From Recruitment to Return: The Illusion of Reform in the Kafala System

African women have migrated to Gulf Cooperation Council states and neighbouring Middle Eastern countries for decades, drawn by economic insecurity at home, gendered labour market exclusion, and the pressing need to send remittances back to their households. Most enter destination labour markets under the kafala system, a sponsorship arrangement that ties a worker's immigration status entirely to an individual employer, a structure in which passport confiscation, unpaid wages, and physical abuse become routine rather than exceptional.

Since Bahrain's 2009 reform, several Gulf states have followed with amendments of their own: Qatar abolished the exit permit requirement for most workers and introduced a non-discriminatory minimum wage, Saudi Arabia eased job transfers and exit procedures, and the United Arab Emirates enacted a new federal labour law. These changes have been presented internationally as a decisive break from the old sponsorship model.

This brief argues that the presentation is, at best, incomplete. Domestic workers, overwhelmingly women and disproportionately African, remain excluded from the general labour codes these reforms amend. Drawing on evidence from Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, and Ethiopia, the brief traces how vulnerability persists across recruitment, employment, and return, and finds that the gap between announced reform and lived reality reflects a deficit of political will, institutional capacity, and cross-border enforcement, rather than an absence of law. It closes with recommendations directed at African origin states, Gulf and Middle Eastern destination countries, and the International Labour Organization.

Read the full brief here.

Prepared by: Politics4Her Africa, Policy and Research Writing Officers

Authors: Ameze Mfune Okoro, Trecia Ndelema, Tamar Godalazian, Tanya Vatsa,

and Namboowa Bakiika

Regional focus: Kenya · Nigeria · Uganda · Ethiopia · GCC States

Date of publication: 22 September 2026