The Experience of Sri Lankan Women Migrant Domestic Workers in the Middle East: An Analysis Using Reflexive Thematic Analysis and Social Dominance Theory

Abstract

Sri Lankan migrant domestic workers in the Middle East are major contributors to the country's economy. However, their own psychosocial and economic plight has been marred with severe deprivations of human rights. This report presents a qualitative analysis of a journalist’s report published in a Sri Lanka Daily, Daily Mirror (20 February 2020) of the meaning of the experience of these migrant workers, using reflexive thematic analysis. The analysis generated three themes: rights violation in receiving countries, institutional exploitation of women's rights, and non-fulfilment of protection rights by the sending government. Explanations for the social group processes identified as rights violations are explored with the social dominance theory. The theoretical flexibility of reflective thematic analysis permitted the researcher's perspectives to be brought into the interpretation of findings. The depth of analysis was limited to some extent by the limited nuances and detail in the data corpus necessitated by the use of a secondary data set, which was primarily overcome by combining perspectives of activists and the writer of the news piece.