Care Work at a Cost: The Plight of Migrant Domestic Workers

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) has just published this article by Priyanka Kapar, an FES Program Officer for the Regional Gender Justice Project in Asia at FES Nepal. Priyanka atttended last month’s Feminist Forum on Migration and Displacement — co-organized by WIMN and partners — in Bangkok, and shared her reflections on the event and the situation of migrant domestic care workers.

Here’s how she began her article:

“Amaira (name changed), a 25-year-old woman from Nepal, travelled to the Gulf States with dreams of earning money to pay for her younger brother’s education and a good life for her aging parents. Her dreams suffocated under the weight of a broken promise as she became entangled in the Kafala system. Amaira’s passport was confiscated upon her arrival and she was forced to work as a domestic worker for a wealthy family in the city for a wage that was far below what had been promised to her by the recruiter. She is now confined to her employers’ home without any freedom of movement, long working hours without proper rest and care, with verbal and emotional mistreatment, and a threat of sexual exploitation.

“This is one of the many real-life stories that brought together women and gender diverse migrants, migrant activists, and organisations working on gender and migration around the world at the Feminist Forum on Migration and Displacement  in Bangkok on 30th November and 1st December, 2024. The forum aimed to shape an intersectional feminist migration policy by addressing causes of migration, realities, as well as the challenges faced by women and gender diverse people in migration in all their diversity. During the forum, one of the thematic clusters focused on care work (both paid and unpaid) and temporary labour contracts (including the Kafala system), with the goal of identifying core issues, exploring the power dynamics, and shaping demands for moving forward together.”

She also commented on the gendered nature of migration:

“Transforming the migration system to ensure decent work and social justice require strong, organized, and informed movements that build power to demand change. For that, it is important to understand the gendered nature of migration and its centrality in global realities and shifting geopolitics.

“The migration of women for domestic work is shaped by the gendered expectations and global economic inequalities. Women are often seen as “natural caregivers” reinforcing stereotypes that demand for their labour in private households as invisible work. In addition, shifting geopolitical realities also shape the feminization of migration. As economies in wealthier nations rely on care labour, migration policies increasingly target women from poorer countries, creating a power imbalance between the host and destination countries. This dependency creates a global care chain, where women from developing economies leave their families to care for others’ household, perpetuating inequalities.”

Click here to read all of Priyanka’s article on the FES website.

WIMN is very grateful for FES support and collaboration.

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