We will reduce number of female domestics going abroad-Atukorale

Sri Lanka aims to drastically reduce the number of female domestic helpers travelling for jobs abroad and to the Middle East in particular and if possible put an end to the practice of sending them as lowly-paid housemaids in the next five years, Foreign Employment Minister Thalatha Atukorale said yesterday.

There are familial, social and financial issues that had contributed to the decision to curtail the number of female domestic helpers going abroad to work. Studies have shown that if and when the expatriate female domestic helper is a mother with dependent children, her departure has a negative impact on the family, which could be drastic. In most cases, the education of children gets disrupted, the children lose the security and love given to them by their mother, while the father in the family, in many instances, resorts to alcoholism and gets involved in extra -marital affairs. Unfortunately, incidents of incest are also not rare occurrences in these families.

The low salaries drawn by female domestic helpers and numerous harassments they face from their foreign employers and extreme working conditions had also been named as factors in the decision not to encourage Sri Lankan women to seek employment as domestic helpers in foreign countries.

“Our aim is to send female professionals to the foreign job market for higher salaries in friendly working conditions. To realize this we expect to launch skills development and job orientation programmes for women along with higher educational qualifications,” she said.

In 2014, 300,413 Sri Lankans had left the country for foreign employment while 110,489 of them were female. In the first six months

Our aim is to send female professionals to the foreign job market for higher salaries in friendly working conditions. To realize this we expect to launch skills development and job orientation programmes for women along with higher educational qualifications

of 2015, 123,925 had gone for foreign employment and 45,011 of them were women. These figures show that there has been a sharp drop in the number of women seeking employment abroad in recent times, Minister Atukorale added.

Commenting on errant foreign job agencies, Minister Atukorale said foreign job agency operators must take the responsibility for a majority of troubles faced by expatriate Sri Lankans and the female domestic helpers in particular.

Legal action has been instituted against over 100 job agencies, she said.