A General Discussion on Exploitation of Foreign Domestic Workers (FDWs)

The three-tier transfer of reproductive labour theory describes a general picture of demand and supply of domestic workers. The middle- and up-class women in rich countries employ foreign domestic workers to free themselves from household chores. The corresponding positions left in the home of those foreign domestic workers are filled by other poorer domestic workers living in the local area. In this demand and supply chain of reproductive labour, does exploitation exist?
This problem can be examined from two aspects: economic exploitation and non-economic exploitation.
The economic exploitation is mainly related to the compensation to the domestic workers. Whether they are paid sufficiently? It seems that those who work as hourly-paid domestic workers are local people. Here we just discuss those live-in domestic workers, among which many are foreign domestic workers.
Live-in domestic workers are perceived to work flexibly according to the demand of the employer. As a result, the blur of the working period may easily cause abnormal long-hour working. The problem rises from two reasons. When talking about the nature of the job, as a kind of reproductive worker, they are supposed to work in order to sustain the productive labour force. The underlining meaning is that usually they need to work when productive workers do not work. When talking about the time of the job, since the workers live in the employers’ family all around clock, it will be very difficult to divide working hour from personal leisure time.
Contract is thus important for those domestic workers under so many uncertainties. In Hong Kong, minimum wage policy is implemented to protect foreign domestic workers. However, minimum wage should be a reference reflecting average wage rate of a foreign domestic workers. Domestic workers should be compensated according to the type of families they are working for. For instance, the live-in domestic workers should be paid more if they are in attendance on a baby or an elderly people of incapacity. In reality, many contracts are formulized and signed without personalization. The minimum wage becomes a fixed wage for many foreign domestic workers.
To solve the problem, a strong bargaining power is important. However, the absence of the bargaining power is due to the flexible nature of the job. It will be difficult to unite different domestic workers to ask for a better wage. Therefore, many foreign domestic workers are under paid in this sense.
Apart from insufficient compensation, the non-economic exploitation also exists. The non-economic exploitation is usually related to the requirement of the domestic workers. The image of the domestic workers generally can be required as a maid. As a result, obedience is generally perceived as a basic quality for a qualified live-in domestic worker. To fit in the position, many foreign domestic workers have to follow whatever the employers ask them to do. The fixed time of getting-up and the designated place to sleep or sit are just a few examples. Sometimes, some requirement with a little humiliation may also be accepted as a demand from the master. The dignity of a human being is exploited to some extent.