Cahiers d'Etudes Africaines
Volume 45, Issue 3-4, 2005, Pages 1093-1121

The domestic and foreign "trade" in migrant women: Housework and prostitution [« Traite » de femmes migrantes, domesticité et prostitution: À propos de migrations interne et externe] (Article)

Moujoud N.* , Pourette D.
  • a Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Sociale, Paris, France
  • b Inserm U 569, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France

Abstract

Cases of "modern slavery" are denounced in housework and prostitution, economic activities that mostly attract unskilled women from poor countries. According to fieldwork data collected from maids in Morocco (who were part of a "traffic" between their village and the city) and in France (who came from various countries), contemporary forms of this "trade" in women have their grounds in older structures of domination based on social class, gender and origin. Migrants' stories emphasize that their implication in this "trade" usually ensues from migratory "strategies", which public opinion and political forces refuse to recognize.

Author Keywords

Migration Women Housekeeping maids Morocco Prostitution

Index Keywords

womens employment Africa prostitution trade Morocco migration exploitation North Africa
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-30444434213&partnerID=40&md5=a0fc27330a9466da95cc9fe739600d0b
ISSN: 00080055
Cited by: 6
Original Language: French