The Giving Up of Weekly Rest-Days by Migrant Domestic Workers in Singapore: When Submission Is Both Resistance and Victimhood

Social Forces ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 98 (4) ◽  
pp. 1695-1718
Author(s):  
Margaret Fenerty Schumann ◽  
Anju Mary Paul
Keyword(s):  
Work Experience ◽  
Home Country ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Sociology Of Law ◽  
Signaling Mechanism ◽  
Contract Renewal ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Do So ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

AbstractWhy do so few live-in migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in Singapore utilize their weekly rest-day entitlement? Using data drawn from 3,886 online profiles of prospective MDWs and 40 interview sessions with MDWs, employers, and manpower agencies, we demonstrate how the industry encourages a “logic of submission” around rest-days. Through processual analysis, we unearth multiple, repeated moments of capitulation at key moments in a MDW’s work-life: (1) their interactions with a recruitment agency while still in their home country; (2) their matching with an overseas employer; (3) the duration of their two-year contract; and (4) the time of contract renewal. Submission to less frequent rest-days can secure their employability and financial mobility but also further individuates the MDW within the employer’s household and may lead to the engraining of a habitus of submissiveness towards their employers that can open the door to workers’ exploitation. We demonstrate how nationality and work experience further inflect this logic of submission to motivate non-Filipina and inexperienced MDWs to request even fewer rest-days than their counterparts. By combining feminist migration scholarship on Asian MDWs, with a sociology of law analysis, we offer up an example of how the same act of submission can simultaneously embody both resistance and victimhood depending upon the temporal and spatial scale used, and varying interpretations of the rest-day benefit as a much-needed respite, a monetizable benefit, or a signaling mechanism.

Social Protection for Migrant Domestic Workers in Singapore: International Conventions, the Law, and Civil Society Action

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (6) ◽  
pp. 841-858
Author(s):  
Brenda S. A. Yeoh ◽  
Charmian Goh ◽  
Kellynn Wee
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Transnational Advocacy ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Care Gaps ◽  
Using Data ◽  
International Conventions ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

Although migrant women from neighboring Southeast Asian countries fill crucial care gaps in Singapore households as live-in domestic workers, their social protection remains uneven, uncertain, and indeterminate. Framed as unskilled work shunned by citizens and characterized by isolation in the privatized sphere of the home, domestic work has invariably become low-status, low-visibility, and low-pay work performed by foreign women engaged on private contracts. The access of migrant domestic workers in Singapore to social protection has thus triggered concern among international organizations, governments, and civil society. Using data derived from a survey of Indonesian domestic workers, interviews with key stakeholders, and archival research, this article adopts a transnational social protection research agenda by mapping how institutionalized practices that aim to reduce the vulnerabilities of migrant domestic workers in Singapore have shifted in the past decade. We begin by addressing the circumscribed impact of international conventions and origin government policies. Following our premise that the social support and protection of migrant domestic workers still depend largely on the host society, we focus on two interrelated developments in Singapore. First, we examine the reach of immigration, labor, and criminal law in recent “maid abuse” cases to reveal how criminal law in particular has broadened to account for the specific vulnerability of domestic workers and, relatedly, the culpability of errant employers. Second, we consider how civil society’s campaign for a “mandatory” rest day offers insight into both the success and limitations of developing transnational advocacy for domestic workers in Singapore.

Filipino and Indonesian Migrant Domestic Workers in Hong Kong: Their Life Courses in Migration

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (6) ◽  
pp. 740-764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim F. Liao ◽  
Rebecca Yiqing Gan
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Home Country ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Migration History ◽  
Serial Migration ◽  
Trajectory Features ◽  
Life Courses ◽  
Calendar Data ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

This article presents a portrayal of Filipino and Indonesian female domestic workers’ life courses in migration, using the life history calendar data from the 2017 survey of migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong. Applying sequence analysis, we first analyzed migration trajectory features such as individual migration trajectories, duration spent in each state, and longitudinal diversity of state distributions. We found that Indonesian domestic workers, compared with their Filipino counterparts, are more diverse in their migration histories, indicating involvements in serial migration. We also conducted a cluster analysis of the domestic workers’ migratory trajectories. The analysis yielded three meaningful clusters/types of migrant workers—those moved late in life, those who participated in serial migration, and those migrated directly from their home country to Hong Kong. Finally, we investigated the effect of a complex migration history on job satisfaction and the characteristics of membership in the three ideal-typical migration types among the domestic workers older than 39 years.

It Is Your Decision to Date Interracially: The Influence of Family Approval on the Likelihood of Interracial/Interethnic Dating

2021 ◽  
pp. 0192513X2199413
Author(s):  
Byron Miller ◽  
Savanah Catalina ◽  
Sara Rocks ◽  
Kathryn Tillman
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Romantic Relationships ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Interracial Romance ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Do So

Although attitudes toward interracial romantic relationships (IRRs) have generally improved over the years, many Americans still disapprove of their family members being in IRRs. Prior studies have examined correlates of individual-level attitudes about interracial romance, but less is known about whether family members’ attitudes are directly associated with young people’s decisions to date interracially. Using data collected from 790 romantically involved college students at two large public four-year universities, we find that young adults who believe their siblings, parents, and grandparents approve of IRRs have greater odds of dating interracially. Compared to Whites, Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be interracially involved but their decision to do so is much less dependent on the approval of their parents and grandparents. We also find young adults are more likely to date interracially if they have five or more relatives with IRR experience themselves. The findings and their implications are discussed.

Triangulations of “Motherly Love”: Negotiated Intimacies among Migrant Domestic Workers, Mothers, and Children

2021 ◽  
pp. 0192513X2199385
Author(s):  
Iris Hoiting
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Gender Expectations ◽  
Mothers And Children ◽  
Care Relationships ◽  
Relational Contexts ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

Persistent economic inequality between men and women, combined with differences in gender expectations and growing inequalities among women globally, has resulted in families “outsourcing” childcare by employing migrant domestic workers (MDWs). While studies have addressed the intimacy and complexity of “mothering” in such contexts, the agentic position of child-recipients of such care have seldom been explored. This article increases our understanding of care-relationships by examining their triangularity among children, MDWs, and mothers in Hong Kong. Drawing on in-depth interviews with young people who grew up with MDWs, alongside interviews with MDWs themselves, this article describes processes through which care work transforms into what Lynch describes as “love labor” in these relational contexts. In these contexts, commodified care from MDWs can develop, through a process of mutual trilateral negotiations, into intimate love-laboring relationships that, in turn, reflect larger dynamics of familial transformation that are endemic to “global cities.”

Better a Friend Nearby Than a Brother Far Away? The Health Implications of Foreign Domestic Workers’ Family and Friendship Networks

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (6) ◽  
pp. 765-783
Author(s):  
Jing Ye ◽  
Feinian Chen
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Protective Effects ◽  
Personal Network ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
Daily Contact ◽  
Foreign Domestic Workers ◽  
Reported Health ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

Migrant domestic workers provide essential services to the families they live with, but they are not considered a part of the family. As a group, they are not well-integrated into the society and often suffer from social isolation. In this article, we explore the potential health buffering effects of their personal network, in terms of family and friendship ties in both the local community and their home country. Existing literature provides inconsistent evidence on who and what matters more, with regard to the nature, strength, and geographic locations of individual personal networks. Using data from the Survey of Migrant domestic Workers in Hong Kong (2017), we find that family ties are extremely important. The presence of family members in Hong Kong as well as daily contact with family, regardless of location, are associated with better self-reported health. Only daily contact with friends in Hong Kong, not with friends in other countries, promotes better health. We also find evidence that the protective effects of family and friends networks depend on each other. Those foreign domestic workers with families in Hong Kong but also maintain daily contact with friends have the best self-reported health among all.

scholarly journals THE ENDURING VULNERABILITY OF MIGRANT DOMESTIC WORKERS IN EUROPE

2013 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 599-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clíodhna Murphy
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Employment Law ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Regulatory Frameworks ◽  
Labour Standards ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Migration Law ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

AbstractWhile the rights of domestic workers are expanding in international law, including through the adoption of the ILO Domestic Workers Convention in 2011, migrant domestic workers remain particularly vulnerable to employment-related abuse and exploitation. This article explores the intersection of the employment law and migration law regimes applicable to migrant domestic workers in the United Kingdom, France and Ireland. The article suggests that the precarious immigration status of many migrant domestic workers renders employment protections, such as they exist in each jurisdiction, largely illusory in practice for this group of workers. The labour standards contained in the Domestic Workers Convention, together with the recommendations of the UN Committee on Migrant Workers on the features of an appropriate immigration regime for migrant domestic workers, are identified as providing an alternative normative model for national regulatory frameworks.

scholarly journals Camp stability predicts patterns of hunter–gatherer cooperation

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (7) ◽  
pp. 160131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Smith ◽  
Mark Dyble ◽  
James Thompson ◽  
Katie Major ◽  
Abigail E. Page ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Ecological Context ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Ecological Conditions ◽  
Resource Transfers ◽  
Experimental Games ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Do So

Humans regularly cooperate with non-kin, which has been theorized to require reciprocity between repeatedly interacting and trusting individuals. However, the role of repeated interactions has not previously been demonstrated in explaining real-world patterns of hunter–gatherer cooperation. Here we explore cooperation among the Agta, a population of Filipino hunter–gatherers, using data from both actual resource transfers and two experimental games across multiple camps. Patterns of cooperation vary greatly between camps and depend on socio-ecological context. Stable camps (with fewer changes in membership over time) were associated with greater reciprocal sharing, indicating that an increased likelihood of future interactions facilitates reciprocity. This is the first study reporting an association between reciprocal cooperation and hunter–gatherer band stability. Under conditions of low camp stability individuals still acquire resources from others, but do so via demand sharing (taking from others), rather than based on reciprocal considerations. Hunter–gatherer cooperation may either be characterized as reciprocity or demand sharing depending on socio-ecological conditions.

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