- Date
2003
- Authors
Pei-Chia Lan
- Abstract
This article examines the complexity of feminized domestic labor in the context of global migration. I view unpaid household labor and paid domestic work not as dichotomous categories but as structural continuities across the public and private spheres. Based on a qualitative study of Filipina migrant domestic workers in Taiwan, I demonstrate how women travel through the maid/madam boundary-- housewives in home countries become breadwinners by doing domestic work overseas, and foreign maids turn into foreign brides. While migrant women sell their domestic labor in the market, they remain burdened with gendered responsibilities in their own families. Their simultaneous occupancy of paid and unpaid domestic labor is segmented into distinct spatial settings. I underscore women's agency by presenting how they articulate their paid and unpaid domestic labor and bargain with the monetary and emotional value of their labor
- Journal title
Gender and Society
- Volume
17
- Issue
2
- Page numbers
187-208
- Publisher
Sage Publications, Inc.
- File Attachments
- Links
- Keywords
Domestic Workers, Philippine, Taiwan
- Economic sectors
Occupations in services - Domestic work
- Content types
Statistics on work and life conditions
- Target groups
Policymakers, Public awareness, Researchers, Unions, and NGOs/community groups/solidarity networks
- Geographical focuses
Philippines and Taiwan
- Spheres of activity
Gender and sexuality studies
- Languages
English