The exploitation of undocumented migrant women in the work place

The report relates the experiences of migrant women in Europe, the US, and the Middle East, as well as organizing strategies.  Despite the many positive experiences of female migration, significantly fewer paths are available for women to legally migrate for employment and as a result, migrant women may find themselves trapped in exploitative and coercive conditions. Once in an irregular situation, migrant women are dramatically overrepresented in gender-defined jobs with precarious working conditions, low pay and exposure to violence.

Susceptible to heightened gender-based segregation in the workplace, undocumented migrant women are often employed in individualised or isolated work environments such as the agricultural sector, domestic sphere, food processing, cleaning and catering industries where there are fewer opportunities for worker solidarity and visibility.

Adopting a global perspective, the report explores specific vulnerabilities facing undocumented women in the labour market as well as strategies which have successfully served to protect and empower undocumented female workers. The discussion explored the role of the unions, social networks, solidarity movements and undocumented women themselves in addressing labour-based exploitation and empowering female workers with an irregular status.

Acces the report here