Moving Through Layers of Complex Disparities: Experiences of Muslim Filipina Domestic Workers in the Gulf States

抄録

Muslims form the largest minority group in the Philippines, comprising 5 percent of the total population. They mainly live in Mindanao Island, Sulu Archipelago, and Palawan, the southern Philippines. The Muslim-populated places comprise one of the most impoverished areas in the entire country today. These areas are marred by prolonged armed conflicts and provide limited job opportunities to them. Consequently, an increasing number of poor Muslim women began to work abroad, especially in the Middle East, as domestic workers. Collaterally, cases of poor working conditions, mistreatment, and occasional human rights violations against them began to be reported.

Many studies have reported on foreign domestic workers in the Middle East. However, most emphasize their vulnerability and criticize the labor systems of migrant-receiving states. They do not analyze why they become vulnerable in the context of both sending and receiving societies.

Therefore, this paper analyzes why foreign domestic workers tend to become vulnerable, with a focus on the case of Muslim Filipina domestic workers in the Gulf States. These workers move through multiple layers of complex disparities between their original societies and the Gulf States, and become vulnerable to poor working conditions. This paper attempts to unfold the layers of complex disparities in which the Muslim Filipina domestic workers are positioned, and explains the resultant characteristics of a vulnerable labor force.

At the same time, the paper describes how actions and behaviors of individual Muslim Filipinas (“agencies”) are constructed by their experiences as domestic workers moving through layers of complex disparities. By examining the process, the paper examines whether the structure of disparities, in turn, is negotiated by the agencies for change or not.