Device of Inequality, Symbols of ‘Fairness’ – Singaporean Employer constructions of the Migrant Domestic Worker Contract

• In Event: 20862 - Section on International Migration Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 11: Migration and Labor

Abstract

Recent scholarship notes that employers of migrant domestic workers (MDWs) play a significant role in amplifying or mitigating the precarity which MDWs labor under. This paper applies a Gramscian lens (articulation) to exploring how Singaporean employers talk about their relationship with their MDWs. Through an analysis of original interview data with white-collar employers, I find that employers talk about the MDW ‘contract’ as (1) something that MDWs enter into with informed consent, and (2) something only MDWs can rightfully break. Simultaneously, (3) unilateral contract-breaking on the MDW’s part is treated as ‘dishonourable’ for the employer. Collectively, these meaningfully construct the ‘contract’ into a symbol of fairness. Since the ‘contract’ itself is a significant device in enabling MDW precarity in the first place, these findings have major implications for scholars and activists who hope to understand, and tackle, this system of inequality.

Author

• Isaac An-Jie Lam, University of Southern California