Every year thousands of women arrive in the Gulf to take up jobs as domestic workers.
The majority of them leave behind their families on a huge financial gamble to try to earn enough in remittances.
But behind closed doors, in the homes of their employers, some find themselves trapped in a cycle of horrific abuse.
Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford spoke to one housemaid, Mary, who suffered two years of abuse in the United Arab Emirates.
