Am I allowed to be pregnant? Awareness of pregnancy protection laws among migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong

Bibliographic Data

ID3647249
AuthorsA M Paul (0000-0003-0097-0018, Yale-NUS College, corresponding author), Pearlyn Neo (0000-0002-7797-8942, Yale-NUS College)
Year2018
Volume44
Issue7
Pages1195-1213
Publication date2018-05-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueNew Community (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-9586 • E-ISSN: 1469-9451
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1369183x.2017.1367651
OpenAlexW2750938250
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited36

In Hong Kong, pregnancy is not legal grounds for employers to dismiss their migrant domestic workers (MDWs). However a survey of 589 Filipino and Indonesian MDWs in Hong Kong demonstrates that only a third of respondents know their pregnancy rights. Regression analysis of the survey data highlight the statistically significant positive role of being Filipino and length of tenure in Hong Kong in increasing respondents’ rights awareness. Follow-up conversations reveal that workers understand their rights to be contingent upon the presumed morality of their pregnancy (whether they are married, whether their husband is the father) and their employer’s generosity. These findings reveal the influence of the socio-structural frames migrants carry with them from their home countries, and the ones in which they are embedded in their host destinations, in the lack of purchase of a pregnancy rights discourse among MDWs in Hong Kong. Our findings provide new insight into the power of symbolic violence in women migrant workers’ understanding of their rights, and their emphasis on their ‘work ethics’ over their ‘work rights’

Demographic economics · Economics · Generosity · Indonesian · Morality · Political science · Pregnancy · Sociology · Employment and Welfare Studies · Gender Studies · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Sex work and related issues

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