Assessing the Benefits, Causes and Effects of Female Migration from Silte Zone of Southern Ethiopia to the Middle East and Gulf States

Abstract

A significant trend in the contemporary period is the increased number of women migrants due to the changing labour demands caused by globalization. Over the past century, women’s employment has shifted from the industrial to the service sector and also to the informal economy. The development of the informal economy has allowed women to be active participants in this sector and also to migrate from developing countries to developed countries with better economies. This migration and foreign employment has the potential to bring positive benefits for these women; but simultaneously, there is also a great risk of exploitation and abuse associated with such migration. Despite its considerable economic growth in the last decade, unemployment especially youth unemployment is still high in Ethiopia. And much household level with hardships due to income that is below the poverty line and due to the number of people depends on agriculture which endures increasing spells droughts. Given the ecological and demographic pressures on the land and the lack of local employment opportunities, many families pressure their children to migrate, while many young people want to go abroad in search of better employment options and a possible better future. Qualitative research methodology was applied to describe the issue under consideration. This paper attempts to assess and critically examine the possible benefits, causes and potential human right violations faced by Ethiopian female domestic workers by taking Silte Zone of southern Ethiopia as an example that are migrating to the Middle East and Gulf States.