| dc.description.abstract | Sri Lanka is known to export female migrant
workers as housemaids. Increasing evidence shows this
phenomenon leads to abuse of migrant females in host
countries and adversities to their children at home.
This study was carried out among 200 Sri Lankan women
seeking foreign employment as house maids at the
Foreign Employment Bureau. Data was collected using a
self- administered questionnaire and analysed using SPSS
16 version. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Ethics
Review Committee of University of Sri Jayewardenepura.
Majority (44%) consists of 30-39 years and 72% were
Sinhalese. Only 15.5% completed secondary education.
Married proportion was 60%. Husband`s income was less
than LKR 10,000 in 77% and 98.9% husbands had some
form of substance abuse. Majority said they seek foreign
employment to fulfil financial requirement but 30% said
the reason for going abroad was harassments by husband
and relatives. Of 123 children of these women, 87 (71%)
were below 20 years and were not economically active.
As a whole sample women seeking foreign employment
as housemaids have poor education, income. Where
as in married sample, majority had dependent children
and suffered substance abuse of their husbands. Hence
interventions should focus on strengthening these women
and husbands to be employed locally | en_US |
