Research project Work at any cost? Domestic worker Migration Industry from Kenya to the Gulf states.
It is currently estimated that there are up to 300 000 Kenyan citizens working in the Gulf states on temporary contracts. Conditions for women domestic workers are particularly harsh. Reports of physical, psychological and sexual violence are frequent.
To counter the abuses the Kenyan state has developed pre-departure training which includes information on workers’ rights, intercultural competence and technical knowhow. Pre-departure training is now made mandatory and integral to the labour migration process.
Using policy analysis, interviews and observations, this project will critically map and analyse the various stakeholders; Kenyan state, Non Governmental Organisations (NGO:s), recruitment firms, training centres, women workers and women workers’ families, and how benefits, risks and costs are managed and negotiated by the different stakeholders.
Project title: Work at any cost? An ethnographic interrogation into domestic worker Migration Industry from Kenya to the Gulf states.
Project members
Project managers
Paula Mählck
Senior lecturer
