Do we have a place in this society? What is our legal identity? Why violence by the state on us when we make a living by working? These and all similar questions were raised by workers in various fields at a large national conference in Kathmandu on November 18th. The conference, titled 'National Women's Bench-2081: Recognition, Respect and Protection of Women's Labour', reiterated its questions, in a somewhat systematic and organized manner.

Although the state classifies them as unorganized workers in the unorganized sector, these are internal migrant labor women who come to Kathmandu from different corners of the country to earn a living not only for themselves but also for their extended families with their husbands. These women are really organized in terms of their concerns and identities. But working in the informal sector according to the definition of international labor. 

Also, such workers are employed in many fields. But in that conference in Kathmandu, about 250 participants, including women and some sexual minorities, who participated representing their professions and communities from different regions of the country, were found to be workers from seven regions.

They were – 1) entertainment and hospitality, 2) sex work, 3) street work, 4) construction sector, 5) domestic work, 6) working in the agricultural sector and 7) external migration. They were also involved in this campaign, including the problems of women who returned from foreign employment in India and other destination countries. Which is an important part. Because women returning from other labor markets, including India, neither have an accounting of skills and experience nor are they treated with respect by society.

Therefore, this slogan 'Identity, respect and safety of labour' was relative to time and experience. There is no doubt that their campaign will remain relevant for a long time. Because, Nepali society and the products of that society are not showing signs of being positive in the narrow thinking of these workers towards these workers. Perhaps that is why participants were pointing out the need for a long-term strategy.

According to the gender and sexual definition of labor determined by the differential understanding of Nepalese society, most of the women workers are involved in the above-mentioned fields. But in recent times, there is a significant number of men and gender and sexual minority communities.

That is not without problems of male workers working in these seven areas. Especially in construction, agriculture and road-based labor, the number of men is more. Yet women are not less, just unseen and uncounted. In this article, there is an attempt to focus on the questions raised regarding these unseen and uncounted women and sexual minority workers.  The trend of not seeing and counting

s is not new. It is with the same trend that these labor sectors are sometimes called informal and sometimes unorganized, keeping them in the formal scope of labor. But in fact, it is these unseen and uncounted workers who not only earn their livelihood by working in these fields, but also keep the market moving. There is no dispute that without these workers, the urban economy would not be viable.

In the current Nepali policy environment where there is no definition of overall immigration, no one has integrated and up-to-date data on internal migrant workers who come to Kathmandu from different parts of the country to explore the possibility of earning a living. But according to sporadic recent research, the number is in the millions. Which was found in thousands until 2 decades ago. This is only a rough estimate because the state has neither given formal identification of workers nor recognition of their labor to these workers who are operated according to the needs of the internal market. The issue of

and workplace safety is even more complex in these seven areas. In more detail, domestic labor, street labor, entertainment and hospitality, and sex workers are even worse. And the other part of the research is that these migrant workers women and some sexual minority women have also been added to this number.

who after returning from India and West Asia (Gulf) were banned from returning home by their families and forced to leave their homes forever after being insulted by the neighborhood. In this group, they are forced to suffer many violence while working abroad and in some cases they are even trafficked. 

In summary, the group of these internal migrant labor women is so large and wrapped in diversity of discrimination, which is a marginalized class that cannot have access anywhere in the socio-cultural, legal, political and economic power structure of Nepali society. In order to earn a living, the domestic labor market is forced to survive through many unequal contracts. For this class of women, the state is only a tax collector, a victim of society and a violent institution called the family. Therefore, this category of workers is forced to live in a labor market with forced contracts. 

The nature of labor, the character of the work area, the forms of exploitation, the dimensions of discrimination, as well as the oppression based on gender, language, culture and ethnic identity, in recent times, they themselves, through supporting organizations and networks, come to an open debate with timely strategies for their problems and solutions. have started It is not difficult to see that the conference is one of these many efforts. And in the World Social Forum held in Kathmandu last year, these different networks had their own programs.

which was also accompanied by South Asian peer networks. In this way, organizing public debates, policy advocacy and social awareness initiatives under your own leadership by organizing around your issues is strategically important in the context of a narrow society like Nepal, a divided state and a toxic labor market.

is actually not only a shock to the state, but it should be taken as an effort to alert the Nepali society, which is concerned about the labor relations of internal migrant workers. Because Nepali society is still in the role of dual character. But as mentioned above, Nepali society and state are not so sensitive and these workers are not becoming more friendly. Therefore, the participants of the conference unanimously talked about the long-term strategy. 

What did the organizers and attendees of the conference suggest for a long-term solution to the above questions? The 6-page long document released on the last day of the three-day program named Kathmandu Manifesto 2081 issued by the National Workers' Women's Conference contains many things inappropriately. The gist of what is included is linked to the questions mentioned at the outset. 

Overall, these internal migrant labor women are searching for a citizen identity in the society. While searching for this identity, they are looking for recognition of their professional labor and its legal recognition, respect with social security and economic/salary equality. In summary, it is important to demand that labor be seen as labor and not as a crime and treated accordingly. 

Let's make this identity issue more clear, such as the demand that sex workers and sex labor should be decriminalized and brought within the scope of the existing labor law. It was also repeated in this manifesto. Similarly, there is another important demand that the existing Human Trafficking and Trafficking (Control) Act, 2064 should be repealed and the issue of human trafficking should be brought under the legal framework of integrated immigration.

, which paves the way for solving many problems of all types of migrant workers. There are demands related to legal identity such as foreign employment including sex workers, sexual violence in entertainment and hospitality workplaces and other similar workplaces, birth registration and citizenship of children born to raped women. In the case of

and the identity and safety of road workers, the demand is that the safety of women road workers should be ensured from psychological, physical and sexual violence by the police and political party members under the municipality and local bodies, and that road workers should be allowed to do business at certain times and places.&nbsp ;

Similarly, the identity challenge of sexual minorities was found to be the most complicated. As a result, when the problem of sexual violence, public humiliation and unequal wages in the workplace is more severe than that of other working women, the main demand is that laws should be made on the basis of equality as mentioned in the constitution about sexual minorities. 

It was found that the issue of workplace safety and equal pay was more important than the identity of women workers in the construction sector. There was also a demand for physically easy work during women's special physical condition, such as during pregnancy, childbirth and menstruation. And along with the demand that the trend of paying low wages because of being a woman should be ended, the demand to amend the current Labor Act 2074 and make it female worker-friendly was also raised.

All kinds of labor women have demanded that section 85 of the Labor Act and Labor Regulations 2075 are actually not only related to construction, but to all women workers and its immediate amendment is necessary. In addition, it was found that articles 189 and 192 of the International Labor Organization convention should be approved immediately and the current labor law should be amended accordingly to make time and labor market relevant.

These are the demands of addressing various problems according to the nature of labor and the status of the workplace. But the common demands of covering all workers and social security are also included in the manifesto with equal importance. For example, how to include these workers, called unorganized by the state, in the social security system set by the state? Because most of these internal migrant women and sexual minority workers do not have citizenship. The current provision regarding citizenship does not even allow them to acquire citizenship.

Also, most of these workers have neither employment letter nor certainty including duration of labor. Most of them are daily wage earners, hourly laborers or unemployed when the employer calls them. And workers in agriculture, road and construction sectors are even more uncertain. The position of women workers who have returned from foreign employment is also the same. Because, most of them are in domestic labor, entertainment and hospitality sector. Returnees from West Asia (Gulf) have citizenship but no allowance for daily labor and wages.