The new normal, or the same old? The experiences of domestic workers in Singapore

Abstract

While extensive and far-reaching, the COVID-19 pandemic did not impact all nations -or all people -equally. Within Singapore, a country that was lauded, at least initially, for its exemplary approach to controlling the pandemic (Teo 2020), the ways in which the virus ultimately spread through the city-state exposed existing inequalities and injustices in its migrant worker populations, with construction workers' dormitories becoming the epicentre of the nation's outbreaks.This chapter engages directly with these injustices to demonstrate how migrant domestic workers were impacted by the global pandemic, particularly by the 'circuit-breaker' measures enforced by the Singaporean state. 1 As such, it argues three core points. First, that many domestic workers were subjected to increased surveillance and bodily control during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the home space becoming the centre of this. Second, that many migrant workers experienced a removal of their rights and increased immobility. Finally, this chapter argues that, for many domestic workers, there was very little change to their circumstances, with the notion of the 'new normal' requiring further interrogation. Indeed, this chapter ultimately suggests that the experiences of populations who ordinarily experience prolonged confinement need further consideration if we are to achieve more just and equitable futures for all post-COVID-19.Significantly, this chapter was written while I was living under restrictions in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, the interviews and informal conversations on which it is based were conducted online with domestic workers, activists, and NGO workers/volunteers with whom I had existing relationships following prolonged ethnographic fieldwork between June 2016 and December 2017. Knowing How to cite this book chapter:

Gendered disciplinary apparatuses and carceral domesticities in Singapore’s labour-migration regime

“…Similarly, several domestic workers that I spoke to about their experiences of the ‘circuit-breaker’ (or lockdown) measures, commented on the increased bodily surveillance and restrictions that they were subjected to. Significantly, however, many domestic workers also attested to very little having changed for them, as they were working in households where they were already intensely monitored and given very limited, if any, time outside of their employers’ homes (Antona, 2022). The widespread confinement of populations to domestic spaces during this period raised international concern about the broader mental and physical health/wellbeing ramifications of the pandemic, yet this was the norm for many migrant domestic workers in Singapore (and beyond).…”

Shifting borders and migrant workers’ im/mobility: The case of Taiwan during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The images of migrant workers locked down in a cruise ship floating in the waters outside of Singapore vividly demonstrate that the pandemic has reproduced borders within the national territory as a “space of exception” ( Agamben, 2020 ) subjected to “institutionalized neglect” ( Yea, 2020 ). However, some scholars also view pandemic-era controlling measures as “a continuation of existing regimes” ( Lin and Yeoh, 2021 : 108), and migrant workers’ experience of constrained immobility as “the same old” rather than “the new normal” ( Antona, 2022 :146).…”

“…Some care workers also faced an increase in workload and surveillance after their employers started working from home. They ordinarily had the house to themselves on weekdays, but during this time, they felt like they were “being watched all the time,” especially if they did not have a bedroom of their own ( Antona, 2022 : 142). They also have to cook more often because their employers reduce their frequency of eating out.…”

The politics of sanitization: Pandemic crisis, migration and development in Asia-Pacific

“…During the circuit-breaker period, the government carried out inspections in key sites where migrants are gathered to ensure the practice of social distancing. Migrant workers who were caught violating the rules could have their work permits revoked and lose the opportunity to work in Singapore again ( Antona, 2022 ).…”