Arbete till varje pris? En etnografiskt undersökning av migrationsindustrin av hushållsarbetare mellan Kenya och Gulfstaterna

Abstract

Detta etnografiska forskningsprojekt kartlägger och analyserar kvinnliga hushållsarbetares arbetskraftsmigration från Kenya till Gulfstaterna.
I detaljerad etnografisk forskning kommer detta projekt att kartlägga och kritiskt analysera de olika intressenterna (kenyanska staten, NGOs, rekryteringsfirmor, utbildningscentra kvinnliga arbetare och kvinnliga arbetares familjer) som är involverade i kvinnliga hushållsarbetares arbetskraftsmigration och hur olika intressen hanteras och förhandlas fram. Det föreslagna projektet är situerat i migrations industrin mellan Kenya och Gulfstaterna men, kommersialisering av kvinnors hushålls- och omsorgsarbete är ett globalt fenomen som organiseras i liknande, dock inte identiska, migrationskedjor. Det är denna aspekt som gör att projektet är relevant även för det svenska samhället och forskning om arbetskraftsmigration, kön och etnicitet i Sverige.

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Description

Focusing on the domestic work migration industry the proposed project taps directly into the Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals - Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8) and Gender Equality (SDG 5). The research also aims to contribute to knowledge development in the area of regular and irregular migration as highlighted in the UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Migration. The investigation is at the centre of FORMAS research area no 9 (Urban and Rural Areas), focusing on the Sustainability of subjects for the development of rural and urban areas.

Through history racialised women’s work have been commodified. A novelty however the global increase of the commodification of care through women’s migration to take on care and domestic work. The social organisation of the domestic care work industry is increasing globally and migration from East Africa to the Gulf States is no exception. Moreover, research has shown that migrant domestic workers enter the Gulf states through state regulated work migration as well as under conditions of irregular migration. Often the routes of domestic workers migration are difficult to overview and abuse and exploitation is common. This means that domestic worker migration industries in Kenya and globally, are operating in documented or undocumented ways which need to be further disentangled and critically analysed.

While the prosed project focus on work migration from Kenya to the Gulf states, we note that the domestic worker migration industry has a global outreach. In Sweden, migrant women represent 50% of the staff that take on domestic and care work in private households (Gavanas 2011) In this aspect, the outcome from proposed project can make a contribution for the theoretical development of the domestic worker migration industry which will be beneficiary for the academic community into the domestic worker migration industry in Kenya, Sweden and beyond.