Chinese Domestic Workers as Inferior ‘Other’: Why Are They Particularly Vulnerable Yet Neglected?

Abstract

There are currently millions of domestic workers as vulnerable and underclass workers in China. The demand for domestic workers will continue to increase in another millions of urban families in time of ageing and labour shortage. Domestic workers are predominantly working poor female, low-skilled migrant and informal: these three characteristics have determined their poor conditions in the cities. When such a large body of domestic workers live in the improvised, disadvantaged and discriminated conditions in urban China, it is crucial to undertake a critical analysis of this issue to explore why this has happened and why it has been so hard to change their conditions. This thesis seeks to explain: why is there a persistent lack of social and legal protection for these vulnerable workers in urban China? To do so, I first explore two lines of theoretical frameworks to construct the issues of domestic workers in 1) the gender implications of domestic work and 2) the relationship between migration and labour market mechanism. Second, I analyse the larger socioeconomic structures that shape the working and living conditions of domestic workers. The process of reconstructing the dual labour system integrated with the institutionalized urban registration system in China has exacerbated the divergence between countryside and cities, between men and women, and between formal and informal labour. Third, I use the case studies to present the consequences of the informality of domestic work service in China, including the unrecognition of labour law, the unequal power relationship between service employers and domestic workers, and the media’s biased position in promoting the in-home care model. I find that the state has designed multiple institutions to secure a pool of cheap labour from the rural regions to facilitate the urbanisation at a low price. In particular, the central government has prioritised the urban development by encouraging more women to participate in the labour force and justified its absence in the provision of public elderly care by outsourcing the care services to the private market of domestic workers.