Experiences Of Migrant Women Research Articles

Narratives of Colombian migrant women: violence and heroines from Costa Rica

The research contributes to the knowledge of migrant women's experiences, specifically their stories about violence, in a context of feminization of migration and from a narrative and feminist perspective. Through the elaboration of 11 personal narratives, four types of violence were identified: violence in the private sphere, in the public space, in institutions and in memory. The narratives show women who are victims of violence, and also women who take an active role, protagonists who implement resistance strategies to become heroines of their own migration history.

Migrant Somali women's experiences with their first contact with the labor ward prior to admission: A qualitative study.

INTRODUCTIONThe first contact with the labor ward is a crucial moment in any birth and can be especially challenging when the woman has a migrant background. The aim of the study was to explore migrant Somali women’s experiences with their first contact with the labor ward prior to admission, in Norway.METHODSIn this qualitative study, data were collected through semi-structured individual interviews and Systematic Text Condensation was the method used to analyze the data. Ten Somali-born women who had given birth in Norway were included.RESULTSThe migrant Somali women’s first contact with the labor ward prior to admission was challenging, due to one-way communication, poor health literacy, and a fear of interventions or adverse outcomes. To improve care, the migrant Somali women highlighted a need for: 1) flexibility, tailored information and practical guidance before birth; and 2) face-to-face assessment in early labor.CONCLUSIONSThe findings in this study indicate that the needs of laboring migrant Somali women are not fully met by antenatal or pre-hospital maternity care services. To improve the critical first contact with the labor ward for migrant Somali women, this study suggests that antenatal care services offer practical guidance on whom to contact and what to expect at the hospital in early labor. Face-to-face assessment of maternal and fetal well-being should be the first choice of care for Somali women in early labor who are unfamiliar with the healthcare system after immigration. Interpretation services need strengthening and our findings support a need for increased continuity of care.

A Qualitative Study on Married Migrant Women’s Experience of Participation in Self-help Groups from the Perspective of Transformative Learning

This study examined self-help groups for married migrant women which have not been discussed from the viewpoint of learning from the perspective of transformative learning and tried to suggest the direction of self-help groups. For this, the research question was set as 'What does married migrant women's experience of participation in self-help groups from the perspective of transformative learning?'. For the study, data were collected by arranging in-depth interviews with 7 married migrant women who participated in self-help groups for more than 2 years in the B Family Center in A City. And based on this, the in-depth meanings in the experience were analyzed. Based on the collected data, each three central meanings were drawn from the categories of experience by conversion stage, the level of conversion and introspection, and the results of the conversion. Married migrant women planned and attempted a meaning life by experiencing dilemmas and experienced problem solving through sympathy and cooperation in their self-help groups. It has found that the level of conversion and introspection appeared in the form of self-awareness, professional competency development, and introspection as migrant women and the results of the conversion appeared in the domain of individuals, families, and society. The above research results show that self-help groups promote the shift in married migrant women's perspectives and become the learning center that they can be expanded to indivisual and social growth. Based on the results of the study, it found educational implications of self-help groups for married migrant women and sought the direction for their development.

Hukou-Based Rural–Urban Migration Status and Domestic Violence Against Wives in China: Implications for Policy and Practice

Migration in China has been shaped by the household registration system (hukou) that determines stratified citizenship among migrants. Adopting a feminist intersectionality lens, this study investigated how hukou institution, class, and regionality intersect to have an impact on migrant women's experience of physical, psychological, and sexual violence perpetrated by their husbands. The analysis of nationally representative data from the third wave of Women's Social Status Survey in China ( n = 5411) revealed that compared to rural non-migratory wives, (a) return migrants were more likely to experience all three forms of violence; (b) temporary migrants had higher odds to suffer from psychological violence; and (c) permanent migration was not a significant predictor of any form of domestic violence (DV). The findings indicate that migration should be examined in all its complexity from an intersectionality perspective and a within-gender heterogeneity framework may be necessary if we aim to address the multiplicity in migrant women's lives. In practice, attempt to alleviate the negative impact of migration on DV requires reforms or the abolition of the hukou system, and programs and services should be provided in particular to return women migrants who face triple oppression of institutional discrimination, socioeconomic stratification, and regionality marginalization.

Whether and when disclosing the trauma to one’s children in a migratory context? A pilot mixed methods investigation

BackgroundDisclosing traumatic events experienced by parents to their children is a central issue in the intergenerational trauma transmission. However, little is known about this question among migrant population. The main objective of this study was to examine the choice to disclose the traumatic experiences of migrant women in France to their children.MethodsThis pilot study examined fourteen mother–child dyads in which migrant mothers (M = 30 years; range = 19–42 years) were exposed to traumatic events. A sequential mixed method design was used. In addition to the completion of the Impact Event Scale-Revised, qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews. These data were analyzed using thematic and cross-cultural methods. The survey took place from May 2019 to July 2020.ResultsOur study revealed three profiles of mothers with regard to the choice to disclose the traumatic story to the child: one group of mothers opted for silence (n = 4), the other for disclosure (n = 7) and the last group who were hesitant (n = 3). The modalities of choice were statistically associated with the severity of the post-traumatic stress symptoms, F (2, 11) = 4,62, p < .05. Specifically, women who made the choice of silence (M = 72.75, SD = 4.99) and those hesitated on the choice to disclosure (M = 71.33, SD = 7.51) reported higher scores on IES-R than those who made the choice to disclosure (M = 59.86, SD = 12.44). Six main themes emerged from the thematic and cross-cultural analysis of participants’ narratives: (1) the personalization of the traumatic experience, (2) the child seen as a weapon against collapse, (3) the fear of the child's personal reactions, (4) the possible partial disclosure, (5) the trauma narrative according to the child's age, and (6) the trap of the in-between two cultures.ConclusionOur results suggest that the recovery of these mothers from their trauma, through culturally appropriate therapeutic care, can effectively contribute to the choice to disclose their traumatic experiences to their children. This treatment can support them in developing open and healthy communication strategies to prevent the transmission of traumatic effects to their children.

Effect of marriage migrant women's experience of discrimination on acculturation stress: Focused on the moderating effect of self-esteem

본 연구의 목적은 결혼이주여성의 차별경험과 문화적응스트레스의 관계를 살펴보고, 차별경 험과 문화적응스트레스 사이에서 자아존중감의 조절효과가 어떠한지 규명하는 것이다. 연구목 적 달성을 위하여 다문화청소년패널조사 2기데이터의 결혼이주여성 2,167명을 분석대상으로 Baron과 Kenny(1986)의 조절효과 모델에 근거하여 위계적 조절회귀분석을 실시하였다. 분석결 과 결혼이주여성의 차별경험은 문화적응스트레스를 높이는 주요 요인으로 나타났다. 또한 결혼 이주여성의 차별경험이 문화적응스트레스에 미치는 부정적인 영향은 자아존중감의 정도에 따라 달라져 자아존중감이 조절효과가 있는 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 결과를 기반으로 결혼이주여성 의 문화적응스트레스 완화를 위한 실천적 전략을 제시하고 한국생활적응에 도움이 되는 지원방 안에 대해 모색하였다.

The development and validation of the \u2018Good Life in the Community Scale\u2019 (GLiCS): a validation study with women migrants living in high income countries

BackgroundTo date, few assessment instruments have been developed to quantitatively measure the mental health status of migrant populations specifically. This paper describes the development and preliminary assessment of the ‘Good Life in the Community Scale’ (GLiCS). GLiCS is a wellbeing measure for migrant women in high-income settings that was coproduced with experts by experience across two phases.MethodsThe study used a mixed-methods approach and was composed of two phases. Phase I: 88 initial items generated using qualitative data collected in a previous study were reduced to 42 through consultation with expert advisory panels, based on whether each item was considered understandable and relevant Phase II: these 42 items were piloted with a sample of migrant women (N = 109). A preliminary exploratory factor analysis was conducted using Oblique rotation. Internal consistency was measured using McDonald’s ω. Convergent validity was tested by correlating the GLiCS with the Oxford Capabilities Questionnaire Mental Health (OxCAP-MH), WHO-5 wellbeing index and Objective Social Outcomes Index (SIX). Incremental validity was tested using hierarchical regression analysis to ascertain the effect on the WHO-5 wellbeing index of: age, migration status, SIX, OxCAP-MH and GLiCS. Known groups validity, the ability a measure has to discriminate between groups likely to differ on the variables of interest, was tested between the different migrant categories using a simple between subjects ANOVA.ResultsExploratory factor analysis confirmed a 17-item (three-factor: (i) access to resources, (ii) belonging and contributing, (iii) independence) scale with high internal consistency (McDonald’s ω = 0.91). Convergent and incremental validity were also evidenced.ConclusionThe GLiCS has demonstrable good internal consistency and construct validity, and it presents a promising wellbeing measure for better understanding the experience of migrant women.

Perinatal mental health services for mothers from ethnic minority and migrant backgrounds

Abstract Perinatal mental health disorders are among the most common morbidities of the perinatal period with considerable adverse effects on mothers and their offspring. Members of ethnic minority groups, particularly those from migrant backgrounds, are at higher risk of developing mental illness with evidence of ongoing inequality in access to support. We will present an exploratory mixed-methods study scoping ethnic minority and migrant women's experiences accessing perinatal mental health services in the UK. Results showed how women perceived access to services as very challenging and how they experienced ‘suffering in silence', a ‘need for a safe space to talk and to be listened to', and a ‘need of finding other women like them'. We will complement these findings with the lessons learned from a related project, a three-site European study (ORAMMA) evaluating the feasibility of implementing an integrated perinatal care model for migrant mothers comprising maternity peer supporters (MPSs)-women from migrant backgrounds who had lived in the country for a longer time and were trained to support other migrant women during the childbearing continuum-. Results showed that MPSs supported migrant women accessing maternity care, overcoming language barriers, and advocating for them in their encounters with healthcare professionals. Besides, they provided emotional support and increased women's confidence, helping them overcome loneliness, encouraging them to build relationships with others and promoting bonding with the new baby. Bringing these two projects together, we will discuss how MPSs have the potential to help overcome barriers that immigrant women experience in seeking perinatal mental health and how the benefits of maternity peer supporters have the potential to reduce perinatal mental health risks amongst migrant mothers. Findings will point to the need for future research to evaluate the direct impacts of MPSs on immigrant's mother perinatal mental health.

More than a Migration Status: Examining Intersectionality and Its Effect on the Experiences of Migrant Women in France

This article investigates the intersecting parts of a person’s identity to determine the extent to which this multi-layered identity affects treatment received by the local community and associated life experiences. This is done by looking at migrant women in France who originate from Sub-Saharan Africa and how their gender, race, and religion interact with biases and systems of discrimination in the destination country in relation to the identity aspects. Each aspect of identity is evaluated separately with the goal of layering the findings together through proxying to discover how much an intersectional identity creates different life experiences for women migrants.

Addressing social inequity through improving relational care: A social-ecological model based on the experiences of migrant women and midwives in South Wales.

Migrant and ethnic inequalities in maternal and perinatal mortality persist across high-income countries. Addressing social adversity and inequities across the childbirth trajectory cannot be left to chance and the good intentions of practitioners. Robust, evidence-based tools designed to address inequity by enhancing both the quality of provision and the experience of care are needed. An inductive modelling approach was used to develop a new evidence-based conceptual model of woman-midwife relationships, drawing on data from an ethnographic study of relationships between migrant Pakistani women and midwives, conducted between 2013 and 2016 in South Wales, UK. Key analytic themes from early data were translated into social-ecological concepts, and a model was developed to represent how these key themes interacted to influence the woman-midwife relationship. Three key concepts influencing the woman-midwife relationship were developed from the three major themes of the underpinning research: (1) Healthcare System; (2) Culture and Religion; and (3) Family Relationships. Two additional weaving concepts appeared to act as a link between these three key concepts: (1) Authoritative Knowledge and (2) Communication of Information. Social and political factors were also considered as contextual factors within the model. A visual representation of this model was developed and presented. The model presented in this paper, along with future work to further test and refine it in other contexts, has the potential to impact on inequalities by facilitating future discussion on cultural issues, encouraging collaborative learning and knowledge production and providing a framework for future global midwifery practice, education and research. At the outset of the underpinning research, a project involvement group was created to contribute to study design and conduct. This group consisted of the three authors, an Advocacy Officer at Race Equality First and an NHS Consultant Midwife. This group met regularly throughout the research process, and members were involved in discussions regarding ethical/cultural/social issues, recruitment methods, the creation of participant information materials, interpretation of data and the dissemination strategy. Ideas for the underpinning research were also discussed with members of the Pakistani community during community events and at meetings with staff from minority ethnic and migrant support charities (BAWSO, Race Equality First, The Mentor Ring). Local midwives contributed to study design through conversations during informal observations of antenatal appointments for asylum seekers and refugees.

Cycling in(to) Society: Integration and Social Mobility in Copenhagen

Integration and the processes involved are increasingly becoming more important in anthropological studies as the world is globalising. However, individual experiences of migrants, especially those of women, are often not considered in academic research. Therefore, I aim to include personal experiences of migrant women by studying those in the context of integration in Copenhagen. I conducted fieldwork over two months in the city of Copenhagen through participant observation in a cycling course created by the Red Cross, along with several informal interviews and five in-depth interviews with key informants. This article examines how integration is perceived, whether intersecting physical and social mobility can aid integration, and what impact gender has on these processes. Integration in this context is argued to be a form of social mobility, one that describes a forward movement into society. The process of integration for the women considered in this research is aided by cycling, as moving through the city physically promotes social mobility. Cyclists learn to navigate both the social and physical environment around them, and they gain access to services as well as opportunities in the labour market.

Newly Arrived Migrant Women's Experience of Maternity Health Information: A Face-to-Face Questionnaire Study in Norway.

Limited understanding of health information may contribute to an increased risk of adverse maternal outcomes among migrant women. We explored factors associated with migrant women’s understanding of the information provided by maternity staff, and determined which maternal health topics the women had received insufficient coverage of. We included 401 newly migrated women (≤5 years) who gave birth in Oslo, excluding migrants born in high-income countries. Using a modified version of the Migrant Friendly Maternity Care Questionnaire, we face-to-face interviewed the women postnatally. The risk of poor understanding of the information provided by maternity staff was assessed in logistic regression models, presented as adjusted odds ratios (aORs), with 95% confidence intervals (CI). The majority of the 401 women were born in European and Central Asian regions, followed by South Asia and North Africa/the Middle East. One-third (33.4%) reported a poor understanding of the information given to them. Low Norwegian language proficiency, refugee status, no completed education, unemployment, and reported interpreter need were associated with poor understanding. Refugee status (aOR 2.23, 95% CI 1.01–4.91), as well as a reported interpreter need, were independently associated with poor understanding. Women who needed but did not get a professional interpreter were at the highest risk (aOR 2.83, 95% CI 1.59–5.02). Family planning, infant formula feeding, and postpartum mood changes were reported as the most frequent insufficiently covered topics. To achieve optimal understanding, increased awareness of the needs of a growing, linguistically diverse population, and the benefits of interpretation services in health service policies and among healthcare workers, are needed.

Female Genital Mutilation Consequences and Healthcare Received among Migrant Women: A Phenomenological Qualitative Study.

European healthcare systems are increasingly being challenged to respond to female genital mutilation (FGM). This study explores the FGM experiences of migrant women coming from FGM-practicing countries residing in a European host country. A qualitative phenomenological study was carried out and 23 participants were included. Data were collected through 18 face-to-face open-ended interviews and a focus group and were analysed using Giorgi’s four-step phenomenological approach. Three main themes were derived: “FGM consequences”, “healthcare received” and “tackling FGM”. Participants highlighted obstetric, gynaecological and genitourinary consequences such as haemorrhages, perineal tears, caesarean delivery, risk of infection, dysmenorrhea, urinary tract infections and dysuria; consequences for sexuality, mainly, dyspareunia, loss of sexual interest and decreased quality of sexual intercourse; and psychological consequences such as loss of self-esteem, feelings of humiliation and fear of social and familial rejection. Women perceived a profound lack of knowledge about FGM from health providers and a lack of sensitive and empathetic care. Some women perceived threatening and disproportionate attitudes and reported negative experiences. Participants highlighted the importance of educating, raising awareness and improving prevention and detection strategies. The findings disclose the need to improve training and institutional plans to address structural and attitudinal barriers to health equity across migrant families in their host countries.

Mujeres migrantes en tránsito por México. La perspectiva cuantitativa y de género

The objective of this work is to comprehensively analyze the experience of migrant women in transit through Mexico from a quantitative and gender perspective. Based on the Survey on Migration in the Southern Border (Emif Sur), the migration strategies in transit of Central American women are analyzed, as well as the harmful situations and damages they suffer on their journeys through Mexican territory, compared to males and in relation to gender roles. Additionally, three key concepts of women's migration journeys are examined: vulnerability, risks, and migration strategies. The empirical evidence analyzed indicates that women, despite their greater vulnerability to face migratory transit, deploy various migratory strategies that allow them to reduce the harmful effects of their journeys through Mexico and emerge more unscathed than their male compatriots; at least, regarding certain risks and dangers such as robberies and assaults, fatal accidents, and violent deaths. However, there are some problems in their trajectories, such as sexual assaults and human trafficking, which continue to affect women prominently and on which the existing information is insufficient.

Sexual Violences Traveling to El Norte: An Example of Quilting as Method

This quilt documents sexual violence migrant women experience and demonstrates Quilting as Method, a feminist, qualitative research method. The author argues that tactile approaches to research can deepen understandings of shallowly understood experiences.

Migrant women becoming British citizens: care and coloniality

ABSTRACT This article explores the different experiences of migrant women who are at various stages in the UK naturalisation process, drawing on interviews in Leicester and London, United Kingdom. We consider how care and coloniality shape migrant women’s experiences in the context of the neoliberal test process and what Nancy Fraser has called a ‘crisis of care’ (Fraser 2016). We argue that migrant women claim their own citizenship despite rather than because of the naturalisation process, and in so doing resist colonial relations of citizenship.

Can the subaltern feel? An ethnography of migration, subalternity, and emotion

Drawing on biographical and migratory experiences gathered from Chinese marriage-migrants in Taiwan, this paper investigates the link between migration, subalternity and emotion. We examine how emotions are socially, temporarily and situationally constructed by migrant women, positioned in a condition of vulnerability during migration. Conceptually, we advance that emotions can be turned into resources, practices and competences that sustain migrants' social, economic and cultural positioning in the society of arrival. Through the identification of three empirically-rooted states of emotions – imaginative, implosive and mutual – we claim that, in a context of social contempt, familial exclusion and economic marginalisation, migrants' individual and collective performance of emotions contributes to ‘undo’ a condition of subalternity. Such states are purposely experimental and incomplete. Whilst they are as temporary and mutable as migrant women's emotional experiences and practices, this paper proposes that they could serve as a methodological and analytical tool for future research on migration and emotion.

Tracing Colonial Maternalism Within the Gendered Morals of Humanitarianism: Experiences of Migrant Women at the Moroccan-Spanish Border

By bringing together two sets of qualitative fieldwork conducted in 2016 and 2017 with humanitarian organizations and migrant women on the two sides of the Eastern Moroccan-Spanish border, this article examines the ways in which women humanitarians exercise power over women’s lives, bodies and mobility. Though humanitarianism in the border context has been researched at European and United States-Mexico borders, the specifically gendered implications of humanitarian governance at borders needs further investigation. Drawing on interviews and participant observation with a religious humanitarian organization on the Moroccan side of the border and with medical humanitarians and social workers on the Spanish side, we researched women humanitarians’ interventions toward migrant women from West African, North African and Middle Eastern countries. Beyond the differences that characterize these religious and socio-medical humanitarian settings and the different migration regimes in which they are inscribed, we argue that the power exerted by women humanitarians reproduces a form of maternalism underpinned by gendered moral beliefs regarding women’s bodies, mobility and family life. We foreground that such maternalism represents a cornerstone of women’s humanitarian engagement across time and we identify continuities between colonial maternalism, contemporary forms of humanitarian care carried out by women and maternalist integration politics in Western postcolonial societies. Rooted in colonial maternalism, racialized beliefs justified women’s (religious, medical, social) prominent role in intervening in the intimate spaces of women casted as radically Other. Our contemporary case studies demonstrate how the practices of women humanitarians impact on racialized migrant women’s daily lives, intruding on their intimacy, imposing controls over their bodies and impacting on their possibilities for mobility. The article explores how the racialization of migrant women, articulated with moral ideas around women’s reproductive health and mothering responsibilities, produce varied forms of disciplining and control on both sides of the border Moroccan-Spanish border.

Probing the Context of Vulnerability: Zimbabwean Migrant Women's Experiences of Accessing Public Health Care in South Africa

The economic meltdown and worsening levels of poverty in Zimbabwe led to a significant increase in the number of women migrating to South Africa from 2005 to 2010 (Crush et al., 2015: 367). A Southern African Migration Programme (SAMP) survey in 1997 found that 61% of Zimbabwean migrants were male and 39% were female (Crush et al., 2015: 367). This suggested that there was an increase in the number of women migrating to South Africa compared with other countries in Southern Africa. This gives us reason to speculate that the numbers could have increased a decade later because of the economic crisis that resulted in large numbers of people migrating out of Zimbabwe. Most Zimbabwean women are now moving across borders independently of their spouses and partners in search of better and sustainable livelihoods (Dzingirai et al., 2015: 13; Mbiyozo, 2019). Whilst some have valid immigration documents, a large number of these women are undocumented, which heightens their vulnerability to various structures of violence (Bloch, 2010;Rutherford, 2020: 172).

Voices out of the Shadows: Migrant Women Workers from Senegal

Young and recently widowed mother-of-three, Toulaye1 moved to Italy in 2010 to look for work. Back in her native Senegal, sexual harassment by her boss and a bullying culture forced her to quit a prestigious job in the finance sector. With her qualifications not being recognised in Italy, she turned her hand to whatever she could find; mostly in the care sector. Toulaye was frequently blackmailed by one employer, only too aware of her staff’s undocumented status. When Toulaye refused her sexual advances, she found herself out on the street and denied six weeks’ of backdated wages. Years later, after Toulaye successfully navigated the labyrinthine Italian immigration system, the harassment still didn’t desist. An employer installed cameras everywhere, including the shower. In order to keep him on side, Toulaye’s agency advised her not to pursue the matter. This is the first of many stories collated in a 2021 report foregrounding the myriad experiences of migrant women from West Africa. It’s with the sad recognition that accounts like Toulaye’s are all too common, that Testimonies of Migrant Women Workers in Senegal came about. An 8-month long collaborative effort between Germany’s Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) foundation, RSMMS (The Trade Union Network for Mediterranean Sub-Saharan Migration) and Senegal’s inter-trade union action on migration (CARISM), the project was greatly influenced by the adoption in 2019 of the International Labour Organisation’s Convention 190 (C190) - and Recommendation 206 - on violence and harassment in the world of work. Grassroots civil society campaigning has already been instrumental in driving changes to Senegalese legislation on sexual assault. As well as criminalising rape and paedophilia, Law 2020-05 makes reference to harassment and ‘indecent behaviour’. In light of these recent victories, the research aims to buttress campaign efforts for ratification and full implementation of C190 in the Sahel countries, including by the Réseau National des Femmes Syndicalistes du Sénégal (RENAFES, English: The National Network of Women Trade Unionists of Senegal). ‘This work is a valuable contribution by women trade unionists; principled activists who combine solidarity with workers in the field’ says Naima Hammami, Deputy Secretary General of the UGTT (Tunisian General Labour Union) on behalf of the RSMMS. ‘A far cry from slogans and declarations of principle, the…publication highlights the violence and harassment that women in general, and migrant women in particular, endure’. The advent of C190 was not the only motivating factor. In search of data around the living and working conditions of migrants, FES Tunisia discovered there was a dearth. ‘The results showed the necessity of paying more attention to migrants’ situation who, because of their isolation, are out of the state’s reach and often remain hard for unions and associations to access’ says occupational safety and health consultant Fambaye Ndoye, author of the report. Whilst acknowledging the realities of the pandemic, the research team remained undeterred. Comprised of academics and legal professionals, they found innovative ways to reach the women. With the help of contacts on the ground, the RSMMS put researchers in touch with potential interviewees. The use of WhatsApp proved highly pragmatic. All the women interviewed had the application. They could communicate discreetly with the team whilst at work. For those who did not have access to wi-fi, data was provided. Of course, this purely online medium came with challenges, such as long lapses of contact. Interviews had to be conducted piece-meal. There were technical problems and often poor sound quality. More challenging still, not all the women were forthcoming. Some subjects were considered offlimits and interviewees would refuse to continue. For those who did open up, researchers noticed a reluctance to discuss the extent of their emotional trauma. The vast majority of those interviewed would only do so under the cloak of anonymity. These brief accounts are nonetheless rich and poignant. After a relatively happy stint working for a family in Spain, Awa was convinced by a friend to move to Saudi Arabia in 2012. It’s a depressingly familiar story of smugglers and wage theft, only for Awa to be burdened furthermore by invented debts. Domestic workers’ rights evaporate once they cross the...