Freelancing in the kingdom: Filipino migrant domestic workers crafting agency in Saudi Arabia

Johnson, Mark

Abstract

This paper examines how Muslim Filipino domestic workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia creatively assert agency and solicit recognition despite their precarious position in that country. One way that they do so is by leaving their legal employers to go 'freelance', selling their labor to the highest bidder and living as best they can as irregular migrants in that country. The capacity to act in that way is enabled by the high demand for domestic labor and the wider network of relations among compatriot and kin who provide them with assistance. While effectively drawing on those social networks, migrant domestic workers, nonetheless, continue to bear the cost of a stigmatized social position among their co-nationals.

Citation

Johnson, M. (2011). Freelancing in the kingdom: Filipino migrant domestic workers crafting agency in Saudi Arabia. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 20(3-4), 459-478. https://doi.org/10.1177/011719681102000310

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 2011-09
• Deposit Date: Nov 13, 2014
• Journal: Asian And Pacific Migration Journal
• Print ISSN: 0117-1968
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 3-4
• Pages: 459-478
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/011719681102000310
• Keywords: Geography, Planning and Development; Demography
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/471255
• Publisher URL: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/011719681102000310
• Additional Information: Not listed on Sherpa. Nothing on journal's webpage, or Scalabrini Migration Center's website, or Sage's website (Sage are journal's current publishers) to suggest that articles can be placed on repositories.
• Contract Date: Nov 23, 2017