The Trafficker Next Door – How Household Employers Exploit Domestic Workers

The phrase “human trafficking” often conjures nightmarish images of sexual exploitation but Rhacel Salazar Parreñas reveals that the majority of trafficking victims are domestic workers—who suffer abuse at the hands of “ordinary” family employers. Drawing on twenty years of research across three continents, Parreñas exposes the grim realities faced by migrant workers ensnared in forced labour due to poverty and debt bondage. She uncovers how entrenched social and legal norms, coupled with a patronising “employer saviour complex”, foster a troubling sense of ownership among employers over “their” domestic workers. Through powerful firsthand accounts, Parreñas illustrates migrants’ desperation and the power dynamics that often lead to modern-day slavery. Parreñas’s urgent narrative challenges readers to confront uncomfortable truths about everyday household arrangements and calls for justice and fair treatment for all workers.