The Web‐based Recruitment of Female Foreign Domestic Workers in Asia

Abstract

In the last three decades, there has been an increased “feminisation” of international migration within the Asian region. In part, the increased mobility of women migrant workers within Asia has resulted from the increased bureaucratic regulation of labour migration. This commodification of the migratory process, however, has placed women in significantly more vulnerable positions vis‐´‐vis their male counterparts. Comparatively little research, however, has examined the critical role of private recruitment agencies, and especially the use of the Internet, within the migratory process. In this paper, I examine the Web‐based recruitment strategies of private recruitment agencies in Asia. Based on a qualitative analysis of 25 recruitment‐related Web sites, I suggest that the commercialisation of migration serves an important “socialisation” process that contributes to the vulnerability and exploitation of female foreign domestic workers.

Country reports: Social and cultural geographies of South-East Asia

“…In wealthier countries such as Hong Kong and Singapore, where 'local' women have been strategically incorporated into development paths through their participation in the formal labour force, a gap in domestic chores has opened up for South-East Asian migrant domestic workers (Huang and Yeoh 1996Law 2001Law , 2002aLaw , 2002bTyner 1999;Yeoh and Huang 1999). Here we find more paradoxes, however, as refusing traditional domestic roles at home may see them reproduced in foreign contexts.…”

Pan‐national identities: representations of the Philippine diaspora on the world wide web

“…This research is based on a qualitative analysis of web sites maintained by Philippine diasporic organisations. Based on previous research that has identified the functionality and spatiality of web sites (Brunn and Cottle, 1997;Jackson and Purcell, 1997;Warf and Grimes, 1997;Tyner, 1998Tyner, , 1999b, we identified diaspora web sites through the use of Internet search engines such as AltaVista, Excite, Hotbot, Lycos, and Yahoo. Key words guiding our search included Philippine organization, Philippine community, Filipinos/Filipinas.…”

“…illustrated in the literature (Brunn and Cottle, 1997;Jackson and Purcell, 1997;Warf and Grimes, 1997;Kitchin, 1998;Tyner, 1998Tyner, , 1999b.…”

Life and death in Hong Kong in an age of cosmopolitanism

“…Harvey (2000b: 106) concurs, noting that 'insofar as gender, race, and ethnicity [and, I would add, citizenship] are all understood as social constructions rather than essentialist categories, so the effect of their insertion into the circulation of variable capital … has to be seen as a power force reconstructing them in distinctively capitalist ways' (emphasis added). The processes that incorporate foreign migrant domestic workers, for example, into the Hong Kong labour market are exceptionally important (Constable 1997;Tyner 1999). The authorities selectively admit migrant workers to Hong Kong from both mainland China and neighbouring Southeast Asian countries.…”