Hong Kong plays host to hundreds of thousands of female migrant domestic workers, who have become an integral part of the local economy and a common sight in households. Despite their importance, their live-in status continues to place migrant domestic workers at a disadvantaged position in their host society and at the mercy of their employers. Articles about the exploitation and abuse of migrant domestic workers are commonplace in Hong Kong news, and in many cases the victims are Indonesian. At the same time, however, stories about migrant domestic workers who are treated very well and given large amounts of freedom have also been featured, but these cases are generally about Filipinos. Despite being the same gender, having the same occupation and being subject to the same set of laws, a discrepancy exists in the treatment of Indonesian and Philippine migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong. The main aim of this thesis is to unravel the underlying reasons behind this difference. I argue that the systematic advertising and perpetuation of nationality-based stereotypes and “brand images” lead to Philippine migrant domestic workers being valued higher than their Indonesian counterparts, impacting how they are perceived and treated by Hong Kong society. I employ empirical data obtained from international organizations, state governments, public media and the findings of earlier scholarly research to show how these following factors establish and maintain Hong Kong’s system of stratification: migration infrastructure impacting the labor migration corridors connecting Indonesia and the Philippines to Hong Kong, laws that dictate the treatment of migrant domestic workers, the actors involved in creating and maintaining stereotypes and “brand images”, and the respective efforts made by the two migrant worker groups at challenging their disadvantaged positions in Hong Kong society. / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/13587 |
| Date | 13 December 2021 |
| Creators | Chandra, Agam |
| Contributors | Xu, Feng |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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