Migrant worker Shahidul Islam, 38, returned home in January this year after injuring his right leg in a workplace accident while employed as a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh. Father-of-three Shahidul, who had been earning up to Tk 30,000 a month in Riyadh, had to give up his job. He found himself unemployed back at home in Munshiganj, still recovering from
The Covid-19 pandemic has negatively affected women more than men in terms of monetary and other losses, economists and women rights activists say. To achieve a resilient recovery, it is vital that the allocations in the 2021-22 national budget reflect the consequences of the pandemic on women, addressing the challenges they faced in terms of employment, healthcare,
What is the picture that flashes through your mind when someone talks of social classes? A reader of
The Guardian newspaper once made an interesting albeit highly generalised observation. Upper class: your name on the building. Middle class: your name on your desk. Working class: your name on your uniform. The reality is not so simple, of course, nor is it my intention to delve into a lengthy study of class divisions. Suffice it to say that we all have some idea of what constitutes the social hierarchies. Rich or poor, we all seem to know our place.
Yet it is possible that we don t know or care enough to recognise that there exists a class of people that still remains outside the bounds of established class narratives. For lack of a better word, let s call them a hybrid group they have the appearance of the middle class but face all the realities of the lower/working class. This ambiguous social identity makes them a class of their own, and extremely vulnerable at the same t