Much current literature on women and migration tends to approach the study of migrant domestic workers as victims of global capitalism—or according to Parrenas’s evocative phrase as “servants of globalization”—from one of two vantage points. The first vantage point focuses attention on how the conditions of exit in various sending countries make overseas domestic servitude one of the few employment opportunities available for many women (Parrenas 2001). The second draws attention to the ways in which these migrant women experience stratification—along the lines of gender, race, and class—as part of their settlement experiences in their host countries (Pratt 1998). Both of these vantage points reinforce aspects of the “servants of globalization” discourse in that they pay relatively little attention to the coping practices of migrant domestic workers. In order to extend the thesis beyond the “servants of globalization” discourse, this thesis examines the coping practices that migrant Filipina domestic workers develop in their efforts to create communities of affirmation, care, and belonging.

Much current literature on women and migration tends to approach the study of migrant domestic workers as victims of global capitalism—or according to Parrenas’s evocative phrase as “servants of globalization”—from one of two vantage points. The first vantage point focuses attention on how the conditions of exit in various sending countries make overseas domestic servitude one of the few employment opportunities available for many women (Parrenas 2001). The second draws attention to the ways in which these migrant women experience stratification—along the lines of gender, race, and class—as part of their settlement experiences in their host countries (Pratt 1998). Both of these vantage points reinforce aspects of the “servants of globalization” discourse in that they pay relatively little attention to the coping practices of migrant domestic workers. In order to extend the thesis beyond the “servants of globalization” discourse, this thesis examines the coping practices that migrant Filipina domestic workers develop in their efforts to create communities of affirmation, care, and belonging.

In recent decades, care ethics has become more visible in discussions of contemporary moral problems; however, longstanding ethical theories such as deontology and utilitarianism remain prominent in discussing controversial contemporary issues. I show the relevance of care ethics in discussions of globalization, especially regarding care ethics's applicability to the problem of "global care chains." Global care chains form when a person from a developing nation, usually a female, emigrates to serve as a fulltime nanny or housekeeper for a middle or upper class household. Her remittances pay for another care worker to replace her at home during her absence. This chain of caring labor extends across oceans and involves multiple households and various intricate webs of relationship. Care chains are problematic for three reasons. First, immigrant care workers find themselves particularly vulnerable to manipulation and abuse at the hands of their wealthy employers: Generally, labor laws in most countries do not apply to workers in private households. Second, the consistent migration of female care workers from poorer to wealthier countries eventually damages the socio-emotional commons in these workers' home communities. Third, care chains maintain the global illusion that women have achieved genuine equality with men: Because the gendered division of labor persists in the private and public sphere along with the masculine career model, women generally still find themselves burdened with the second-shift of caring labor in their homes. In response, I propose the use of "caring contracts" to address these conflicts. First, the caring contract shows how care ethics's feminist priorities can work in conjunction with the liberally derived concept of contractual arrangements between seemingly distant parties. Second, caring contracts prohibit the abuse of immigrant care workers while motivating a global conversation regarding the patriarchal and masculinist norms that have encouraged women's reliance on care chains. Privileged men and women will have to reconsider the true value of care work and understand why all capable individuals should participate in its completion. This dialogue would have to include revising global economic polices that have forced women in developing countries to emigrate for employment opportunities. / Philosophy

This thesis explores globalization’s effects on female migrant domestic workers in Latin America by examining the socioeconomic and political status of Paraguayan and Peruvian domestic workers in Argentina. Through this research, I answer several key questions. First, how does globalization shape neoliberal markets that enforce the exploitative structures of domestic labor? Second, how is gender inequality present in governmental and social discrimination? Third, do the costs of transnational care labor outweigh the benefits? The former two questions are answered by the rising demand for care labor and resulting global care chains that fuel greater cross-border migration and statelessness of female migrants. Additionally, cultural and familial pressures magnify the sexual division of labor and maintain domestic labor’s low social status. Using a gender analysis, I address the last question by concluding that gender inequalities through governmental and social discrimination, plus emotional-familial burdens, outweigh domestic labor’s short-sighted financial prospects and autonomy provided by globalization.