh was detected on 8 March 2020 (WHO, 2020). So far, the country has
detected 1231 confirmed cases of Covid-19, of whom, 50 have died and 49 have
recovered after treatment. In total, 104,969 people are quarantined (institutional and home)
till date of whom 65,580 are released from state of quarantine (as of 16 April 2020).
Bangladesh Government declared general leave and ban all inter district transports since
26th March 2020 and most of the economic activities are retrained to cut back the
transmission of COVID -19.
While the number of COVID-19 cases in Bangladesh has remained relatively low, they
are in an upward trajectory (Johns Hopkins data). This will require further continuation of
lockdown and travel restrictions in order to support the health response. As the movement
restrictions continue, the socioeconomic indices at the community level will be impacted.
Further aggravate needed of the humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable groups in the
coming months special for the working women.
2 .Problem Statement
In Dhaka city a huge number of garments, construction and domestic workers lives in
Mohammadpur Kallyanpur&Mirpur area because of low house rent. These areas are not
so much developing area. There are no water and sanitation facilities. Most of them lives
in a congested area where they use common kitchen and bathroom for 5/6 family. The
possibility of spreading any contagious disease is very high in those areas.
Majority of mentioned working people belong under poverty line. They have no ability to
buy hygiene product like hand wash, hand sanitizer, soap, gloves, face mask etc. to
prevent COVID 19. But they have to live and work with crowd environment where
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vulnerability of being affected from COVID is very high. This research will identify the
overall impact of covid-19 on RMG, construction & domestic worker, measuring the
effectiveness of humanitarian action and challenges of proper distribution of humanitarian
support.
3. Research Questions (Primary Question. Secondary Question)
▪ What is the comprehensive impact of COVID 19 on low income working women?

▪ What are the mechanisms to measure the effectiveness of humanitarian action? and
▪ What are the challenges of proper distribution of humanitarian support?
4. Research Objective
▪ To get a comprehensive scenario of the overall impact of COVID-19 on marginalized

community especially low income women worker and their families in Dhaka city;
▪ Conceptualization and measuring the effectiveness of humanitarian action;
▪ Analyze the challenges of proper distribution of humanitarian support;
5. Literature Review
Chapter five is the review and evaluation of the literature to support the research
objectives and questions. This chapter surveys provide an overall scenario of humanitarian
action during COVID 19 outbreak and point out the main gap of the activity and also try
to find out the strategic planning process. The content of this chapter concentration on the
relationship of humanitarian action with working women vulnerability.
5.1 Humanitarian Aid is for Emergencies
In simplest terms, humanitarian aid is assistance that’s used to relieve suffering during
emergency situations (Barber, 2003). Development aid goes to addressing ongoing issues
that contribute to human suffering.
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In these contexts, humanitarian aid usually directly benefits people, such as emergency
supply kits distributed to survivors of an earthquake, or health workers screening and
treating displaced children for malnutrition while they are living in temporary shelters. It
can also take the form of cash payments to help people survive crisis in the short term
(Jonshon, 1999). Where possible, development aid is often used to improve structural
systems that in turn benefit whole communities (such as educational training and support
in underserved areas). At Concern, we operate as a dual-mandate organization, addressing
both humanitarian crises and longer-term development goals. There are several other
guiding principles for humanitarian aid, originally set out by the United Nations General
Assembly.
Humanity - The principle of humanity means that we must seek to address human
suffering wherever it is found, paying particular attention to those who are most
vulnerable.
Impartiality - Our responses must be provided solely on the basis of identified need,
without discrimination between or within affected populations. This is the basis of all
“needs-based” programming. It requires us to assess the impact of disasters and to design
programs to support those left most in need in their wake.
Neutrality - We must ensure that our responses don’t favor any side in a conflict, or
engage at any time in any political, racial, religious, or ideological controversies. This is
perhaps the most challenging of these four principles.
Independence - The sole purpose of humanitarian activities and assistance is the relief
and prevention of suffering caused by crisis. This means we must respond in a manner that
is not influenced by political, economic, or military objectives. Humanitarian
organizations create and implement policies independent of government policies or
actions (hence the term NGO, or “non-governmental organization”).
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Findings from our review offer the following key insights supported across multiple
studies and national settings:
A recent report named Gender inequality and the COVID-19 crisis: A Human
Development perspective (Yu-Chie, 2020) entitled while the COVID-19 crisis affects
everyone, women and girls face specific and infrequently disproportionate economic,
health, and social risks because of deeply entrenched inequalities, social norms, and
unequal power relations. Understanding the gender-differentiated impacts of the COVID-
19 crisis through sex-disaggregated data is key to designing policy responses that reduce
vulnerable conditions and strengthen women's agency, placing gender equality at their
center. This can be not almost rectifying long-standing inequalities but also about building
a more just and resilient world.
Plan International (2020) highlights the health and domestic violence issues in their report,
Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Women that the COVID-19 has interrupted our way
of life and has further disrupted individuals, families and communities putting them under
stress of health and economic burdens. However, there are other reasons of stress caused
by the COVID-19 (Bormon, 2020).In times when social isolation and distancing practices
are being applied, there are increased risks of violence against women, their abuse,
exploitation and neglect. Past evidences inform us that diseases out break affected men
and women differently in their day-to-day activities.
Another research done by Alejandra Mora in last April 2020 named COVID 19 in women
lives (Mora, 2020), strongly focused on Violence Against Women and Girls. Confinement
forces women to be locked up with their abusers. Considering that the home is the most
dangerous place for women, confinement increases the risk of violence against women as
the length of co-habitation increases; conflicts arise around domestic and family issues;
the violence continues without interruption and generates a perception of security and
impunity for the aggressor. This research also believed that, violence against women and
girls on the internet (cyber violence) is also increased. Du-ring this time of emergency and
isolation, technology is a fundamental tool for access to information, education, work, and
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even facilitates access to services for women victims of violence, but it also opens new
paths for perpetrators.
A recent research from Dhaka University shows that, the COVID-19 has caused
tremendous negative consequences in the economy through threatening millions of
livelihoods and damaging the earning sources of around 50 million people in the informal
sector in Bangladesh (Akter, 2020). Tension is growing fast in the economy due to the
rapid-spread stage of outbreak of Covid-19 in Bangladesh. The study finds that massive
job losses will happen in both formal and informal sectors, as all of the sectors in
Bangladesh e.g. RMG, Remittance, export and import, transportation, tourism, banking
and insurance, education are in vulnerable position because of the devastating effect of
Corona virus.
A specific research on RMG sector workers (Kabir, 2020)describes the potential impact
of the coronavirus disease 2020 (COVID-19) pandemic on the readymade garment
(RMG) workers of Bangladesh. It articulates the RMG workers’ existing vulnerability
during the COVID-19 pandemic based on currently available evidence and personal
conversations/communications with RMG workers. COVID-19 has already impacted
RMG workers’ health (both physical and mental health status) and wellbeing, and resulted
in loss of employment. We argue that the COVID-19 pandemic will have long-lasting
effects on the garment workers, especially related to their health issues, financial hardship
and inability to pay for essentials such as food, and future employment opportunities. The
stakeholders (such as the international retailers/brands, Bangladesh Garment
Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Government of Bangladesh) responsible for the
global supply chain RMG factories should reconsider the health and overall wellbeing
needs of the RMG workers during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
5.2 Theoretical /Conceptual Framework

We don't have much more secondary data on this research topic. After analyzing the
previous research on humanitarian action I found some gaps. Based on my study and gap
analysis. My theoretical/conceptual framework is-
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Assistance Provided by
Due to the outbreak Affected people's Current needs and
GoB and humanitarian
of Covid 19- distress due to- urgency-
community-
Losing livelihoods People have lost their Job security
Cash support
Disrupting domestic and jobs Second income generating
international food supply Food Package (Rice, Dal, Oil
Scarcity of food and others) activity while lockdown
chains
The general medical Emergency Food (Dry/Cooked Key Messages
Public health
system is also broken Food Provide legal support
Escalating violence against violence
down Emergency medicine
Increasing gender based Social awareness
violence (GBV) Domestic violence has Drinking Water (including
increased bucket and jerrycan) Child protection
Breakdown of social
protection Mental sickness Hygiene/dignity parcel (shop, Mental health counseling
tissue, sanitary pad and others)
Job security - According to Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters

Association (BGMEA) some 106 readymade garment (RMG) factories have retrenched a
total of 70,000 workers since the outbreak of corona virus in the country. Another research
said, overwhelmingly 70 percent of the surveyed workers are very worried or somewhat
worried about workers in their factory who lost their job or might lose their job because of
the pandemic. So, Job security is the first issue of any humanitarian activities for women
workers.
Second income generating activity while lockdown–More than 50 percent of

respondents of the survey shared the information that they don’t have enough food to
survive more than one week. They are worried they might die because of food scarcity
before infected COVID 19. If they had any second income they could support their family
during lockdown. Thus, along with job security we should aware them to start second
income generating activity.
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Key Messages– Maximum time working women will not get even they don’t know about
COVID 19 consequence. They are misguided by wrong information and wrong people.
The Government and humanitarian organization should take the responsibility to literate
them with the authentic information.
Provide legal support against violence–Violence against women is common for working
women but it becomes the worst since lockdown for COVID 19. But they are
compromising with everything. They need legal support to protect them.
Social awareness -Working women are living in urban slum area. They are totally blind
about COVID 19 consequence. The Government and humanitarian organization should
take the responsibility to aware them with the authentic information.
Child protection-Children throughout the world face heightened risks to their safety
during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, serious child protection risks were
present in the slum areas, including violence, child labour, child marriage, exploitation
and abuse.With services scaled back and a reduced humanitarian footprint to prevent the
spread of COVID-19, children are experiencing unintended and adverse effects with
protection risks now heightened.
Mental health counseling - The corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may
be stressful for people. Fear and anxiety about a new disease and what could happen can
be overwhelming and cause strong emotions in adults and children. Public health actions,
such as social distancing, can make people feel isolated and lonely and can increase stress
and anxiety. Thus, mental health counseling is need for them.
6. Research Methodology
6.1 Theoretical background
This chapter is designed to describe the methods of data collection, analysis and
interpretation and how it was conducted at different stages of research work. This chapter
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discusses sampling, fieldwork techniques, data collection techniques and ethical issues,
reliability and validity.
6.2 Research Methodology
Usually, the research method is the process of building knowledge. The method is a set of
rules and controls that are used to investigate the research problem as a fact. Different
research problems have different research goals and strategies. The choice of research
methodology is guided by the nature of the research problem and the research goals. There
are qualitative quantitative and mixed-method research strategies. According to Schwartz
(2001) the methodology is a theory of how the investigation should proceed. It involves
the analysis of the assumptions, principles and methods of a particular method of
investigation that presides use specific methods.
6.3 Mixed method approach
Both qualitative and quantitative research methods are used. Qualitative research is the
collection and analysis of descriptive data and quantitative methods used to collect data or
information related to numbers and what can be measured invalid source specified.
A mixed-method is the method by which researchers collect knowledge on a practical

basis (e.g. consequential, problem-centered, and realistic). Such as interviews) so that the
final database presents both quantitative and qualitative information.
6.4 Why mixed method
This study includes both quantitative and qualitative approaches which are commonly
known as mixed methods. I chose the mixed method for this study because it is:
❖ It ensures a more complete picture of human behavior and experience.

❖ The nature of my research problem is suitable for choosing mixed methods.
❖ It is very helpful to come to the conclusion about the problem under this type of study.
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6.5 The Study Area
The present study has been conducted in Mohammadpur, Kallayanpur and Mirpur area.
There are about 106 RMG factories in this area. Women are vulnerable at every place of
RMG factories and domestic working place but this are common and frequent in the
respective region compared to other parts of the country. That is why I chose the
Mohammadpur, Kallayanpur and Mirpur region.
6.6 Sample Procedure and Sample size
I have selected a total of 120 respondents for this study. I can't have more time and
resources. I have chosen all women respondents for this research. Although about 80% of
the total garments, construction and domestic workers are women, I included 100%
women in my sample. This is because I wanted to know the real situation of women
workers in domestic and RMG factories.
Since I was interested in studying the Mohammadpur, Kallayanpur and Mirpur region I
made a shortlist of the respondents that were in the same region. There are lots of RMG
and domestic workers in the respective areas. I randomly chose 120 workers among of
them.
6.7 Technique of data collation and analysis
Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used to collect data. An interview
questionnaire has been scheduled for quantitative data collection and a case study has been
conducted for deeper qualitative data collection. Quantitative data were analyzed using
SPSS (Social Science Statistics Package, version 18 program).
6.8 Reliability and validity
Reliability deals with an indicators dependability on the other hand validity is an overused
term and is often confused with related ideas but it feels us whether indicator actually
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capture the meaning of the construct in which we are interested (Neuman, 1997). In my
research reliability and validity are strong. I have used questions to test earlier findings
about the workers of garment sector. The scales that I used are already proven to be
reliable by numerous other studies. The internal validity of the concepts are ensured
through the use of questions and variable that are drawn from earlier literature.
6.9 Ethical consideration
Ethical considerations are a significant part of any study. This is one of the central themes
of any study. Privacy, confidentiality and anonymity are strictly maintained in this study.
The researcher first introduces himself to the respondent and asks them to answer their
questions. There was no external reason or pressure to answer this question while
conducting the interview privacy was strictly maintained through the data collection
method.
But here are a few things to note: First, many respondents could not easily tell their real
age, so I had to determine their age based on some assumptions. However, these
assumptions were made in the field. Second, many female respondents were embarrassed
and hesitant to talk about sexual harassment. I suspect that in some cases, quantitative data
may not present a true picture of sexual harassment. To compensate for this, I have used
case studies to highlight a few incidents of harassment to address them qualitatively.
Third, I interviewed most of the workers over phone because of COVID 19 pandemic.
Fourth, if I could get a larger sample, my searches could represent workers' weaknesses.
7. Data Analysis, Result and Discussion
7.1 Workers category

Women are working in different sectors in Bangladesh, whereas maximum women are
working in domestic and RMG sector. I have surveyed 120 working women in three
different areas of Dhaka city. Of 120 working women, 55 are RMG workers, 20 are
construction workers and 45 of the respondents were domestic workers.
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Workers Category
RMG worker 55
Construction worker 20
Domestic worker 45
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
7.2 Number of women received humanitarian support from GoV and NGOs
Majority women (50%) women found lump sum/one time financial assistance or food
support from government or any kind of humanitarian organization. Fifty out of 120 RMG
workers get from government. Besides, 10% of construction worker get the financial
support from their employer. Moreover, 32 percent domestic worker expects food and
hygienic support from NGOs.
Number of women received humanitarian

support from GoV and NGOs
60
50
50
40 32
30
20
10
10
0
Domestic worker Construction worker RMG worker
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7.3 Types of humanitarian supports received from Government and NGOs
Government supports were not enough generally to these women workers. 93 percent of
women did not receive any support from government. Only 8 women have reported
getting assistance from government which included lump sum financial 5assistance (1
woman), loan (6women), training (7 women), and equipment/material support (1 woman).
Similar to government support to working women workers, NGO support is also very
infrequent. Three in every four (75%) women did not receive support form NGOs. 28 out
of 120 women claimed that they received NGOs support that included lump sum financial
assistance.
Types of humanitarian supports received from

Government and NGOs
One time financial asistance
Emergency Medicine
Food
Hygiene Materials
0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00
NGOs Government
7.4 Whether humanitarian assistance was justified
Out of 112 women, 73 (68%) were demand that humanitarian assistance were not
sufficient for them, they need more to feed their family. Whereas, only 32% women were
informed that the assistance what they received during lockdown were sufficient for their
family.
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Whether humanitarian assistance was

justified
32%
Yes
68%
No
7.5 Do they get salary in lockdown situation
Almost all workers did not receive any benefit in lockdown situation although in most
cases. Even in some cases no payment was given (80%). Majority workers (65%) received
just partial wage of the previous month, but not the overtime. Both wage and overtime
were given to 12% percent women. In majority cases, payments were made within 30
days. However, one in every four women received their payment within 40-50 days.
Do they get salary in lockdown situation
20
Partial 65
8
5 Constraction worker
Yes (full salary) 10
12 RMG worker
Domestic worker
75
No 25
80
0 20 40 60 80 100
7.6 Possibility to lost job due to lockdown

Almost all 75% of working women were sure especially domestic workers and
construction women workers know about their termination. Only 8% of RMG women
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workers were confident about their job and the other 17% were confused about whether
they can continue their job or not.
Possibility to lost job due to lockdown

God knows
17%
No
8%
Yes
No
God knows
Yes
75%
7.7 Types of problem faced by terminated women
Almost all (97.30%) of the terminated women workers faced problems after being
terminated. These workers have faced problems of different nature--economic and
psychological. However, most women have talked about the economic problems. About
three in every four women, in each case, have talked about loss of income and problem of
maintaining family expenditure. Psychological stress has been reported by 56 percent
dismissed workers. Terminated workers also had difficulties to continue education of their
children (13.76%), and even many workers could not maintain the medical cost (48.62%)
for their families. Besides, more than one-third (37.61%) women also faced problems to
pay their house-rent.
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Types of problem faced by terminated women
Reduced income
Faced difficulty to maintain family cost
Stoped children's education
Faced mental pressure
Faced problem to provide house rent
Could not maintain medical cost
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
7.8 Strategies to cope with problems
Terminated women workers adopted many strategies/steps to cope with the situation. In
this regard, cut short the monthly bazar cost and taking two meals daily instead of three
were most frequently adopted strategy. 4 out of five women reduced their cost for
monthly bazar, whereas more than half (53.21%) of the women also had to reduce the
frequency of taking daily meals to two times from thrice. Half of the women also kept
their house-rent due. Cost of education for children was cut short by 28.44% women.
There were also strategies of relocation of whole family or some members of family--
4.59% women shifted whole family to village, and about 4 percent sent their children to
villages.
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Strategies to cope with problems
Reduced education cost of children 28.4
Reduced bazar cost 80.7
Two meals instead of three 53.2
Sent children to village 3.7
Shifted the family to village 4.6
Kept the house rent due 50.5
Reduced/stoped sending money to the… 6.4
Reduced transport cost 11
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Another major strategy to adopt with situation is to take loan. 4 out of every 5 terminated
women took loan. The loan amount was up to BDT 10000 for the largest segment of
women (36.7%). BDT 20000-30000 was taken by 22.2% women. The loan amount was
more than BDT 50000 for 23.3% workers. These women took loan from different sources.
Among the sources neighbor is the most frequently explored (55.56%) followed by NGO
(22.22%). Besides, women also took loan from co-operative (18.89%) and local somiti
(18.89%). There were also women who took loan from money lenders (2.22%).
7.9 Increased gender based violence

Gender-based violence (GBV) is increased during the lockdown period. The main reason
for increasing GBV is financial insecurity. The majority 54.70% were facing problems
because they are going to lose their job. They are tortured by their landlord, society
surprisingly from their male family member also.
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Increased gender based violence
22.90
Yes
No
54.70
Same as before
23.40
7.10 Legal support against gender based violence

More than 65% of vulnerable working women think, they need legal support to protect
them from gender based violence and domestic violence. Surprisingly more than 35% of
women don’t know about it and more than 15% of women are don’t want to go for any
compliant also.
Legal support against gender based violence
They know about it
No need
Need support
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
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7.11 Mental health counseling

The corona virus disease 2020 (COVID-19) pandemic created a situation of general
distress. Although the focus has been initially more on the physical health during the
pandemic, mental health concerns linked to the lockdown have quickly risen. Another
reason to their depression is job insecurity and financial weakness. Thus, 80% of them
think about mental health counseling.
Mental health counselling
20
Yes
No
80
7.12 Future plan of women

Terminated women workers are living with various ambitions/future plans. The largest
segment (25.9%) wants to live well with family members. 22.3 percent women want to
small business, and 10.7% dream for building a house. Creating children's better future is
the future plan/dream of 12.5% women. Important to note, a little less than one-quarter
(24.1%) of terminated women have no future plan.
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Future plan of women
Do not think about future

If get any financial support would like to do a
small business
Do something from home
Create a better future for children
Want to live well with family members
Building a house
Doing business
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
8. Major Findings of the study:

The following findings can be highlighted based on female workers interview
1. Women worker has a Lack of knowledge about women worker rights;

2. Women worker in informal sector (Domestic & Construction) do not have job
security. They lost their job during lockdown period;
3. Insufficient Humanitarian support;
4. Increase gender base violence, economic strain & workload
5. Find alternative ways tp engage women worker in the workforce
9. Significance of the Study

In this time of compounding global crisis, the world needs to come together to not only
fight the pandemic but to also preserve our commitments to certain shared beliefs. One of
these is the eradication of gender inequality even in the midst of this humanitarian crisis.
Undoubtedly, COVID-19 has a disproportionate impact on people, especially as a result of
their genders, disabilities, ethnicities, socio-economic class, race and even age. In
addition, how these disadvantages play out in complex emergencies, pandemic-conflict or
pandemic-natural hazards dynamics for instance, should also be of great concern to
society. When it comes to differentiated impacts, women bear a disproportionate load of
26
the adverse impacts of the pandemic. Our commitments to gender equality and women’s
rights should be upheld, more than ever, during this global pandemic.
This study tried to focus on humanitarian action for dealing with Covid - 19 impacts on
the women workforce and also tries to deliver the further action of the post-COVID 19
situations in Bangladesh.
10. Limitations of the Study
Since this study is an action research, so it is conducted in a pragmatic situation. Due to

the COVID-19 pandemic, the country is under lockdown. So the only way to collect data
was the telephonic in-depth interview. The sample size is 200 which may not be
applicable to generalize the whole population of the study. The qualitative data analysis
requires time and patience. This research has been conducted in a short time. The data
collection technique, i.e. telephonic interview suffered a lot of communication, availability
of the interviewee, and technological barriers.
11. Concluding Remarks
Considering the global hard-hit economy, depression, unemployment, job loss, shortfall of
RMG export and incoming remittances, the socio-economic and development impacts
along with the food insecurity as well as rising poverty due to COVID-19 at the
community level need to be coordinated in Bangladesh. At present, as the lockdown is
withdrawn, both lives and livelihoods are in danger which is a long-debate that is going
on. Along with the pandemic disease, the upcoming seasons of natural disasters from
cyclones, tidal floods, flash floods, and landslides of monsoon seasons should be
considered to prepare for the emergencies. All these will further aggravate the
humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable groups in the country in the coming months to
be followed. Moreover, humanitarian support should reach the most vulnerable
communities which need to be targeted, outlined, and delivered. Finally, economic
implications should be subjected to the spatial and geographical locations based on the
vulnerabilities. Hotspots identified in the delta plan can be considered here. The long-term
strategic plan can be integrated into Perspective Plan 2041 and Bangladesh delta plans
27
2100, for better strategic management. Whatever will be the lockdown scenario, the basic
supports to the mass people must be ensured and that is not so easy without strong
strategic planning and multi-sectarian collaboration for sustainability including supports
from the private sectors and international bodies.
12: Recommendation:
The following recommendations can be accessed from this paper:

 Women workers are very worried in formal & informal sector who lost their job or
might lose their job because of the pandemic. Having a contract is important for
every women worker when it comes to making any type of claims especially in
case of worker termination.
 Motivate women worker for searching second income generating activity while
lockdown;
 Covid 19 is a new virus and need to learn more about how covid 19 can affect
them every day; Social media, activists, television, religious and Government
should come forward to help in the dissemination of right information of Covid 19
 Stress, lose of income and lockdown situation all increased gender base violence.
Take important steps and provide legal support for victim;
 Government and NGO’s need to come forward with a better gender sensitive plan
to address this problem
 Increase public awareness to prevent the spread of covid 19 in the workplace and
the workers community.
 Provide psychosocial counseling for female workers to reduce Covid trauma

and betterment of their mental health
28
References:
Akter, S. (2020). Covid-19 Bangladesh: Threat of Unemployment in the Economy. North
American Academic Research , V (02), 22-28.
Barber, R. (2003). Facilitating humanitarian assistance in international humanitarian and human
rights law. Sydne: World Vision Austrlia.
Bormon, R. J. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Women. Geneva: Plan International.
International, P. (2020). How are Children Affected by Coronavirus’. Geneva.
Jonshon, J. B. (1999). Humanitarian Assistance in Disaster Situations. Washington, D.C.: Pan
American Health Organization.
Kabir, H. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on Bangladeshi readymade garment (RMG) workers .
Austrlia: University of New England.
Mora, A. (2020). COVID-19 in women’s lives: Reasons to recognize the differential impacts. .
Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) , III (4), 56-58.
WHO. (2020). WHO Bangladesh Covid 19 morbidity and mortality weekly update (MMWU).
Dhaka: World Health Organization .
Yu-Chie, C. R. (2020). Gender inequality and the COVID-19 c risis: A Human Development
perspective. New York: UNDP.
Neuman, W. L., 1997. Social Research methods: Qualitative and Quantitative

Approaches.. 3rd ed. ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Selim Raihan and Sayema Haque Bidisha(September 2018)-A Research paper on

Economic Dialogue on Inclusive Growth in Bangladesh
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics(2017) - Bangladesh Statistics
Dhaka Tribune(2018)Women workforce; Employing without Employment
Business Standard(2020) How the pandemic is reversing gains in women empowerment)
Sadruddin Imra(2020)-Impact of Covid-19 Readymade Garments of Bangladesh
Challenges & way forward
Action Aid Bangladesh, (June 2010)-Minimum Wage for Bangladesh’s Garment Workers:
Satisfaction of Needs or Fulfilling Rights
Dhaka: Unnayan Onneshan [coauthor with RashedTitumir] March 2005, Bangladesh:
Poverty and Employment, Lost in the Queue
29
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Humanitarian Action for dealing with Covid - 19 impact on women workforce in Dhaka city

BANGLADESH UNIVERSITY OF PROFESSIONALS

“Humanitarian Action for dealing with Covid -19 impact on women

Paper Submitted to:

Paper Submitted by:

I would like to express my gratitude to the authority of Bangladesh University of

Special thanks to Tapon Biswas my ex colleague who helped me to conduct &

In developing economy women play an important role by contributing to household

3 Research Questions (Primary Question. Secondary Question) ..............................................9

4 Research Objective .................................................................................................................... 9

5 Literature Review ...................................................................................................................... 9

5.1 Humanitarian Aid is for Emergencies .................................................................................. 9

5.2 Theoretical /Conceptual Framework .................................................................................. 12

6 Research Methodology ............................................................................................................ 14

6.1 Theoretical background ....................................................................................................... 14

6.2 Research Methodology ......................................................................................................... 15

6.3 Mixed method approach....................................................................................................... 15

6.4 Why mixed method ............................................................................................................... 15

6.5 The Study Area ..................................................................................................................... 16

6.6 Sample Procedure and Sample size ..................................................................................... 16

6.7 Technique of data collation and analysis ............................................................................ 16

6.8 Reliability and validity ......................................................................................................... 16

6.9 Ethical consideration ............................................................................................................ 17

7 Data Analysis, Result and Discussion..................................................................................... 17

7.1 Workers category .................................................................................................................. 17

7.4 Whether humanitarian assistance was justified................................................................. 19

7.5 Do they get salary in lockdown situation ............................................................................ 20

7.6 Possibility to lost job due to lockdown ................................................................................ 20

7.7 Types of problem faced by terminated women .................................................................. 21

7.8 Strategies to cope with problems ......................................................................................... 22

7.9 Increased gender based violence.......................................................................................... 23

7.10 Legal support against gender based violence ................................................................... 24

7.11 Mental health counselling................................................................................................... 25

7.12 Future plan of women ......................................................................................................... 25

8 Findings of the Study ............................................................................................................... 26

9. Significant of the study……………………………................................................... .26

11. Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................................ 27

COVID-19 is having an unprecedented impact on all countries, both in terms of promoting

3. Research Questions (Primary Question. Secondary Question)

▪ What is the comprehensive impact of COVID 19 on low income working women?

▪ To get a comprehensive scenario of the overall impact of COVID-19 on marginalized

5.1 Humanitarian Aid is for Emergencies

5.2 Theoretical /Conceptual Framework

Job security - According to Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters

Second income generating activity while lockdown–More than 50 percent of

6.1 Theoretical background

6.2 Research Methodology

6.3 Mixed method approach

A mixed-method is the method by which researchers collect knowledge on a practical

6.4 Why mixed method

❖ It ensures a more complete picture of human behavior and experience.

6.5 The Study Area

6.6 Sample Procedure and Sample size

6.7 Technique of data collation and analysis

6.8 Reliability and validity

6.9 Ethical consideration

7. Data Analysis, Result and Discussion

7.1 Workers category

Number of women received humanitarian

7.3 Types of humanitarian supports received from Government and NGOs

Types of humanitarian supports received from

One time financial asistance

0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00