Negotiating Social Boundaries and Private Zones: The Micropolitics of Employing Migrant Domestic Workers

Abstract

The employment of migrant domestic workers has turned the private home into a contested terrain where employers and workers negotiate social boundaries and distance from one another on a daily basis. Based on indepth interviews with Taiwanese employers and Filipina migrant workers, this article explores how the groups negotiate two sets of social boundaries in the domestic politics of food, space, and privacy: socio-categorical boundaries along the divides of class and ethnicity/nationality, and socio-spatial boundaries segregating the private and public spheres. Along these two dimensions I create two typologies to analyze a variety of boundary work conducted by employers and workers in this global-local, public-private matrix. Domestic service, linked to the dark histories of slavery and colonialism, has long indicated class and racial hierarchies in the private domain. Today, increasing international migratory ows have brought even more women to work in foreign households around the globe. A private household has now become a microcosm of social inequalities in the global economy. Migrant domestic workers are the perfect example of the intimate Other-they are recruited by host countries as desired servants and yet rejected citizens; they are termed "part of the family" by their employers while being excluded from the substance of family lives. Drawing on a qualitative study of Taiwanese domestic employers and Filipina migrant workers, this article explores "boundary work" in the micropolitics of domestic employment. The hiring of foreign domestics demonstrates the process of establishing, reproducing, and contesting social boundaries between "us" and "them." The domestic politics of food and spaceeating meals, distributing food, utilizing home space, and delimiting privacy-involves daily rituals and practices through which both employers and workers negotiate class and ethnic distinctions and organize the public/private spaces in the fabric of family life. Boundary Work in Domestic Employment Evelyn Nakano Glenn (1986) identi es two complementary features of domestic employment: personalism and asymmetry. A sense of personal intimacy can make employment relations seem like family ties, but substantial status difference exists between employers and domestic workers. Such an ironic contrast is particularly evident in the employment of migrant The author is grateful to Carol Heimer, Gary Alan Fine, Orville Lee, Charles Ragin, Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, and Gwo-Shong Hsieh for their comments on previous drafts. The author also thanks James Holstein and the anonymous reviewers of Social Problems for their suggestions and encouragement. Students in the graduate seminar Sociology of Gender (Fall 2001) and the audiences at Tsing-Hua University and Academia Sinica were excellent readers as well. This research was funded by a Dissertation Year Fellowship at Northwestern University, Chiang Ching-Kwo Foundation, and the

Creating Community: Latina Nannies in a West Los Angeles Park

“…The majority of research on domestic labor documents the employment conditions women face on the job, particularly their relationships with employers (Clark-Lewis 1994;Hondagneu-Sotelo 2001;Lan 2003;Macdonald 1998;Palmer 1989;Parreñas 2001;Rollins 1985;Wrigley 1995). Domestic workers are often of a different race, class, and legal status than their employers, and their interactions reflect these social inequalities (Glenn 1986;Hondagneu-Sotelo 2001;Rollins 1985;Romero 1992;Palmer 1989;Wrigley 1995).…”

“…Domestic workers are often of a different race, class, and legal status than their employers, and their interactions reflect these social inequalities (Glenn 1986;Hondagneu-Sotelo 2001;Rollins 1985;Romero 1992;Palmer 1989;Wrigley 1995). For example, employers dictate the terms of domestic employment, including hours, duties, and work arrangements (Hondagneu-Sotelo 2001;Lan 2003;Rollins 1985;Romero 1988;Wrigley 1995).…”

“…Employers engage in boundary work to mark their different class and ethnic statuses than the women they employ (Lan 2003). Some employers expect domestic workers to express subservience or deference (Hondagneu-Sotelo 2001;Rollins 1985;Romero 1992;Wrigley 1995).…”

“…Wrigley (1995) showed that employers expect minority nannies to work harder or complete more tasks than middle-class European au pairs. Domestic workers and their employers also do not have the same right to space in the household (Lan 2003). For example, employees eat alone because they feel they do not belong at the table with employers; moreover, certain areas of the home are deemed "off limits" for workers (Hondagneu-Sotelo 2001;Lan 2003Lan , 2006Rollins 1985).…”

“…Domestic workers and their employers also do not have the same right to space in the household (Lan 2003). For example, employees eat alone because they feel they do not belong at the table with employers; moreover, certain areas of the home are deemed "off limits" for workers (Hondagneu-Sotelo 2001;Lan 2003Lan , 2006Rollins 1985). Afraid that employees will learn of better work opportunities if they spend time with other domestics, some employers deny women time off work, reinforcing feelings of social isolation (Hondagneu-Sotelo 2001;Lan 2006).…”