THIS STORY IS PART OF ILRF'S MOTHERS' STORIES SERIES. To read other stories, click here [1].
Digna was interviewed by ILRF's partner, COSIBAH [2]in
My name is Digna, I am 38 years old, a single mother, and I have four children, three girls and one boy. I work on a shrimp farm; I have worked here for seven years. My job is to remove the head and the shell from the shrimp. I decided to start working because I needed to provide more for my family. I do not earn a wage per hour, but I earn for the number of pounds of shrimp I process. Each pound is worth 10 cents of a dollar. So, if I am only able to de-head and separate two pounds of shrimp, then I only earn 20 cents. If there is no production that day, I can go to work, and they will not pay me anything. I think that is unfair and exploits the workers. The men that work in the company with me earn more per day. They earn $7 per day for different jobs.
The number of hours I work varies, but generally I work twelve hour days, 72 hours a week, and 312 hours a month. I work on the farm for six months of the year. I am hired directly by the company on a temporary contract.
An hour before going to work, I have to prepare food for everyone. After I get home, I do all of the house maintenance, like sweeping, washing clothes, ironing, and preparing dinner. I do not get any help around the house with the domestic chores. In order to provide my children with a better life, I would need to earn at least $318 a month. My employer does not contribute, so I am not covered by social security. If we get pregnant, the employer will cover part of the maternity leave.
The amount of work they expect of us is excessive. I have been threatened by the extremely high quotas they place on us. They require us to produce 75 pounds of shrimp a day and if we do not reach that quota, they harass us. Many of my co-workers have miscarried because of the chemicals used in our work. Also, there is a lot of ice in the warehouse, which causes the floor to be slippery. Often times, we slip and fall. I think the working conditions are not safe, because we work with bleach, under ice, and we are not given any safety or protective equipment on the job.
I haven’t tried to organize a union, because as a temporary worker, I am scared that they wouldn’t give me another contract. If I could change two things in my workplace, it would be that they pay us women a fair wage that would cover life’s basic necessities and that the bosses respect us and treat us well. The majority of us at work are single mothers that solely carry the weight of raising and providing for our children. The salaries that we earn are not enough to give a better life for our children. The women in my country are treated the worst.
Digna is not alone. Unskilled women workers have entered export-processing industries throughout the developing world at an alarming rate. Women overwhelmingly occupy the lowest paying, most unstable jobs, producing our clothes, agricultural products and other luxuries for export to the