How Protected Are Bangladeshi Women Workers in Saudi Arabia? The Question Returns

Amid the reaction across the country to news that Saudi Arabia executed two Bangladeshi nationals, including a woman, a question has returned to the centre of discussion: how much protection do Bangladeshi women workers in that country actually have?

Of the women who have gone abroad from Bangladesh for work over the past two years, the majority went to Saudi Arabia. Jordan comes next — but the number going to Jordan is less than a third of those going to Saudi Arabia.

According to government figures, more than 172,000 women workers went abroad between January 2024 and mid-October this year. Of them, about 120,000 went to Saudi Arabia alone.

At the same time, more than 1,500 women workers returned home by September this year, of whom around 1,000 came back from Saudi Arabia.

Organisations working with returned women workers say physical and mental abuse, wages not being paid properly or not at all, and sexual abuse are the main reasons most women workers come back.

Shakirul Islam, chairperson of the Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program (OKUP), one such organisation, says there is not even complete data on how many women are forced to return from abroad each year. 'In research we did last July on those who returned, we found that 90 percent came back because of physical and mental abuse,' he said.

Golam Moshi, Bangladesh's former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, says the agreement the two countries signed a decade ago on domestic workers did not properly include the issue of workers' protection.

The 2015 agreement on recruiting domestic workers was signed against the backdrop of a strong reaction to large numbers of women workers returning home after suffering abuse. Women going on two-year contracts were supposed to receive 800 riyals a month, and the agreement said domestic workers would be able to travel to Saudi Arabia at no cost.

But non-governmental organisations, quoting returned workers, say many women were denied their wages altogether, and that when they demanded pay, they were abused and sent back home.

'Many important things were not put into that agreement at the time. And agents began bringing girls from remote villages and sending them to Saudi Arabia without any training. So the crisis became more complicated. Many simple village girls fell into danger there. We had set up a safe home. At one point many Bangladeshi women started coming to it,' Mr Moshi said.

Sources at the Bangladesh missions in Riyadh and Jeddah say the crisis has grown because women without the necessary training or skills are being sent in large numbers. It is also known that after Indonesia stopped sending women workers in August 2011 because of abuse, Saudi Arabia increased pressure on the Philippines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Nepal and Sri Lanka refused to send workers for less than 1,700 riyals a month; the Philippines made an agreement for its women workers to stay in Saudi company dormitories rather than employers' homes. In that situation, under Saudi pressure, Bangladesh agreed to a domestic-worker deal at just 850 riyals.

Asked about these matters, an official of the Expatriates' Welfare Ministry said only that they are in regular dialogue with the Saudi authorities on the issue.

Under Vision 2030, the Saudi authorities have introduced some labour-law reforms in recent years to ensure workers' protection, saying at the time that these would increase foreign workers' freedom to change jobs and to move around. In December 2024, the Saudi Press Agency said the regulations on recruiting domestic and similar workers had been amended: employers may not force workers to do any work not mentioned in their contracts, nor force them to work for a third party, nor engage them in risky work that threatens their health, physical safety or dignity. Yet even after this, complaints of abuse of Bangladeshi women workers in the country have not stopped.

A report by Amnesty International on 9 July this year documented various abuses of Filipino women workers in Saudi Arabia — excessive work, exploitation, degrading treatment and, in some cases, sexual abuse. The Saudi government told Amnesty that domestic workers are protected under existing regulations and that any complaint of abuse is investigated seriously. Amnesty, however, said the Saudi government did not answer detailed questions about the implementation and enforcement of the reforms and other measures taken for protection.

Saudi Arabia has given no official statement on the execution of the Bangladeshis. The question of women workers' protection therefore remains unanswered once again: how effective the provisions of agreements and laws are in practice is now the central question.