Abstract
Hong Kong began to introduce Filipino domestic workers in the early 1970s, when the city was under British Administration. Before the 1970s, live-in domestic workers were usually local Chinese women who were originally from the Mainland. However, as the Hong Kong economy experienced high growth through export-oriented industrialization, local women found the manufacturing sector more attractive. Consequently, the cost of hiring domestic workers went up. Meanwhile, an increasing number of dual-income, middle-class households were reported to be struggling with the labor shortage of domestic workers. Despite this situation, the Colonial Government had tightened control over the regional border between Hong Kong and the Mainland in the early 1970s, preventing newly migrating Chinese women from becoming domestic workers. Instead, they accepted migrant domestic workers from the Philippines. By tracing reports and editorials in the local newspapers, this paper describes how and why such border control politics emerged and the consequences. In the 1980s, the border control policies of the Colonial Government affected the activisms of employers and Filipino domestic workers. By looking back at the history critically, we can examine the necessary perspectives for a solidarity movement of domestic workers and employers.
https://ror.org/03599d813 
