Title: Migrant women workers in Cyprus: a literature review

Authors: Hanife Aliefendioglu

Addresses: Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus, via Mersin 10, Turkey

Abstract: The aim of this study is to examine the issues and discourses – from written, documented sources – of 'foreign women migrants' in Cyprus. The study is a literature review discussing similarities and differences on the issues of foreign women immigrants in terms of regulations, stories and perceptions. The issue of labour exploitation is examined around three groups of women: domestic workers, sex workers and refugee women. Results suggest that the existing studies on migrant women workers on both sides of the island lack gender sensitivity and are generally limited to official reports, rather than the realities of the lives of women explored from feminist and gender studies' perspective. The results of the study have important implications for academic institutions, researchers, government representatives, and journalists. This study provides an explanatory framework through which to examine and give meaning to the situation of migrant women in Cyprus who are recruited and subsequently exploited in low paying and low status jobs in the two dominant Cypriot communities in Cyprus.

Keywords: immigration; migrant women workers; domestic workers; sex workers; Cyprus; female migrants; literature review; migrant workers; gender sensitivity.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBG.2012.047083

International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2012 Vol.8 No.4, pp.491 - 502

Published online: 14 Aug 2014 *

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