Tunisia seminar targets violence against young female workers

24/12/2008

Female factory labourers and household maids face harsh working conditions in Tunisia. Activists and labour union leaders met in Tunis to discuss how to help this threatened segment of the country's workforce.

By Jamel Arfaoui for Magharebia in Tunis -- 24/12/08

[Jamel Arfaoui] Tunisian forum aims to protect young female workers.

Women’s rights activists and labour union officials demanded better conditions Saturday (December 20th) in Tunis for young and uneducated female workers who suffer abuse and exploitation at the workplace.

The seminar, organised in Tunis by the Association of Tunisian Women for Research and Development (AFTURD), in collaboration with Tanasoff Association and the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT), discussed the economic repercussions of violence targeting young female workers in the greater Tunis region.

Participants addressed the harsh treatment of many female factory workers, who live under the constant threat of getting fired and losing benefits specified in the code of labour in Tunisia. They also addressed violence and poor working conditions for female domestic servants.

UGTT official Adnan ben Saleh said that although the Tunisian constitution and the code of labor underline gender equality, females appear to be more vulnerable when it comes to layoffs.

"Women always top the list," he said. "In December alone, all workers in an Italian textile factory operating in Tunisia were laid off. Nearly 80% of the laid off workers were women."

Ben Saleh criticized what he said was silence on the part of civil society groups, as well as political parties, about the abuses suffered by working women, who are denied rights ensured by the law.

"Most of them have families to support and so they are in dire need of their salaries," said AFTURD’s Radhia Ouizini, adding that the NGO offers them technical training and legal help through volunteer laywers to defend their rights before courts.

Household workers are another group affected by violence in the workplace. A survey conducted by Samira Ayed, sociology professor at the Tunisian University, found that 94% of maids do not have social benefits, as stipulated by the law, and 99% of them do not work under contract.

The study further showed that 52% of the respondents were under the age of 16, 71% of them work year-round with no annual vacation, where as 2% work around the clock. A considerable number of the respondents complained of violence, with 23% mentioning physical violence and 11% sexual violence. The majority are paid wages less than 150 dinars, approximately 100 dinars below the minimum wage.

The study used a sample of 130 maids working in greater Tunis. It showed that 88% of the respondents are illiterate.

Social researcher Tahar Chagrouch noted that Tunisian law grants household maids rights which were not honoured by employers or enforced by the authorities. The law stipulates that the minimum age for minor girls to work is 14 years, provided that a proper working environment is offered. Chagrouch criticized an education policy adopted in the 1960s that did not make education compulsory and unfair development initiatives that left certain regions impoverished.

No accurate statistics are currently available on the number of household maids hired across Tunisia. Al Hourria, the ruling party's newspaper, said in 2006 that the number exceeded 78,000, with only 5% receiving social benefits.

The seminar participants proposed that the population census conducted in Tunisia every ten years include questionnaires addressing the situation of household workers in Tunisia, so as to identify their living conditions, demographics and levels of education.