Women guard
Latifa Begum looked confident with a seemingly ever-lasting smile on her face when she was frisking well-dressed and beauty-conscious women with an intelligent electronic device at the entrance to a plush beauty salon in the capital.
The invariant smile bears the testimony to the professionalism of the 32-year-old security guard who was abandoned by her husband and came to Dhaka in search of work three years ago.
After working at some garment factories for more than a year, she decided to join a private security company to take up a job as a guard. Her family was hesitant about the decision as the profession was an unconventional one for women in a country such as Bangladesh.
But “when security and equality are in conflict, it will not do to hesitate a moment. Equality must yield,” says late English philosopher Jeremy Bentham. And Latifa proved it by setting again an example of gender equality.
“When my husband left me, I felt helpless, and my parents were behaving in such a way that I was a burden on them. So I wanted a job that will financially secure me and also bring me respect,” said Latifa, now working for beauty salon Persona’s Dhanmondi branch.
Last year, she joined Integrated Security Services (ISS), a private security company operating in the capital, and is happy with her job, responsibilities and the working hours.
“I am happy, because now I don’t have to do back-breaking works here like I did at the garment factories, neither I fear any kind of harassments at workplace,” she said.
Latifa is not alone.
By now there are about 2,000 women security guards, who are called “lady security” assistants, working for different security service providers mainly in the capital.
Women guards are being deployed in almost everywhere — from foreign embassies to beauty salons, banks to media houses, corporate houses to NGOs and shopping malls to community centres.
“The trend to form security companies emerged in late ’90s, but the idea of engaging women was incorporated in 2002,” said Mahmudur Rahman, director of ISS.
“Some women guards were deployed informally in cinema halls and shopping malls in the capital after several bomb attacks rocked the country at that time,” he said.
“People were then extremely concerned about security in leisure places such as shopping malls or cinema halls,” he said, adding that then security experts realised a woman could also carry firearms or bombs.
“It was easy and safe to carry these kinds of things for women, as they would not be frisked due to our social customs,” he said. “There were no women security guards in most of the places then.”
Later, several companies started recruiting women as guards and provided security training to them.
Currently there are around 400 companies in this sector with G4S, Securex, ISS and Elite Security Services (ESS) as the leading players.
“Considering the need, we have set up separate unit for women and hired professionals for training the women guards,” said Shahedy Rahman, manager of Group 4 Securicor (G4S).
The security service providers usually give a crash course to the new recruits explaining their job responsibilities before deploying them in different places in the city.
The services that the women guards provide include escorts and bodyguard services, security survey and consultancy, security training, giving fire alarm, fire fighting, events’ security management, sea and river escorts, and background screening.
Runa, 27, has been working in a government hospital for four years. She makes sure that patients do not leave the hospital before being officially cleared, newborn babies do not get stolen, and the premises is off-limit to brokers who try to talk the patients into going to other hospitals or clinics.
“My parents were unwilling to allow me to work as a guard, but when they saw that here I get more time to be with my family and spare time at home for doing household works, they were happy,” she added.
The remuneration and other benefits also attract women to this profession. The salary of a woman guard ranges from Tk 3,500 to Tk 5,000. In order to increase earnings, many work for long hours as overtime.
However, the salary varies from company to company. The salary of a guard at an embassy and that at a shopping mall is different, said industry experts.
Shahedy of G4S said the salary depends on the contracts between clients and the security service providers and it varies from clients to clients.
Since many women are not interested or able to work overtime, security service providers are trying to attract more women to the job by paying them more than that their male counterparts get.
Education is a must if one wants to be a security guard. However, the level of education and range of age required by a security service provider depend on its clients’ needs.
Most employers look for guards who passed the SSC. Generally, the range of age required for the job is from 18 to 35 years, said a high official of Elite Security.
Women guards appreciate the positive attitude towards them by the visitors at their workplace.
“Most of the time the visitors are very considerate and cooperative with us. This makes our job easier and helps us serve them better,” said Moni who works at Aarong.
However, still there are some problems.
Selina, a guard who is working at ActionAid Bangladesh, the local chapter of an international NGO, said the main problem is housing, as many house owners do not want to rent houses to single women guards.
“If the company can give us housing facilities, more women will be encouraged to join this job,” she said.
Another problem is absence of an association, the women guards feel.
Many guards said an association would help them look after their problems and needs, and would also act as a safeguard.
With her day-to-day savings amount, Latifa dreams of starting a tailoring shop of her own and creating employment for a few ill-fated women like her. Equality will bring her yield, as she really stands guard.
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