The daylong workshop was part of a two day workshop on heath safety and social protection of the housebased women workers organised by Bangladesh Homeworkers Women Association (BHWA).

In the keynote paper Advocate Fawzia Karim Firoze, the advisor of Bangladesh National Women Lawyer's Association (BNWLA) spoke on the current ground realities facing women workers in the informal sector in the country.

There is no universally applicable model for promoting women housebased workers in developing countries like Bangladesh. Changing economic, political and social conditions have had an influence on the family structure in our society. As a result, women are working not only to complement the family income but also to realize their personal potential. The meshing of home and work responsibilities can be daunting if they do not have a secure family life and are not treated as equal partner in the formulation of family policies. This situation cannot be remedied by legislation alone. A concerted effort is necessary by homeworkers representative, Legislatrive authorities, Press support and World Labour and Development bodies like ILO and UN organisations.

A homeworker's contribution to the social and economic development of the nation cannot be overlooked. The contribution of the housebased workers should be taken into account in the process of development planning. Women's interests as mothers, citizens and workers should be considered when society sets rules and appropriate benefits that will provide them security in the society.

The work in development will not succeed until and unless social protection measures for women workers in the formal sector are implemented and these strategies are debated and incorporated in the policy making forums. So the need of the hour is a national policy for homeworkers which must specify and incorporate the social security system and inclusion of homebased women workers in the new Labour Code including protection against occupational health hazard, provision of maternity benefits, insurance schemes and policies. Above all national policy should be taken to allow the homebased organisations to form trade union.