Foreign Domestic Workers Research Articles

“We also deserve help during the pandemic”: The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic poses particular challenges for migrant workers around the world. This study explores the unique experiences of foreign domestic workers (FDWs) in Hong Kong, and how COVID-19 impacted their health and economic wellbeing. Interviews with FDWs (n = 15) and key informants (n = 3) were conducted between May and August 2020. FDWs reported a dual-country experience of the pandemic, where they expressed concerns about local transmission risks as well as worries about their family members in their home country. Changes to their current work situation included how their employers treated them, as well as their employment status. FDWs also cited blind spots in the Hong Kong policy response that also affected their experience of the pandemic, including a lack of support from the Hong Kong government. Additional support is needed to mitigate the particularly negative effects of the pandemic on FDWs.

The Invisible Impact of Frozen Conflicts: A Case Study of Foreign Domestic Workers in Cyprus

The Invisible Impact of Frozen Conflicts: A Case Study of Foreign Domestic Workers in Cyprus

Personal Determinants of Burden Among Indonesian Female Caregivers of Older Adults in Taiwan.

Families increasingly employ foreign domestic workers (FDWs) to care for older loved ones. Caregiver burden reflects FDWs' difficulty adapting to work demands. We test hypothesized associations between burden and six personal characteristics: children, marriage, education, Chinese proficiency, eldercare experience, and non-eldercare experience. In total, 299 Indonesian FDWs in Taiwan completed the Zarit Burden Interview. Exploratory factor analysis identified the dimensions of burden. Multiple and multinomial regressions related the variables to overall burden, burden dimensions, and burden severity. Four dimensions were found: personal strain, role strain, dependency, and guilt. Children were negatively associated with burden, role strain, dependency, and guilt. Chinese proficiency was negatively associated with severity and guilt. Eldercare experience was positively associated with severity and personal strain. Marriage was non-monotonically related to severity. Caregivers whose earnings benefit their children may be more likely to thrive in Taiwan. Language training may boost caregiver performance and host family satisfaction.

Finding a Home Away from Home: An Explorative Study on the Use of Social Space with the Voices of Foreign Domestic Workers in Hong Kong

Being far away from friends and family, and sometimes facing hardships at work and in society, foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong have a strong need for access to social space to gather together and to empower each other. At the same time, social space can satisfy their needs for privacy, which has been stripped away from them due to the mandatory live-in rule in the employer’s home. In view of this, we devised an explorative case study to probe into the significance and usage patterns of social space by foreign domestic workers and report our findings using their own statements and experiences. We found that the dual-functional social space is an important physical attribute that aided the development of their social identity, and that they have achieved partial success in sharing—or taking over—the social space that was never intended for the sake of their well-being.

A discursive paper on the importance of health literacy among foreign domestic workers during outbreaks of communicable diseases.

Using an integrated model of health literacy, we discuss the importance of health literacy among foreign domestic workers in the provision of informal caregiving during outbreaks of communicable diseases. COVID-19 pandemic is used as an example. Adequate health literacy in the population is known to be important for the prevention of communicable diseases. Foreign domestic workers, a group of marginalised caregivers in private households, are generally presumed to have limited health literacy because of numerous socio-cultural disadvantages. To date, there is limited evidence that these informal healthcare providers receive support from community-based nurses. A discursive paper. Foreign domestic workers, with varying levels of health literacy, may be viewed either as a resource to break the chain of infection or as a potential reservoir of communicable diseases in the community. Meanwhile, restrictions imposed in response to diseases transmissions (e.g. stay-at-home measures for COVID-19) may directly exacerbate the social support received by these foreign domestic works and their ability to access health-related information. There are also concerns about their ability to appraise and evaluate information related to communicable diseases at a time when fake news and misinformation are being disseminated through social media. Language and cultural barriers are important issues that need to be addressed to ensure that foreign domestic workers are in a position to follow public health recommendations. Nurses hold an important position in empowering foreign domestic workers with adequate health literacy, by engaging groups of foreign domestic workers in the community and their consulates in planning educational programmes and effectively disseminating information. At a time of global pandemic, an assessment of the health literacy levels of foreign domestic workers in places like Hong Kong is urgently required.

Caregiver burden in familial caregivers and foreign domestic workers of patients with traumatic brain injury in a multi-ethnic Asian population

ABSTRACT Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and risk factors associated with caregiver burden in familial caregivers and foreign domestic workers of patients with severe traumatic brain injury. Methods A total of 77 caregivers were consecutively recruited, who were either familial caregivers or foreign domestic workers. All caregivers were evaluated with the Zarit Burden Index (ZBI), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and General Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine factors associated with caregiver burden. Results The majority of participants were familial caregivers (N = 60), of which 70% experienced significant caregiver burden. In this group, 10.0% caregivers had clinically significant depression and 16.7% caregivers who had clinically significant anxiety. On multivariate analysis, factors found to be associated with caregiver burden were Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended (GOSE) of <7, presence of neuropsychiatric complications, and presence of anxiety. There was also a high prevalence of caregiver burden in foreign domestic workers (29.4%). Conclusion There is a high rate of caregiver burden in both familial caregivers and foreign domestic workers who care for patients with severe traumatic brain injury. Caregivers experiencing stress should also be monitored for the presence of anxiety or depression.

Geospatial analysis of female fertility in Oman: do immigrant female domestic workers make a difference?

ABSTRACT Despite the progress achieved in transformational development in socioeconomic domains, in Oman, like other Gulf Cooperation Council states, fertility rates are higher compared with those in other Middle East nations. Reproductive behaviour often varies geographically; consequently, analysing and modelling this phenomenon should be conducted at subnational and finer levels to capture spatial heterogeneity patterns. In this research, data from the last Omani census are used and local indicators of spatial associations (LISA) as well as spatial econometric models have been employed to examine the effects of sociocultural factors, particularly foreign female domestic workers, on local fertility variations. Remarkable spatial differences were observed in the effects of structural covariates on fertility rates. Several spatial clusters indicate a correlation between higher fertility rates and higher values of other explanatory sociocultural variables. Furthermore, the subnational variations of fertility rates are significantly explained by geographical and sociocultural factors, such a surban-rural settlement, education, female employment in governmental sectors, unemployed women, and the proportion of foreign female domestic workers. The findings also reveal that the rural and Bedouin communities, particularly in the internal governorates, not only displayed higher fertility rates, but also had more unemployed women.

Food contact zones and kitchen politics: migrant domestic helpers in Hong Kong

Making and sharing food plays an essential role in foreign domestic helpers’ work and leisure life. However, this has seldom been addressed in the voluminous migrant domestic helper literature. In Hong Kong, overseas helpers are employed in over three hundred thousand households. This article explores their food experiences in both their leisure and work spaces. It first examines the “contact zones” in which these workers share food with co-ethnics. It then considers the kitchen space in which foreign domestic workers serve their employers. It shows how these domestic helpers make use of their culinary skills to secure better human relationships and gain extra bargaining power through the provision of tasty ethnic dishes. Despite the immense power imbalance between the employer and the domestic helper, such food contact has shed light on the everyday resilience embedded in kitchen politics in Hong Kong.

The impact of availability and identity of the caregiver on the post-stroke patient

Background After having a stroke, most patients are helped by a caregiver with activities that they cannot perform by themselves. The caregiver presence and actions are an important variable that may affect rehabilitation in many ways. The aim of this review study was to evaluate the impact of caregiver presence (or absence) and identity (spouse, family, or foreign domestic worker) on therapeutic exercise performance, depression symptoms, patient–spouse relations and total functional outcomes of stroke patients. Assessing these effects may help health care professionals and families to prioritise/choose the caregiver for their patient/family member. Methods A narrative literature review was conducted, focusing on one-direction effects (caregiver on patient effects) on the topics of interest mentioned, in a post-stroke population. PubMed, CINAHL, PEDro, Trip database, and Google Scholar were searched, and included studies of most designs and research qualities. The search strategy had not been specified before commencing the review. Each study was analysed individually with the purpose of synthesising the available evidence to achieve a greater understanding of this topic. Results A total of 17 relevant papers were included: six randomised controlled trials, six observational studies, two systematic reviews, two survey-based studies, and one case series. Trials were consistent with the positive effect that caregivers have on therapeutic exercise performance. Studies have shown a positive effect of caregivers on the patient's depressive symptoms, but only at the chronic phase after stroke. A spouse caregiver seems to more positively affect the patient–spouse relations in the acute phase of rehabilitation, while foreign domestic workers can improve these relations at more chronic phases. The presence of a caregiver is shown to decrease functional outcomes within institutionalised rehabilitation centres, while it is necessary and positively affects functionality at more chronic phases within community settings. Conclusions The advantages and disadvantages of employing a caregiver depend in many cases on the rehabilitation phase. The caregiver might be beneficial or harmful to the patient's functional progress, depressive symptoms and marital relationship depending on the rehabilitation phase. More studies are needed to assess the caregiver effects on post-stroke patients' rehabilitation and quality of life.

Abuses of Foreign Domestic Workers in East and Southeast Asian Countries

Southeast Asian foreign domestic workers have been working in neighboring middle- and high-income countries. Many are subject to multifaceted abuses exercised by governmental agencies, employers and among others. This article presents different forms of abuses faced by these foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. The article also suggests policies that the governments of host and home countries should implement in order to protect the safety and well-being of those workers.

Much Ado About Nothing? Do Foreign Domestic Workers in Hong Kong Benefit From Capital Accumulation?

The accumulation of human and social capital plays a significant role in influencing migrants’ earnings and economic integration in the host society. Although the effects of foreign domestic workers’ bargaining power on their labor market outcome is constrained due to their unique migrant status, domestic workers may still strive to make use of various resources to secure “ideal” jobs as much as possible. Using a randomly selected unique data set collected in Hong Kong in 2017, this study examines whether foreign domestic workers’ human and social capitals are associated with their salary scale, working conditions, and work rights protection. We use education, previously held jobs, migration duration, and language proficiency to measure human capital, and friendship networks and church attendance to indicate social capital. We found that previously having middle-level job experience can reduce the likelihood of experiencing underpay and increase the likelihood of having overpay, taking the legal minimum salary as a reference. English language proficiency could also give them some leverage to access a better pay scale. Previous human capital accumulation is associated with having a private room in the employer’s home. It is also associated with better protection of work rights such as being less likely to experience a “no pay” month. For social capital, frequent participation in Sunday gathering with friends is mainly associated with rights protection. These findings indicate that although foreign domestic workers may be constrained in using their capital accumulation to improve their market value substantially, the capital accumulation can still give some leverage for them to bargain for a slightly improved salary, better working conditions, and protection of their rights.

Better a Friend Nearby Than a Brother Far Away? The Health Implications of Foreign Domestic Workers’ Family and Friendship Networks

Migrant domestic workers provide essential services to the families they live with, but they are not considered a part of the family. As a group, they are not well-integrated into the society and often suffer from social isolation. In this article, we explore the potential health buffering effects of their personal network, in terms of family and friendship ties in both the local community and their home country. Existing literature provides inconsistent evidence on who and what matters more, with regard to the nature, strength, and geographic locations of individual personal networks. Using data from the Survey of Migrant domestic Workers in Hong Kong (2017), we find that family ties are extremely important. The presence of family members in Hong Kong as well as daily contact with family, regardless of location, are associated with better self-reported health. Only daily contact with friends in Hong Kong, not with friends in other countries, promotes better health. We also find evidence that the protective effects of family and friends networks depend on each other. Those foreign domestic workers with families in Hong Kong but also maintain daily contact with friends have the best self-reported health among all.

The influence of housing on sexual and reproductive health status and service utilization among Filipina migrant domestic workers in Macao (SAR), China: A population survey

ObjectiveSexual and reproductive health (SRH) and service utilization among female migrant domestic workers are under-studied. No studies to date have investigated the unique health vulnerabilities that affect female foreign domestic workers. The objective of this study was to investigate how stay-in and stay-out living conditions in domestic work may differentially affect SRH status, service utilization, and sexual risk behavior among female migrant domestic workers in Macao (SAR), China. MethodsData were analyzed from a cross-sectional survey conducted between November 2016 and August 2017 among 1368 female Filipina migrant domestic workers living and working in Macao. Participants were recruited through respondent-driven sampling. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to assess relationships between living context and outcomes of interest. ResultsDomestic workers’ living context (i.e. stay-in versus stay-out) was significantly related to sexual risk behavior patterns and SRH status and service utilization. Compared to stay-out workers, stay-in workers had reduced odds of sexual risk behaviors but were also more likely to report that their sexual partners were likely to have concurrent sexual partners. In addition, stay-in workers had significantly decreased odds of having visited an OBGYN in Macao in the past year. ConclusionsThis research is the first to evaluate the impact of stay-in and stay-out conditions within a foreign domestic worker population. This study further provides novel evidence of contextual factors (e.g. financial, employment, living conditions) that contribute to inequalities in SRH status and service utilization among Filipina migrant domestic workers. Results indicate that living context is significantly correlated with sexual risk behaviors, SRH status, and service utilization among domestic workers in Macao, highlighting the need to more effectively tailor specific interventions to meet female domestic workers’ needs.

Compensation for Abused Foreign Domestic Workers: A Problem of Enforcement

In Tay Wee Kiat v Public Prosecutor [2018] 5 SLR 438; [2019] 5 SLR 1033, two offenders who had abused a foreign domestic worker had been ordered to pay her compensation, on pain of a default term of imprisonment. When they failed to pay, the Prosecution applied for the compensation order to be enforced by way of attachment of the offenders’ property or garnishment of debts due to the offenders (“garnishment/attachment orders”). The High Court refused to make garnishment/attachment orders on the grounds that (a) the Prosecution had applied for such orders belatedly; and (b) such orders would lead to “undue protraction” of proceedings. This note argues that the High Court erred in so refusing. Compared to relying on default imprisonment terms as the means of enforcing compensation orders, making garnishment/attachment orders would better comport with the statutory compensation scheme for the High Court, be more economically efficient, and better promote the welfare of abused foreign domestic workers.

Singapore’s national discourse on foreign domestic workers: Exploring perceptions of the margins

Foreign domestic workers from industrializing economies migrate to Singapore to feed its labor market, meeting the growing need for performing feminized labor. Although foreign domestic workers have been an integral part of Singaporean households since the 1970s, the presence of foreign domestic workers in contemporary public discourse remains eclipsed. However, the civil society landscape has witnessed increasing articulations and mobilization of civil society actors on the rights of foreign domestic workers, framing the problems experienced by foreign domestic workers in the language of rights. Given the role of mainstream media as a developmental structure in carrying out the information dissemination function of the state in predominantly economic terms that serve the pragmatic ideology of the state, how are foreign domestic workers constructed in mainstream media discourse? What do we learn from these constructions about the interplays of feminized labor, media discourse, civil society, and the state? The article examines the kinds of media frames present in the discussion and portrayal of foreign domestic workers using a mixed-methods approach.

東アジアにおけるケアの「家族化政策」と外国人家事労働者

東アジアにおけるケアの「家族化政策」と外国人家事労働者

Bordering care: the care of foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong

ABSTRACTThe story of the migrant worker population has always been told as a story of host/guest relations. Story-telling, as a way of making sense of the world, is a powerful tool, but global immigration debates have increasingly painted a picture of guest workers playing the sole role of ‘taking from’ the host, evoking fear and distrust amongst the host nations. The article will begin with a series of stories, which tries to put into practice what Lawrence Grossberg calls better story-telling, both as the premise and political responsibility of Cultural Studies, so that we can imagine new possibilities and enable better politics. This lens will be applied to the case of foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong, where I will be exploring their paradoxical status of being both foreign and domestic, in the wider context of the intimate labour of care workers. Reading Michel Serres’ The Parasite alongside these stories, I hope to demonstrate how the theme shifts with each change of perspectives, and in doing so, problematize the give/take relation such that their interdependent relationships of hosts and guests would be foregrounded. Beginning with the etymology of the word para/sitos, the being that eats alongside, I hope to approach the issue through a consideration of more universal questions of ‘living-together’.

Financial education for female foreign domestic workers in Singapore

We evaluate a randomized field experiment to study the effect of financial workshops for domestic workers in Singapore. Groups of women met monthly with a trained mentor. Take-up rates were low and our results are inconclusive as to whether invitations to these workshops improved financial knowledge and behavior. Unexpectedly, treatment assignment had a significant, negative effect on self-reported savings. Further exploration suggests that assignment to treatment could affect participants’ awareness of accumulated savings. We find a reduction in the number of savings accounts reported and an increase in the probability respondents report having disagreements with family members over finances.

Health Concerns among Sri Lankan Female Foreign Domestic Worker Returnees from the Middle East

Female foreign domestic workers (FDWs) are an important and growing occupational group, especially in the Middle East. Although Sri Lankan female FDWs comprise a significant percentage of those employed in this region, little is known about the health issues this population experiences during their employment. Prompted by this dearth in the extant literature, this study aimed to explore self-reported health problems and perceived causes, as well as health behaviors, beliefs, coping, and concerns of Sri Lankan female FDWs through the narratives of returnees formerly employed in the Middle East. Implementing a multi-faceted qualitative approach, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were utilized to investigate FDWs’ health problems, behaviors, and coping mechanisms. Participants’ health beliefs and concerns were explored through free listing and pile sorting. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis and descriptive statistics. Headaches, backache, irregular meals and symptoms of depression were the most frequently self-reported health issues, most commonly attributed to overwork. Cleanliness was the most commonly adopted health maintaining behavior. The presence of cultural health beliefs in terms of illness causation was revealed, and FDWs’ spoke of the perceived health benefits of social interaction and religious practice as coping strategies. Findings of this study have several implications for policy and future research. FDWs’ concerns and recommendations prompt the need for greater accountability, legal enforcement of policies, and strengthened training and health monitoring. Policy, prevention and intervention measures may be more effective if they consider FDWs’ self-reported health problems, health belief models, health maintaining behaviors, concerns and coping strategies

Gender as Spatial Identity Gender strategizing in postcolonial and neocolonial Hong Kong

A photo essay exploring the how gender identity is deliberately constructed through social positioning within the urban landscape of Hong Kong. Hong Kong has always had a binary identity, which continues through from the postcolonial to the neocolonial. This creates layers of additional complexity around gender identity, which is explored in terms of performativity and authenticity through both the heterosexual fluidity of foreign domestic workers and through homosexual tactics of local men, within a public park in Hong Kong. By rejecting the past through a politics of disappearance, previous boundaries around fluidity, repression, and suppression continue to influence the present in a volatile neocolonial context opening questions around what is an authentic performance of self.