Since the escalation of violence in Lebanon, female migrant domestic workers face heightened vulnerability, especially with regard to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). In this article, Jasmin Lilian Diab reveals the results of the Institute for Migration Studies at the Lebanese American University’s needs assessment of 24 shelters in Lebanon that expose how SRHR remains under-prioritised, leaving women without essential health care, contraception, or protection from gender-based violence.
Since the escalation of armed conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, Lebanon has been plunged into yet another humanitarian crisis, displacing citizens, migrants and refugees alike. Amidst this turmoil, the country’s migrant domestic workers (MDWs), already vulnerable due to systemic inequities, find themselves in a precarious position. Many have taken refuge in informal or community-led shelters, often organised by the migrants themselves. These spaces, while offering immediate safety, have also brought to light a severe gap in the provision of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), which continues to fall behind more immediate survival needs such as food, water, and sanitation.
Given that 90 percent of MDWs in Lebanon are women, this gap in SRHR is especially concerning in their current displacement context. Their specific health needs are overlooked, exacerbating the challenges they already face as women in a patriarchal system and as migrants in an unstable country. Domestic migrant workers’ isolation within employers’ homes has also often meant that their SRH has been neglected. One Ethiopian woman sheltering in Baabda shares: “My employer never even asked me if I needed a check up, let alone any specific care if I had a particularly painful period, an infection or an irritation.”
As we, the research team at the Institute for Migration Studies at the Lebanese American University, conducted a needs assessment across 24 shelters housing MDWs in Lebanon, the under-prioritisation of SRHR became glaringly apparent. This reflects a pattern not only in local humanitarian responses but also mirrors global displacement trends, where SRHR consistently ranks low on the list of emergency responses. Despite its critical importance, particularly in times of crisis, SRHR continues to be treated as secondary—reinforcing harmful gaps in care for women in displacement.
“Every day, we ask for more sanitary pads, but we are given excuses,” says another domestic worker from Ethiopia sheltering in Baabda. “We need more than just food and a place to sleep. What about our bodily health and intimate hygiene?”
Her plea is echoed by migrant women across informal shelters, where a significant portion of humanitarian aid has been limited to food, basic hygiene materials, and some sanitation kits. While these contributions are vital for immediate survival, they fail to address the broader needs of the women residing in these spaces.
The importance of SRHR in displacement settings is not merely about contraception or sanitary products; it is about ensuring that women have access to sexual health services, safe maternal care, and protection from gender-based violence. These are rights—not privileges— yet in the hierarchy of humanitarian needs, they are often seen as non-urgent.
Lebanon’s shelters for MDWs, many of which are self-organised or community-led, offer a stark glimpse into the neglect of SRHR in these spaces. While we have found that NGOs, embassies, and humanitarian actors have provided various forms of aid, the basic hygiene kits provided only a limited number of sanitary pads women describe as “thrown in as an afterthought.”
For these women, living in crowded, low-privacy spaces without access to sexual health services, the neglect of their reproductive health is not only negligent but dangerous, as many have reported menstrual complications, untreated infections, and anxiety over pregnancy.
The absence of a coordinated, rights-based approach to SRHR for MDWs across shelters in Lebanon underscores a larger problem: the invisibility of marginalised women in global humanitarian responses. “I’ve been using the same pad for days because we don’t have enough,” says a Sierra Leonean woman in a shelter in Beirut. “It’s causing irritation, but what can we do? No one checks on these aspects of our health. The pads we get aren’t enough. We are mostly women here with limited running water.”
As we assess the needs of MDWs in these shelters, it is crucial that humanitarian organisations and local actors step up to fill the gaps. Lebanon is not an isolated case— globally, SRHR for women in displacement settings is consistently treated as secondary, only addressed “once everything else is taken care of.” This de-prioritisation is not just harmful—it is a violation of fundamental human rights. Comprehensive SRHR services, including sexual health clinics, contraceptive options, and protection for survivors of conflict, must be central to humanitarian efforts, not an afterthought.
Lebanon’s crisis is part of a broader global failure to prioritise the health and rights of displaced women. For MDWs in Lebanon, this neglect is yet another layer of systemic marginalisation that pushes their needs to the periphery. By integrating SRHR into our humanitarian frameworks, we can begin to address the deep-rooted inequalities that have long rendered MDWs invisible and ensure their rights are protected, especially in the midst of a displacement crisis.
All articles posted on this blog give the views of the author(s), and not the position of the Department of Sociology, LSE Human Rights, nor of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Image credit: Photo by Jasmin Lilian Diab, Baabda Migrant Shelter, Lebanon, October 2024.
