Migrant Women and Labor Exploitation in Domestic Work Evidence from Southeast Asia

Abstract

Migrant women employed in domestic work represent one of the most economically significant yet socially invisible segments of the global labor force. Concentrated in private households and excluded from the labor protections afforded to workers in formal sectors, domestic migrant workers are disproportionately exposed to exploitation, abuse, and rights violations. This article examines the structural conditions that enable labor exploitation among migrant domestic workers in four Southeast Asian destination countries — Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan — drawing on a comparative analysis of labor migration policies, legal frameworks, and interview data collected from 120 migrant domestic workers from Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, and Cambodia. The study finds that the kafala-style sponsorship systems and live-in work arrangements that govern domestic labor in these contexts systematically strip workers of their mobility rights, bargaining power, and access to justice. Women from lower-income origin countries face compounded vulnerabilities rooted in their immigration status, gender, class, and ethnicity. The article evaluates recent policy reforms in Singapore and Taiwan and argues that meaningful protection for domestic migrant workers requires not incremental reform but fundamental transformation of the institutional frameworks that structure their employment. The findings contribute to feminist migration studies, labor rights advocacy, and comparative policy analysis in the Asia-Pacific region.