Negotiating Powerlessness : Everyday Forms of Resistance among Filipino Domestic Workers in Malaysia
The international migration of labour is an important feature in the world economy today. Malaysia is a typical example of a country that heavily relies on foreign workers to fill in jobs in the services sector. With this, Malaysian homes also employ foreign domestic workers to carry out the soci...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
2004
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/5998/1/FEM_2004_6.pdf |
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| Summary: | The international migration of labour is an important feature in the world
economy today. Malaysia is a typical example of a country that heavily relies on
foreign workers to fill in jobs in the services sector. With this, Malaysian homes
also employ foreign domestic workers to carry out the social reproductive
functions performed earlier by Malaysian women who now actively participate in
the labour force.
This is a study of power relations between actors of transmigration and the
Filipino domestic workers in Malaysia. It looks at the issue of powerlessness of
women workers in the domestic employment, and examines the daily forms of
resistance against conditions of powerlessness. The central argument that runs
through this study is that powerlessness is embedded in the socio-cultural
structure of society which stifles their interests as women. This qualitative study
involves 64 Filipino domestic workers who have been working in Malaysian
households. Observations are drawn from a year-long immersion and interview
with domestic workers, five employers and four employment agents and embassy
staff as well as informal conversations with those who are involved in migrant
issues. A triangulation of interview, observation and focus group discussion was
used to gather information from the informants.
Findings revealed that globalisation has intensified the movement of Filipino
workers, especially women, across countries where domestic employment is
available and made women more visible in the international division of social
reproductive labour. Such visibility is viewed in terms of their physicality but is
not translated in terms of their increasing empowerment as social actors in
migration. Filipino women's propensity to migrate is gendered and is reflective
of the subordinate position they are placed in Philippine society. This study also
shows that women domestic workers are powerless right from the beginning of
the migration process, when they start their domestic work in Malaysia, and until
their eventual return in the home country. The condition of powerlessness is
pervasive at the level of relations with employers and the society at large, made
worse by the fact that they are foreign domestic workers. This condition of
powerlessness also made them aware of the conscious resistance that has becomethe
workers way of life thereby employing strategies and tactics to surmount
whatever personal and employment-related problems.
This study concludes that Filipino domestic workers are conscious of the
different realms of powerlessness they experience through their own social
network to the extent that daily forms of resistance are not developed on their
own but shared collectively by the social network. Patterns of resistance are
simply reactionary measures against exploitation and abuse and they do not
feature transformative ways in order to subvert powerlessness; although, at the
same time, these may empower them. More often, the daily forms of resistance
tend to reinforce and strengthen their own powerlessness they actively
participate. Legal protection for foreign domestic workers should be a concern of
the Malaysian government in order to protect the interests of all related parties. |
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