With Donald's Trump's ludicrous stance on immigration as well as the fact that this nation was founded by immigrants, the issue of immigration has always received spotlight one way or another. However, in other nations, there is a huge subset of immigrants that is overlooked -- domestic workers.
(According to the International Labor Organization, this is an estimate of the world’s distribution of domestic workers as of 2010)
According to the International Labor Organization, there is approximately 53 million domestic workers, mostly made up of women, to this date. Of the 53 million, about 41% (21 million) of the domestic workers are working in the Asia Pacific region. Most of the 21 million domestic workers that come from poorer counties like the Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal and Bangladesh migrate to more developed countries like Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia (Kau). This only comes to show that there are several factors that motivates individuals to work in foreign country as opposed to staying in their home country. This is often described in terms of “push and pull factors.” Pull factors is what attract individuals, such as these women, to migrate to a foreign country in hope to find financial opportunities and the potential of receiving a better life; push factors have to do with driving out individuals from their home country to elsewhere due to the the poor economic, social, and political issues. In this case, nannies are often caught in a catch-22 because these women who left their home country to immigrate to a capitalist society like Hong Kong because there is greater opportunity to succeed, still end up in the private life such as being a nanny.
Hong Kong in particular has traditionally become known for being the most sought-after destination for foreign domestic workers. This past summer, I was interning in Hong Kong for three months, and every Sunday I would come across hundreds of women who were sitting at parks, under buildings and in the middle of sidewalks. At first I thought it was a protest happening every Sunday because at the time Hong Kong was going through some political issues, but later I found out that these women were nannies who were simply hanging out with other nannies on their days off, every Sunday. They would share snacks, play music on their phones and dance—it was a network in itself.
(Domestic workers below the HSBC building in Hong Kong)
These nannies basically live at the house of their employers because they are unable to afford a place of their own—hence why on their days off, they are living out in the streets because they have no other home to go to. In fact, it’s less likely for them to find a place of their own considering Hong Kong has been announced to have the most expensive real estate in the world. As such, it puts women at a vulnerable position because at this stage, they have to do everything and anything their employer wants them to do since they are giving them access to shelter, and the fact that these women have no other alternative other than to fall under the hegemonic regime.
While this may seem like a comfortable lifestyle for all the nannies, being a nanny in Hong Kong more so means that you are overworked and underpaid. It’s ironic because Hong Kong is actually one of the only places that has policies implemented to protect the nannies such as paid annual leave, one day off a week, and legal channels so that they can have an opportunity to report complaints (Kau). According to Quarts, the reason the wage for domestic workers has decreased is because they have to “take into account inflation and the value of the Hong Kong dollar against other currencies” which means that many foreign domestic works are making less than they would have 16 years ago (Kau). It’s so unfortunate because these migrant domestic workers are not only being underpaid, but they are also being treated like modern day slaves. They do the “dirty jobs” in that they are being treated more like second-class citizens. While the government has received many complaints, they don’t take action because they claim that there are many incoming migrant workers who are still willing to accept the same or lower wages. This only comes to show the market exchanges that take place are outside of state and government regulation. Moreover, this shows how the state is gendered in that they are outsourcing the women that are coming in from other countries by taking advantage of their cheap labor regardless if there are policies implemented in Hong Kong to protect the domestic workers. In many other countries, these women aren’t considered by the government. Whether there are policies implement by the government or not, women are still marginalized by being underpaid and overworked. It’s also ironic because you would think that there would be so many more opportunities for women to participate in the formal economy being in a developed country, but instead these women still end up faces the suppressive factors in the private life. It reminds me of Enloe’s writing on the division of labor because she speaks about the history of women being subject to maternal roles and has then influenced how gender contributes to the occupations women and men each hold in society today. In this case, most of the nannies are women. It speaks about the notion on how sex influences gender role in society.
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