Domestic Workers: Little Protection for the Underpaid
By Gloria Moreno-Fontes Chammartin
International Labor Organization
April 1, 2005
Domestic workers, the majority of whom are women, constitute a large portion
of today's migrant worker population. In Latin America, for example, they constitute
as many as 60 percent of all internal and international migration. The feminization
of migration, a trend that began in the early 1980s, has resulted in an increased
number of women who migrate alone.
Prior to that time, women generally accompanied their spouses to destination
countries or joined them later. Unemployment and household poverty, which have significantly
affected countries of origin since the beginning of the 1980s, pressured these
women to find jobs abroad. In wealthy countries, heightened demands in certain
employment sectors, especially in the household or domestic sphere, also made
migration an attractive alternative.
Domestic Workers in the Middle East
Domestic work is the single most important category of employment among women
migrants to the gulf states, Lebanon, and Jordan. As much as 81 percent of
all women migrant workers from Sri Lanka and 39 percent from the Philippines
are attracted to this large "domestic work" market. Most middle-income
Arab countries in the Middle East region receive thousands of women migrants,
some of them well-educated, as domestic workers each year.
In recent years, female migrant workers have composed larger percentages of
migrant workers in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, which include
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. Women migrants represented almost 30 percent of all inflows in 2000 compared
to eight percent in the early 1980s. In Lebanon, the proportion of women migrant
workers among all migrant workers has more than doubled between 1965 and 2000.
The majority of female migrants come from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia,
and the Philippines. Data from these countries show they have been sending
larger numbers of women than men to work in the Middle East.
More than 90 percent of Indonesian workers in Saudi Arabia and the United
Arab Emirates consisted of women workers in 1997-1998. In 2001, between 85
and 94 percent of Sri Lankan workers in Jordan, Kuwait, and Lebanon were women.
A variety of reasons can explain the demand for foreign, female
domestic workers across the region. Since the oil boom of the 1970s, living
standards have increased, and more young families, who tend to live far away
from their relatives, have the money to hire a domestic worker; their low wages
also make them affordable.
In addition, with more women in countries like Lebanon and Bahrain
working, domestic workers have taken over native women's household responsibilities,
giving them more time for social activities. Indeed, employing a domestic worker
from abroad gives a family a certain amount of social status and prestige.
Migrant workers in Arab states who send remittances provide significant
sources of national income to many labor-exporting countries in South and Southeast
Asia.
Bangladesh received almost US$2 billion in remittances in 2000,
almost all of which came from Arab states, especially the GCC countries. Only
15.4 percent of remittances to Bangladesh were received from countries other
than GCC countries.
However, women migrant domestic workers face poor working and living conditions
that need to be considered.
Challenging Issues
To identify critical issues concerning female migrant domestic workers and
to determine the extent of their vulnerability, the International Labor Organization
(ILO) analyzed their working and living conditions in several countries of
the region. Studies of four Arab states — Bahrain, Kuwait,
Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — reveal practices
and patterns that make women domestic migrant workers vulnerable.
Regarding remuneration, the average wages per month in US
dollars of domestic workers in Lebanon represented between $100 to $300 on
average, and $150 to $200 for those in the UAE. However, not all domestic workers
in the same country earn the same pay as salaries depend on the workers'
origin country, language skills, and education. For instance, most Filipina
domestic workers, who tend to speak English and be relatively educated, reported
receiving higher wages than Sri Lankan and Ethiopian nationals.
Non-remunerated overtime work was an issue in all four countries studied,
with non-payment of wages a significant concern among female domestic workers
in Lebanon and Bahrain.
Domestic workers' average number of working hours per week — 101
to 108 hours — in the four studies was high by international
standards. Domestic workers' monthly time-off averaged between zero
and two days off per month. All women interviewed working
in households in the UAE reported not having a single day off in a given
month. In Lebanon, Kuwait, and Bahrain, women migrant domestic workers reported
having one to two days off a month on average.
On work-related problems, domestic workers
most frequently cited the presence of physical (including sexual), psychological
and verbal abuse; over 50 percent of those surveyed in Kuwait reported this
concern. Most workers mentioned vulnerability to sexual abuse by their male
employers, who are often also their visa sponsors, as well as by the sponsors' sons
or other men visiting the home where they work. The situation in Bahrain and
the UAE was also similar.
Domestic workers also reported frequent irregularities
in the recruitment system concerning the intermediaries,
namely the recruiters and agents in sending and receiving countries who facilitate
the migration process. The intermediaries exploited women migrant workers
by overcharging for costs such as passports and other government fees.
Domestic workers and their families often incurred huge debts
(in many instances unjustified) with the intermediaries and had to work for
long periods of time without a salary to cover these costs and fees. Some domestic
workers, if deported in cases where the employer withheld wages, came back
home indebted for long periods of time. There were also numerous cases of recruitment
agents sexually abusing runaway domestic workers.
Although domestic workers should sign their sponsor contracts
at the recruitment agency in the country of origin, most domestic workers arrived
at their destination country without having one.
In Bahrain, only 44.1 percent of all migrant women interviewed had signed contracts
prior to their arrival. Other women had signed contracts in Arabic, a language many could not read or understand.
Even a signed contract was no guarantee of effective protection. For example,
some employers or "sponsors" withheld workers' wages for
several months or years, while other employers refused to respect the salaries stipulated
in the contract or never paid.
In addition, the system for addressing foreign workers' complaints is
inadequate or nonexistent. Domestic workers often need some reliable and effective
institutions to turn to, other than the sponsor or the recruitment agent, who
are frequently the source of their problems.
Running away from the employer's household is illegal
and punishable in all four countries studied. Only Lebanon provides domestic
workers with the option of finding a new sponsor. In Bahrain, Kuwait, and the
UAE, the police will search for the worker, and the local newspaper will publish
her photograph. Any person who hides or protects a runaway domestic worker
is also considered a criminal.
When found, the worker is imprisoned and then deported, though she may need
to pay her employer in order to retrieve her passport, and she will likely never receive
salaries covering the period worked in those cases where the employers withhold
wages; without her passport, she cannot be sent or travel home. Once in the
custody of police or other authorities, some runaway domestic workers have
reported being subjected to inhumane treatment.
This problem is not limited to the countries in this study. In
2000, 19,000 domestic workers in Saudi Arabia fled from their employers citing
mistreatment, non-payment of wages, and other grievances; the number of complaints
received per year has increased since then.
In 1996, the Sri Lankan Bureau for Foreign Employment reported
8,087 complaints from domestic workers, more than half of them from Saudi Arabia
and other Arab countries such as Jordan and Oman. Reporting to such a bureau
helps keep records of these abuses and raises awareness among potential migrants
of the dangers they could face.
Labor Laws
In most Arab states, labor laws generally do not cover female domestic workers
because they are not considered employees.
They work in households, which are not considered workplaces, and they work
for private persons, who are not considered employers. In addition, private
homes are not usually supervised by labor inspectors since labor inspectors
are forbidden from visiting private households.
The employment relationship between a domestic worker and the head of a household
is not addressed in national legislation in any Arab country, denying them
the status of “real workers” entitled to labor protection.
Domestic workers are also excluded from labor protection under any other national
law.
Good Practices
Not all the news is negative, however. For example, Bahrain and Jordan are
among the countries with good practices that could be replicated elsewhere.
In 2003, Bahrain announced a national plan to assist abused foreign workers
that includes temporary shelters and a help hotline. New domestic workers in
Bahrain will also have access to a guide to rights and duties, which will be
available in embassies, recruitment offices, and points of entry. The
government is also looking at ways to organize work permit procedures for domestic
workers.
Jordan has amended a law concerning registration of recruitment agencies.
The new law allows the Ministry of Labor to monitor these agencies and to take
serious actions if they violate the regulations protecting migrant
workers.
In 2003, the Minister of Labor endorsed a "Special Working Contract
for Non-Jordanian Domestic Workers" that aims to limit the number of
fake contracts or contracts not recognized or approved by the competent authorities.
This special working contract guarantees migrant workers' rights to life
insurance, medical care, a designated day off a week, rest days, and repatriation
when their contracts expire.
The contract includes the provision of a minimum wage, ameliorating the problem
of wage discrimination by requiring that domestic workers be paid the same salaries
as Jordanians performing domestic work. This provision reverses the
discrimination in present contracts that allowed tiered salaries for specific
nationalities.
Considerations
In order to provide greater protection to female migrant workers, there are
a number of key areas where labor legislation and social protection could be
improved in destination countries, as well as in countries of origin. However,
there are also obstacles to implementing such protections, outlined
here.
Countries of Destination
Ideally, the first step would be for destination countries to pass legislation
giving domestic workers the status of "real workers." They would
be entitled to the same labor protection as native workers: a specified amount
of time off, a minimum wage, and other working conditions.
National legislation could also better regulate recruiting agencies, limit
recruiting fees, make employers accountable for violating contracts, and set
fines or punishments for employers who abuse domestic workers.
Such major changes, however, are not likely to happen right away. Despite
the poor treatment of domestic workers, Arab states have been slow to adopt
human rights generally, let alone for foreign workers, and most of these countries
are having difficulty considering domestic work as a type of labor that should
be regulated and protected against abuses. In addition, human rights institutions
and groups, where they exist, still have limited power when it comes to influencing
legislation.
Another solution would be to make it easier for domestic workers and other
migrant workers to change sponsors. This would reduce the ability of employers/sponsors
to hold complete power over the lives of their migrant employees, and enable
workers who experience abuse to find new employment without having to run away
from their employers or return home.
Although this flexibility could improve the lives of domestic workers, they
may not know they have the option to change sponsors. Therefore, such information
would need to be consistently provided to them.
Also, domestic workers may face threats from their employers or be blacklisted
if they wish to change employers. For this reason, reliable and effective institutions
to which domestic workers can turn to could be established. These institutions
would address foreign workers' complaints and ensure that abusive recruitment
agents and employers receive the proper punishment. Bahrain, which has set
up shelters and a 24-hour hotline, could be a model for other countries.
Countries of Origin
Before a domestic worker or other migrant worker leaves home, the country
of origin could require the worker to have signed a recognized, legitimate
contract. This would help ensure the worker will receive wages and not be subject
to harmful working conditions. In countries such as the Philippines, a system
like this is in place and has been effective in protecting workers abroad.
The origin country could also keep a database composed of the worker's
contract, the full address of the recruitment agency, the agent's name,
and the employer's address. If abused, a worker could report the abuse
to the home-country government, and the abuse would be noted to help protect
other workers who might be working for the same agency or employer.
The main problem with this type of solution, however, is the cost and administrative
burden to the home country since this database would need to be linked to the country's
embassies and consulates abroad. Also, there are no guarantees that all abused
workers would report their abuse since the worker needs to have the freedom
to leave the house and file the report. Most domestic workers in the
Arab states do not have freedom of movement even on weekends.
Labor attachés based at their embassies abroad could deal with complaints
and urgent needs of national workers, taking appropriate action when necessary. Support
services provided by Philippine labor attachés have proven to be important
in cases of grievances since they provide the proper legal counseling and protection.
But the power of labor attachés can be limited due to the destination
country's laws and practices. For example, it could be difficult
for a labor attaché to present a formal complaint or to prove the harm
suffered by a given migrant worker if national legislation does not consider
the issue a grievance.
What may be useful to migrant women in particular would be predeparture information
on legal rights, who to contact in case of abuse, information on cultural differences, etc. If the domestic worker plans to go to a country
where changing employers is allowed, she should know about that option. More
migrant women who have received predeparture information have safely escaped
abuse situations than those who have not.
Conclusion
The number of women working in the Middle East as domestic workers is likely
to remain high since labor market demand for domestic workers is increasing.
However, it is not certain these female migrants will see an improvement
in their working conditions or improved protection of their rights.
Targeted political and institutional support at the national, regional, and
international levels can help change the situation. For domestic work and other
occupations where women migrants are concentrated, Arab governments could join
efforts to provide social protection to migrant workers and especially to female
migrant domestic workers.
Following the examples of Bahrain and Jordan, which have already instituted significant
measures to improve domestic workers' protection, would be the first
step in this direction.
This article is based on the ILO report "Gender and Migration in
Arab States: The Case of Domestic Workers," published in 2004. The
full report can be downloaded here.
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2002-2013 Migration Policy Institute.
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