National Forum Formed in B'desh for Non-unionised Women Workers

• The National Non-unionised Women Workers Forum has been constituted with women workers from different sectors
• The forum aims at improving their voice in national policy discussions

Women workers of the tea gardens, fisheries, domestic work, and home-based garment production have come together and formed the National Non-unionised Women Workers Forum in order to strengthen their collective voice in national policy discussions.

The forum was announced at the Informal & Marginalised Formal Women Workers Convention 2025 in Dhaka, organised under the EU co-funded Empowering Women Through Civil Society Actors project by Oxfam in Bangladesh.

Through a press release, the initiative mentioned that it has worked with 33 civil society partners and reached a total of 45,000 women workers on rights awareness, collective organizing, and improving access to institutional systems.

Farida Akter, adviser to the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, pointed out the various trials persisting in recognizing women's contribution by saying that though women play a very important role in society, they are not yet adequately represented in economic estimates.

Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed, the former chief of the Labour Reform Commission, emphasized that collective efforts by cross-sectors are very essential to achieving recognition and justice, and further underscored women workers' important role in the economy.

Oxfam Country Director Ashish Damle called the convention an important step towards giving voice to women and emphasized the necessity for upholding the rights, dignity, and leadership of informal women workers in the development of Bangladesh.

Speaking on behalf of the European Union Delegation, Laila Jesmin Banu spoke highly of EWCSA's contributions toward systemic improvements, as well as women's empowerment.

Dr Snigdha Rezwana of Jahangirnagar University added that a centralized database of informal women workers would support planning, service delivery, and legal reforms.