Tajik Women Poorly Prepared for Work Abroad
Tajik Women Poorly Prepared for Work Abroad
Although most of Tajikistan’s labour migrants are male, women account for a sizable proportion of those who go off in search of seasonal work in Russia.
They work in low-skill jobs in catering and cleaning or as market traders.
As is the case with men working abroad, most female seasonal workers from Tajikistan have no higher education or other marketable skill. These days, many have poor Russian – the language they will be required to function in.
Leading human rights activist Oinikhol Bobonazarova says women from rural areas are completely unprepared for the work environment abroad and have little understanding of what their rights are.
The NGO coalition From Legal to Real Equality says the average age of female migrants is 36, and most are between 25 and 45. They earn an average of 300 US dollars a month and send most of their wages back to their families in Tajikistan.
The 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.
