Study Area
The study was carried out in two Upazilas of Satkhira district, namely Kaliganj and Debhata, situated in the south-western part of Bangladesh. Adjacent to saline water of the Bay of Bengal, Satkhira has been recognized as the strategic zone for shrimp culture, primarily because of the availability of natural-produced post-larvae, low-lying agricultural land, and cheap as well as abundant labor, including women and children (Ahmed and Troell, 2010; Ahmed et al., 2010).
Participants
A number of specifications was made to identify the respondents, such as (i) women, irrespective of age, working in shrimp collecting, farming and processing; (ii) for at least three years; and (b) living in the selected areas of Satkhira district. Based on the aforementioned criteria, a census at work places was carried out to identify the exact number of women, working in fry collection, farming (Gher), depot and processing in shrimp industries. Later, out of 1659 women, a total of 120 women were interviewed through stratified random sampling, 60 each from two Upazilas.
To collect the data, a semi-structured interview schedule was developed based on the variables identified from the relevant secondary sources, such as journals, newspapers, reports and so on. The interview schedule focused on socio-demographic and economic status, working conditions, including working hours and payment, and health related issues such as prevalence and occurrence of diseases (Bang et al., 2005; Aasmoe et al., 2005). To ensure the consistency of the collected data by the interview schedule, a pre-test on 10 female workers was conducted, and it was finalized for the actual primary data collection (Ahmed et al., 2008b). Following survey research design, the interviews were carried out at the working sites of the female workers by the researchers. Each interview required over an hour to complete. Data from the selected areas were collected for a period of two months, started on June 2009 and ended at July 2009.
Data Analysis
Preliminary data were cross-checked with the original interview schedule to ensure the accuracy of the data. Thereafter, data were coded and entered into a database system using SPSS 16.0®. Descriptive statistics, in the form of frequency and percentage distribution, disclosed the socio-demographic, economic and health status of the female workers in shrimp industries. Inferential statistics, Pearson's Chi-square (x2) in particular, explained the differences in the occupational health hazards of the female workers (Bang et al., 2005; Aasmoe et al., 2008). Whenever the expected values in one or more cells were less than 5, the Fisher exact test was used. Such statistical tests examined the association between explanatory variables, such as, occupation, working. practice, working hour, working condition, overtime, and types of health hazards of female workers as outcome variables. Furthermore, year of schooling and income were used as predictors to explain their health seeking behavior.