Formal and Informal Social Support Systems for Migrant Domestic Workers

There has been a rising trend of labor migration globally. Given their alien status within the legal framework of the host countries, migrant domestic workers (MDWs) are especially vulnerable to poor employment conditions that may affect their health status, yet there is still a lack of quantitative evidence in this population hitherto. Using randomly sampled data from a cross-sectional survey of 2,017 live-in female MDWs in Hong Kong, a setting with a high concentration of MDWs, this study examined the association of employment conditions with physical and mental health among the MDWs. We observed poorer physical and mental health status among the MDWs when compared with the general population in Hong Kong. Our findings suggest that employment conditions, including household size, working on the rest day, and housing type, and age were associated with physical health, while employment conditions, including not ever receiving wages on time, frequency of financial remittances, paying the employment agency, having a private room, fulfillment of work-related needs, physical abuse, and discrimination, and sociodemographic characteristics, including age and duration of migration, were associated with mental health. Social support in general did not confound these associations, but religious activities and daily contact with friends were also associated with mental health. Our findings have important implications in designing interventions and policies to improve the physical and mental well-being of this vulnerable migrant population.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physical and Mental Health of Live-In Female Migrant Domestic Workers: A Randomly Sampled Survey in Hong Kong

Chung

Mak

2020

“…Several features of live-in domestic work place migrant women in precarious situations: the blurred boundaries between work/home and between re/productive labor; their isolation within privatized households compounded in some cases by their restricted access to communication devices; the language barriers newcomers confront; curtailed access to social support systems (Baig & Chang, 2020); and their status as lowly paid foreigners that contribute to negative stereotyping (Lai & Fong, 2020). The persistent ideology around reproductive labor as unpaid women’s work sets paid domestic work up as a “site of multiple exploitations by gender, class, race/ethnicity, and nationality” (Yeoh et al, 2015, p. 298).…”

Section: Migrant Domestic Workers In Singaporementioning

confidence: 99%

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

Yeoh

Goh

Wee

2020

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.

“…Human capital makes them attractive for the potentially more “ideal” employers, which gives the workers more bargaining power regarding their benefits and working conditions. In contrast, social capital helps them target “ideal” employers more accurately as they often use the informal support system to get help in labor market and other need after they move to Hong Kong (Baig & Chang, 2020).…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Much Ado About Nothing? Do Foreign Domestic Workers in Hong Kong Benefit From Capital Accumulation?

Tong

Jiang

2020

The accumulation of human and social capital plays a significant role in influencing migrants’ earnings and economic integration in the host society. Although the effects of foreign domestic workers’ bargaining power on their labor market outcome is constrained due to their unique migrant status, domestic workers may still strive to make use of various resources to secure “ideal” jobs as much as possible. Using a randomly selected unique data set collected in Hong Kong in 2017, this study examines whether foreign domestic workers’ human and social capitals are associated with their salary scale, working conditions, and work rights protection. We use education, previously held jobs, migration duration, and language proficiency to measure human capital, and friendship networks and church attendance to indicate social capital. We found that previously having middle-level job experience can reduce the likelihood of experiencing underpay and increase the likelihood of having overpay, taking the legal minimum salary as a reference. English language proficiency could also give them some leverage to access a better pay scale. Previous human capital accumulation is associated with having a private room in the employer’s home. It is also associated with better protection of work rights such as being less likely to experience a “no pay” month. For social capital, frequent participation in Sunday gathering with friends is mainly associated with rights protection. These findings indicate that although foreign domestic workers may be constrained in using their capital accumulation to improve their market value substantially, the capital accumulation can still give some leverage for them to bargain for a slightly improved salary, better working conditions, and protection of their rights.