Gender and Migration in Arab states: the case of domestic workers

This publication presents an ILO regional review and four country studies from the Arab States: Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon and United Arab Emirates.

Domestic workers, the majority of whom are women, constitute a large portion of today's migrant worker population. As part of the international trend of feminization of international labour, much of this work remains invisible in national statistics and national labour legislation. It is not certain whether the increasing participation of women in international migration provides them with a decent wage, good working conditions, social security coverage and labour protection. It is therefore important to provide more attention to the labour situation of the growing number of women migrant workers.
To identify critical issues of concern to women migrant domestic workers and to determine the extent of their vulnerability, the ILO has been analyzing the situation in several regions. These studies reveal practices and patterns that are the key causes of the vulnerability of women domestic migrant workers and suggest effective alternative strategies.