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.‘

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>

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.

Islam and Female Migrant Domestic Workers in Qatar

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 179-199
Author(s):  
Jawad Syed
Keyword(s):  
Real Life ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Islamic Ethics ◽  
Intersectionality Theory ◽  
Multiple Identity ◽  
Female Migrants ◽  
Analyse Power ◽  
Female Migrant ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

This paper offers an Islamic perspective on the issues of female migrants, mainly in domestic work, and the Islamic ethics that pertain to their contemporary circumstances in Qatar. It uses intersectionality theory to argue that multiple identity categories of migration, ethnicity and class are important along with gender to better analyse power relations and discrimination facing female migrant domestic workers. It refers to Islamic egalitarian and humanitarian teachings as an ethical framework for legislative and cultural reforms. The paper also offers some real-life examples to illustrate the issues and challenges facing migrant domestic workers in Qatar. In the end, some recommendations and implications are offered.

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.

Intimate Counter‐Spaces of Migrant Domestic Workers in Lebanon1

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 780-808 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amrita Pande
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Paradoxical Effects ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Politics Of Resistance ◽  
And Gender ◽  
State Restrictions ◽  
Female Migrant ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

This article examines new nodes of migrants' desire to disrupt the heteronormative focus on married mothers in the literature on migration and gender and the reification of normative notions of both gender and sexuality. It demonstrates that in the presence of intense raced and gendered surveillance of both private and public spaces in Lebanon, migrant domestic workers (MDWs) use public “counter‐spaces” to forge intimate and sexual ties. It offers the frame of intimate counter‐spaces to understand the wider politics of resistance mobilized by MDWs in their everyday lives. Intimate counter‐spaces complicate debates around public/private, sacred/sexual, and confront state restrictions on migrant workers' sexuality. Despite their subversive power, such spaces can also reinforce the hypersexualization of the female migrant and highlight the paradoxical effects of everyday subversive practices used by migrant workers, not just in Middle East and Asia, but also across the world.

scholarly journals The Case of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in Europe: Human Rights Violations and Forward Looking Strategies

2017 ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
Veronica Pavlou
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Life Issues ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Female Migrant ◽  
Forward Looking ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

<p>Female migrant domestic workers constitute one of the most vulnerable groups of workers in the international labour market as they are frequently found working and living in conditions that put their human rights at stake. They can be subjected to multiple and intersecting discriminations deriving from their gender, their status as migrants and their occupation. The aim of this article is to explore the issue of female migrant domestic workers through its human rights dimension. It first analyses the phenomenon by discussing aspects such as gender, ethnicity and migration. Secondly, it provides for an account of the International and European framework for the human rights protection of this group of migrant women. Then, some of the most important human rights concerns that the issue of female migrant domestic workers entails, such as the exploitative terms of work, the problematic living conditions and private life issues, are discussed. Finally, the article, examines suggestions that could improve the living and working conditions and the general status of female migrant domestic workers. The forward looking strategies presented are grouped in three core categories; how to prepare female migrant domestic workers for their entry to the destination country, how to protect them through migration policies and labour regulations and finally, how to empower them allowing them to develop skills and capacities for better civic participation.</p><p><strong>Published online</strong>: 11 December 2017</p>

scholarly journals Improving the Life of Former Female Migrant Domestic Workers

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 42-50
Author(s):  
Rosita Tandos
Keyword(s):  
Economic Condition ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Capabilities Approach ◽  
Cultural Value ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Human Capabilities ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Female Migrant ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

Some studies exploring the life of migrant domestic workers found that the main factor that push Indonesian migrant domestic workers is experiencing severe economic condition (Raharto, 2000; Silvey, 2004; Pitoyo, 2007). The poor economic condition forces women and girls to be domestic workers. Additionally, cultural value of patriarchy puts a responsibility for women at domestic area influencing the women’s ability to fill the demand of the domestic workers in overseas. This paper addresses the main topic of enhancing protection and empowerment for Indonesian female migrant domestic workers by specifically exploring the issues after working in overseas. The study exploring the life of former migrant domestic workers from Bondan village of Indramayu district using qualitative method. The informants of the study were the workers who just finished their work contract, staying at the moment in the village waiting for the next call or deciding to stop working in overseas. The number of participants was 40 women (n=40), joining focus-group discussions and in-depth interviews. The theoretical frameworks used in the study consist of human capabilities approach, feminist perspective, and social work theories of empowering individual, family, and community. Then, the discussion covers three main points: first, discussion of the theories applied in the study; second, the life of transnational domestic workers of examining abusive conditions; third, developing future practices to empowering the workers; and fourth, a part of the paper provides conclusion to whole points discussed.

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