Ethiopian Female Migrant Domestic Workers In Middle East Ountries:vulnerability And Protection

The main factors behind the increase of female labor migration to the Middle East particularly to the Gulf states as well as the prevalence of vulnerability to abuse and level ofprotection for these migrant workers have become an area of research,although little studied on Ethiopian women labor migrant to this region.This dissertation,therefore,assess the vulnerability and protection of Ethiopian female migrant domestic workers in Middle East countries,the drivers of this movement and migrant's pre-departure awareness level.Mixed-method design with equal orientation for both quantitative and qualitative strands is followed.Accordingly,a probabilistic sample of 224 women migrant returnees were participated to the quantitative part.In the qualitative approach,four FGDs(each consists of 8 women returnee)and 18 in-depth interviews were conducted with women migrant returnees.Furthermore,5 key informant interviews with representatives of Ethiopian government officials,PEAs and NGOs were conducted.The findings of the study demonstrated that migrant's pre-departure level of awareness is very low though they are expected to have high level of pre-departure awarenss This low level of awareness has heightened the vulnerability of many MDWs to different forms of abuse and exploitation during their employment period.Ethiopian female migration to the Middle East is influenced by multifaceted factors such as pushing,pulling and network factors.But,economic-related pushing factors in the home country and economic related pulling factors in receiving countries have a more significant impact during the decision of migration.The results also confirm that networking between prospective migrants with returnees,early movers and brokers have a little impact on migration decisions.Though most of the women are migrated to different Middle East countries to improve their lives and families,the finding of this dissertation revealed that Ethiopian women domestic workers pass through a lot of abuse and exploitation,such as physical abuse,emotional abuse,sexual abuse,economic abuse,work-condition abuse and living-condition abuse.Comparing the frequency of abuse,the study demonstrated that work condition abuse,emotional abuse,and living condition abuse were found as a moderate level of abuse.On the other hand,physical abuse,sexual abuse,and economic abuse were found as low levels of abuse.The overall abuse level of the migrant domestic workers was found to be significantly associated with their pre-departure level of awareness,socioeconomic status,and legal employment status at the destination country.This implies that migrants with low socioeconomic background,low pre-departure level of awareness and illegal status at destination were found with a relatively high level of overall abuse experience during their stay abroad.The protection of migrant domestic workers is one of the duties of labor-sending countries,PEAs,and labor-receiving countries.However,the findings of the study indicate that the overall extent of protection for MDWs is low.Most migrant domestic workers did not receive support and follow up from the Ethiopian government,labor receiving countries and placement agencies during their employment period.Thus,the negligible commitment of governments at both origin and destination heighten human rights violations against migrant domestic workers.This study has an implication for practical intervention and policy to manage migration and improve protection for migrant workers.