Maid to Order in Hong Kong: An Ethnography of Filipina Workers

by Nicole Constable

As middle-class Chinese women have entered the Hong Kong work force in unprecedented numbers over the past two decades, the demand for foreign domestic workers has soared. Approximately 150,000 individuals now serve on two-year contracts, and the vast majority are women from the Philippines. Nicole Constable tells their story. Interweaving her analysis with anecdotal evidence collected in interviews with individual domestic workers, she shows how power is expressed in the day-to-day lives of Filipina domestic workers.
Filipina guest workers flooding into Hong Kong are implicitly compared to Chinese domestic workers and found wanting. Local, cultural, and historical factors influence their treatment, as do preconceptions about gender, ethnicity, and class. Constable explains how domestic workers are controlled and disciplined by employment agencies, by employers themselves, and by state policies such as the rule against working for more than one employer. The forms of discipline range from physical abuse to intrusive regulations including restrictions on hair length and the prohibition of lipstick.
Filipina workers resist oppression through legal action and political protests, through their use of household or public space, and through less confrontational means such as jokes and pranks. Some find real satisfaction in their work, Constable says, and she warns against any simplistic characterization of domestic workers as either empowered or oppressed, class-conscious or unaware.

Genres: Anthropology, China, School, Ethnography, Nonfiction, Gender

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1997

About the author

Nicole Constable is assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh. Other contributors are Sharon A. Carstens, Myron L. Cohen, Mary S. Erbaugh, Elizabeth Lominska Johnson, Howard J. Martin; and Ellen Oxfeld.

Reviews

[N · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️

[melancholinary · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative and personal ethnographic study of (mainly) Filipino migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong with their brutal experience and subtle resistance. Nice to see that humour sometimes becomes a means of resistance. Downside: not sure if Foucault's mode of discipline is necessary as a theoretical discourse to describe the experience of these brave ladies. I think a rigorous analysis of the emergence of global capitalism and how it ties to migrant labour is more interesting.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for Urban Ethnography of Asia class

[Ly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comprehensive account of Filipina domestic workers in Hong Kong, with due respect to historical context and global economic patterns that resulted in the present situation of dependency of Philippines vis'a'vis Hong Kong and hence, the power imbalance experienced by Filipina workers vis'a'vis their elite employers.

A good and accessible intro book to south-north migration of low-skill labours, yet, if you have read articles/ books about this topic before then it wouldn't say anything new.

Although Constable tries to pay respect to "deferential practices" or "discursive resistance" (in which Filipina domestic workers aspire to discipline themselves into the ideal domestic worker when facing abuses by employers instead of contesting radically) and situate such rational responses amidst their economic insecurity and fear of further abuses, she seems to not be able to constrain her support for more radical contestation, and at times, seems to be reproaching her research subjects for not doing more.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really lucid, readable contribution by a woman who seems to have a lot of respect for the power and self-advocacy of migrant workers. Has a particular focus on Filipinas. Gives a good picture of the international political and economic context. Has jokes.

[Natasha Sung · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for my research project on Foreign Domestic Workers in Hong Kong. Lots of eye opening insights and things I didn't know about! Was mainly about the dynamics of power between FDWs and their employers in Hong Kong, and I gained a lot of knowledge about how this system can be unjust.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good discussion of theoretical framework.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book, very well written. Constable strikes a great balance in describing the institutional systems and laws, intertwining the experiences that migrants face as a result. INFURIATING!

[Janelle C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful example of a ethnography!

[Yazz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Big eye opener but very repetitive

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent perspectives on transnational migration issues, class, status, and the rights of workers.