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International migration in the contemporary era of globalization generates complex inequalities that require a non-statist approach to justice. This paper considers how the analysis of these inequalities may be fruitfully undertaken using Nancy Fraser's framework of redistribution, recognition, and representation. The discussion uses empirical material from a case study of Ethiopian women who migrate as domestic workers to countries in the Middle East. The paper suggests potential directions for more transformative approaches to justice within the context of international migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late 1990s, there has been a dramatic increase in the numbers of Ethiopian women working on short-term contracts as domestic workers in Gulf countries. Drawing on primary research conducted in Ethiopia and in Kuwait, this paper analyzes the gendered production of the migration trajectory of Ethiopian women domestic workers to the Gulf countries. The paper maps the linkages between the gendered political economies and the policy choices of both sending and receiving countries to argue first, that there is evidence for the Ethiopian government's role as a 'labor brokerage state,' although its regulatory capacity is weak. Second, the paper argues that the assumption that the demand for migrant domestic workers is driven by national women entering the workforce is not necessarily true in the Gulf countries, where the 'social compact' and the kafala or sponsorship system are primary institutional drivers of the demand for migrant domestic workers. The paper concludes with reflections on the consequences of Ethiopian women's migration for social reproduction across national boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]