Female Sri Lankan domestic workers in Lebanon: a case of ‘contract slavery’?

Since the early 1990s, there has been a large influx of Sri Lankan women into Lebanon, serving primarily as domestic labour in private households. The Sri Lankan government, as with other countries, has actively encouraged the ‘export’ of domestic labour as it has become the largest single source of foreign revenue for the country. As part of the feminisation of international migration and trafficking in human labour, both the employment relations and social status of these women leave them extremely vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. It is argued in this paper that most Sri Lankan domestic workers fall under the category of ‘contract slavery’, given the legal and employment conditions which they face. The analysis of 70 interviews with Sri Lankan women in Lebanon reveals their living conditions, how they are treated by their employers, and how the legal and administrative arrangements of these workers have facilitated the poor conditions and entrapment which many encounter.