Female Lankan Domestic Workers : Sacrifice Without Consent

She uses the barbaric words and phrases “slaves,” and “severe restraint,” to illustrate how horrible their situations were, even if this seemingly civilized society. Women’s lives, she claimed, were marked by “degradation” and “servitude.” Although, these traits could be hidden behind a facade of propriety, women were still repressed and did not have the autonomy that their male counterparts did. In current society, women are viewed as “pitiful” dependents, but they have so much more potential, she argues. And through a concerted effort of all men and women, women can and should become more integrated into society, she

To highlight this topic, Kristof and WuDunn relate the history of Meena Hasina, an Indian woman in her thirties as she walks down the street while adults stare at her, some even glowering – this reflects how bad gender inequality is in some developing countries, to the point of not even being able to walk on the street. Kristof explains that Meena was from a poor family that sold her to a brothel. Of all the possible ways to raise money like reaching out to a foreign non-government organization (which offers incentives to set up stalls so women can start their own business selling goods), or joining an activist group to promote education to young girls, her family simply saw no value in Meena and decided to sell her. Meena ended up in a brothel, but the authors also use this event to thoroughly develop on the abuse of women. Kristof clarifies that once women enter into the brothels business they feel worthless with no hope; in fact, society looks them as a sub-level of illiterate girls with the sole purpose of prostitution – which is absolutely false. The problem here is that women feel rejected by society and are psychologically traumatized as is the case of Ainul the family matriarch in Meena’s brothel. She had been herself a prostitute when she was young, and eventually her daughters were also forced into prostitution. Ainul was so shattered that eventually she became the woman in charge of beating up new girls and finally in charge of the brothel forcing the daughters of other women into prostitution. In this case, the authors pointed to the fact that society forces women into sexual slavery, and that they get punished when they try to escape, so in turn, women exploit more

Moreover, women struggles in industry has posed new questions and renamed the meaning of morality in human beings. This represent an exploration for self determination against the capitalist and agencies with power control. For instance, Malay women have migrated to the state of 20th century homelessness in order to construct substitute homes and new identity of them stated in the book.

Human trafficking has received increasing global attention over the past decade. Trafficking of women and girls for forced sex work and, to a lesser extent, domestic servitude, were the sole focus of advocacy and assistance. There is recognition in today’s society that women, children, and men are trafficked into many different forms of labour, and for sexual exploitation. In her article, “Understanding and Addressing Violence Against Women”, Cathy Zimmerman and Heidi Stockl focus on the commonality of human trafficking and how evident it is in everyday life. They bring in the health effects and possible solutions to human trafficking to help validate their opinion and argument. In the solutions they offer, Zimmerman and Stockl shine a light on policy-makers/decision-makers, health-care providers, and researchers/funders and what each of these groups of people can do to help combat the issue of human trafficking. In a quote from their article, Stockl and Zimmerman say: “Health care providers and organizations involved with trafficked persons should increase their capacity to identify and refer people in trafficking situations and provide sensitive and safe services to people post-trafficking”. This quote shows how Zimmerman and Stockl believe human trafficking should be combated by caring and talking to those affected by the issue but how they also believe awareness should be made about human trafficking so as to allow people surrounding the issue to identify and help victims of this issue. Zimmerman and Stockl’s view on the ways human trafficking should be combatted relate to those of Soroptimist due to the fact that the two groups of people are focused mainly on helping women and girls who have been trafficked and trying to get them to a better life after getting out of the trafficking situation. Both groups focus on helping men as well, providing options to help them such as raising money and awareness, and getting educated on being able to identify victims of human trafficking.

To begin it is helpful to understand that the word “migrant” is a rather contested concept, one that changes over time, and varies depending on the criteria used to assign it.(Raghuram & Erel, 2014, p.133)

Although the policies have since been abandoned, exploitation has not gone far. Judy Fudge (2011) gives an example of how the program takes away rights from workers in the fact that live-in caregivers are hired on contracts to one specific employer; this restricts them to working for one family, and if any problems arise it could take months before a solution is found and another contract is created. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms gives Canadian citizens the mobility rights to move and hold work wherever they please, but because migrant workers are not yet citizens, this does not apply. Prejudices can also be seen in the difference between the treatment of white domestic workers and those of colour. Sedef Arat Koc (1999) explains how white domestic workers are referred to as “nannies” and only expected to carry out caregiving jobs while receiving a normal pay wage and proper recognition for their work.

“They were treated quite madly in Australia and New Zealand in that sense,” said Mr. Rees (Papas, 2014). There were many working-class women who refused to go back into the domestic services (Anitha S. , 2004). Women’s income had also risen but still earned much less than men which then bought on the fight for equal pay. This continued until the 1970’s (Anitha S. , 2004). Many women were left widowed or single with many children left without fathers (Anitha S. , 2004).

Migrant farm workers come to Canada to give themselves a better work opportunity and they believe that will get the same rights as a Canadian. Globalization has allowed many of these migrant workers to receive an indefinite status which allows many of these individuals’ rights that starts problems for citizenship and human rights. What happens is the Canadian citizenship and international human rights have allowed these migrant workers to come to work, but these workers find it difficult to secure their rights that have been organized by SAWP. Gabriel and Macdonald (2014) found that struggle begins with Canada because they use human rights laws that is embedded into the domestic laws to help secure citizenship rights, which is better suited

The author begins her reading explaining different views and what they mean. She uses these two views to argue that in order to understand the status of women in Europe, demands consideration of the perspectives of these typically illegal workers. The purpose of this reading is to destabilize the two-sided tension by foregrounding how the women who are being discussed talk about themselves and their projects. In the first part of the reading is describing the contours of the current migration of women to Europe and how it became characterized in the “trafficking” discourse. The second part discussed the problematic politics of defining some women as victims, and others as helpers. The last part of the reading discusses the position that

Women from diasporas in Third World countries, such as China and the Philippines, search for jobs in First World countries and migrate in order to make enough money to send back home. However, these women are often exploited in the labor force, or taken advantage of by their manager. For instance, emotional labor is work that regulates or suppresses other people’s emotions and feelings. Nursing or nanny work are common examples of emotional labor because these occupations demand more communication and interaction. People from Third World nation-states often come from a Communist system, in which all property is publicly owned and everyone works and is paid accordingly, to a Capitalist system, in which the country’s trade and industry are privately owned and the labor force exploits workers. As seen in the film Mardi Gras: Made in China and the novel Global Woman, Director David Redmon and authors Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild portray the exploitation of women in the workforce and in marriage from Third World countries, thus suggesting that imposing emotional labor on female workers puts people in developing nation-states at a greater disadvantage and ultimately makes the poor worse off.

The book “Global Woman” edited by Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild focuses on the lives of women that leave their third world country to work in homes as nannies or servants and others even sex work. These women take on that labor without knowing what results will come from their desperate action. The authors explain and recount the stories of many of the women whom have had to sacrifice their lives. These women sacrifice it all to provide for themselves and their families and give them a better life, this is told through different chapters.

Imagine leaving everyone and everything you have ever known to go to a new unknown world and make money to help your family. The amount of stress and anxiety might be too much to handle at first. This was the life of many young women from small villages in Nepal, looking to do whatever it takes to keep a roof on their family’s head. Desperate times call for desperate measures, but what these women expected in the work is not what they got. They were sold into sex slavery, unaware on the struggles they would have to endure in their lives.

"Domestic servitude is the seemingly normal practice of live-in help that is used as cover for the exploitation and control of someone, usually from another country" (End Slavery Now). Victims of domestic servitude may appear to be nannies, but their employment turns into a situation where they cannot leave on their own free will, it becomes enslavement. Domestic workplaces are often not shared with other workers. This environment can isolate domestic workers because authorities cannot inspect homes as easily as they can other workplaces. Domestic servitude can also be a form of bonded labor. This form of slavery happens when migrant workers reach a destination country, and they incur a debt for their travel. Though working, if their employer

On Black Sisters Street recounts the unpleasant story of four ladies who like so many immigrants today, have left their African country, political turmoil and family risking their lives to reach the lands of opportunity. Desperate to overcome poverty and hopelessness for a better life they become victims of human trafficking sacrificing their bodies to the pleasures of men. Every day, men, women and children are sold into slavery, prostitution, and forced to work in agriculture, domestic work, or factories and sweatshops producing goods for global supply chains. This is happening on almost every continent and country. Thousands of foreign nationals arriving in this and many other countries are allured with promises of a better life by promising

According to critical sociologist women, minorities and the undereducated have little power in our society and these social determinants directly affect their quality of health. (Weitz, pg. 9). Due to the long grueling hours I work, I find myself exhausted at the end of the day, unable to cook a healthy dinner, I rely on fast food and take out for myself and my children (Weitz, pg. 34). At the factory, I am devalued, physically and verbally abused, I suffer poor work conditions and I am underpaid. However, as a single woman, I am my family's sole provider, I am too scared to say something to management for fear of being fired or deported.