Women MPs questions new move to allow mothers with small children to go abroad for work

Allowing mothers with children under five years of age to go abroad for domestic work will have a negative impact on child development, states Parliamentary Select Committee on gender equality.

“The PSC (Parliamentary Select Committee) to make necessary recommendations and report to Parliament said that when women went abroad for domestic work (unskilled labour), the Divisional Secretariats conducted an investigation and give a family background report and they were given permission to go abroad based on that report.”

Women with children under five years of age were not given a chance to go abroad, and if they had children above five years of age, the care, safety, and education of those children and many other factors were taken into consideration, Dr. Fernandopulle said.

“But it was decided at the Cabinet meeting held on 27 June to reduce the minimum age of children of mothers who go abroad for domestic work to two years and to do away with the requirement for submitting a family background report.

“This has been discussed at length at the joint meeting held with the Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus and the Parliamentary Select Committee on gender equality to make necessary recommendations and report to Parliament,” said MP Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle, Chairperson of the Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus, requesting the Ministry of Labour and Foreign Employment to reconsider the Cabinet decision to allow mothers with children under the age of five years to go abroad for domestic work without submitting the family background reports.

The Chairperson further stated that due to the Cabinet decision, the physical and mental development of the children would adversely affected during the first five years since the mother played the main role in the early childhood development of their children.