Women Suffer Effects of Manual Labour

With about a million people away from Tajikistan, most of them men working as labour migrants in Russia and other countries, women are left to take the strain.

Female workers now do many of the heavy work traditionally left to men.

Women interviewed in a water-filled rice field in the northern province of Soghd say they have little choice in the matter as economic downturn has meant other jobs are scarce on the ground.

Medical experts say this kind of work affects women’s health, and the incidence of gynaecological problems in particular is increasing.
 

This audio programme, in Russian and Tajik, went out on national radio stations in Tajikistan, as part of IWPR project work funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.