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Photo | Dhool working on a construction site/Abdalla Ali Yusuf/Ergo
(ERGO) - Women in the northwestern Somali town of Borama are increasingly taking up tough jobs in the male-dominated construction industry to support their families.
It is estimated that around 90 women, mostly raising their children alone, are currently working on building sites around the town.
Dhool Aw-Ibrahim Daheeye, 39, a mother of seven, started working on a building site six months ago after her husband lost his job and set off for the coastal area of Awdal region leaving her and the children behind. She told Radio Ergo that despite the work being tough, it was having a positive impact on the life of her family.
“When you are working, everyone will respect you, trust you and even lend you something,” Dhool said.
She earns up to $210 a month, enough to pay the house rent of $30 and pay for the family’s food and other basic needs. She also buys learning materials for two of her children who attend a tuition free primary school.
It is a tough working day, starting at six in the morning and going on for 10 hours. The role of the women is to pick up stones, mortar and concrete blocks and carry them to the men involved in the construction works. The women also set up the scaffolding used by the men, and clean buckets and other materials used on the site at the end of the day.
“Sometimes, we work with men who are impatient and can engage you in arguments. They will shout at you while you are trying your best to do the work,” Dhool said.
Khadar Mohamed Hassan, owner of the National Construction and Contracting Company, told Radio Ergo that these women workers had been pushed into jobs due to difficult circumstances. Some had lost their husbands due to death or divorce; many had lost livestock in the drought; others were married to unemployed men.
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Photo | Halimo Dahir lifting a cement bucket/ Abdalla Ali Yusuf/Ergo
Halima Dahir Hussien, 53, raises her nine children alone. She told Radio Ergo she had become accustomed to the work but she received a lot of criticism when she started.
“They used to despise and criticize me because of the job, telling me its man’s work. ‘Keep away from it, leave it’, is what they used to tell me,” she said. She used to avoid working where people knew her and tried to keep herself hidden.
Halimo is deputy chair of a group called Faadumo that brings together women working in the construction sector. She was displaced eight years ago from Baaldheere location, around 30 km from Borama. Halimo said she would not have taken on this work if she had been able to get a less challenging job or to find funds to start up her own small business