Examining risk and protective factors for labor trafficking victimization among female domestic workers in Tunisia

• In Event: Frontiers of Research on Human Trafficking

Abstract

Domestic workers are a vulnerable population for labor trafficking, often working in precarious or unregulated agreements with their employers. As part of a multi-country Prevalence Reduction Innovation Forum (PRIF), two hidden population sampling strategies were employed to survey female domestic workers employed in the area of Greater Tunis, Tunisia (N = 1,952). This presentation uses item-response theory derived, multidimensional measures of labor trafficking victimization to examine the demographic, employment, and social support factors associated with increased or decreased risk of trafficking outcomes. Results from regression modeling suggests that variation in demographic factors do little to predict trafficking victimization, but rather that characteristics of employment situations are better able to discriminate between levels of victimization risk. Implications for research and practice will be discussed.

Authors

• Boci Meng, University of Massachusetts Lowell

• Jason Rydberg, University of Massachusetts Lowell

• Sheldon Zhang, University of Massachusetts Lowell

• Kyle Vincent, Independent Contractor