15
June
2018

Out of sight: migrant women exploited in domestic work

The stories of the domestic workers FRA interviewed for this paper reveal appalling working conditions and fundamental rights abuses in private homes across the EU. These stories indicate that, seven years on from FRA’s first report on domestic workers in 2011, little has changed in terms of the risks and experiences of severe labour exploitation domestic workers in the EU face.

This paper describes the particularly exploitative working conditions experienced by 51 migrant women – both EU and non-EU nationals – who worked as domestic workers in selected EU Member States between 2013 and 2017 and outlines risk factors that lead to severe labour exploitation of domestic workers.

The paper is the first of three publications based on exploited workers’ first-hand accounts of their experiences of severe labour exploitation. It presents opinions about how EU Member States can counteract risk factors.