The Unheard Voices Behind the Closed Doors: An Investigation of Live-in Migrant Domestic Workers in Malaysia

Wee Chan Au ()
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Wee Chan Au: Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle University

Chapter 7 in Employee Voice in the Global South, 2023, pp 159-182 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This qualitative study aimed to offer voices to live-in migrant domestic workers in Malaysia and responds to the call for more research on employee voice beyond the Anglo-American and European perspectives. Women’s labour force participation rates in Malaysia have increased over time. Therefore, migrant domestic workers play a critical role in filling in the household chores and childcare gap, given that more Malaysian women are becoming involved in the formal workforce. Live-in migrant domestic workers are a unique group of vulnerable workers who leave their home country and live and work in their employers’ family domain. They are often isolated as they carry out their duties within the household. Given the nature of employment within private premises, their needs, feelings, and basic rights are often ignored or deprived. In addition to in-depth conversations with migrant domestic workers, we captured the voices of additional migrant domestic workers from published non-governmental organization reports and media articles. We adopted the capabilities approach to uncover migrant domestic workers’ unheard voices by relating and analysing their capabilities set at the individual, societal, and institutional levels.

Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-31127-7_7

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-31127-7_7

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