Responses to Abuse Against Migrant Domestic Workers: A Multi-scalar Comparison of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Shanghai

Abstract

This chapter offers a multi-scalar comparison of governments’ and private sectors’ responses to abuse against domestic migrant workers in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. The comparison aims to identify the optimum level of government intervention to efficiently prevent abuse against domestic migrant workers. Although the three locations have similar demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, the authorities examined here represent three different levels of government: national, semi-autonomous, and municipal. Based on fieldwork in these three locations, Laliberte presents the actors in government, domestic worker recruitment/placement agencies, and domestic workers’ rights advocacy organizations, and assesses their relative influence and resources and their ability and interest in promoting/guaranteeing and/or respecting the rights of domestic workers.