‘Not My Parents’ House’: the Disciplining of Ethiopian Women Migrant Domestic Workers in the Gulf States

Abstract

Based on the principles of discipline as developed by Michel Foucault, this article argues that Ethiopian migrant domestic workers in Middle Eastern countries find that they have safer migration experiences if they submit to multiple forms of disciplining of their bodies and characters to fit the normative ideals of the compliant, obedient and unthreatening domestic worker (Foucault, 1977). Physical, sexual and emotional harms have been well documented where domestic workers are trapped within the homes of their employers with little recourse to external resources or assistance if required. Although exact figures are unknown, large numbers of Ethiopian women find themselves in such a position of vulnerability, particularly as they tend to travel to countries in the Gulf States and Middle East where legal frameworks for labour migrants remain weak (ILO, 2011). Discipline, in the Foucauldian sense, helps vulnerable Ethiopian women migrants negotiate the perils of domestic labour in the Middle East.