Is it trafficking?

Examining gender-based violence among women who do informal, precarious, non-standard work.

Research Update

October 24, 2024

This revealed a tendency in the literature to focus analyses and services on victims of either trafficking in persons or migrant worker exploitation, on either Indigenous or migrant women, and either “sex trafficking” or “labour trafficking.”

We believe that, by focusing on all forms of gender-based violence experienced by racialized women in all forms of informal, precarious, non-standard work, our project will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of women’s needs and the various avenues that community-based organizations can take to support them – regardless of state-imposed categorizations.

We formed an advisory group to provide feedback and guidance as the project progresses.

It consists of service providers and advocates from the four provinces and one territory: Jess Doward from the Yukon Status of Women Council; Raul Gatica from Dignidad Migrante in British Columbia; Carey Collins from ACT Alberta; Manuela Valle Castro, a feminist researcher in Saskatchewan; and Jonny Mexico, a consultant, advisor and activist from Manitoba.

The advisory group meets bimonthly to discuss the project’s objectives and progress and other relevant developments in the sex worker and migrant worker rights and anti-trafficking fields.

We conducted 13 research interviews – nine with advocates and service providers and four with racialized women who experienced gender-based violence at work.

So far these are revealing the continuum of exploitation that women experience – from being cheated about the work they would be doing in Canada, to not being paid overtime, to severe violence and control. For their part, community organizations provide a wide range of services but often struggle to meet all of their clients’ needs due to understaffing, funding limitations, or administrative restrictions.

In the next six months, we plan to complete the research interviews and begin analyzing the data.

If you would like to know more about the project or contribute as a research participant (service provider or racialized woman with lived experience), please contact us.