The Trafficker Next Door: How Household Employers Exploit Domestic Workers

Summary

"Kaya mo ba?" Can you take it? An instructor asks a group of migrant workers in the Philippines, as they prepare for domestic work in wealthier countries. Can you take the grueling work? "Kaya," the women say. "We can."

The phrase "human trafficking" often conjures nightmarish images of sexual exploitation, but Rhacel Salazar Parreñas reveals that the vast majority of trafficking victims are domestic workers who suffer abuse not at the hands of crime lords but rather "ordinary" family employers.

Drawing on twenty years of groundbreaking research across three continents, Parreñas exposes the grim realities faced by migrant workers ensnared in forced labor due to poverty and debt bondage. She uncovers how entrenched social and legal norms, coupled with a patronizing "employer savior complex," foster a troubling sense of ownership among employers over "their" domestic workers.

Through powerful firsthand accounts, Parreñas illustrates the migrants' desperation, and the power dynamics that lead to a global network of exploitation. Parreñas's narrative challenges listeners to confront uncomfortable truths about everyday household arrangements and calls for justice and fair treatment for all workers.