Migrant domestic workers

Migrant domestic workers (also known as foreign home care workers, foreign domestic workers,foreign domestic helpers, transnational domestic workers, foreign domestic employees, overseas domestic workers and domestic migrant workers) are, according to the International Labour Organization’s Convention No. 189 and the International Organization for Migration, any persons “moving to another country or region to better their material or social conditions and improve the prospect for themselves or their family,” engaged in a work relationship performing “in or for a household or households.” Domestic work itself can cover a 'wide range of tasks and services that vary from country to country and that can be different depending on the age, gender, ethnic background and migration status of the workers concerned.' These particular workers have been identified by some academics as situated within 'the rapid growth of paid domestic labor, the feminization of transnational migration, and the development of new public spheres.” Prominent discussions on the topic include the status of these workers, motivations for becoming one, recruitment and employment practices in the field, and various measures being undertaken to change the conditions of domestic work among migrants. Migrant domestic workers (also known as foreign home care workers, foreign domestic workers,foreign domestic helpers, transnational domestic workers, foreign domestic employees, overseas domestic workers and domestic migrant workers) are, according to the International Labour Organization’s Convention No. 189 and the International Organization for Migration, any persons “moving to another country or region to better their material or social conditions and improve the prospect for themselves or their family,” engaged in a work relationship performing “in or for a household or households.” Domestic work itself can cover a 'wide range of tasks and services that vary from country to country and that can be different depending on the age, gender, ethnic background and migration status of the workers concerned.' These particular workers have been identified by some academics as situated within 'the rapid growth of paid domestic labor, the feminization of transnational migration, and the development of new public spheres.” Prominent discussions on the topic include the status of these workers, motivations for becoming one, recruitment and employment practices in the field, and various measures being undertaken to change the conditions of domestic work among migrants. The status of migrant domestic workers is unique in the field of labor, due to the site of their employment: the home. The domestic sphere, by definition, “is imagined as a place for private individuals, not political or indeed market actors.” Due to their embeddedness in what can be considered the “private sphere”, some analysts have gone so far as to equate domestic laborers with members of the employers’ families, a dynamic made all the more complex by these workers' status as migrants. Historically, they have not been regarded as the same form of labor as manufacturers or doctors. From the end of the Second World War until the mid-1980s, for instance, “most ILO Conventions explicitly excluded domestic workers from the protections afforded by most employment Conventions.” The lack of knowledge concerning the composition of this workforce has been attributed to this historical lack of attention and advocacy. Current estimates place the number of domestics anywhere between 53 and 100 million. The ILO, in 2010, projected the following distribution of domestic workers throughout the world: Source: Domestic workers across the world: Global and regional statistics and the extent of legal protection, International Labour Organization. Geneva. 2013 According to a report by the same organization, globally, “83% of domestic workers are women,” and migrants compose a majority of these. Due, however, to “the heterogeneity, irregularity and invisibility of domestic and care work,' statistics can never be comprehensive. The fact that domestic work is often relegated to the private sphere, coupled with the sometimes-illegal status of these migrants, has created a sparse regulatory environment. As cited above, for example, the ILO had purposefully excluded domestic workers from their labor regulations. However, increasing advocacy, coupled with the increasingly transnational element of domestic work prompted the drafting of Convention 189, “Domestic Workers Convention, 2011,” which mandated rest hours, a minimum wage, some freedom of movement, a clearly worded working contract before migrating, and a right to live outside of their workplace. Though this convention passed with a majority of votes, it has thus far only been ratified by Uruguay and the Philippines, both net sending countries. The ILO is not the only international organization attempting to regulate this field, however. The European Parliament drafted a resolution, submitted to the European Commission, calling for domestics’ inclusion in future labour legislation, to take into account their unique work environment, and give training, social security, and set work hours to domestic workers. This has yet to be adopted or change international regulation, though. As such, the regulation of migrant domestic labor is left to individual states, which, as will be examined, has led to abuses. Starting in the mid-19th century, the employment of a domestic worker became a status symbol for bourgeois households and a civilizing mission to young female servants coming from the countryside in search for education, lodging and income. The character of this migration changed around the start of the 20th century, when maids were recruited to work overseas as part of racial purity policies, which involved providing suitable brides for the male settlers. Changes in roles and social aspirations of middle-class women are perceived to have intensified the admission of women into waged work. From an economic perspective, freeing these middle and upper-class women from household chores allowed them to engage in more productive activities; families’ real income thus increases along with their general welfare. Women migrating into private households thousands of miles away from their country of origin are motivated to do so by the search for better salaries and also that their prospects will improve in the destination countries. These women are frequently escaping violence, war, corruption, natural disasters and long-term economic instabilities or poverty in general.