DATE: 2007
DURATION: 26 min
SUBJECT: Women migrant domestic work & work rights
LOCATION: Lebanon / Sri Lanka

PARTNERS: Caristas / ILO / Netherlands Embassy

 

 

SYNOPSIS

 

'Maid in Lebanon' is about the thousands of Asian women who leave their homes to work as housemaids in the Arab World, in the hope of securing a better economic future. Yet, since their experiences are hidden behind closed doors, little is known of the fears, struggles and abuses they face while working abroad.

 

Tracing women’s journeys from Sri Lanka to Lebanon, 'Maid in Lebanon' exposes the obscure world of the domestic migrant workers. The few who succeed and the many who do not. In their own voices, the women in this film reveal cases of torture, rape, physical and mental abuse, and withholding of wages and passports.

 

The documentary explores the questions of why women migrate, why they often return to the Middle East over and over despite the suffering, and why abuses occur.