Filipino domestic workers reveal the abuses they faced in Saudi Arabia
A number of Filipino women working in private households in Saudi Arabia are being overworked, exploited and subjected
to inhuman and degrading treatment, including sexual assault, all of which is being enabled by the country’s abusive labour system and a lack of effective protections.
Amnesty International is calling on the Saudi Arabian government to immediately investigate all allegations of abuse and bring perpetrators to justice as well as ensure proper, proactive labour inspections.
Here, two of the women interviewed for Amnesty’s new briefing,
“Once we step in their homes, we are no longer human”: Testimonies of Filipino women domestic workers in Saudi Arabia
, share their stories.
“I thought my body was going to collapse”
Gloria* took on the role of a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia for two years
I decided to take a job in Saudi Arabia when I was 44. My son was in college and my husband’s salary couldn’t cover the bills. I’d worked in Kuwait previously and I’d had a positive experience.
I found a legitimate recruitment agency on Facebook who processed my papers, arranged a medical as well as training for no fee. The agency told me to read my contract properly to ensure I understood everything. It stated I would work eight hours a day.
But when I arrived, the working hours didn’t ring true. After eight hours of work, the family would knock on my door, telling me there was further work in the house. It was continuous. I would get 15 minutes’ rest [for the whole working day], if I was lucky. I wasn’t allowed a day off, instead the only time I would go outside was during a family picnic when I had to look after one of the family members.
For five months, I worked from 6am – 8pm. I didn’t even have time to go to the toilet. Seven people lived in the house and they always wanted something.
I told them what was stated in my contract, but they told me to go back to the ag
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