Positioning the product: Indonesian migrant women workers in Taiwan

Abstract

There are two important phenomena at work relating to migrant labourers, and in particular to “caregivers” or “carers,” in the labour market of contemporary Taiwan. First, the formulation and promotion by brokers of nationality-based stereotypes that tend to channel migrant workers of different nationalities into different segments of the labour market. In terms of gender, women are predominantly channelled into sectors that are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. In the category of care giving, we see a trend toward a hierarchical structuring between Filipinas and Indonesians, with Indonesian women often doing the dirtier and more demanding jobs of caring for the sick and elderly. Second, despite the fact that the majority of Indonesian women workers are contracted to work as carers, a significant number actually work in various capacities in family businesses as well as working as maids in the family home. This reality does not reflect the picture projected by government statistics on migrant workers in Taiwan. Nor indeed is it given sufficient recognition in the research on Filipina domestic workers in Taiwan, which, for the most part, focuses on domestic workers working in that capacity. What appears to be a tightly controlled arena for migrant workers is, in fact, open to manipulation often resulting in a “double-exploitation” of the Indonesian woman worker.