Exploitation Without Borders: Sri Lanka’s Women Tea Plantation Workers Labour Migration to Middle East and Unsafe Pathways
摘要
Drawing from fieldwork conducted in the tea plantation estates of Central Sri Lanka, this chapter focuses on documenting the gendered impacts of the COVID-19COVID-19 pandemicPandemic and the subsequent economic and political crisis (polycrises) on the livelihoodsLivelihood of Sri Lankan womenWomen working in the tea plantation sector. The tea plantation sector, being a key contributor to foreign exchange earnings and the livelihoodLivelihood of millions, has been severely affected by these polycrises and continues to face their repercussions. The sector was severely hit by the polycrises and continues to endure the impacts. These impacts are deeply intertwined with gendered realities, providing the focal point of this study. In response to the challenges posed by polycrises, many womenWomen working on tea plantations have increasingly opted to migrate to Middle Eastern countries as domestic workers, seeking a way to overcome their difficulties. Anecdotal evidence indicates that economic vulnerabilitiesVulnerability, limited access to educationEducation, and cultural challenges faced by womenWomen in general often lead these migrant womenWomen into unsafe migrationMigration pathways, exposing them to various forms of vulnerabilityVulnerability. This research employed qualitative interviews with womenWomen at different stages of the migrationMigration process to capture how they are forced into the unsafe migrationMigration network while seeking livelihoodsLivelihood and to explore their experiences throughout the migrationMigration journey. The findings reveal that womenWomen migrants are positioned differently within the migrationMigration process based on factors such as their educationEducation, genderGender identitiesIdentity, economic status, and family backgrounds, which contribute to distinct types of vulnerabilitiesVulnerability. Furthermore, it was evident that these vulnerabilitiesVulnerability vary across the different stages of migrationMigration. The study confirmed that pre-existing vulnerabilitiesVulnerability and precarities, exacerbated by polycrises and the womenWomen’s personal circumstances, are exploited by intermediaries/agents, compelling these womenWomen to participate in unsafe migrationMigration practices. The research also highlighted that the impacts of polycrises have significantly restricted the agencyAgency of these womenWomen, forcing them into vulnerable and exploitative working environmentsEnvironment that extend from plantation estates to households in the Middle East.