Drawing on original empirical research from Singapore and Hong Kong, Gendered Labour, Everyday Security and Migration interrogates women migrant domestic workers’ experiences of work and workplace exploitation. It examines the ways in which these women negotiate everyday security and safe work against the backdrop of affective employment relations and institutional structures of labour and migration law. It challenges the current emphasis on the language of exploitation and legal approaches to identifying, understanding and rectifying poor employment conditions for women migrant domestic workers.
This book addresses the limited research literature that examines the extent to which regulatory or criminal justice responses are relevant to, and utilised by, women migrant domestic workers in their everyday negotiation of safe work and offers a unique contribution to the field.
An accessible and compelling read, it will be of interest to researchers from across the fields of criminology, sociology, labour migration studies and women’s studies.
Author(s): Shih Joo Tan
Series: Routledge Studies in Criminal Justice, Borders and Citizenship
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 227
City: London
Cover
Endorsements
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Figures
Tables
Series Editor Introduction
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Chapter 1: Introduction: Women Migrant Domestic Workers in Singapore and Hong Kong
Research Process: Designing the Study
Access and Recruitment
Negotiating Researcher Reflexivity and Power Dynamics
Translating, Interpreting and Presenting the Participants' Voices
Migration and Domestic Labour in Singapore and Hong Kong: Past and Present
Emigration of Women into Domestic Labour: Role of the State and the Private Sector
Notes
References
Chapter 2: Women Migrant Domestic Workers in the Home: Tensions Surrounding Intimacy and Labour
Unwaged and Waged Domestic and Care Labour in the Home
Domestic and Care Labour as 'Love' Work: Implications for Waged Domestic Workers
Homes as Public Workplaces
Employer-Domestic Worker Relationship
Gender, Domestic Work and Migration: Regulatory Intersections
Singapore
Hong Kong
Conclusion
Notes
References
Chapter 3: Gender, Exploitation and Everyday Security
Defining and Responding to Exploitation
ILO Domestic Worker Convention: Recognising Domestic and Care Work as 'Real' Work
Public Laws to Address 'Private' Violence against Women
The Intersection of Law, Gender and Women Migrants' Security
Gendering Human Security
Human Security 'from Below': Drawing on Everyday Experience
Conclusion
Notes
References
Chapter 4: Women Migrant Domestic Workers and the Everyday Home Workplace
Introducing the Woman Migrant Domestic Worker
The Work Destination
Introducing the (Female) Employer
Employing a 'Stranger' in the Home: Trust, Surveillance, Control and Respect
'You Need to Be Able to Trust Her': Building Trust through Surveillance and Control
Implications of Labour Migration Policies: Passports, Curfews and Pregnancies
Conclusion
Notes
References
Chapter 5: Negotiating Everyday Work and Help-Seeking
Resolving Work-Related Problems: External Institutions
Placement Agencies as Negotiators and Mediators
Civil Society Organisations (CSOs): NGOs and Labour Unions as Secondary Sources of Support
Exiting Employment: Contract Movement and 'Transfers'
Negotiating Protection and Security through Formal Mechanisms
Seeking Help from Authorities: Workers' Reflections
The Consequences of Seeking Justice: Implications for Employment and Financial Security
Motivation to Report
Conclusion
Notes
References
Chapter 6: Rethinking Gendered Labour Exploitation and Safe Work
'Exploitation' as Identified by Industry Stakeholders
'Exploitation' as Identified by Women Migrant Domestic Workers
Restricted Freedom to Socialise: Social Isolation and Limitations on Communication Devices
Overworking and Excessive Working Hours
Working on Rest Days
Verbal Abuse and Lack of Respect
Fictive Kinship and Relations of Reciprocity, Respect, Trust and Empathy
Strategic Deployment of Fictive Kinship
Fictive Kinship, Affective Relations and Sustainable Work
Unlawful or Substandard Employment Conditions When the 'Employer Is Family'
Conclusion
Notes
References
Chapter 7: Conclusion
Rethinking the Parameters of 'Exploitation'
Alternative Understandings of the Employer-Worker Relationship in Domestic Labour
Everyday Security: Making a Case for Sustainable Labour and Livelihoods
Note
References
Index
