another employer or sought refuge in the Sri Lankan embassy or worse still, in one particular case, was kept in Police custody.
how to identify such “bad” agencies. Interestingly though, many spoke of the plight of women and the need to protect them.
Hence, it is not surprising that returnee women’s advice to aspiring female migrant workers assume two strands: try to find work in Sri Lanka and not leave for work overseas or, try to maintain a low profile and carry out the work without “acting out” too much:
‘‘There is nothing wrong in going abroad. But you must first find out as much as you can about it. I sometimes feel like I also should have found out more information before going. We were in a hurry. I felt it when I was there.’’ - Kurunegala, male, returnee, 33 years, married.
‘‘If there is any issue, talk to the agency. Don’t try to leave. That creates a lot of problems because the police will question. And then there are all these other relationships also. When there are problems like that, you go and stay with that man for about a month or two and then fight and then try to return to that same house. Then suddenly you have no place to eat from, no place to sleep.’’ - Kandy, female, returnee, 30 years, married.
One must be careful. It is not good to be overly scared of them. It is best not to go out of the house, even if you are allowed a day-off. If we stay in our room and manage to do something, they are happy. If we go out, that’s pretty much the end of things. If someone says, well the wages there is quite low, you can come here and work, you must not get caught to such talk. If there is any kind of a problem the best thing is to go to the embassy. Then the responsibility is with the embassy (Kandy, female, returnee, married, age not revealed). ‘‘What I want to say is that there must be discipline. That is the main thing. You must not argue with them. Discipline is what must be there. You must stay the way they want you to be. If you do something wrong, there is no forgiveness.’’ - Kurunegala, returnee, female, 57 years, married.
In contrast, the general advice from men, is to be wary of the agencies that promise a fairy tale but then fail to deliver. But there is little indication on
‘‘The women of course need to be careful of the Baba and the sons in the house. Those men won’t let the women be. If the woman is out of the house, they think the domestic worker is their woman. Sri Lankan women are too afraid and don’t talk about their plight. If they complain, they know they will get it from the employer.’’ - Colombo, male, returnee, 37 years, married.
This tendency on the part of the men to deflect attention from themselves must not be taken lightly. As the findings indicate, men are as equally vulnerable to fall into trouble when working overseas, but they appear not to report such instances to either the agency representative or the SLBFE. With so many men now migrating on self-basis, it is unclear how well prepared they are to face the consequences of a possible breach of contract, loss of wages and/or excessive working hours. Ironically, female workers are instantly recognisable when they “appear” in public because they are generally confined indoors. The reverse holds true for the men, making it far more challenging to identify cases of deception leading to trafficking, and experiences of forced labour given their high visibility within the public domain.
4.11. A Good Workplace While men and women at times endure harsh working and living conditions, their notion of a good workplace indicates a more relational aspect: a workplace is considered good when the employer treats the worker with respect and
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