Trapped in the Home: Global Trafficking and Exploitation of Migrant Domestic Workers

• Migrant domestic workers are sometimes expected to work up to 19 hours per day and to be available around the clock. Many of these women are not given any days off and frequently their promised wages are reduced or withheld completely.11

• For Indian women employed as domestic workers in Kuwait, for example, the average basic wage ranges from $172 to $193 per month12 and they can be expected to work an average of between 78 and 100 hours a week,13 with only one or two days off each month.14

Physical, emotional and sexual abuse:

• Physical violence against female migrant domestic workers is widely reported and ranges from “slaps, to severe beatings using implements such as shoes, belts, sticks or household implements; knocking heads against walls; and burning skin with irons, among other forms of violence.”15

• Female migrant domestic workers can sometimes experience sexual harassment or abuse by the male occupants of the house. 16

• For example, one third of domestic worker cases in Kuwait investigated by Human Rights Watch in 1992 involved rape or sexual assault of maids. Over two-thirds of these involved physical assault, including kicking, beating with sticks, slapping and punching.17

• Some female migrant domestic workers are deprived of food or provided with only leftovers or rotting food.18

• In some cases, employers deny the worker contact with family and friends and the outside world causing her to feel isolated and vulnerable in the new country.

• In some cases, psychological, physical and sexual abuse has contributed to suicides of female migrant domestic workers.19

Violations of privacy:

• Sometimes, domestic workers have their rooms searched and their mail opened. Many are not allowed to make private phone calls.20

• Too often domestic workers are not provided with private or adequate accommodations and are forced to sleep with the children of the family, the elderly persons for which they care, or with other domestic servants. In some cases domestic servants are forced to sleep in public spaces, such as the kitchen or bathroom.21

Limitations on freedom of movement and access to medical or legal services:

• In some cases, employers of migrant female domestic workers confiscate their employees’ passports and travel documents upon their arrival in the household. Confiscation of personal documents makes it extremely difficult for domestic workers to escape the household or get legal assistance.22

• In some countries failure to carry proper identification in the street is illegal. Women who have had their passports confiscated therefore risk arrest if they leave the house.23

• In order to receive medical attention in some countries an individual must present proper identification. Women who have had their personal documents confiscated are therefore dependent upon their employers to get access to medical facilities.24

For more information on the condition of domestic workers: