Attached file
Female migrant domestic workers are more vulnerable than local people and lack the capacity to protect themselves against abusive situations due to the lack of local language skills, the low awareness of the local laws and customs, the inadequate access to appropriate jobs and the limited knowledge of their rights (IOM, 2009; FRA, 2011; OHCHR’s Regional Office for Europe, 2010). Many women domestic workers feel that they have no choice but to stay and suffer abuse because fleeing their employer would mean lapsing into irregular status, admitting to the authorities if they are in an irregular situation and/or losing their right to work (FRA, 2011). Several international organizations have raised this issue in their agendas, emphasizing the intersectional nature of the problem and proposing the development of protective mechanisms for female migrant domestic workers as well as capacity-building among civil society to address and monitor the conditions of migrant domestic workers (CEDAW, 2008; IOM, 2010; ILO, 2010).