Malaysian Women Lead the Battle Against Modern Slavery with ‘Ethical’ Job Agency

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, three women are tackling the growing issue of debt bondage among migrant workers by setting up the country’s first ‘ethical’ recruitment agency: Pinkcollar.

A national policy allowing recruitment agencies to impose hefty fees on workers turning to recruitment agencies for help has led to the debt of thousands of people – and they are rarely able to escape. Pinkcollar is dropping those fees in a drive to challenge the norm.

“We are trying to disrupt it (the industry) really,” says founder Zenna Law, who herself was raised with the help of migrant domestic workers, to the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “We are hoping that … we can elevate the standard of the entire industry.”