Global Cinderellas

Lan Pei-Chia Lan

Description

Migrant women are the primary source of paid domestic labor around the world. Since the 1980s, the newly prosperous countries of East Asia have recruited foreign household workers at a rapidly increasing rate. Many come from the Philippines and Indonesia. Pei-Chia Lan interviewed and spent time with dozens of Filipina and Indonesian domestics working in and around Taipei as well as many of their Taiwanese employers. On the basis of the vivid ethnographic detail she collected, Lan provides a nuanced look at how boundaries between worker and employer are maintained and negotiated in private households. She also sheds light on the fate of the workers, "global Cinderellas" who seek an escape from poverty at home only to find themselves treated as disposable labor abroad.Lan demonstrates how economic disparities, immigration policies, race, ethnicity, and gender intersect in the relationship between the migrant workers and their Taiwanese employers. The employers are eager to flex their recently acquired financial muscle; many are first-generation career women as well as first-generation employers. The domestics are recruited from abroad as contract and "guest" workers; restrictive immigration policies prohibit them from seeking permanent residence or transferring from one employer to another. They care for Taiwanese families' children, often having left their own behind. Throughout Global Cinderellas, Lan pays particular attention to how the women she studied identify themselves in relation to "others"-whether they be of different classes, nationalities, ethnicities, or education levels. In so doing, she offers a framework for thinking about how migrant workers and their employers understand themselves in the midst of dynamic transnational labor flows.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique
• Taiwan
• Economics

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 03 avril 2006
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822387787
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Cinderellas global

peichia l an Cinderellas g l o b a l

Migrant Domestics and

Newly Rich Employers

in Taiwan

duke universit y press

Durham and London 2006

∫2006 Duke University Press

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper$

Typeset in Scala by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.

Duke University Press gratefully acknowledges the support of the

Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, which provided funds toward the

production of this book.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lan, Pei-Chia Global Cinderellas : migrant domestics and newly rich employers in Taiwan / Pei-Chia Lan. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn0-8223-3730-4 (cloth : alk. paper) isbn0-8223-3742-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Women domestics—Taiwan. 2. Women—Employment—Taiwan. 3. Women migrant labor—Philippines. 4. Women migrant labor—Indonesia. 5. Alien labor, Philippine—Taiwan. 6. Alien labor Indonesian—Taiwan. 7. Filipinos—Employment—Foreign countries. 8. Indonesians—Employment —Foreign countries. 9. Women—Taiwan—Economic conditions. 10. Women—Taiwan—Social conditions. I. Title. hd6072.2.t28l36 2006 331.4%81640460951249—dc22 2005028233

For my parents,

Wang Ho and Lan Chih-Ching

contents

List of Figures and Tables Preface

A Note on Style Introduction 1 A Bounded Global Market

2 Disdained Aliens, Stratified Others 3 Jealous Madams and Anxious Mothers 4 Crossing Borders and Gender Divides 5 Cinderella with a Mobile Phone 6 Eat, Drink, Masters and Servants Conclusion Appendices Notes References Index

ix xi xv 1 29 59 94 125 160 199 237 251 259 277 297

1 2 3

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5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13

1

2

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4 5 6 7

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list of figures and tables

Figures Prospective migrant workers practicing medical care 86 Prospective migrant workers in the training center 88 A renovated house owned by a migrant worker in great contrast to the neighbor’s old house, East Java 131 The husband of an overseas domestic worker taking care of their child in an East Java village 137 Indonesian migrant workers picnicking in a park 168 Filipino migrant workers dancing in a disco 170 Two Indonesian migrants at Taipei Railway Station on Sunday 175 Display of prepaid cards on sale in a migrant shop 179 Filipina migrants posing for photos in front of St. Christopher church 184 Filipino migrants hawking food in the alley behind the church 185 A Filipino specialty shop 186 Gathering of migrant workers at Taipei Railway Station 189 Indonesian migrants and the author picnicking on the station floor 190

Tables Percentage of migrant domestic workers in Taiwan by nationality, 1998–2003 69 Descriptions of migrant workers by nationality by Taiwanese labor brokers 76 Content of training for prospective Indonesian migrant domestic workers 85 Typology of domestic employers’ boundary work 202 Typology of domestic workers’ boundary work 222 Ages of Taiwanese employers and migrant domestic workers 255 Levels of education for Taiwanese employers and migrant domestic workers 256 Occupations of Taiwanese female employers 257 Previous occupations of migrant domestic workers 258