From Kaaj to Chakri

A tale of two regions

This is part of an ongoing series drawn from my PhD thesis, "Globalization, Internal Migration and Gender Relations: An Explorative Study on the Women Working at the Ready Made Garment Factories in Dhaka", submitted to the University of Dhaka in 2013. The research was a comparative study of women's migration and work in two different parts of Bangladesh – Netrokona and Khulna. These posts are an effort to share that research experience beyond academic walls.

My previous post discussed the social perception of Chakri and Kaaj in Bangladesh and how it shapes the way a woman values her own worth. This post takes that argument into the field. Here I share my research findings on what the women and their families actually said about different kinds of work. This post also highlights an interesting finding – why the same type of work, domestic service, carries completely different meanings in Netrokona and Khulna.

Domestic Work in Bangladesh – A Brief Picture

Domestic service is a very common and normalized practice in Bangladesh. Due to cheap labor costs and affordability, almost all middle-class and upper-class households hire women and girls to perform household chores – cooking, cleaning, childcare, and everything else that keeps a household running. The work requires not just physical labor but also emotional and mental investment. For the woman doing it, it is mostly informal, invisible, and unprotected.

There are two main arrangements. The first is the 'live-in' arrangement – where women or girls are hired on a verbal contract to provide service in exchange for food, payment, and other amenities. They do not work fixed hours and are usually not entitled to fixed leave or holidays. This arrangement is mostly taken up by young unmarried girls, widows, or divorced women who are in desperate need of a place to live and earn, with no immediate support in the city. For many rural women arriving in Dhaka for the first time, domestic service becomes the first entry point into city life.

The second is 'chuta kaaj' – part-time domestic work done on a live-out basis. Mostly married women with children perform this work. They shuttle between their own home and the employer's home daily and are paid monthly. This is considered a more preferred kind of domestic work – but only those who already have family support in the city can afford to opt for it.

Netrokona: From Domestic Helper to RMG – A Natural Progression

For Netrokona village, domestic service was once the most common work option for young women migrating to Dhaka. For decades before my fieldwork, young domestic helpers from Netrokona were a common sight in Dhaka households. Sending families considered it safe for a woman to work inside a city household rather than outside. The main emotional motivation for poor parents in sending their daughter as a domestic helper was to secure her living – to relieve the family of the maintenance responsibility of a grown-up girl while also providing her with social security that the village could not offer. The daughter's income was almost secondary. Payments would pile up for months in the employer's hands and be collected when the amount reached a handsome level.

But something changed. With the rise of the RMG industry, domestic service is no longer a preferred work option in Netrokona. The shift has been dramatic. Preference has moved – decisively – to RMG work.

In the words of Fatema Begum, 55, mother of an RMG worker in Netrokona:

'It was alright for our girls to work as domestic helpers in the past. Now it is best that they work at RMG. Doing work as domestic helper is no good. Look at my home, I have a bed, a showcase and my house is tin shaded. Look at theirs (pointing to her nearest neighbor whose daughter works as domestic helper in Dhaka). For years after years, their situation is the same. Their home is not even tin shaded. Time has changed. We need to think what is good for us, not what is good for them (rich people).'

Rukku Miah, 25, RMG worker from Netrokona:

'Only those girls who cannot even write their names are still taking work of domestic helper. A little literate girl will not go to work as domestic helper. To tell you frankly, we hear that they (house owners) also torture their domestic helper. The girls are not even treated with good food. It is okay if anyone wants to work as domestic helper, but I will not let my sisters be the one anymore. One of my sisters used to work as domestic helper in Mymensingh. But my other sister is now working in RMG. It is good.'

Three reasons explain why RMG work became the preferred choice in Netrokona. First – RMG easily falls within the concept of Chakri. A physical office space, specific responsibility, an official timetable, a pay structure, leave, and benefits – these characteristics make RMG work socially recognizable as Chakri rather than Kaaj. Second – RMG offers collective benefit to both the woman and her family through a regular flow of income, unlike domestic service where payments are negligible in comparison. Sending families consider monetary income as their main consideration and non-monetary benefits of a domestic worker – stay, food, clothing, medical care – as less significant. Third – migration was never an issue for Netrokona village. Switching from domestic work to RMG work is seen as a natural and reasonable move upward.

Fatema Khatun, 55, mother of an RMG worker in Netrokona:

'Working at other people's home is still working in home (Kaaj). Working at RMG is called Chakri. My daughter saved money for her marriage. She has also contributed to household expenses. It was a right decision to send her to RMG. It would have been good if there was a RMG factory near our village. Our girls did not have to go that far.'

Khulna: A Different World Entirely

In sharp contrast to Netrokona, Khulna villages show a strong resistance to domestic service and a slow, cautious affiliation to RMG work. The reasons are rooted in the same pride and emotionally localistic mindset we discussed in the Khulna post.

In Khulna, migrating to Dhaka to work as a domestic helper is considered a site of double dishonor. It shows the family's incapability of keeping their woman within the stated social boundary – and it allows her to engage in work that is considered derogatory. In middle-class and affluent families, women's work is considered exclusively for family, household, and children. The question of working outside simply does not arise.

Even for poor families in Khulna, domestic service in the city is the last resort. Taking up household work in a city is never considered Chakri. In some cases, families do not even disclose in the village that their daughter is working as a domestic helper in Dhaka – the shame is that acute.

Razia, 45, a divorced woman from Khulna:

'I needed to leave my village after I came to my parents' home after my marriage was over. Depending on my uncle's support who was residing in Dhaka, I migrated to Dhaka. All I knew was that I do not want to go back to my village. I need to be self dependent and earn for that. I took work as domestic helper in a residence. Later on I changed three residences till I got my job at RMG after two years. It's been ten years I have been working in RMG. Of course now there is no question of doing work as domestic helper even if there is no work at all. I have savings and I have also crossed that stage. That time was different, now it is different. Working as domestic helper does not suit me anymore. I would rather starve than taking work like that again.'

Tayed Hossain, 60, Sagarika's father from Khulna:

'I am ashamed of myself that I had to let my daughter go to Dhaka to earn. But what to do? I have no steady income. I have a large family, and then she has a sad history. Her husband was a fraud and made us fools. Now she is alone and working in RMG. But I would never let her go to Dhaka as a domestic helper, in whatever situation I may be in. Out of the question! I have a good family history. Girls from our family never work at others' homes.

For RMG work specifically, Khulna villages show a slow and cautious acceptance. Most families do not send their daughters without a relative or family friend already settled in Dhaka. There are no adventures associated with this move. It is well thought out. Most unmarried women from Khulna come with a definite time frame – three to five years – and a specific goal: save money, pay dowry, get married, go home.

Halima Begum, 60, mother of Sabina from Khulna:

'Which mother can be in peace after sending her unmarried daughter to RMG? People talk ill in our back.'

Sabina, 19, unmarried, from Khulna:

'I only came to Dhaka to work at RMG. I would never come to Dhaka to work as domestic helper. There is no reason to come this far to work in other's home. There is no future in the work of domestic helper. Nobody will be interested to marry me. Even when they will know that I have worked at RMG, good proposals will not come. That's why I am saving money for my marriage so that I do not have problems finding a suitable groom for me. I will leave my job soon and go back to my village.'

What This Tells Us

The contrast between Netrokona and Khulna on domestic work and RMG work is not just a regional difference. It shows how social perceptions of work, Chakri and Kaaj, play out differently depending on a community's history, pride, and relationship with migration.

In Netrokona, migration and work – whether as a domestic helper or RMG worker – are accepted, normalized, and increasingly celebrated; the shift from domestic helper to RMG worker is seen as progress. A step up. A move from Kaaj to Chakri.

In Khulna, both domestic work and RMG work carry social stigma – though RMG is gradually becoming more acceptable among the younger generation. The community is still deciding. This write-up is based on field experiences from 2010-2011. What seemed like a dominant trend at that time could be a fading reality today – due to technological advancement and an improved commute system between Dhaka and Khulna.

Nevertheless, at the heart of both stories, as always, is the same question. Not just what work a woman does. But what that work is called. And what that name does to her sense of herself.

For those interested: Key references used in this research

Selim, R. (2009). Domestic Workers in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies. Dhaka.

Sultan, M. (2010). Gender and Governance in Bangladesh. BRAC University Press. Dhaka.