Slavery in The 21st Century

Supply
Drivers for Demand and Supply for Migrant Domestic Workers
Starting in the mid-19th century, the employment of a domestic worker became a status
symbol for bourgeois households and a civilizing mission to young female servants
coming from the countryside in search for education, lodging and income. The character
of this migration changed around the start of the 20th century, when maids were
recruited to work overseas as part of racial purity policies, which involved providing
suitable brides for the male settlers.
Changes in roles and social
aspirations of middle-class women are
perceived to have intensified the
admission of women into waged work.
From an economic perspective,
freeing these middle and upper-class
women from household chores
allowed them to engage in more
productive activities; families’ real
income thus increases along with their
general welfare.
Escaping Hardship
Women migrating into private
households thousands of miles away
from their country of origin are
motivated to do so by the search for
better salaries and also that their
prospects will improve in the
destination countries. These women
are frequently escaping violence, war,
corruption, natural disasters and long-term economic instabilities or poverty in general.
Remittances
Because these workers' remittances are a source of revenues for their countries of
origin, some countries actively encourage their female workers to migrate abroad for
domestic work as a key development strategy, offsetting unemployment problems, while
growing the economy through accumulating foreign-exchange reserves.
Migrant domestic workers tend to replace the native peers of the host country, and
displace them towards other (usually more productive) activities.
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