Going beyond the State: Political Mobilisation of Domestic Workers in Asia - A Critical Appraisal of the Literature

Abstract

This article attempts to throw light on the ways migrant domestic workers negotiate with their employers and their states, both in their host countries and countries of origin, regarding their rights as workers, and the dynamic socio-political challenges that emerge from their intersectionalities of being women, migrants and domestic workers. Traversing through narratives and accounts of several transnational networks, the article seeks to understand how the domestic workers attempt to engage in political mobilisation and form networks that cut across territorial boundaries. In this article I delineate the nuances of the emergent forms of the politics that emanate from the intersectionalities of being women, migrants and domestic workers, and the implications these have for the larger political projects of citizenship and nationalism.