Chapter 7. Framing migrant domestic workers inside transnational businesses: A case study of Bangladeshi women travelling to Hong Kong, and their Hong Kong-based employment agencies
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Veronika Stepkova
Abstract
This chapter uses the case study of Bangladeshi women in Hong Kong to speak about the stereotypical image of a female migrant worker, which is created and reproduced in the context of the migration industry, international organisations, and national governments. I argue that disregarding their actual conditions, Bangladeshi women are thought to be weak and vulnerable while in their home country but are required to become empowered once they cross the borders of their destination country. I further argue that migrant women, while being put on the pedestal of empowerment by the migration industry, find themselves between two binaries - they are either weak and unable to withstand the challenges of the new country and new employment or they become the new ‘heroines’ of a predefined form of empowerment. I want to demonstrate, with the case study of Bangladeshis travelling to Hong Kong for domestic work, that seeing migrant women in these two extreme positions as a side effect risks obscuring their own decision-making process and leads to the feminisation of responsibility.
Abstract
This chapter uses the case study of Bangladeshi women in Hong Kong to speak about the stereotypical image of a female migrant worker, which is created and reproduced in the context of the migration industry, international organisations, and national governments. I argue that disregarding their actual conditions, Bangladeshi women are thought to be weak and vulnerable while in their home country but are required to become empowered once they cross the borders of their destination country. I further argue that migrant women, while being put on the pedestal of empowerment by the migration industry, find themselves between two binaries - they are either weak and unable to withstand the challenges of the new country and new employment or they become the new ‘heroines’ of a predefined form of empowerment. I want to demonstrate, with the case study of Bangladeshis travelling to Hong Kong for domestic work, that seeing migrant women in these two extreme positions as a side effect risks obscuring their own decision-making process and leads to the feminisation of responsibility.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- List of Figures IX
- List of Tables XI
- Chapter 1. China and the global era: From globalisation to everyday life 1
- Chapter 2. Origin effects, spatial dynamics, and redistribution of foreign direct investment in Guangdong, China 21
- Chapter 3. Broken wing: Affective geographies of China’s state-owned enterprise reform 45
- Chapter 4. Neoliberalisation and community development: Comparing community development services in Hong Kong and Beijing 65
- Chapter 5. A review of the effective features of Facebook in social media-based interventions to increase adolescents’ physical activity 89
- Chapter 6. Gender and social capital: The case of a deprived urban community in Hong Kong 103
- Chapter 7. Framing migrant domestic workers inside transnational businesses: A case study of Bangladeshi women travelling to Hong Kong, and their Hong Kong-based employment agencies 135
- Chapter 8. Aurora College for Women in Shanghai, 1937–1951 155
- Chapter 9. The local mutation of professional academic organisations and its fragmentising effect under academic globalisation: Evidence from modern China and Japan 173
- Chapter 10. German Romantic ideals and the revival of traditional Chinese culture in early twentieth century China 191
- Chapter 11. Urban resilience in China: Government action and community response 207
- Index 225
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- List of Figures IX
- List of Tables XI
- Chapter 1. China and the global era: From globalisation to everyday life 1
- Chapter 2. Origin effects, spatial dynamics, and redistribution of foreign direct investment in Guangdong, China 21
- Chapter 3. Broken wing: Affective geographies of China’s state-owned enterprise reform 45
- Chapter 4. Neoliberalisation and community development: Comparing community development services in Hong Kong and Beijing 65
- Chapter 5. A review of the effective features of Facebook in social media-based interventions to increase adolescents’ physical activity 89
- Chapter 6. Gender and social capital: The case of a deprived urban community in Hong Kong 103
- Chapter 7. Framing migrant domestic workers inside transnational businesses: A case study of Bangladeshi women travelling to Hong Kong, and their Hong Kong-based employment agencies 135
- Chapter 8. Aurora College for Women in Shanghai, 1937–1951 155
- Chapter 9. The local mutation of professional academic organisations and its fragmentising effect under academic globalisation: Evidence from modern China and Japan 173
- Chapter 10. German Romantic ideals and the revival of traditional Chinese culture in early twentieth century China 191
- Chapter 11. Urban resilience in China: Government action and community response 207
- Index 225
