The Domestic Workers Convention Is Not Enough: A Postcolonial Feminist View of Ethiopian and Filipino Domestic Workers in Iraqi Kurdistan

Abstract

More than 232 million international migrants exist in the world and nearly half of them (48%) are women. Women have always migrated across the globe. The large numbers of women who migrate today and the long distances they travel, however, are something new. Many of these women earn money as care workers providing for the physical, psychological, emotional, and developmental needs of their employers. The typical pattern is for women to leave their own families and migrate from poor countries in the global South in order to work in wealthy countries in the global North, what Hochschild terms "global chains of care." Women migrating across the world to work as nannies and housekeepers are part of the "hidden side" of the global economy, where their work is characterized by the ironic coupling of unprecedented intimacy with exploitation and abuse. While we usually think about this international migration as people moving from the global South to the North, South-South migration is roughly as high as South-North migration.

INTRODUCTION

More than 232 million international migrants exist in the world and nearly half of them (48 percent) are women.1 Women have always migrated across the globe. The large numbers of women who migrate today and the long distances they travel, however, are something new. Many of these women earn money as care workers providing for the physical, psychological, emotional, and developmental needs of their employers.2 The typical pattern is for women to leave their own families and migrate from poor countries in the global South in order to work in wealthy countries in the global North, what Hochschild terms "global chains of care"3 Women migrating across the world to work as nannies and housekeepers are part of the "hidden side" of the global economy, where their work is characterized by the ironic coupling of unprecedented intimacy with exploitation and abuse.4 While we usually think about this international migration as people moving from the global South to the North, South-South migration is roughly as high as South-North migration.5

What makes South-South migration attractive to prospective emigrants? First, the cost of migration decreases when moving to a nearby country.6 Second, seasoned migrants in destination countries may help to secure employment for migrating family members. Third, economic differences exist within the South, and middle-income countries draw migrants from neighboring lowincome countries. Fourth, countries in the South have served as important transit points for migrants who eventually plan to make their way to countries of the North. Finally, genocide, war, and violence have forced thousands to seek refuge quickly in nearby countries.7 While these advantages to migrating to another southern country are important, the literature shows that SouthSouth migrants face all the difficulties of South-North migrants plus they earn less money, have shorter contracts, and have a greater chance of exploitation and deportation than South-North migrants. Even in a war-torn area like Iraqi Kurdistan, the site of our research, an opportunity of finding work and an increase in wages, however small, is still a major incentive to migrate.8

Our objective is to understand the dynamics of South-South care work by exploring the personal experiences of women originating from two countries in the global South, Ethiopia and the Philippines, who have migrated to another country in the global South, Iraq. Ethiopia is one of the poorest nations in the world with 44 percent of the population living below the national poverty index. A large proportion (27 percent) of Filipinos also live below the poverty line.9 These are also both significant emigrant nations. One of the major international migration flows consists of Ethiopian women migrating to the Middle East, while the Philippines has the highest number of women emigrants in the world.10 More than 8.7 million Filipinos work overseas, making the country the largest exporter of laborers world-wide and 72 percent of migrant Filipinos are women mostly employed as care workers in private homes.11 Filipino women working as nurses, nannies, and housekeepers have been called the "servants of globalization"12

We use a postcolonial feminist lens to focus in particular on the multiple levels of power differences between the women and their employers and the possibilities of redistributing power in a way that supports the women.13 The task of postcolonial feminists is to make visible the multiple social relations that create hierarchical difference. Furthermore, Cheryl McEwan writes, "Postcolonial feminisms can contribute to new ways of thinking about women in similar contexts across the world, in different geographical spaces, rather than as all women across the world. Postcolonial feminisms, therefore, have the potential to contribute to the critical exploration of relationships between cultural power and global economic power. Moreover, they point towards a radical reclaiming of the political that is occurring in the field of development and in the broader arena of societal transformation"14 Postcolonial feminism straddles the viewpoints of feminists and postcolonial theorists, bringing to the table the voices and experiences of people who are both women and citizens of postcolonial nations.

A postcolonial feminist lens tells us that the participants in our study are gendered workers from the global South and that all three layers of inequality (gender, social class, and global) shape their experience. The framework helps us to see the gender injustice in relationships between women care workers and the heads of the households where they work who are men. It also allows us to see the political distance between workers and their employers who are the richest strata of the nation to which they have emigrated, the upper classes of Iraqi Kurdistan. Although the men who employ the women in this study are not from wealthy and powerful nations of the global North, they are dominant individuals within their own nation. As one of the women we interviewed explained, "my boss was the right hand of Nechervan [the prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan]" Further, our lens reminds us it is essential for us to recognize that these relationships of gender and class are within the context of a globalized economy. The women care workers' path to migration from places such as Ethiopia and the Philippines is a direct effect of neoliberal policies that create debt-burdened, structurally adjusted, impoverished nations requiring citizens to emigrate in order to survive.15 One kind of solution to the problems faced by migrant care workers is international labor laws. But can these laws address the issues on all three levels? This research explores the problems immigrant women face and the solutions they suggest and then asks where the solutions lie?16

TRAFFICKING IN IRAQ

Iraq is a poor nation with a weak economy devastated by decades of sanctions and continual war. The oil business, however, is thriving, especially in Kurdistan, and there are pockets of wealth among business people and the political, military, and security personnel remaining after the US troops left. Iraqi Kurdistan has therefore become a destination country for people originating from some of the poorest countries in the world-Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Ethiopia, and the Philippines. Some of these migrant workers chose Iraqi Kurdistan as their destination but after arrival find they are given a new contract, with conditions much different from what they agreed to in their home countries. Some workers signed contracts to work in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, or Saudi Arabia. Instead, they were forced or deceived into going to Iraq. Upon arrival, their passports were taken and wages withheld.17

In an extreme example in 2009, fourteen women from Uganda working in Iraq were told they would be employed on US military bases as cleaning staff, but when they landed, the women were sent to work for individual families and received considerably lower wages. Some of the women were locked in rooms and were physically or sexually abused by their employer or by recruitment agents.18

CARE WORKERS IN IRAQI KURDISTAN

Much has been written about the plight of migrant domestic workers in Western Europe and in the Middle East.19 Jureidini and Moukarbel argue that Sri Lankan women's work experience in Lebanon is another name for "contract slavery"20 Anbesse and colleagues investigate the declining mental health of returned Ethiopian domestic workers from Middle Eastern countries.21 Pande's research explores domestic workers' use of space including balconies, churches, and abandoned buildings as tools of resistance in Lebanon.22 Fernandez investigates the role of private employment agencies, unlicensed brokers, and family and friends of Ethiopian migrants destined for the Middle East.23 Mahdavi and Sargent analyze the disconnect between written policies in the West on migration and trafficking and the daily experiences of migrant workers and forced laborers in the United Arab Emirates.24

These are impressive works, yet no studies have looked specifically at the experience of care workers in Iraq, which is an important destination country for migrating women. Care work in private households is the most common form of employment for migrant women entering Iraqi Kurdistan, and most of these women are undocumented. Potentially, care and domestic work could be a secure job with the promise of saving money. Tucked away in private homes, however, women are more vulnerable than migrant workers who have employment in the public eye. In contrast to the occupations of many immigrants as sanitation workers, laborers on construction crews, and taxi drivers, women working in private homes experience verbal abuse, beatings, and rape that are hidden from view.25

Our study provides empirical data on care workers in Iraqi Kurdistan. Furthermore, it brings to the literature a postcolonial feminist view of the issues, framing women's experience with a focus on the intersection of gender justice, workers' rights, and critical globalization. We look at their experience within multiple levels of power structures including gender, social class, and international systems of dominance. In addition, our research contrasts the experience of care workers with the labor laws being promoted to explore how much can be gained by these laws as well as where they fall short.

METHODS

We began our interviews in the spring of 2012, after the first author had been living in Iraqi Kurdistan for nearly four years. The women interviewed for this study live in the Federal Region of Kurdistan, which lies within the nation of Iraq. Kurdistan, or Iraqi Kurdistan, includes three major districts: Erbil, Sulaimaniya, and Dohok. This research took place in Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan. In 2008 there were an estimated 2,000 migrant workers in Erbil alone.26

This article describes the findings from twelve in-depth interviews with women from the Philippines or Ethiopia who currently are employed as do- mestic workers in Erbil. Five Filipino and seven Ethiopian women were interviewed about their experiences leaving their home country, earning money, making living arrangements, negotiating legal issues, finding resources for assistance, and visiting the home country. Interviews took place in the first author's home in Erbil and lasted about two hours each. Each woman was paid twenty US dollars for participating in the interview. The interviews were conducted in English and in Amharic, with the first author's husband serving as a translator. Pseudonyms are used for the participants, and we received consent from all women interviewees.

Care workers in Iraqi Kurdistan generally enjoy more mobility than workers in other Middle Eastern countries. Studies in Lebanon, for example, have found that employers place severe restrictions on mobility and friendships. In her study of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon, Amita Pande wrote that "establishing contact with the live-in mdws [Migrant Domestic Workers] with no access to the outside world was a daunting task."27 In Kurdistan, however, most domestic workers normally have some degree of freedom. They are not locked inside their employer's home, as in some cases in Lebanon. Consequently, having women come to the first author's home where we conducted the interview did not result in any logistical problems in regard to their mobility.

Gaining access and establishing rapport with the Ethiopian and Filipino migrant women in Erbil was fairly straightforward. The first author's husband is from Ethiopia. He was well-known within the Ethiopian community of Erbil and was aware of many of the problems Ethiopian care workers were experiencing. Many women therefore were pleased to share their stories with us, even suggesting other people to whom we should talk. In addition, the first author attended a local church in Erbil where she had met many Filipino women. She had previously befriended the women and later they agreed to be interviewed.

The Federal Region of Kurdistan, nicknamed the "next Dubai," and "the Other Iraq," is eager for foreign businesses to come and stay.28 After the 2003 collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, the economy in Kurdistan improved. Since then, local and foreign companies have brought thousands of migrant workers to Kurdistan.29 In addition, an investment law was approved in June 2006, providing incentives for foreign investors, including the possibility of owning land, up to ten-year tax holidays, and trouble-free repatriation of profits.30

The government's programs have been highly successful, and billions of dollars have been invested in the region in the last eight years. This means that many wealthy business owners have come to the region to set up businesses and find cheap labor in various settings. Migrant men and women have met the need by taking up work as construction workers, security guards, of- ficer cleaners, and domestic workers for companies and households. However, weak or nonexistent labor laws to protect workers make it a breeding ground for migrant worker abuse.31

THE women who TOLD Us THEIR STORIEs

The twelve women we interviewed are primarily employed as house cleaners and some also cared for children or supplemented their incomes by waitressing. Table 1 summarizes information about the participants in regard to their age, occupation, length of time in Kurdistan, and number of children. All names are pseudonyms.

RESULTS

Our results are grouped into four sections: reasons for migrating; working and living in Iraqi Kurdistan; relations with bosses; and strategies taken to handle difficult and dangerous situations.

I. Deciding to Leave

The participants described several reasons for leaving their home country to seek work abroad. Some spoke of feeling a need to gain independence and establish themselves as responsible adults. Other women were trying to leave situations where they felt they had let people down or others, especially men, had disappointed them. All of the women shared the need to provide for themselves and their children financially as a central cause of their decision.

Flordeliza is one who felt she had let her parents down. She described the disappointment her family expressed when an unplanned pregnancy at nineteen caused her to drop out of college. Going abroad for Flordeliza, now age twenty-two, was both a vehicle to earn money and a way to earn respect in her parents' eyes. She said,

When I was young, I was free. I went to college and studied computer technology. My family became very disappointed in me when I got pregnant, when we were both in college. I was 19 years old. I had to drop out of college. Both families were disappointed in me. I wanted to kill him, the baby. I said 'no, I am too young to have a baby.' My friend told me, 'no, it's a blessing of God, why would you kill your baby?' Now I want to earn money for me. I wanted to finish my studies. My brother is in engineer, but my parents are disappointed in me. (Flordeliza)

Diwata, on the other hand, felt she had been let down by her boyfriend when he was unfaithful. She explained:

I studied Information Technology at college. After college, I got pregnant. My boyfriend and I were together for 5 years. I later found out, when I was 5 months pregnant, another girlfriend of his was 1 month pregnant. I left the Philippines because of my boyfriend. I wanted to raise my child alone. I wanted to leave him because he did that to me. I realized, he will do it again, he did it once, he will do it again. (Diwata)

Flordeliza and Diwata, however, also explained that earning money was a primary driving force behind their decision. Seeking independence was important but earning a living as a means to independence was essential. Both women mentioned that an unplanned pregnancy added to their reasons for leaving. The Philippines has some of the most restrictive laws in the world controlling abortion and contraception. It is one of the few countries to criminalize abortion in all circumstances with no clear exceptions, and because of the laws limiting abortion, several forms of contraception have been deemed illegal by being labeled abortifacients.32

Flordeliza describes the strategy she took in order to leave the Philippines: "I want to be independent. It was my decision. I got my passport without anyone knowing. I didn't care what my family said. I wanted to earn my money. My family was shocked when they found out that I was going to go" Diwata also describes how she left the Philippines in order to be independent and provide for her child, who is now three years old: "I want to earn money for my child's future. I'm getting older now. I am an adult and I have graduated from college. I don't want my parents to take care of me. My parents took care of me for 28 years. Now I'm 30, I want to earn money for myself and my baby"

Like Flordeliza and Diwata, Tala, age forty-six, made the decision to leave the Philippines and come to Iraq to work because she needed the money. Tala grew up on a farm in the Philippines with six brothers and three sisters. Her family still works on the farm, growing rice, tomatoes, and eggplants. She was twenty-five years old when she married her husband, who works in a lumber cutting company. She now has two grown children, including a daughter who is attending college in Manila, and she says that is why she needed to go away and get a job. After living in Kurdistan for six years, she now has found two jobs. She works part-time cleaning and part-time waitressing in a café. With both jobs she earns US$900 per month. She sends US$600 of her monthly salary to her children. Last year she bought a small house in the Philippines for her family. She has been back to the Philippines once in the six years that she has lived in Kurdistan. She says, "My boss is good-like a brother to me. Now I feel safe and secure"

Tala's experience with a good boss, a favorable salary, and an overall feeling of safety and security has helped her to solve her economic problems at home. In spite of the positive aspects of her situation, Tala explained that she missed her children and wished she could see them more often.

II: Living and Working in Iraqi Kurdistan

Our interviews reveal that women migrants experienced great difficulty at every step of the way from their home country to Iraq. They faced legal immigration problems; deception by employment agencies and bosses; exhaust- ing and sometimes dangerous working conditions; and constant concern and loneliness for the children they left behind.

Even Before Arriving, We Made Too Many Sacrifices

Employment agencies in Kurdistan and employment agents in sending nations add to the exploitation of the care workers when the agencies work together to reap profits while exploiting their workers. A private family in Kurdistan wanting a nanny or maid, for example, must pay about US$5,000 to employment agencies that then coordinate the logistics of bringing a young woman from Indonesia. The family is then required to pay the maid a minimum of US$300 per month. Domestic workers from Ghana or Nepal are even cheaper; a family pays the agency US$3,500 for a maid, while paying her US$250/month. The agency makes a large profit while the worker makes very little.

Furthermore, families seeking employees are not the only ones paying large fees to the agency. Before departing for Kurdistan, workers from Ethiopia must pay anywhere from US$1,000 to US$3,500 to agents in their home country. To come up with this fee, many borrow at high interest rates and then discover that their wages are equal only to the interest. Nisha Varia, an investigator with Human Rights Watch, argues that the combination of dishonest practices of agents in the workers' home countries and the lack of migrant labor laws and protection in Kurdistan leaves migrants without any choices. She explains, "Each side denies that it knows what the other is doing. In reality, they are much more interconnected than that. They are doing business together, and that leads to these recruiting fees and debts, and puts the workers at risk of forced labor"43

The women in our study told of great difficulty in their journeys, facing immigration officials, extensive waits in the airports-sometimes for many days- and problems finding food and water while they waited to get through the red tape. Flordeliza described her experience going from the Philippines to Iraq:

I flew from the Philippines to Hong Kong to Dubai to Erbil [capital city in Iraqi Kurdistan]. In Hong Kong, they searched our luggage and then the Immigration held us for hours. We were so scared in Hong Kong. We missed our next flight and then immigration sent us back to the Philippines. In the Philippines, we had to process our paperwork again. We waited for one week. Then we left and when we arrived in Dubai, the immigration held us again. We stayed five days in the Dubai airport, because there was only one flight a week to Erbil. The food in the airport was expensive. The Filipino workers bought us food at McDonald's. The Filipino workers in the airport told us the water was safe to drink so we drank water from the bathroom. When we arrived in the Erbil airport, there was another problem at immigration. Even before arriving here, we made too many sacrifices. (Flordeliza)

Others discussed how they were misled by employment agencies about where they were going, what they would be doing, and how much they would earn.

My agent in the Philippines told me, "You are going to Turkey" My agent arranged the visa, and the visa came and I read it. It said "Kurdistan, Iraq" I said "What?!" My father told me "Don't go, don't you know what Iraq is?" Later I got the contract in the Philippines which said my salary would be US$400 per month, and every year you can go home. I thought, "It's a nice contract," so I grabbed the opportunity. I arrived in Erbil and another contract was given to me. The contract said my salary was US$250 per month. I told them, "No, that's not right. My contract says US$400" Someone told me, "It's okay because they give lots of bonuses here" But that wasn't true. I worked for a family and they had lots of children. (Diwata)

They also were misled about their rights as workers, especially their right to leave their jobs to return home or to take another position. Employers gave false promises about return tickets and confiscated their passports so that they are held captive in unsatisfactory positions, as Beshadu explains:

I signed up with an employment agency in Addis Ababa and paid US$1,000. The agent was nice and said I will go Turkey. He said, "It is good work, it is a good country" I wasn't worried because I trusted the agent. I arrived in Iraqi Kurdistan and my first job was with an office. I was paid US$300 per month. At the end of the two years, the contract said we would have a paid vacation back in Ethiopia. But my boss refused to let me go and refused to buy me a ticket. I then asked for an increase in my salary but he refused that too. So I ran away. He still has my passport, which has now expired. I didn't expect to have all these problems. (Beshadu)

Lilibeth's story was even worse, as her employment agent sold her when she was unable to do the work required:

When I came to Kurdistan, I first went to Sulaimaniya [second largest city in Iraqi Kurdistan]. I was there for three months without a job. Finally, I started work in a restaurant. Then my agent sold me for US$3,500 to another employer in Erbil. First I worked in a shopping mall and then I worked at a restaurant. I worked for US$300 per month for fifteen hours a day, seven days a week. The work was too much. I wasn't allowed out of the restaurant. I thought "What kind of life is this? What are the benefits in this?" My agent sold me again for US$2,500 and the agent took the money. At my fourth job, they took my passport and didn't return it. I paid US$2,000 to get a new one. (Lilibeth)

Where Is My Mother?

Even if immigrant workers are able to find employment at places with relatively safe and secure journeys, jobs, and income, it comes at great social cost to the families and children who stay behind. 34 In the Philippines these issues are at a crisis level. Scholars estimate that 9 million children, 27 percent of all Filipino children, have been left behind by mothers who have emigrated to other countries for work.35

Our participants described the constant worry about the children they had left behind. Several of the women interviewed for this study had one child or several living back home. Their children are under the care of mothersin-law, grandmothers, and aunts. Women acknowledge how migration deeply impacts their children. Children are filled with sadness, anger, and confusion with the absence of their mothers. Being separated from their children is extremely painful for women to experience and to talk about. Diwata and Lilibeth share their stories:

My child is not happy. We talk on Skype and he says, "Momma, I don't love you." "Why?'" I say. "Because you left me." I say, "Momma is working here for you. Soon you will study, you want Adidas shoes." He says, "I don't want to talk to you, you left, I don't love you." Then I cry for hours. I'm always thinking about my child's future. My plan is to stay here for five years. I tell him, "I will take care of you. We will be together." But he is still young. He still says, "I don't love you. I don't want to talk you. I don't love you. I love Nana [grandmother]." (Diwata)

Lilibeth has been in Kurdistan for two years. She does not have support from her mother-in-law for choosing to go abroad, adding to her pain of being separated from her children. She cries immediately when beginning to speak. We remind her she does not have to continue if she does not want to but she insists she wants to tell her story.

I have two babies, age three and four. The last time I saw them was seven months ago. My mother-in-law tells me I made a big mistake in coming here. I told my mother in law, "I will send money" I try to call, but my baby is asking me, "Where is my mother?" My mother-in-law said I am a bad mother, but I am strong. Now my children don't want to talk to me. I hope when they grow up, they will accept my decision. Maybe they will understand. That's why I work hard now, for my two kids. I don't plan to get remarried. I just think about my two kids. (Lilibeth)

III. Relations with Bosses and Co-Workers

The women in our study describe a range of relations with their managers. Some women have considerate bosses, and caring co-workers, and they earn at least tolerable wages that they send back home. Other women describe managers who try to control their sexuality by forbidding them to be with other men, and they try to control their friendships with other women. In the worst cases, women are physically and sexually abused by bosses. The participants explain how their bosses not only demand that they work long hours every day; they also attempt to direct their free time and their off-the-job relationships. Tala relates how her boss took her cell phone in order to prevent her from communicating with friends: "My friends would call me but one day the family took my phone and didn't return it. They didn't like that I was talking with my friends"

Diwata describes how her boss, under the guise of caring for her as a daughter, does not allow her any days off or even time to go to church:

Before, we didn't have any days off. We couldn't go out with our friends. My boss said he was scared something will happen to us. If he is not in the house, we can go out. If he is in the house, and we want to go out to church, we must ask him first. He doesn't want us to go out without his permission. We have to send him a text message. He says, "Make sure you do the right thing and don't stay out too late." He thinks of me like his daughter. (Diwata)

In both these cases the women are forced into positions of constant subservience and are not regarded as adults. Instead they are treated as dependent children with no right to personal time and no right to engage in any activities that are not supervised by their employers. The experience of our participants also shed light on the role of intimacy in private households.36

Two Extremes: Unprecedented Intimacy and Abuse

A central characteristic of care work is the required skill of emotional intimacy illustrated in the multiple roles of the caregiver. This creates a contradictory relationship of intimacy and connection at the same time as the social and power differences mean that the subordinate person is frequently reminded that she is an outsider and unequal to the one for whom she is caring.37 One of our participants shares:

I took care of a man who was paralyzed. Every day I changed his diaper, gave him medicine, fed him and did some exercise with him. Sometimes I got up in the middle of the night to take care of him. I also cleaned the house. Friday and Saturday I cooked for the whole family. I worked every single day without any days off. I worked from 7:00 am until midnight. More than a year later, his health worsened. I had to lift him up from the bed to the sofa and again from the sofa to the bed a few times a day. It hurt my back badly. One evening I noticed that his medicine had run out, and usually the daughter buys it. But there was no medicine because she hadn't bought any. He screamed at me, "Why didn't you buy my medicine, you are trying to kill me!" He was shouting, "You are an animal, you are a from a dog's family!" (Konjit)

As Konjit described, a domestic worker can play the role of cook, cleaner, registered nurse, and physical therapist requiring unusual physical strength to lift an adult male. Work in private households covers many roles, all of which require a familiarity and closeness to the family itself. In the same breath that intimacy is expected of the worker, she is verbally abused and marginalized.

Sexual Harassment

Some bosses do not stop at verbally harassing workers, isolating them, and controlling every aspect of the women's lives. In the worst cases the women interviewed shared experiences of sexual harassment and rape. They described how women who do not agree to their bosses' sexual advances are fired at once. Beshadu is from Ethiopia and she is a cleaner. Her job was to clean both a hospital floor and the house where she, the hospital manager, and his wife lived. She shares her story:

I stayed in the house next to the hospital, with the hospital manager and his wife. In the day time I cleaned the house and the evening I cleaned the hospital. I was working there for about two months when the manager's wife went to Turkey on vacation. Before she left, she told me, "You can't sleep here in the house while I am away. Go sleep at your friend's house" I said, "Okay" I didn't understand that she was giving me a warning. I stayed with one friend for one night, but her boss didn't like it. The second night I stayed with another friend and the third night with someone else. The fourth day, I was cleaning the house. My manager was in the bedroom and called to me, "Go cut up an orange and banana and bring it to me" I did and put the plate on the bedroom table without looking at him. He said, "Clean my bedroom" I then saw he had only a shirt on and no pants. Again he said, "Clean my bedroom" I said, "No" and I left the house. That evening at the hospital, he said, "Don't sleep at your friend's house. You will sleep in our house" He said, "Your eyes are beautiful. I want to touch your breasts. I want to sleep with you" I said, "No" The next day he said, "I don't need you anymore. You don't work here anymore" He gave me my last salary and said, "Get out" It took me a month to find another job. (Beshadu)

Adanech is from Ethiopia and she had been cleaning an office for two months when she experienced a similar proposition. She explains:

I cleaned the office every day and slept in the basement. There were two owners of the office where I cleaned. One of the managers was from the US and the other manager was Kurdish. The American manager went to the US for vacation. Then the Kurdish manager said to me, "You can't sleep in the office anymore. You will sleep in my home" I said, "I won't come" The next day he said, "You can't work here anymore" (Adanech)

Beatings

Beshadu and Adanech at least were able to escape their violent bosses. Tala was not so lucky. She talks about the job she had when she first arrived to Kurdistan six years ago, where she was assaulted but fortunately was able to find some protection from the local police, who were called to the home. She stayed with the family for more than two years, earning US$200 per month. Eventually, however, the situation became unbearable and she was forced to leave:

There were seven people living in the house. The family was always fighting, they were always shouting. I was afraid. One day, I was alone with the father in the house. The father grabbed me and said, "I want to have sex. I will give you money.'' I shouted, "No" and ran into my room and locked the door. When the family came home, I told them what happened. They didn't believe me. The daughter slapped my face and said, "Don't say that!" Then the father hit me on my head. The mother was just standing there laughing. I called the police and told them what happened. The po- lice came to the house. After that, they didn't touch me and they left me alone. I didn't have any days off. Fridays were the worst day because all the cousins would come to visit. I would stay up until one or two in the morning cleaning. I decided to leave. I got up early one morning, at 5:30, when everyone was sleeping. I packed one small bag and left. I stayed with my two friends until I found another job. (Tala)

Konjit has been in Kurdistan for five years, and has worked at three different jobs. She describes her "worst job" which was the first job she took when she arrived five years ago. She lived with a family for more than one year and was paid US$175 per month. After the family's treatment of her became unbearable, she was forced to leave. She too was attacked but able to fight her assailant, the son in the family. And like Lilibeth, she describes being sold to another employer. She explains:

One day the son in the family grabbed my arm and pushed me on the sofa. He tried to attack me. I said no. This happened two or three times. I went to my agent and told him what happened. He called the family and said, "Don't let that happen again" I went to my agent and said, "I want to go back home to Ethiopia" He said, "You buy the ticket yourself" Then he sold me to another employer in the countryside. (Konjit)

Rape

In the most severe cases, women are raped. Konjit had a part-time job cleaning for US$200 per month. She was looking for a second part-time job and shares her tragic story. Unlike Tala, she was not able to invoke the police to protect her, and her rapists went free.

I was looking for a second job, and my friend called me and said, "I met someone who is looking for a cleaner" I called the man and he said, "Yes, I need a cleaner immediately. Meet me by the market tomorrow" I went to the market the next day and met the man. His house was behind the market and he said, "Let me show you around the house. Are you a good worker? Can you make tea/coffee? Do you have experience cleaning?" he asked. "Yes, I can do everything" I said. "I will show you how to use the washing machine" he said. We entered the room where the washing machine was. A man was there sitting on a couch. The man on the couch got up and grabbed me and kissed my neck. Then he went out and locked the door. I ran to open the door and was screaming. The other man put his hand over my mouth. He pushed me on the dushok [thin pad on floor]. My head hit the floor. He closed my mouth and touched my breast. He pulled off my pants. I was fighting him but he was so heavy. Then he raped me. Finally he called his friend to open the door. They said, "Get out!' I went outside and called my friend but she didn't answer. I called my other friend. After an hour, three of my friends came to the market. I couldn't walk; my hip was in so much pain. My friends found the men right away. My friends wouldn't let the men move or run away. Finally the police came and I told them what happened. We all went to the police station. I had to go to the police station a lot and it took so much time. Finally I stopped going to the police station because they didn't understand my language and there was no interpreter. The men were in prison for three weeks. At first they denied it, but later they confessed. Their family called me and pleaded with me, "Please let him go. Please accept some money from us and let him go." I refused. They kept calling me. They had my number. Finally they said, "If you don't let him go, something bad will happen to you" I was scared. The family gave me US$1,500. I took an aids test and a pregnancy test. Both were negative" (Konjit)

The stories of working in Iraq are filled with serious difficulties. In addition to working long hours with few or no days off at low pay, the workers are also denied their status as independent adults, and every aspect of their lives is carefully monitored by their employers. Some of the women have to contend with violent employers who treat them as "dogs" harassing, beating, and raping them. Some were able to escape the situations without being physically hurt, but others were not, and they found little support from other members of the households and communities or from officials in the police department.

IV. Strategies for Survival

Immigrant women have used a number of strategies to survive living and working in Iraq. As we have seen, the women are quite resourceful in avoiding danger, running away from unsafe positions, and seeking help. Among the most important resources are other women, especially those who have been immigrants for some time, who help them to escape abusive situations, locate new employment, prevent sexual harassment, and find others to help.

Mirasol recounts the techniques she has learned and now teaches to other immigrant women:

If we ride in the taxi, we must know who the drivers are. We tell the other Filipinos, "You must know the driver. You must prepare yourself. Have the spray and scissors ready and be prepared to spray the eyes. The taxi driver tries to touch your leg so don't sit in the front seat. Don't talk too much to them. Just be quiet." We pretend to get on the phone, and talk to the police, or the Ahsayhish [government security forces]. I say, "I work for Ahsayhish" and then they become quiet. (Mirasol)

Lilibeth describes the network that helps immigrants to find work: "If I have a problem, I will go to Mirasol [who has been in Kurdistan for five years] and she can find me a job. She found my job at the restaurant." Mirasol relates the help she received when she needed to run away from her employer: "When my boss did not give me my promised vacation, I ran away from him. My friends hid me in the restaurant." Like Mirasol, Beshadu too ran away when her boss refused to raise her salary at the end of two years. Beshadu escaped with four other women who were in similar circumstances. She describes her ordeal:

I made US$300 a month cleaning the office. At the end of two years, I asked for a raise but my boss refused. Every week, some men at the office would say, "I want you. I want to sleep with you. If you show me your breasts, I will give you US$50." I refused. He then told the owner of the office, "The girls don't work well and they talk on the phone a lot." So all five of us left. We didn't get our last salary. I had my passport with me, but none of my other friends did. We left all our belongings behind, except for one plastic bag each. We didn't want the highway patrol guards to be suspicious. We arrived in Erbil and I went to my friend's house and slept in the basement. My other friends slept in the gas station where our friend worked. After a month, I finally found a job with a Turkish family in a rich neighborhood. They had a dog and made me clean the dog's toilet every day. (Beshadu)

Iraqi National Policy

After conducting our interviews we went to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in Erbil to interview a spokesperson about issues surrounding foreign migrant workers, especially women. When asked if he knew about any cases of abuse against migrants, he admitted that this was not unknown, saying, "There have been two or three cases." He would not elaborate about these cases when we asked about the specifics of how they were handled. He also shifted responsibility for the problem from the government by criticizing the victims for not bringing these offenses to the authorities. He explained: "If there is passport confiscation, physical, or sexual abuse, the worker needs to take the initiative to inform the related authorities." He also suggested, how- ever, that had they informed the authorities, little would have been done to address the problems when he explained that since the foreign migrant labor force is a new phenomenon, current Iraqi law does not have specific provisions to protect migrant workers.

The Federal Region of Kurdistan takes pride in its reputation as a safe and stable place for foreigners to work and businesses to invest.38 The region attracted more than US$26 billion in foreign investment between 2006 and 2013.39 There are more than 2,300 foreign companies working in Kurdistan in all sectors, and they have employed thousands of migrant workers since the US-led invasion in 2003.40

Foreign and local business owners need workers and immigrants, who have met their needs in many occupations from manual labor to domestic workers.41 Migrant workers, however, are not protected by the Iraqi government from the abuses described by our participants.42 Like many governments around the world, that of Iraqi Kurdistan has failed to acknowledge the problems migrant laborers face and has avoided the responsibility of developing policies to protect immigrants. Currently there is no agency in Erbil that monitors migrant workers' labor conditions. In addition, linking immigrants' legal status in Iraqi Kurdistan to their places and conditions of employment creates an unstable situation. Undocumented women care workers, for example, may tolerate abusive situations for fear of deportation.43

What Must Be Done?

The problems identified by the interviews reveal inequalities and injustice in three levels of relationships. They relate the gendered injustice between women care workers and their bosses, who are men who head the households where they work. In the most extreme cases of rape, the interviewees expose how some men display their power in the most basic way of physically assaulting the women, as if they were at the men's disposal for any particular service.

The descriptions of injustice also reflect social class differences between immigrant women and the elite strata of the households. The police protect the rights of the Iraqi men, and the government officials blame the women for not going through the proper channels to air their grievances. Furthermore, labor laws are weak or do not cover immigrant care workers.

The third level is the inequality among nations. Ethiopia and the Philippines have large populations of extremely poor people, while the Kurdistan region of Iraq has less poverty due to oil and international business investments in their resources. In addition, the neglect of international laws to pro- tect immigrants results in immigrant care workers being forced by poverty to migrate and then forced to stay in difficult situations with few or no rights.

Finding Solutions

The problems outlined suggest that international as well as national bodies will need to create policies to take up these challenges within nations, between nations, and in the world as a whole.44 These kinds of efforts are beginning to bubble up. As part of an international effort, for example, the Philippines became the second country (after Uruguay) to pass the Domestic Workers Act, which is intended to protect its millions of women who go abroad to work as nannies and maids. The Filipino law falls under the International Labour Organization's Convention on Domestic Workers (2011), which was approved at their annual conference in June 2011.45 Taking a core labor standards approach, the convention states that domestic workers must have the same rights as do workers in other sectors: reasonable hours of work, rest days, clarity and transparency on terms and conditions of the working contract, freedom of association, and the right to collective bargaining.46 Thirteen more nations have ratified the convention since then: Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Germany, Guyana, Ireland, Italy, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and South Africa.47

The introduction of the convention states that "domestic work continues to be undervalued and invisible and is mainly carried out by women and girls, many of whom are migrants or members of disadvantaged communities and who are particularly vulnerable to discrimination in respect of conditions of employment and work, and to other abuses of human rights"48 These goals are, of course, laudable, and if they were achieved they would undoubtedly make a huge difference in the lives of migrant workers in Iraqi Kurdistan.

However, as Elias argues, "one of the major problems with the cls [core labor standards] approach to worker rights is that reference is made to universal 'blanket' standards that tend to prescribe rights to workers without any commitments to how these rights can be attained"49 Many of the core labor standards have the potential to offer protection to vulnerable groups such as migrant workers. But implementing these kinds of standards within nations, let alone across nations, is notoriously difficult.

But what if we set aside the problem of implementation and consider how the Domestic Workers Act would address the three levels of injustice uncovered in our research? International labor laws such as the Domestic Workers Act are a significant step forward in addressing the second layer of injustice described. These kinds of acts draw attention to the problems between work- ers and employers and identify solutions that protect the rights of workers. They are designed to address the employer-employee relationship and focus on the tensions between those two groups. But do they also adequately address the problems of the other two layers?

We noted the problem of gender inequality as a second layer, and here the international policies fall short. Beyond a generalized commitment to ending workplace discrimination, core labor standards are gender-blind standards, making little reference to issues faced by women workers and failing to recognize the unequal terms upon which many women enter the labor 'market,' given their specific positioning within the 'private' sphere of the household.50 The convention acknowledges that the occupation of domestic work is gendered as most are women and girls. But it does not explicitly outline what this means and what specific needs must be addressed. For example, the word rape does not appear in the convention, and no reference is made to the hardship of not being allowed to bring one's children to the destination country, which is particularly crucial for women, who are often the primary parent.

The participants in our study describe just how invisible even the most egregious treatment of workers is when those employees are women, are foreign, and are private care and domestic workers. Denied privacy and autonomy and subjected to sexual harassment and assault, the women care workers we interviewed were treated like children at best and deprived of basic human rights at worst. The abuse is gendered as the victims are women and the perpetrators are men. Furthermore, the women's position of sexualized, privatized bodies readily accessible to men, with no authority to deny that access in a 'familial' setting, is a core of exploitative gender relations.

The third layer revealed in our research is the global context. Impoverished and indebted nations and their citizens are forced to migrate to find work to keep themselves alive. Factors such as globalization, neocolonialism, debt economies, and structural adjustment requirements are far beyond the scope of international labor law. Nevertheless they play a significant if not determining role in the whole situation of immigrant domestic workers and therefore need to be addressed in formulating solutions to the problem of exploitation of care workers. Women leave their country of origin for many reasons. Most important, they emigrate because of economic insecurity resulting from corrupt governments and failed economies that result in low wages and lack of job opportunities.51 The two countries from which our participants emigrated, for example, ranked at 118 (Philippines) and 173 (Ethiopia) out of 187 countries in the United Nations Human Development Index. Forty percent of workers in the Philippines and 73 percent of workers in Ethiopia earn less than US$2 a day.52 The failed economies in turn have been damaged by the debts incurred by nations in the global South that have accepted loans from the International Monetary Fund (imf) or World Bank and have been forced to implement strict conditions of structural adjustment to make payments on the debt. For example, the Philippines is burdened by approximately US$120 billion in debt largely left over from the corrupt Marcos government. The country currently pays about US$8 billion dollars annually on the debt and the interest it has accrued.53 The structural adjustments required of debtor nations force governments to reduce public services such as health care, education, and food subsidies for the poor in order to shift those funds to repaying loans and the interest that has accumulated on the loans.54 When the public services are withdrawn, many women realize the only options to feed their children are to enter sex work locally or to leave their children behind in search of work abroad.55

Some countries, such as the Philippines, accelerate the push by actively encouraging emigration of women, arguing that migrant women are more likely than migrant men to send their wages back to their families rather than spending the money on themselves.56 Filipino women in particular tend to remit directly to eldest daughters, instead of their husbands, because they believe the men back home may not spend the hard-earned money on the family's needs.57 Money sent back home, however small, has an important and positive impact on the lives of children, parents, and siblings as well as on indebted southern governments.

In the Philippines, remittances from migrant workers have provided foreign-exchange revenues that are crucial to sustaining the economy and for paying off international debt. The World Bank estimates that worldwide remittance flows in 2009 to 2013 were more than US$440 billion, of which developing countries received US$325 billion. Undocumented flows of remittances undoubtedly make the real numbers much larger.58 Between 2009 and 2013 more than US$26 billion were remitted to the Philippines by Filipinos working abroad. About US$624 million were remitted to Ethiopia between 2004 and 2008 (the most recent data available from the World Bank).59 The Filipino economy, in particular, relies heavily on the remittances, which are greater than the amount of foreign investment in the country.60 In both countries at the personal level, remittances help to provide food, clothing, school fees, housing payments, doctor's visits, medicine, and investment in agriculture and community projects.61

conclusion: a postcolonial feminist view

In this study we take a postcolonial critical feminist approach.62 By this we mean that our attention is focused on gender justice as well as workers' rights. It also means that we are cognizant of the many layers of power structures in which the lives of the participants in our study are embedded, including gender, ethnic, social class, and international systems of dominance and subordination.63

The problems faced by women who travel across the globe to find work are part of a huge network of complex issues including failed economies, international exploitation of poor nations by global economic institutions such as the imf and their prescribed structural adjustment programs, gendered divisions of paid and unpaid labor in the home and host nations, human rights abuses in the form of buying and selling laborers, and violence against women.

We conclude that the drive for policy change by organizations such as the ilo and individual nations is a critical step forward for justice, but it fails on three counts. The feminist aspect of postcolonial feminist theory tells us, first, that the vision of justice focusing on labor rights does not sufficiently recognize the importance of gender, in particular the problem of violence against women, which is so salient in the lives of the women we interviewed. The vision also does not fully appreciate the invisible and isolated character of women's care work and the subsequent difficulty of knowing about labor laws and being able to take action to use them.64 Nor does it acknowledge misogynist laws regarding abortion, like those in the Philippines, which force women to bring every pregnancy to term whether they are prepared economically to provide for the child or not and therefore exacerbate the poverty women face and the likelihood they will be required to emigrate to find work.

Gender is also missing in the neglect of the central problem women face of having the right to live with and care for their children. Even in the best of circumstances for immigrant women workers, being required to leave one's children behind is a serious human rights issue and, in particular, a women's rights problem and a children's rights crisis. Arlie Hochschild explains:

The notion of extracting resources from the Global South in order to enrich the North is hardly new. It harks back to imperialism in its most literal form: the nineteenth-century extraction of gold, ivory, and rubber from the Colonies. That openly coercive, male-centered imperialism, which persists today, was always paralleled by a quieter imperialism in which women were more central. Today, as love and care become the "new gold," the feminine part of the story has grown in prominence. In both cases, through the death or displacement of their parents, Southern children pay the price.65

The postcolonial aspect of the theory tells us, second, that international labor laws do not account sufficiently for the power of the overarching systems of inequality between workers and bosses and among nations that are rooted in our colonial past as well as our neocolonial present and hinder the implementation of even the finest laws. We applaud the efforts of the ilo and the successful passage of the Domestic Workers Convention in the Philippines. In addition, we hope that Ethiopia and Iraq, as well as the rest of the world, will adopt such protective legislation. The laws alone, however, will remain useless unless major political changes shift power at every level of society.

Postcolonial theory tells us that colonialism is not really post. Rather it has been reestablished and reinvented in neoliberal policies that create debtburdened, structurally adjusted, impoverished nations requiring citizens to emigrate. Postcolonialism has influenced both the structural patterns of migration and the personal stories of men and women seeking employment abroad. Postcolonialism impacts the experience of care and domestic workers in private homes. This experience is marked by exploitation and oppression, contradictory relationships of intimacy and abuse, physical violence, and rape.

William Robinson argues that "novel relations of global inequality" have taken place in the twenty-first century. Global capitalism is marked by new types of poverty, wealth, power, and domination and new social dependencies. Whereas in previous decades, billions of the world's poor were on the outside of the global capitalist system, in the twenty-first century they have been brought directly inside.

Robinson writes: "The system is very much a life-and-death matter for billions of people who, willing or otherwise, have developed a stake in its maintenance. Indeed, global capitalism is hegemonic not just because its ideology has become dominant but also, and perhaps primarily, because it has the ability to provide material rewards and to impose sanctions."66

The participants in our study represent one form of the novel relations to which he refers. In order to survive, women are forced to obtain work abroad and send wages back home to their families in desperate need. In doing so the women have been brought into the global capitalist system and have also developed a dependency on the system. Global capitalism has provided women with monetary rewards, but at great cost, when they are forced to leave their children and when verbal abuse, physical violence, and rape occur.

Given the current global capitalist arrangements, some nations, especially those in the global South that are strapped by weak economies, debt, and austerity programs, are not likely to have the funds to enforce protective laws or to create supportive programs. Other nations in the global North, as well as the wealthy and powerful social classes in countries where cheap labor enhances and maintains the wealth of those at the top, are also unlikely to create and implement policies that increase workers' rights, improve working conditions, and raise wages.

Immigrant women have created a "safety valve" for both systems of economic inequality and gender injustice. Their labor fills the gap for households in the receiving countries that have been left without a full-time caregiver, thereby preserving the ability of local economies to use the labor of all adults in those households in the labor market. It also helps to support the economies of the home countries of the women through their remittances. Furthermore, it helps to sustain systems of gender injustice by providing a cheap way for individual men in households to avoid taking responsibility for the housework and childcare necessary to maintaining their lives. But the safety valve is at a huge and unsustainable cost to the immigrant women.

Interestingly, the "marginal" position of the women in our study in these novel relationships places them both at the center of the systems and at the center of the potential for change. Our reading of the interviews suggests that the women in our study are aware of the various systems that have enslaved them. They speak critically of masculinities, bosses, the police, immigration authorities, and governments.

They also speak of hope. At the same time they tell their difficult stories, the women also tell a story of risk, courage, and taking care of one another and of their children and families back home. Their journeys are remarkably filled with their belief in justice and their commitment to achieving it.

Footnote

NOTES

1.World Bank, Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011, 2nd edition (Washington, dc: World Bank, 2011), http://siteresources.worldbank.org/intlac/Resources/Factbook2011-Ebook.pdf (accessed July 27, 2012); United Nations News Centre, "232 Million International Migrants Living Abroad Worldwide-New UN Global Migration Statistics Reveal," September 11, 2013, http://esa.un.org/unmigration/wallchart2013. htm (accessed October 17, 2014).

2. Guy Standing, "Care Work: Overcoming Insecurity and Neglect," in Care Work: The Quest for Security, ed. Mary Daly (Geneva: International Labour Office, 2001), 15-32.

3. Arlie Hochschild, "Global Care Chains and Emotional Surplus Value," in On the Edge: Living with Global Capitalism, ed. Will Hutton and Anthony Giddens (London: Jonathan Cape, 2000), 131.

4. Encarnación Gutiérrez Rodríguez, "The 'Hidden Side' of the New Economy: On Transnational Migration, Domestic Work, and Unprecedented Intimacy," Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 28, no. 3 (2007): 60-83.

5. Dilip Ratha and William Shaw, South-South Migration and Remittances (Washington, dc: World Bank, 2007), http://siteresources.worldbank.org/intprospects/ Resources/334934-1110315015165/SouthSouthMigrationandRemittances.pdf (accessed September 9, 2012).

6. Ratha and Shaw, "South-South Migration," 15.

7. Katja Hujo and Nicola Piper, "South-South Migration: Challenges for Development and Social Policy," Development 50, no. 4 (2007): 1-7.

8. Elenore Kofman and Parvati Raghuram, The Implications of Migration for Gender and Care Regimes in the South (Washington, dc: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, 2009).

9. "Philippines," cia World Factbook 2012, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/ the-world-factbook/geos/rp.html (accessed April 22, 2012).

10. Sonja Fransen and Katie Kuschminder, Migration in Ethiopia: History, Current Trends and Future Prospects (Maastricht: Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, 2009), http://mgsog.merit.unu.edu/isacademie/docs/cr_ethiopia.pdf (accessed August 29, 2012); Melanie Reyes, "Migration and Filipino Children Left-Behind: A Literature Review," Miriam College/uNiCEF, 2008, www.unicef.org/philippines/Synthesis _StudyJuly12008.pdf (accessed April 22, 2012), 1-28.

11. Nicola Piper, ed., "International Migration and Gendered Axes of Stratification," in New Perspectives on Gender and Migration: Livelihood, Rights, and Entitlements (New York: Routledge, 2008), 3; Reyes, "Migration and Filipino," 1.

12. Rhacel Parreñas, Servants of Globalization (Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2001).

13. Cheryl McEwan, "Postcolonialism, Feminism and Development: Intersections and Dilemmas," Progress in Development Studies 1, no. 2 (2001): 93-111.

14. McEwan, "Postcolonialism, Feminism," 107.

15. William Robinson, "Critical Globalization Studies," in Public Sociologies Reader, ed. Judith Blau and Keri Iyail Smith (Lanham, md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006), 21-36.

16. Juanita Elias, "Women Workers and Labour Standards: The Problem of 'Human Rights,'" Review of International Studies 33 (2007): 45-57.

17- US Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report (Washington, dc: US Department of State, 2013), http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/226846 .pdf (accessed October 27, 2014).

18. US Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report (Washington, dc: US Department of State, 2013) http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/142983.pdf (accessed January 14, 2014).

19. On Western Europe, see Bridget Anderson, Doing the Dirty Work?: The Global Politics of Domestic Labour (London: Zed Books, 2000); Rodríguez, "The 'Hidden Side'" 60; Hsiao-Hung Pai, "An Ethnography of Global Labour Migration," Feminist Review 77 (2004): 129-31. On the Middle East, see Birke Anbesse, Charlotte Hanlon, Atalay Alem, Samuel Packer, and Rob Whitley, "Migration and Mental Health: A Study of Low-Income Ethiopian Women Working in Middle Eastern Countries," International Journal of Social Psychiatry 55, no. 6 (2009): 557-68; Marina De Regt, "Ways to Come, Ways to Leave: Gender, Mobility, and Ill/legality among Ethiopian Domestic Workers in Yemen," Gender and Society 24, no. 2 (2010): 237-60; Ray Jureidini and Nayla Moukarbel, "Female Sri Lankan Domestic Workers in Lebanon: A Case of 'Contract Slavery'?" Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 30, no. 4 (2004): 581-607; Amrita Pande, "From 'Balcony Talk' and 'Practical Prayers' to Illegal Collectives: Migrant Domestic Workers and Meso-Level Resistances in Lebanon," Gender and Society 26, no. 3 (2012): 382-405.

20. Jureidini and Moukarbel, "Female Sri Lankan," 581.

21. Anbesse et al., "Migration and Mental Health," 557.

22. Pande, "From 'Balcony Talk,'" 382.

23. Bina Fernandez, "Traffickers, Brokers, Employment, Agents, and Social Networks: The Regulation of Intermediaries in the Migration of Ethiopian Domestic Workers to the Middle East," International Migration Review 47, no. 4 (2013): 814-43.

24. Pardis Mahdavi and Christine Sargent, "Questioning the Discursive Construction of Trafficking and Forced Labor in the United Arab Emirates," Journal of Middle East Women's Studies 7, no. 3 (2011): 6-35.

25. Rodríguez, "The 'Hidden Side'" 65.

26. Qassim Khidhir, "Bangladeshi Workers in Kurdistan against Their Wishes," Kurdish Globe, August 25, 2008, http://www.kurdishglobe.net/article/37d1e5a21731e6 eccd377db470340712/Bangladeshi-workers-in-Kurdistan-against-their-wishes.html (accessed September 20, 2012).

27. Pande, "From 'Balcony Talk,'" 389.

28. Nicky Woolf, "Is Kurdistan the Next Dubai?" Guardian, May 5, 2010, http://www .guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/05/kurdistan-next-dubai-iraq (accessed July 15, 2012); "The Other Iraq," http://www.theotheriraq.com/ (accessed June 5, 2012).

29. Salih Waladbagi, "Foreign Workers Treated Poorly in Kurdistan," Kurdish Globe, June 25, 2011, http://www.kurdishglobe.net/display-article.html?id=905044227 805c6dd07851d94ce14711e (accessed April 1, 2013).

30. "The Kurdistan Region in Brief" 2010, http://www.krg.org/uploads/documents/ Fact_Sheet_Kurdistan_Region_in_Brief_2010_05_16_h21m36s48.pdf (accessed June 11, 2012).

31. Michael Kamber, "Shame of Imported Labor in Kurdish North of Iraq," New York Times, December 29, 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/12/29/world/middleeast/29 kurds.html?_r=1andpagewanted=all (accessed February 10, 2012).

32. Center for Reproductive Rights, Forsaken Lives: The Harmful Impact of the Philippine Criminal Abortion Ban (New York: Center for Reproductive Rights, 2010), http:// reproductiverights.org/sites/crr.civicactions.net/files/documents/exec_philreport _2010_spreads.pdf (accessed September 3, 2012).

33. Kamber, "Shame of Imported Labor," 3.

34. Mohamed Salah, The Impacts of Migration on Children in Moldova (New York: United Nations Children's Fund [unicef], 2008), http://www.unicef.org/The _Impacts_of_Migration_on_Children_in_Moldova(1).pdf (accessed April 22, 2012).

35. Reyes, "Migration and Filipino," 1.

36. Rodríguez, "The 'Hidden Side'" 71.

37. Rodríguez, "The 'Hidden Side'" 72.

38. "The Kurdistan Region in Brief." This, of course, was before the latest outbreak of war in the region.

39. "Iraqi Kurdistan Open to Arab Investment," Iraq Business News, April 24, 2013, http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/2013/04/24/iraqi-kurdistan-open-to-arab -investment/ (accessed November 1, 2014).

40. Hassan Shingali, "Second Annual cdc Job Fair-Duhok," Kurdish Globe, April 28, 2014, http://www.kurdishglobe.net/displayPrintableArticle.jsp?id=62940788073e 48efb35aa5c783f6830f (accessed November 5, 2014).

41. Waladbagi, "Foreign Workers Treated," 1.

42. Kamber, "Shame of Imported Labor," 3.

43. Rodríguez, "The 'Hidden Side,'" 75.

44. Fiona Williams, "How Do We Theorise the Employment of Migrant Women in Home-Based Care Work in European Welfare States?," Paper presented to the International Sociological Association, Florence, Italy, September 6-8, 2007, 1-34, http://www.esrc.ac.uk/my-esrc/grants/res-000-22-1514/outputs/read/4dbad265-c674 -41da-905c-049bc03993e0 (accessed June 5, 2013).

45. International Labor Organization (ilo), "100th ilo Annual Conference Decides to Bring an Estimated 53 to 100 Million Domestic Workers Worldwide under the Realm of Labour Standards," ilo, Geneva, 2011, http://www.ilo.org/ilc/ilcsessions/ 100thSession/media-centre/press-releases/wcms_157891/lang-en/index.htm (accessed July 22, 2012); ilo, "Towards a Fair Deal for Migrant Workers in the Global Economy," no, Geneva, 2004, http://www.ilo.org/public/portugue/region/eurpro/ lisbon/pdf/rep-vi.pdf (accessed July 24, 2012).

46. ilo, "Towards a Fair Deal," 41.

47. ilo, "Ratification of 189c-Domestic Workers Convention," ilo, Geneva, http:// www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=normlexpub:11300:0:no:p11300_instrument_id:25 51460 (accessed October 17, 2014).

48. ilo, "100th ilo Annual Conference," 1.

49. Juanita Elias, "Transnational Migration, Gender and Rights: Advocacy and Activism in the Malaysian Context," International Migration, 48, no. 6 (2010): 49.

50. Juanita Elias, "Transnational Migration," 44-71.

51. United Nations, "Women Watch: Ethiopian Action Plan," http://www.un.org/ womenwatch/confer/beijing/national/ethiopia.htm (accessed October 18, 2014).

52. United Nations Human Development Report 2014, http://hdr.undp.org/en/ content/human-development-report-2014 (accessed October 18, 2014); "Ethiopia," United Nations Country Profiles, http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/eth (accessed October 17, 2014); "Philippines," United Nations Country Profiles, http://hdr .undp.org/en/countries/profiles/phl (accessed October 17, 2014).

53. Jonathan Stevenson, "Jubilee Debt Campaign: The Philippines: The Typhoon and the Debt," November 27, 2013, http://jubileedebt.org.uk/news/philippines -typhoon-debt (accessed October 18, 2014).

54. Saliwe Kawewe and Robert Dime, "The Impact of Economic Structural Adjustment Programs [esaps] on Women and Children: Implications for Social Welfare in Zimbabwe," Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare 27, no. 4 (2000): 79.

55. Author 1, 2009; Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Hochschild, eds., Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy (New York: Henry Holt, 2004), 1-13.

56. Ehrenreich and Hochschild, Global Woman, 11;Kofman and Raghuram, The Implications of Migration, 22.

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