Gender Understanding wage theft and the political economy of migration necessitates discussion on the involvement of women in the migration process, particularly the involvement of gendered processes and the intersectionality of the gendered international division of labour in the region. While migration challenges always exist, with regards to mobility, the beneficiary is determined by social class and gender. The cases of wage theft reported to the platform by female migrant workers were predominantly from the care sector. The notion of care industry is built upon gendered notions where even soft skills are gendered and governments demand and deploy more women into the sectors of hospitality and care. Moreover, the terminology of ‘domestic worker’ is increasingly changing and the nature of the job is also facing major changes in countries of destination. Domestic work has now been separated into different roles such as ‘nanny’, ‘home nurse’ ‘cleaner’, ‘cook’, etc., in certain destination countries to cater to labour market governance changes. However, the inherent nature of care work and the ‘live-in’ aspect of their job determine the domestic workers’ experience in the destination country. The increasing value of the care economy deems it necessary for domestic workers to be present for long periods of time within the living space of the employer and are preferred as ‘live-in’. It becomes problematic for the workers themselves when they are made to live-in with the employers and this has primarily been identified as a major loophole where abuse and exploitation occurs – particularly, in terms of access to healthcare and justice mechanisms. For example, migrant women who do report sexual mistreatment or abuse by employer or sponsor, are referred to public attorneys to handle the case as it is criminal in nature. While the case in being heard, the women are unable to get a regular job and find it difficult to get employers who would sign contracts with them. However, the challenge is to prove that such an assault has taken place, as domestic workers are usually isolated in their employers’ homes. There are no outside witnesses and family members of the employer often support those accused of sexual offences. Domestic workers that reported being physically or sexually abused during the pandemic mentioned that they only wanted to return home and did not want to pursue the case due to the consequences upon their life and employment. During the pandemic, wage theft cases among domestic workers observed that when employers were affected by job losses or downturn in business, this directly affected their ability to pay the domestic worker – in fact, the pandemic became an excuse to keep domestic workers bound to the job. For instance, in Lebanon, after the currency crash, domestic workers were found leaving the country as soon as possible. News reports mentioned certain nationalities such as Ethiopian domestic workers in particular were dumped outside their embassies by their employers without their owed wages and no money to buy a ticket home. Domestic workers were paid at an exchange rate far less than the market rate and were struggling to buy basic necessities. In September 2020, the Lebanese labour ministry adopted a new standard unified contract for domestic workers that guaranteed overtime pay, sick pay, annual leave, and the national minimum wage. Most importantly, it allowed workers to leave employment without the consent of their employer. But the new contract has been stalled by the Syndicate of the Owners of Recruitment Agencies and is currently under appeal. 6 The situation of domestic workers was further compounded by lockdowns which increased the duties and effort of the domestic work to cater to more members of the family round-the-clock. Domestic workers further reported receiving little to no rest during the pandemic and were performing multiple duties in caring 6 Al-Jazeera. 16 April 2021. Lebanon’s financial crisis worsens exploitation of domestic workers https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/11/lebanons-economic-crisis-and-its-domestic-workers 26