Vagaries in the Management of Migrant Domestic Workers from the Philippines: A Case Study from Lebanon

2019 ◽  
pp. 77-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ray Jureidini
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Workers ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

scholarly journals Women and their Journey to Self-Empowerment: A Case Study of Six Indonesian Female Migrant Domestic Workers

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 179
Author(s):  
Safira Prabawidya Pusparani ◽  
Ani Widyani Soetjipto
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Migration Process ◽  
Migration Decisions ◽  
Female Migrant ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

<p>In Indonesia, female migrant domestic workers’ representations tend to contain negative meanings. Although they are named as “heroes of development”, but their position is nothing more than a commodity for the country. Such treatment makes female migrant domestic workers becomes vulnerable to violence and exploitation by employers, agents, andgovernment staff. Nevertheless, there is an alternative narrative that is rarely highlighted in literature or media, namely the representation of female migrant domestic workers as powerful actors. This paper seeks to fill in that alternative narrative by highlighting the agencies did by these six female migrant domestic workers. The author believes that by using the standpoint feminism perspective to analyze the struggle of these six female migrant domestic workers in empowering themselves after the oppression, it can be seen that agency has been manifested by female migrant domestic workers during the migration process. This study reveals the efforts of female migrant domestic workers to manifest their empowerment through migration decisions in the middle of patriarchal structures, their ability to resist structures with activism, and become agents of development and change for their communities.</p>

Migrant domestic workers and the right to a private and family life

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 288-310
Author(s):  
Natalie Sedacca
Keyword(s):  
Family Life ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Private Sphere ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
Labour Legislation ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Right ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

Domestic workers are mainly women, are disproportionately from ethnic minorities and/or international migrants, and are vulnerable to mistreatment, often receiving inadequate protection from labour legislation. This article addresses ways in which the conditions faced by migrant domestic workers can prevent their enjoyment of the right to private and family life. It argues that the focus on this right is illuminating as it allows for the incorporation of issues that are not usually within the remit of labour law into the discussion of working rights, such as access to family reunification, as well as providing for a different perspective on the question of limits on working time – a core labour right that is often denied to domestic workers. These issues are analysed by addressing a case study each from Latin America and Europe, namely Chile and the UK. The article considers impediments to realising the right to private and family life stemming both from the literal border – the operation of immigration controls and visa conditions – and from the figurative border which exists between domestic work and other types of work, reflected in the conflation of domestic workers with family members and stemming from the public/private sphere divide.

State-Sanctioned Structural Violence: Women Migrant Domestic Workers in the Philippines and Sri Lanka

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (12-13) ◽  
pp. 1598-1615
Author(s):  
Sophie Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Structural Violence ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Advocacy Groups ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

Adopting a structural violence approach, this article examines how the failure to implement protective rights-based migration policies by the governments in the Philippines and Sri Lanka creates the conditions for the systematic exploitation of women migrant domestic workers by recruitment agencies and employers. Fieldwork conducted in 2018 with advocacy groups, government agencies, and international organizations in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Hong Kong illustrates how both countries are prioritizing the promotion of overseas employment and commodification of labor above the protection of the rights of their women domestic workers under domestic and international law.

scholarly journals Abuse and Violence Against Foreign Domestic Workers. A Case from Hong Kong

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akm Ahsan Ullah
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Psychological Abuse ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Foreign Domestic Workers ◽  
Decision To Stay ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

Abstract This paper explores various abuses Foreign Domestic Helpers (FDHs) or migrant domestic workers (MDW) in Hong Kong suffer and the strategies they take up to cope with this abuse. Data were collected from 215 domestic helpers (135 from the Philippines, 30 from Thailand, 41 from Indonesia, and 9 from Sri Lanka) all of whom had been in residence for at least six months. Selected by snow-balling technique, respondents were interviewed with structured and non-structured questionnaires. Research shows that sexual abuse is the most common form of abuse against MDWs followed by psychological and physical abuses. Female employers are the main perpetuators of psychological abuse while the male employers are culpable for sexual abuses. Coping strategies varied widely among the MDWs. Many of them endure the violence to keep the job; some quit the job and others struggle with the decision to stay or quit.

The legal protection of women migrant domestic workers from the Philippines and Sri Lanka: an intersectional rights-based approach

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Women Migrants ◽  
Economic Class ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

Women migrants’ position in the global labour market is constrained by gender and racial divisions of labour, and the work they are offered is often insecure, low-paid and concentrated in feminised sectors of the economy, such as domestic work. It is not only women who predominantly perform domestic work, but also women of a certain race, ethnicity, socio-economic class and nationality. This article adopts an intersectional rights-based lens to examine how selected policies and regulations in the Philippines and Sri Lanka are discriminating against, and creating conditions for the systematic exploitation of, women migrant domestic workers positioned at the intersection of multiple converging identities.

The limits of sending-state power: The Philippines, Sri Lanka, and female migrant domestic workers

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 322-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick R Ireland
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equity ◽  
Similar Case ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Process Tracing ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Case Comparison ◽  
Research Interviews ◽  
Female Migrant ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

Sending states have taken various measures to protect their female nationals serving abroad as domestics. A most-similar case comparison is constructed between the Sri Lankan and Philippine states’ defenses of ‘their’ female migrant domestic workers (FMDWs), employing process tracing and relying on data from archival research, interviews, policies, and official statements. Existing explanations for sending-state actions stress dependence on remittances, receiving-country conditions, and the democratic incorporation of emigrants. Here, however, a stock of FMDWs with more highly valued human capital attributes, combined with a stronger civil society and greater gender equity, is shown to compel and enable the Philippine state to adopt a more assertive approach than its Sri Lankan counterpart in defending those migrants.‘

Drivers of migration policy reform: The day off policy for migrant domestic workers in Singapore

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiu Yee Koh ◽  
Charmian Goh ◽  
Kellynn Wee ◽  
Brenda SA Yeoh
Keyword(s):  
Policy Reform ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Institutional Logics ◽  
Black Box ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Migration Policies ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

While there has been much debate on Singapore’s migration policies, a ‘black box’ continues to surround policymaking decisions. This article examines the dynamics of migration policy reforms in Singapore, using the case study of the mandatory weekly day off policy for migrant domestic workers. Designing our analysis around the three ‘Is’ – ideas, interests and institutions – we argue that the inclusion and formalisation of migrant rights in the policy sphere entails the framing of migrant rights in a manner that appeals to Singapore’s institutional logics and cultural repertoire; prioritising the needs and interests of citizens in the policy calculus; and institutional readiness and conviction to the cause.

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