Welcome • Sponsors • Conference Schedule •Panelist Handbook • Abstracts and Bios • Contact Us

Abstracts and Bios

Trafficking of Young Women and Girls: A Case of “Au Pair” and Domestic Laborers in Tanzania

Elinami Veraeli Swai, Department of Adult Education and Women Studies, Penn State University
evs103@psu.edu

In recent times, increased flow of people and goods within and across transnational borders has led to questions about trafficking in human beings. Human beings, particularly women and children have been illegally trafficked like contraband goods such as drugs and weapons, within and across international borders and have been used as pawns in underground global economy. This paper interrogates trafficking in young women and children both within and outside Tanzania. Specifically, the paper is based on narratives of female domestic workers in Tanzania and au pair, who are recruited to work as domestic laborers in the Western world such as Europe and United States. It investigates sites, patterns and extent of exploitation of trafficked Tanzanian young women, particularly their misuse and abuse, the ways they learn and understand their roles, positions and needs and the strategies they use in transforming their daily lives. My argument is that these girls are victims of global economy due to the social and economic implications for their lives. The paper is situated within globalization, gender, and post-modern and post-colonial theories, under which the abuse of au pair as women and their movement across national borders as economic entities, are interrogated. Globalization theories will be used as a lens in looking into the dynamics of the movements across international borders, and the pain this has inflicted on these women in the global space. The paper pays attention to global forces driven by corporate agencies that aggressively surge and take control of markets irrespective of national borders or heed to human suffering, which their activities generate. Gender lens will examine the structures and processes of gender relations and various ways in which trafficked young woman and girls are likely to reinforce already existing gender inequalities. Post-modern and post colonial theories will be used as frameworks to gather young woman and girls’ narratives based on their lived experiences. These lenses are therefore frameworks by which overwhelming odds faced by trafficked young women and children including forced labor, exploitation or prostitution and the consequences of STD infections and HIV/AIDS are examined.