Filipino Domestic Workers and the Creation of New Subjectivities

Abstract

This article analyzes the social activities of migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong and Singapore in the context of the feminization of migration. It classifies these activities into those that move towards (1) upholding the rights of migrant domestic workers, and (2) upgrading their social status to promote social mobility. These two activities and the changes they effect may be achieved individually and collectively, and clearly show the capability of migrant domestic workers to be counter-hegemonic subjects, both in the form of ‘everyday resistance’ and as agents of social change. This article also explores how these two activities intertwine through migrant women's volunteer work. The emergence of networks of migrant organizations and NGOs and new solidarity across different ethnicities are also discussed as a form of dynamism resulting from the feminization of migration.