NewsSri Lankan women who take up domestic work in the Middle East to support families, according to a report in the Guardian are being targeted by recruitment agents who order them to take contraceptives before leaving. Bhaskaran believes the contraceptive serves a double purpose: covering up potential sexual assaults by recruitment agents and serving as a guarantee to prospective employers in the Gulf that workers will not get pregnant. The agents coax women, even promising marriage in some cases, and then abuse them,” said Bhaskaran. Nonetheless, there are 1.5 million domestic workers in Saudi Arabia alone, and recruitment agencies fly in 40,000 foreign women a month to keep up with demand. “I see why the recruitment agencies organise it – because if found pregnant they would have to bare the cost of repatriation of the worker, so it’s in their interest to enforce it,” said Rupasinghe.

Source: Sunday Times April 06, 2018 06:22 UTC