Given that the country is submerged below the poverty line, more and more women, especially from rural areas, are forced to be ‘unskilled’ laborers as they are deprived of basic education; and for them, exposure to better resources seems a ‘fairytale.’[break]
Various empowerment projects undertaken by the government and mushrooming I/NGOs are a farfetched one for these women. They have been solacing themselves that perhaps it might be their fate that landed them in such a backbreaking occupation.
Yes, we are talking about the ‘unfortunate’ women who are working as unskilled laborers in the field of construction (buildings).
Every month, women from rural areas throng Kathmandu Valley in search of greener pastures and eventually many of them land up being unskilled laborers in the construction of buildings.
They are found to be toiling hard in roof casting, sand sieving, brick cleaning, marble polishing, and ferrying heaps of sand on their back.
The widow’s plight
Sukumaya Tamang, 39, is a widow, and is working as a construction laborer for the last two years. She is from Sindhupalchowk district.
“You can see the nature of work I’m doing,” Tamang says, her voice low and eyes dim.
For her, toiling more than eight hours a day is just a way of life.
“I don’t have any alternatives. I lost my husband five years ago, and since then, I’m the sole earner in the family,” says the mother of three.
She makes Rs 250 per day but the hard-earned money is not enough to manage her family. Apart from managing daily meals, she has to educate her three children—two sons and a daughter.
“I wish I had better ways to earn a livelihood. But since I’m illiterate and poor, I’m compelled to carry sand and boulders,” adds Tamang.
Old bones at work
Coming from Taplejung district, Sunita Limbu is making the best of her old bones at the age of 57. While most women of her age are taken care of by their children, Limbu was spotted carrying a doko on her back loaded with soil.
“I hardly manage to carry such a heavy load as I’ve turned old and feeble,” gasps Limbu, who has been working as a construction laborer for a year. She also makes Rs 250 after a day’s hard work.
Asked about the whereabouts of her husband, she breaks into tears.
“My husband got a second wife nine years ago and he left me high and dry,” says Limbu. “I have no one to look after the family but myself.”
She said her two children are studying in a government school and that they are quite young to support the family. A previous worker at a garment factory, Limbu was forced to leave the job as her eyesight became weaker due to old age.
“What to say, even death has no mercy!” she laments.
Fear of starvation
For these women laborers, no work means starving to death.
They don’t have any reserves—foodstuffs or money. The daily wage is not enough, either.
“You know the price rise in basic commodities. The money we make per day—Rs 250—can’t even buy three meals,” says Maya Lama, 32, who has two children.
The fear of falling sick always haunts her.
“We can only harness our shoulders to earn a livelihood. We don’t have any other means,” clarifies Lama. “If I happen to fall sick even for a single day, my three-member family will starve.”
She recounted her ordeal of how her family had to go hungry for two days when she caught flu three months back. On top of that, the anxiety of expenses to seek medical treatment increases her woes.
The squatters
The women laborers are mostly landless.
“We don’t own even a piece of land on this earth,” says Lama. “My family is staying in the squatters’ camp on the banks of Manahara River.”
She fears that the trend of being landless may go unabated.
“As my meager income hardly suffices to make a living, I don’t think I can buy a piece of land even in my village in Sindhuli,” says a hapless Lama.
The fact that women continue to work as unskilled laborers throughout their active lives justifies her claim.
Hazardous workplace
The fact is that construction of buildings has taken pace, and it may provide some respite to these women laborers. But availability of work just doesn’t mean they have every reason to rejoice. They are working under hazardous conditions.
A few real estate companies barring the access of this scribe to their women laborers’ workplace might be a reason to justify the claim that these toilers are working in risky conditions.
Though we saw made-up smiles on their faces, the women laborers continue to swallow the bitter truth that, ultimately, it’s only their arduous work that rewards them with their meals.
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