Giving Compass' Take:

• News Deeply investigates the experiences of migrant workers, who travel to the Gulf States looking for domestic work. While many hope for a better life, often these people endure exploitation and physical harm.

• What can international groups and policymakers do to protect the most vulnerable workers in the system? How can we make sure abusive employers are punished?

• Here's more on how cities around the world can do more to integrate informal workers.

Every year, driven by poverty, family pressure, conflict or natural disasters back home, millions of women, mainly from developing countries, get on flights to the Gulf with their fingers crossed that they won’t be abused when they get there.

It’s a dangerous trade-off, but one that can work out for some ...

The International Labor Organization (ILO) reports that there are 11.5 million migrant domestic workers around the world — 73 percent of them are women. In 2016, there were 3.77 million domestic workers in Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

In a single household in these states, it’s common to find several domestic workers employed to do everything from cleaning and cooking, to guarding the home and tutoring the children ...

Living isolated in a house with limited mobility and no community, many domestic workers, especially women, are vulnerable to abuse. Afraid to lose their right to work, employees can endure a lot before running away, including serious sexual assault. Legal provisions do exist — in many countries, workers can file a criminal complaint against their employers, or approach labor courts for help. But often they are unaware of, or unable to access, the existing labor protections and resources.

Read the full article about migrant domestic workers in the Gulf by Sophie Cousins at News Deeply.