Celebrating International Women's Day - Genna's story
10th March 2025
Each year on the 8 March, International Women’s Day is celebrated, focussing on gender equality, celebrating the achievements of women and those working to tackle violence against women and girls.
Over the next three days we will be sharing the stories of three women who have shown resilience, triumphing over adversity, and standing up to their exploiters by reporting them to us.
The names of the women have been changed to protect their identity.
Modern Slavery charity Unseen reported that, between January 2022 and June 2023, women were identified as victims in 62 per cent of labour abuse cases within the care sector.
There are an estimated 131,000 vacancies within the care sector, vacancies which are critical to fill if our nation’s most vulnerable are to receive the proper care they deserve.
Those working in the UK care sector report not being properly paid, living in conditions that are unsuitable while being charged high fees for accommodation and in some cases being offered no work sometimes having paid up to £20,000 to exploiters.
Our first lady who has bravely shared her story is Genna, who came to the UK on the Health and Care Worker visa, alongside her husband and two-year-old daughter.
Genna said: “I was pressured to work long hours, harassed on my days off to work, I had to sign paperwork, and I was threatened with deportation and told that false allegations would be made against me which would get me in trouble with the authorities.
“I contacted the GLAA who supported me, and through them I found the strength to keep working for them, while looking for a new sponsor as I did not want to jeopardise my immigration status or end up destitute with my family.”
The GLAA worked with the Local Authority, CQC and UKVI to monitor the risk and plan how they would approach the case. Each agency arranged direct checks on the company under their own jurisdiction, all the while protecting her anonymity.
Genna said: “When the GLAA and other agencies began their investigation, the harassment reduced significantly, and I stopped receiving threats. My situation improved and so did the position for other workers at the care home too.”
The mission of the GLAA is to stop worker exploitation.
When workers are experiencing hardship, particularly within the care sector, this has a direct impact on those receiving care.
Genna has shown immense courage to report what was happening to her. Working with Genna and other agencies the GLAA were able to help improve the situation for her, and other women working for the same business.
International Women’s Day is a reminder to us that gender inequality, violence and abuse against women and girls is still an issue within our society. At the GLAA, we are committed to working with partners to identify potential solutions to tackle exploitation in the care sector and the additional vulnerability that women and girls are often exposed to because of labour exploitation and modern slavery.
If you know of a business operating outside the law, exploiting workers, gaining an unfair or illegal advantage, or you have any information, then you can call 0800 432 0804 or email us at contact@gla.gov.uk