Domestic workers around the world: the big picture

There are an estimated 52 million domestic workers worldwide, but the kafala system in the Middle East can make life particularly hard there

The Guardian, Leila Haddou, Wednesday 26 February 2014

Foreign maids gather in Central, the business district in Hong Kong. Only 10%
 of domestic employees worldwide have the same rights as other workers. Photograph:
Kin Cheung/Associated Press

The number of domestic workers has surged in recent years to at least 52 million people worldwide, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), though the real figure may be far higher. In all, 83% are women and 45% have no entitlement to weekly rest periods or paid annual leave.

Only 10% of domestic workers are covered by general labour legislation to the same extent as other workers. More than a quarter are excluded from national labour laws, the ILO says.

The kafala system in the Gulf exacerbates their precarious position, ILO experts say, by requiring every foreign worker in Qatar to have a local sponsor who employs them and supervises their stay. It exists in different forms across the Gulf. According to Human Rights Watch, the "sponsorship law prohibits migrant workers from changing jobs without their employer's consent; even when employers fail to pay competitive wages, provide decent conditions, or meet the conditions of the employment contract, workers cannot simply change jobs."

The law requires employers to report workers who quit without permission for "absconding", an offence leading to their detention and deportation. It also requires workers to secure exit permits from their employers before leaving.

These conditions make migrant workers particularly vulnerable to forced labour. Azfar Khan, a senior migration specialist for the ILO, says: "The kafala system destroys the balance between employer and employee. Workers can be subjected to moral, sexual and physical abuse.

"In many states proposals for new laws have been sat on in parliament for years, and the rules that are eventually made are unenforceable.

"There is a hierarchy in these countries. If somebody has a well-educated, highly skilled Filipino maid, everyone else wants one too. It's like keeping up with the Joneses," Khan explains.

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