Impact of COVID-19 on women migrant workers: case of domestic workers in the South Asia-Gulf corridor
SI Rajan, R Thimothy - … on Migration, Gender, and COVID-19, 2024 - elgaronline.com
SI Rajan, R Thimothy
Research Handbook on Migration, Gender, and COVID-19, 2024•elgaronline.comAccording to the latest estimate (ILO, 2021a), the number of international migrant workers is
169 million, out of which 70 million are women. With women constituting a significant share
of international migrants, there is an increasing effort to bring gender concerns into
governing labour migration. Understanding migration from a gender perspective is critical,
considering that the predominant share of women workers is engaged in domestic work. It is
important to recognise that domestic workers are a heterogeneous category and include …
169 million, out of which 70 million are women. With women constituting a significant share
of international migrants, there is an increasing effort to bring gender concerns into
governing labour migration. Understanding migration from a gender perspective is critical,
considering that the predominant share of women workers is engaged in domestic work. It is
important to recognise that domestic workers are a heterogeneous category and include …
According to the latest estimate (ILO, 2021a), the number of international migrant workers is 169 million, out of which 70 million are women. With women constituting a significant share of international migrants, there is an increasing effort to bring gender concerns into governing labour migration. Understanding migration from a gender perspective is critical, considering that the predominant share of women workers is engaged in domestic work. It is important to recognise that domestic workers are a heterogeneous category and include individuals providing services such as drivers, gardeners, cooks, cleaning staff, security guards and so on. Women working as domestic workers mainly engage in activities traditionally associated with specific gender roles, such as cooks, cleaners or care workers to care for the elderly and children. It is well documented that most of these occupations are undervalued, under-compensated, and performed in household settings, creating additional vulnerabilities for migrant women (ILO, 2021b). This chapter examines the impact of COVID-19 on women migrant domestic workers from South Asia to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, currently known as the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf. The growing demand for domestic workers is one of the main factors pushing the feminisation of labour migration in past decades (Moreno-Fontes Chammartin, 2006). A surge in demand for domestic workers in rich countries is associated with increased educational attainment and higher labour force participation among the native women population (Kapiszewski, 2006; Rutledge et al., 2011). In the case of the Gulf countries, additional factors like demographic transition with an increase in the share of the elderly population (Hussein and Ismail, 2016), multi-generational households and a culture that discourages placing ageing relatives in elderly care institutions (Tayah, 2016), increase the demand for domestic workers. Apart from the native population, the growing share of the expatriate population in the Gulf also pushes demand for domestic workers (Sabban, 2020). Further, the rapid prosperity and expansion of the service economy have meant that there has been consistent and increasing demand for low-end service providers, including domestic workers. Domestic workers are always at increased risk of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, including confinement, underpayment or non-payment of wages, as well as a range of other abuses, since their living and working conditions are entirely dependent on the personal relationship between the worker and the employer. To make the situation worse, in the Gulf countries, domestic workers are tied to their employers by the kafala (sponsorship) system, which allows little scope to end abusive working conditions. COVID-19 intensified vulnerabilities encountered by migrant women domestic workers and exposed the weak policy response to
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