Domestic Workers Research Articles

Improving awareness of foreign domestic workers during the COVID-19 pandemic using infographics: An experience during the crisis

The COVID-19 epidemic is a significant humanitarian crisis witnessed in contemporary times, necessitating the exploration of techniques and approaches that might augment the capabilities of individuals within society to mitigate the adverse consequences of this pandemic. Domestic workers have always been an important part of societal structure, and it is essential to ensure their awareness about the perils of the pandemic as well as implement preventive measures. This is crucial in order to effectively address the hazards associated with the ongoing epidemic. The primary objective of this study was to assess the efficacy of infographic technology in augmenting the level of knowledge among foreign domestic workers on the COVID-19 epidemic. The present study employed a quasi-experimental design to examine and compare the effects of infographic technology on the experimental group, while the control group received only public awareness messages disseminated to all citizens and residents. The study sample comprised (16) foreign domestic workers, who were assigned to the two research groups through a random allocation process. The development of the COVID-19 pandemic awareness scale was conducted. The measurement scale consisted of three dimensions: the cognitive awareness dimension, including a set of (12) statements; the performative awareness dimension, comprising a set of (8) statements; and the psychological awareness dimension, comprising a set of (10) statements. The findings demonstrated the superiority of the experimental group, which used the infographic approach, over the control group in fostering awareness of the COVID-19 epidemic throughout its three dimensions among the participants of the study. The study suggested the need of expanding the utilization of infographics in an attempt to enhance knowledge and awareness of the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside the establishment of varied databases for migrant domestic workers. The objective is also to develop an extensive digital awareness strategy about the impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic, so as to include an increased number of informative infographics.

Bringing home the benefits: do pro-family employee benefits mitigate the risk of depression from competing workplace and domestic labor roles?

Despite significant historical progress toward sex/gender parity in employment status in the United States, women remain more likely to provide domestic labor, creating role competition which may increase depression symptoms. Pro-family employee benefits may minimize the stress of competing roles. We tested whether depressive symptoms were higher among women with competing roles versus without competing roles and whether this effect was greater among women without (vs with) pro-family benefits. Data included employed women (n=9884 person-years) surveyed across 4 waves (2010, 2015, 2017, and 2019) of the National Longitudinal Survey 1997. Depression symptoms were measured with the 5-item short version of the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5). The effect of interaction between competing roles and pro-family employee benefits on depressive symptoms was also compared with that of non-family-related benefits, using marginal structural models to estimate longitudinal effects in the presence of time-varying confounding. MHI-5 scores were 0.56 points higher (95% CI, 0.15-0.97) among women in competing roles (vs not). Among women without pro-family benefits, competing roles increased MHI-5 scores by 6.10 points (95% CI, 1.14-11.1). In contrast, there was no association between competing roles and MHI-5 scores among women with access to these benefits (MHI-5 difference=0.44; 95% CI, -0.2 to 1.0). Results were similar for non-family-related benefits. Dual workplace and domestic labor role competition increases women's depression symptoms, though broad availability of workplace benefits may attenuate that risk. This article is part of a Special Collection on Mental Health.

Recent Developments concerning the Rights of Migrant Workers and of Women: a Survey of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE

Abstract The survey of the Gulf Cooperation Council states reviews some key legislative and executive measures of particularly the governments of Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the year 2023 (largely between December 2022–2023). It focuses mainly on the rights of the migrant workers. Further, and in less detail, it also notes some of the developments pertinent to the rights of women. More generally, these rights are less relevant to women who are not national citizens. The GCC comprises six member countries in the Arab-Gulf region: Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, the UAE (it is a federal state comprising seven emirates namely, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Dubai, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah), Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. These oil-producing countries have a significant proportion of foreign workforce in the population. At 88.1 per cent, the UAE has the highest proportion of migrants in its population among the GCC members (UN DESA, 2020). Foreign workers work mostly in the private sector and are also residents in the host countries. Therefore, a broader spectrum of governments’ measures relating to the issues like labour, entry and residence, and ownership of property or business touch the lives of the foreign/migrant workers or expatriates in the Gulf country. Governments’ initiatives targeting domestic workers are relevant also for women because they comprise the majority in this group. Apparently, the most prolific among the GCC countries in governmental initiatives during the surveyed period is the UAE, both concerning migrant workers and women. The Gulf states appear to have showed more responsiveness to their public image as a few important global events have happened in the region in the past year or discussion was in progress. For instance, the FIFA World Cup 2022 was hosted in Doha, Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022. The 28th United Nations Climate Change conference or COP28 was hosted in Dubai, the UAE from 30 November to 12 December 2023. Announced at the conclusion of the competitive bidding process in November 2023, Saudi Arabia has won the bid to host the 2030 World Expo in Riyadh from October 2030 to March 2031.

Think long‐term, embrace persistence, flexibility

Kate Magro's background in domestic and international relief work, helping communities recover from political instability and natural disasters, contributed to her becoming a more effective and innovative student affairs professional. As a self‐described task‐oriented, driven individual, working in those unstable, unpredictable environments where “nothing works as you anticipated,” taught her the importance of flexibility. It came down to finding out “the overarching goal and how to be flexible about getting there,” said Magro, now Associate Vice President for Student Development at Palm Beach Atlantic University and Co‐instructor and Field Supervisor for PBAU's international and community development program.

Political economy of the ‘agrarian–urban frontier’ in Pakistan: Agrarian transformation, social reproduction and exploitation

AbstractThe paper underscores the need to reconsider the ontological separation between processes of production and reproduction in the context of agrarian‐urban interlinkages. It synthesizes ‘value theory of inclusion’ with a notion of ‘unfair bargaining power’ to offer a new understanding of processes of agrarian change in the context of Pakistan. Expansion of the agrarian–urban frontier, one of the defining characteristics of the contemporary agrarian change in Pakistan, constitutes a crucial yet undertheorized site of value extraction. The paper shows that contemporary processes of capital accumulation rely on the swift conversion of agricultural land into commercial real estate, manifested in the form of gated housing enclaves. This process, on the one hand, accelerates the devalourization of small‐farm‐based production, and on the other hand, it allows affluent residents of gated housing enclaves to extract gendered surplus labour in the form of domestic workers from the growing pool of ‘classes of labour’. In short, the expansion of agrarian–urban frontier is predicated on devalourization of agrarian livelihoods and exploitation of women's labour.

Technology Transfer from China to Kenya for Transport Infrastructure: The Case of International Trunk Roads

Literature on technology transfer to Africa is dominated by studies on agribusiness, military technology, information and communication technology, energy, climate change, health, and manufacturing, while it is scanty on others like transport infrastructure. In this article, we reviewed literature and carried out key informant interviews to collect data on technology transfer for Chinese-built roads in Kenya. Our objective was to examine the extent of technology transfer from Chinese multinational corporations to Kenyan institutions and organizations. We established that there was little technology transfer mostly because of Kenya’s internal obstacles such as inadequate absorptive capacity, weak competition culture, and weak legal and institutional frameworks on technology transfer. Multinational corporations transferred technology primarily to fulfil their commercial objectives and to meet the domestic labour training requirements. The technology transferred was not sufficient to simulate innovation and technology development in Kenya. We recommend reviewing Kenya’s legal and institutional frameworks on international technology transfer in order to improve the participation in and enforcement of technology transfer by government institutions.

Morisot and Cassatt the Exploration of Female Identity in the 19th Century

This paper explores the limitations of church and social influence on women in Europe prior to the 19th century. The author argues that the decline of the domestic economy in the mid-18th century made domestic work more associated with women, leaving most women unable to pursue elite professions such as music, dance, and art. During this period, influenced by the patriarchal social concept, most women did not have the opportunity to pursue these industries, but spent a lot of time and energy in the family, becoming slaves to the family and children. However, the birth of Impressionism reduced the constraints and restrictions of the academic art style and promoted the rise of female artists in the 19th century. This paper will compare the themes, perspectives and self-cognition of the two artists, Berrit Morisot and Mary Cassatt, to show that under the influence of Enlightenment thought, the two artists integrated female identity and family into their painting career, but expressed their different identities.

Is it Discriminatory to Mistreat a Migrant Domestic Worker? The Cases of Taiwo and Onu

Abstract When presented with images of the American plantations, seamstress sweatshops, Morecambe Bay’s Chinese cockle pickers or Qatar’s World Cup stadium builders, a sense of inequality will accompany any normal reaction of shock and revulsion. The exploitation of a group of migrant workers readily is characterised as racist, sexist or both. Yet, when reduced to the sole migrant worker, the legal recognition of discrimination is denied. In such cases, the UK Supreme Court posits a clear distinction between vulnerability and nationality. Not only does this seem somewhat doctrinal and lacking in principle, it produces a likely anomaly between the group and individual exploitation. It also stymies claims for the inevitable psychological harm. This paper presents a brief account of the plight of migrant workers in the UK and the legal landscape regarding trafficking. The main body presents a critical appraisal of the Supreme Court’s denial, in Taiwo v Olaigbe and Onu v Akwiwu, that the mistreatment of a sole migrant worker is not discriminatory. It demonstrates that equality law readily can recognise discrimination in such cases. This is followed by some considerations on policy and alternative remedies.

Comparative benefits of environmental protection expenditures and environmental taxes in driving environmental quality of the European countries

AbstractEnvironmental protection and tax policies are part of the crucial pillars and the evolving aspects of environmental sustainability drive. These policies are increasingly employed to counter the 21st century's global climate problem alongside providing economic relief for the implementing economies. Being on the frontier (i.e., the European Union [EU]) of these policies, the current study examines and compares the impacts of environmental protection expenditures and environmental tax on energy consumption on the ploy to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the panel of EU member countries. With the use of system generalized method of moments and panel causality analyses, the study established the effectiveness of both environmental protection expenditure and environmental tax at improving environmental quality by respectively mitigating GHG emissions by elasticities of ~2.08 and ~0.18. Importantly, environmental protection expenditure is found to be about two times more effective at mitigating GHG emissions than environmental tax policy, thus providing a novel perspective in the literature. Moreover, energy intensity and Gross Domestic Product help to improve environmental quality by mitigating GHG emissions while population causes more pollutant effects. Additionally, the investigation reveals evidence of Granger causality from environmental protection expenditure to GHG emissions in seven of the EU countries and Granger causality from environmental tax to GHG emissions in 10 European countries. Notably, measurable dimensions of policy guidelines that are relevant for globally and/or nationally defined sustainable development goals are induced from the result of this investigation.

Evaluating Women's Economic Empowerment During COVID-19 Pandemic in South Sulawesi, Indonesia

The factual condition resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has changed and impacted various aspects of Indonesian society. It also made women one of the vulnerable and affected groups, requiring them to face various challenges, including loss of livelihoods as family breadwinners, and gender-based violence. Outside of Java, the region with the highest number of COVID-19 cases is South Sulawesi Province, with a total of 62,672 cases. This had an economic impact on communities and families, particularly affecting women, especially domestic workers, and female heads of households. This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of government policies and programs in South Sulawesi Province regarding domestic workers and female heads of households. It directly conducted interviews with stakeholders from the government, women's organizations, and domestic workers and female heads of households. It found that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted women who are heads of households and female domestic workers. The situation for women leading households worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic as they had to navigate the crisis on their own. The situation and conditions of female domestic workers during the COVID-19 pandemic were also dire. Some of them were unilaterally terminated, while others were forced to work daily at their employers' homes, risking virus transmission during their commute due to inadequate personal protective equipment. Those who were laid off by their employers faced a crisis, as they had no income, especially when their spouses, who also worked in the informal sector, stopped working simultaneously. It revealed that both the government of South Sulawesi empowered female heads of households by distributing productive business capital assistance and providing support for female SMEs to access people's business credit. However, in contrast to the reality faced by female domestic workers, this group of women did not receive any social and economic assistance from the government during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Barriers to Women Professionals’ Career Growth during Covid-19 in India

The slow advancement of women in their workplaces remains a social concern for corporates and industry experts across the globe (International Labour Organisation Report, 2018). During the covid-19 pandemic, the advancement of women got significantly impacted owing to the increased burden of domestic responsibilities and other personal challenges. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Report (2021), women in India were seven times more likely to lose their jobs during the pandemic and eleven times more likely to not return to work after the job loss. With the Covid-19 pandemic on the rise and spreading, companies were forced to redesign their work systems, initiate and adopt a remote-work setup option. While, a majority of companies continue with the hybrid model, some companies are slowly eliminating it and returning to the regular office norms as before. This change is likely to impact women, especially the working mothers, owing to the uneven distribution of child-care responsibilities, domestic work, etc. Additionally, conventional barriers such as discriminatory practices, mentoring, networking challenges and role conflicts are expected to persist or rather increase in the changed-working models – be it the hybrid, remote, or completely offline system. The present study focuses on identifying the constraints faced by the Indian women striving against the current for their career advancements, both during the Covid-19 pandemic disruption phase and post-pandemic scenario. The insights from the study will be helpful to gain a cumulative understanding about the challenges faced by women owing to the emerging work system and in addressing the future concerns more systematically.

"Innovative Technologies or Invasive Technologies?": Exploring Design Challenges of Privacy Protection With Smart Home in Jordan

The growing adoption of smart devices has fuelled privacy concerns, and prior research has highlighted the privacy of bystanders: individuals who are subjected to the smart device use of others. Most of this research has focused on households in Western contexts (i.e., Europe and North America), but few studies have explored the design challenges of protecting bystanders, and even fewer have explored these in Muslim Arab Middle Eastern settings, such as Jordan. We conduct 44 interviews with users (i.e., families, domestic workers), local and international business leaders, and smart device designers to explore design challenges for privacy protection in the Jordanian context. Our analysis highlights the importance of considering contextual influences and power dynamics, localization and design guidelines, innovative technologies, awareness to design, and regulation. This paper concludes with recommendations for technical, social, business, and legal interventions to improve data protection design of smart devices in Jordan.

Beyond Kafala! Employers’ discriminatory attitudes and violations of the rights and freedoms of women migrant domestic workers in Lebanon

Abstract Women migrant domestic workers (WMDWs) constitute 7.7 per cent of migrant workers worldwide, of whom more than a quarter work in the Arab region under the exploitative Kafala, system. In this article, we center employers as key actors in the making of the discursive meaning of Kafala. Utilizing data from a mixed-methods study on Lebanese employers of live-in WMDWs, we investigate whether practices that violate the rights and freedoms of workers are determined by the employers’ knowledge of what Kafala and local legal obligations entail versus other factors. The findings reveal that, although knowledge of legal obligations increases compliance with basic worker rights, employers shape the meaning of Kafala through practices that resonate with their discriminatory attitudes and financial interests. Thus, whilst benefit may accrue from enhancing employers’ knowledge of local legal obligations, only anti-racism advocacy that addresses deep-seated discriminatory attitudes and mobilizes employer morality would improve the rights and freedoms of WMDWs. The article does not abrogate Kafala as an exploitative system but calls for centering employers who, through their daily practices, contribute to shaping its meaning and reinforcing its power.

Did the Maids Return? The Long History of Devaluing Care Work and the Mixed Economy of Welfare

For several years now, sociologists studying paid domestic care work have been arguing that the servant culture of the nineteenth century has returned. They focus on specific forms of care work: that done as informal or illegal employment, mostly carried out by migrants. To an historian, such a reference to the past is most intriguing. This article looks at the servant of the past to shed new light on the emergence of an informal labour market for care work. After outlining the arguments of sociologists about “the return of the maids”, it looks back at the history of servants. What was their role regarding long-term care for older disabled people? Furthermore, it sketches the changes regarding professional care at home and, finally, sheds some light on the emergence of a shadow market where migrants offer their services. In doing so, families should be brought into focus as agents of care within the mixed economy of welfare.

Indonesia Diplomacy in Protecting the Rights of Indonesian Migrant Domestic Workers in Malaysia (2017-2022)

This research aims to discuss the diplomatic efforts made by the Indonesian government to protect Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI) in the domestic sector in Malaysia, where the majority of PMI are undocumented. In this case, the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur is the representative of the Republic of Indonesia in Malaysia, which provides services and protection for Indonesian Citizens (Indonesian citizens) who stay in Malaysia, including human rights and migrant worker rights that every worker must have. This research will use qualitative methods with data collection techniques from observation, interviews, participation, and literature study originating from books, journals, articles, official reports, and online news. This research implements the track one diplomacy, negotiations, and international migration concept. The findings of this study show that the Indonesian government is making diplomatic efforts with Malaysia to provide maximum protection for PMI in the domestic sector of Malaysia. One of the ways the government provides PMI protection is through lengthy negotiations with Malaysia, which eventually resulted in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Domestic Workers in Malaysia in April 2022. Keywords: Track One Diplomacy, Indonesian Migrant Workers, Protection of Human Rights, Workers Rights

Twitch spouse: Livestreaming and the legacy of spousal labour in the video game industry

Precarious careers in the games industry have long relied on the unpaid and largely feminized support of spouses and family members. This paper addresses the role of spouses and other domestic cohabitants in the production of live game broadcasts on Twitch, Amazon’s world-leading platform in live video entertainment. I introduce the heuristic of the ‘Twitch Spouse’ to underscore the crucial role that domestic partners have played as invisible workers in the wider games industry, whose precarious conditions have been extended by the rise of at-home livestreaming. Drawing from ‘playful’ interviews and ethnographic observation with 12 Twitch creators located across the United States and Canada, I delineate three themes by which the partners of Twitch streamers vitally contribute to livestreaming: collaborative space production, the management of intimacy, and timekeeping. Herein, I show how a theorization of the ‘Twitch Spouse’ will build future pathways for recognizing the intertwined struggles of domestic and digital work within the precarious horizons of the game industry. This paper argues that Twitch streamers’ conceptualizations of intimate partners’ supportive labour reinforce domesticity and visibility as co-extended forces in the evolving relevance of digital labour to contemporary capitalism.

Making Order in Household Accounting - Digital Invoices as Domestic Work Artifacts

AbstractThe digitization of financial activities in consumers' lives is increasing, and the digitalization of invoicing processes is expected to play a significant role, although this area is not well understood regarding the private sector. Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) research have a long history of analyzing the socio-material and temporal aspects of work practices that are relevant for the domestic domain. The socio-material structuring of invoicing work and the working styles of consumers must be considered when designing effective consumer support systems. In this ethnomethodologically-informed, design-oriented interview study, we followed 17 consumers in their daily practices of dealing with invoices to make the invisible administrative work involved in this process visible. We identified and described the meaningful artifacts that were used in a spatial-temporal process within various storage locations such as input, reminding, intermediate (for postponing cases) buffers, and archive systems. Furthermore, we identified three different working styles that consumers exhibited: direct completion, at the next opportunity, and postpone as far as possible. This study contributes to our understanding of household economics and domestic workplace studies in the tradition of CSCW and has implications for the design of electronic invoicing systems.

Emotional Intelligence as Predictor of Work Motivation: The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem - Case of Prospective Indonesian Domestic Migrant Workers

Abstracts are written in Indonesian and English wit Through the Decree of the Minister of Manpower No. 313 of 2015 established the Indonesian National Work Competency Standards (SKKNI) for domestic workers which became the guideline for competency test material for Prospective Indonesian Domestic Migrant Workers (Ministry of Manpower, 2015). Most of those competencies are technical competencies such as Operating Cleaning Equipment, Cleaning Living Rooms and Bedrooms or Cleaning Bathrooms and Toilet Facilities, which are easily observed by the assessor with the naked eye, so we consider it necessary to find out the mental processes behind the technical activities of Prospective Indonesian Domestic Migrant Workers such as how they identify their own strengths and weaknesses, self-motivation and managing emotions that encourage work motivation. The study was non-experimental based on quantitative research and utilized a survey method to collect data. Linear regression method was used to predicts the value of the Intrinsic Motivation, which is the response or outcome Emotional Intelligence being analyzed. The hypothesis of this study is that there is a relationship between emotional intelligence and work motivation which is mediated by self-efficacy. The data collected consisted of 210 Prospective Domestic Migrant Workers. Based on the results of the Pearson correlation coefficient, it can be seen that there is significant relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Intrinsic Motivation (r (208) = 1,0; p < 0,001), partially mediated by Self-Efficacy, which is 28.1%. Thus, all Job Training Institutions for Prospective Indonesian Domestic Migrant Workers must pay more attention to developing emotional intelligence for Prospective Indonesian Domestic Migrant Workers, instead of only focusing on providing technical knowledge related to work, but also psychological provision because it has been proven that technical ability has a positive correlation with emotions in predicting work motivation.

“I hardly see the husband”: Noticing the absence of men in paid domestic labour research

Feminist scholars have focused on paid domestic labour as a site of gendered inequalities structured by race, gender, class, and citizenship. However, men are largely absent from feminist intersectional understandings of everyday interactions within paid domestic labour. This paper draws on an interview study of South African domestic workers focusing on their talk about interactions with male employers. The analysis demonstrates that talk about routines of the physical and symbolic absence of men can become normalised within domestic labour discourse. This is a narrative that is only brought to light once men's (lack of) presence is made a topic. The conspicuous absence of analyses of this kind within paid domestic labour studies points to unfinished and troubling feminist projects.

THE REVOLUTION OF OUR UNDERSTANDING OF DOMESTIC WORK: THE CONSTITUTIONAL CASE OF Mahlangu v Minister of Labour [2020] ZACC 24

This case note studies the effects of the case of Mahlangu v Minister of Labour ([2020] ZACC 24) (Mahlangu) on domestic work. It argues that the historical and colonial understanding of domestic work is premised on slavery and servitude, and so the understanding of domestic work is one that for centuries has rendered Black women who perform this work invisible. This case note shows how the Mahlangu judgment has revolutionised our understanding of domestic work. It further argues that the exclusion of domestic work from the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (130 of 1993) (COIDA) overlooked domestic work as a type of employment worthy of compensation. The Mahlangu judgment has effected changes to COIDA, allowing for the definition of “employee” to include domestic workers. Lastly, the case note shows that this inclusion is a step forward in regulating domestic work effectively as a form of legitimate employment and further humanising women who make up the large majority of those that do this work.