Local women say that there is a shortage of jobs in Rakhine, and women earn less than the prescribed wages but continue to work to make ends meet.
“It’s not convenient. This is the only job I have to do here. How can I be comfortable with 90,000 kyats of money,” a woman who is working in the fishery business from the Thaekhon village told MPA.
These women include women who work in the fisheries industry in Rakhine, and they say that since there are hardly any job opportunities in Rakhine, the wages are low, but they have to work for what they can get.
In Pauktaw Township, Theakhon Village, it is seen that school-age women to 60-year-olds are also working as female labour in the fisheries industry.
These women say that they continue to work because they have no other choice of work, even though their wages are low and their family’s livelihood is not convenient.
Another woman told the MPA, “With rising commodity prices, I’m not convenient with my salary of MMK 90,000. But I have to do it.”
It is said that these women have to carry the fish caught from the sea, sort them, dry them, and pack them without any time limit.
Even though they are doing that, the wages are only about MMK 100,000 at most, and they say that not all women cannot work in these industries even if they want to work in these jobs.
Women’s rights activists say that there are many women who have been trafficked due to the general crises and job shortages since the military coup and have migrated and left abroad.