The problem
While female refugees and migrants experience obstacles when it comes to employment, the difficulties they face are different.
The Egyptian Labor Law states that foreigners are not allowed to work in Egyptian companies or institutions. Hence, according to the Center for Migration and Refugee Studies’ Project Manager, Maysa Ayoub, this limits their employment choices and forces many of these female migrants to resort to domestic labor illegally. By working without a contract they are deprived of their rights and are exposed to health hazards, long working hours, and very low wages.
Female refugees on the other hand, get employment assistance from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and its partners. This means their right to work is somewhat protected because they help them find employment and provide a platform for them to report any abuse that occurs in their place of work. Yet these women are still subject to racial discrimination, abuse, and sexual harassment.
Due to its geographic location, Egypt is a common final or transit destination for refugees and migrants coming from Africa and the Middle East who are in search of a safer and better life in Egypt. While that might be the case for some, most foreign women who migrate to or seek asylum in Egypt face economic, physical and psychological difficulties.
“I face harassment on streets all the time when I’m going and coming from work. Sometimes when I’m walking men slap my [butt] or throw something at me and all I could say is thank you and [may] God forgive you,” explained Dalia Joseph, a 22-year-old refugee from Sudan, who works as a housekeeper.
Domestic workers in Egypt organized their first labor union in 2012 to improve working conditions, raise incomes, raise awareness regarding domestic workers’ rights and to strive for contracted labor. However, foreign domestic workers are denied membership to the union and denied the right to form a union of their own in order to protect themselves.
According to Ayoub, the legal framework that concerns domestic workers, foreign ones specifically, is different in Egypt than countries in the Gulf. Countries like Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia have maid recruitment agencies that bring women from foreign countries to work as housekeepers.
“[Foreign domestic workers in the Gulf] do not have any control over their lives. Their passport is kept with the agency or the household and their movement is greatly restricted,” Ayoub said.
This sort of abuse of entrapping foreign women is not prevalent in Egypt because maid recruitment agencies are illegal to keep employment opportunities for the locals. Most of the foreign domestic workers are refugees who find employment through the word of mouth, NGOs or churches, which is why Ayoub believes this gives the women the power to control their lives.
However, while being able to keep their passports with them allows them to move freely, it also means that they are not protected by an entity that allows them to report incidents of abuse or discrimination. These factors create an abusive, violent environment for some of these women.
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Reporting this violence to authorities like the Egyptian police or their embassies is problematic for these women because, according to Joseph, many refugees believe that the police will refuse to help them and will turn a blind eye to their complaints.