Review 734: The Trafficker Next Door

The Trafficker Next Door: How Household Employers Exploit Domestic Workers by Rhacel Salazar Parreñas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a fairly short book on a topic that could certainly use a longer treatment. The book starts by discussing one case in depth, which was revealed in the magazine The Atlantic in 2017. Eudocia Pulido was given as a “gift” at the age of 18 to Alex Tizon’s mother. (Tizon is the author of the article.) Pulido was essentially a slave for over 45 years. Pulido’s parents in the Philippines never knew what happened to their daughter, as they died before she was given any freedom or money, which occurred after Tizon’s mother died. She worked for many decades without pay, unable to contact anyone, without control over her own life.

Another chapter focused on domestic migrant workers in Singapore, Dubai and UAE, and how employment agencies exploit these women, such as charging enormous fees to the worker. Coupled with very low wages they could go six months to a year before seeing any money. Some of the employers, rich households, would monitor how much their domestic worker would eat, many losing 10-15% of their body weight in the first few months of employment. Employers also monitor their movements and communication, not allowing them to call home, or leave their house whenever they would like, as their working hours are nearly round the clock. They cook, clean, do laundry, take care of the children, whatever their employers demand and in return get very little, a place to sleep and not much else.

The last chapter looked at the employers, or exploiters. Often, they used excuses for their own behavior for trafficking these women. Even some of the employers were expats from western countries, one would hope they would do better, such as the author herself. Parreñas was living temporarily in Singapore and was able to hire a domestic worker but did not go along with the agency agreements for pay. She paid off the worker’s agency fees immediately, gave her worker more pay than the agency’s suggestion, fed her well, and gave her set working hours that were not overly long nor egregious. Once off the clock the employee had freedom to do as she pleased. This is one of those books that makes you wonder about humanity; how we can be cruel to others over and over again.