Source: CCTV.com

02-07-2007 18:09

Women in Asia have always struggled for equal rights in the workplace in this increasingly competitive world. Starting today, we bring you a series of stories concerning women's working conditions in Asia. We begin in Laos, where many young women who have just come into adulthood, drop out of school to work, due to financial problems. They work for longer hours, but less pay. In today's Asia Working Series, reporter Boun-keut Vong-xaya from LNTV Laos, shows us the life of an ordinary Laotian girl.

Laos is a rapidly developing country with its main export products being garments and electricity. Laos has more than 57 garment factories now, which employ thousands of young people who have finished high school but have no chance to continue studying.

Like Boua Sihavanh, a 19-year-old from the suburb of Vientiane the Capital. She has to work at least 10 hours a day for a 30 Laos kip salary as an apprentice in a garment factory. Each day she has to get up early and catch a factory bus at 7 o'clock, to work the whole day.

In a garment factory in Vientiane, Boua works hard along with more than 200 other workers here, but they are happy and proud of their work, knowing that their products are exported to countries in Europe.

On their short break, the workers eat to keep up their energy for the remainder of the work day. Half a US dollar is enough for each of them to have lunch. For a stick of grill meat, Boua pays only 10 cents US, good enough to boost her energy to work again.

It is time to go home for some of the workers but today Boua will have to do over time till 10 pm for additional income. At home, Boua always helps her family. Today they dig a well to get water for family use.

Q:"From what time till what time do you work"

Boua:"From 8:00 am till 6:00 or 9:00 or 10:00 pm. The salary is not much"

Q:"How much, actually"

Boua:"Three hundred thousand kip."

Boua's father said "It is only this way, because we are poor…I hope one day will have enough money for her to continue studying."

Thousands of young girls from the countryside leave their families each year to stay in factory dormitories. The life is simple, just enough to make a living.

A worker said "I have worked for two months."

Q:"How much salary have you earned?"

A:"Seven hundred thousand kip"

Q:"How is the life in dormitory"

A:"It is OK"

Yes, they are OK. They are quite lucky having jobs as garment factory workers while thousands of other unemployed people who graduated from high school or universities look for work. But these workers have to work hard for less pay. It is a challenging task of concern to authorities to find a way to push the garment factory employers to pay these female workers more salary.

Looks like more work needs to be done here to protect those young Laotian women. In South Korea, some laid off special care providers have joined up to establish a Labour Union in order to enjoy their legal rights. Join us on our Asia Working series tomorrow.

 

Editor:Du Xiaodan