Publication Cover
Gender, Place & Culture
A Journal of Feminist Geography
Volume 23, 2016 - Issue 8
2,229
Views
13
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

Not everyone has ‘maids’: class differentials in the elusive quest for work-life balance

No todxs tienen ‘mucamas’: diferencias de clase en la búsqueda elusiva del equilibrio entre la vida y el trabajo

并非每人都有家庭帮佣’:探寻工作—生活平衡迷雾中的阶级差异

Pages 1164-1178 | Received 02 Oct 2014, Accepted 25 Aug 2015, Published online: 01 Feb 2016

References

  • Abramovitz, Mimi. 1988. Regulating the Lives of Women, Social Welfare Policy from Colonial times to the Present. Boston, MA: South End Press.
  • Benard, Stephen, and Shelley J. Correll. 2010. “Normative Discrimination and the Motherhood Penalty.” Gender and Society 24 (5): 616–646.10.1177/0891243210383142
  • Berhau, Patricia, Annette Lareau, and Julie E. Press. 2011. “Where Families and Children’s Activities Meet: Gender, Meshing Work, and Family Myths.” In At the Heart of Work and Family: Engaging the Ideas of Arlie Hochschild, edited by Anita Ilta Garey and Karen V. Hansen, 43–60. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
  • Chin, Christine B. N. 1998. In Service and Servitude: Foreign Female Domestic Workers and the Malaysian ‘Modernity’ Project. New York: Columbia University Press.
  • Clawson, Dan, and Naomi Gerstel. 2014. Unequal Time: Gender, Class, and Family in Employment Schedules. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
  • Constable, Nicole. 1997. Maid to Order in Hong Kong: Stories of Filipina Workers. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
  • Cottom, Tressie McMillan. 2012. “The Atlantic Article, Trickle-down Feminism, and My Twitter Mentions. God Help Us All.” Racialicious, June 27. http://www.racialicious.com/2012/06/27/the-atlantic-article-trickle-down-feminism-and-my-twitter-mentions-god-help-us-all/
  • Croissant, Aurel. 2004. “Changing Welfare Regimes in East and Southeast Asia: Crisis, Change and Challenge.” Social Policy & Administration 38 (5): 504–524.
  • Daly, Mary. 2010. “Families versus State and Market.” In The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, edited by Francis G. Castles, Stephan Leibfried, Jane Lewis, Herbert Obinger and Christopher Pierson, 139–151. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Deyo, Frederic C. 1989. Beneath the Miracle: Labor Subordination in the New Asian Industrialism. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Dyer, Sarah, Linda McDowell, and Adina Batnitzky. 2011. “Migrant Work, Precarious Work–Life Balance: What the Experiences of Migrant Workers in the Service Sector in Greater London Tell Us about the Adult Worker Model.” Gender, Place & Culture 18 (5): 685–700.
  • Early Childhood Development Agency. 2013. “Child Care Link: Additional Infant and Childcare Subsidies.” Accessed August 19. http://www.childcarelink.gov.sg/
  • Early Childhood Development Agency. 2014. “Statistics on Child Care Services.” Accessed January 23. http://app.msf.gov.sg/Portals/0/Files/Statistics_on_child_careSTENT.pdf
  • Edin, Kathryn, and Laura Lein. 1997. Making Ends Meet: How Single Mothers Survive Welfare and Low-Wage Work. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
  • Ehrenreich, Barbara, and Arlie Russell Hochschild, eds. 2003. Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy. New York: Metropolitan Books.
  • Ejnæs, Anders. 2011. “The Impact of Family Policy and Career Interruptions on Women’s Perceptions of the Negative Occupational Consequences of Full-time Home Care.” European Societies 13 (2): 239–256.
  • Ellingsaeter, Anna Lise. 1999. “Dual Breadwinners between State and Market.” In Restructuring Gender Relations and Employment: The Decline of the Male Breadwinner, edited by Rosemary Crompton, 40–59. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Emslie, Carol, and Kate Hunt. 2009. “‘Live to Work’ or ‘Work to Live’? A Qualitative Study of Gender and Work-Life Balance among Men and Women in Mid-Life.” Gender, Work & Organization 16 (1): 151–172.10.1111/gwao.2009.16.issue-1
  • England, Paula. 2010. “The Gender Revolution: Uneven and Stalled.” Gender & Society 24 (2): 149–166.
  • Esping-Andersen, Gøsta. 1990. The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  • Esping-Andersen, Gøsta. 1997. “Hybrid or Unique? The Japanese Welfare State between Europe and America.” Journal of European Social Policy 7 (3): 179–189.10.1177/095892879700700301
  • Fraser, Nancy. 2013. “How Feminism Became Capitalism’s Handmaiden – and How to Reclaim It.” The Guardian, October 14. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/14/feminism-capitalist-handmaiden-neoliberal.
  • Garey, Anita Ilta, and Karen V. Hansen, eds. 2011. At the Heart of Work and Family: Engaging the Ideas of Arlie Hochschild. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
  • Glass, Jennifer. 2004. “Blessing or Curse? Work-Family Policies and Mother’s Wage Growth over Time.” Work and Occupations 31 (3): 367–394.10.1177/0730888404266364
  • Glenn, Evelyn Nakano. 1992. “From Servitude to Service Work: Historical Continuities in the Racial Division of Paid Reproductive Labor.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 18 (1): 1–43.10.1086/signs.1992.18.issue-1
  • Gordon, Linda. 1994. Pitied but Not Entitled: Single Mothers and the History of Welfare, 1890–1935. New York: Free Press.
  • Gornick, Janet C., and Marcia K. Meyers. 2009. “Institutions That Support Gender Equality in Parenthood and Employment.” In Gender Equality: Transforming Family Divisions of Labor, edited by Janet C. Gornick, Marcia K. Meyers, and Erik Olin Wright, 3–64. London: Verso.
  • Gornick, Janet C., Marcia K. Meyers, and Erik Olin Wright, eds. 2009. Gender Equality: Transforming Family Divisions of Labor. London: Verso.
  • Haney, Lynne A. 2002. Inventing the Needy: Gender and the Politics of Welfare in Hungary. Berkeley: University of California Press.10.1525/california/9780520225718.001.0001
  • Hays, Sharon. 2003. Flat Broke with Children: Women in the Age of Welfare Reform. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Heng, Geraldine, and Janadas Devan. 1995. “State Fatherhood: The Politics of Nationalism, Sexuality, and Race in Singapore.” In Bewitching Women, Pious Men: Gender and Body Politics in Southeast Asia, edited by Aihwa Ong and Michael G. Peletz, 195–215. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Hochschild, Arlie Russell. 2000. “Global Care Chains and Emotional Surplus Value.” In On the Edge: Living with Global Capitalism, edited by Will Hutton and Anthony Giddens, 130–146. London: Jonathan Cape.
  • Hui, Weng Tat. 2011. “Wages, Inequality and Economic Growth in Singapore.” Conference on Regulating for Decent Work, Geneva, July 6–8.
  • Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics. 2015. Home Sweet Home? Work, Life and Well-being of Foreign Domestic Workers in Singapore. Singapore: HOME.
  • International Labour Office. 2012. Global Employment Trends for Women. Geneva: International Labour Office.
  • Isaksen, Lise Widding, Sambasivan Uma Devi, and Arlie Russell Hochschild. 2008. “Global Care Crisis a Problem of Capital, Care Chain, or Commons?” American Behavioral Scientist 52 (3): 405–425.10.1177/0002764208323513
  • Keck, Wolfgang, and Chiara Saraceno. 2013. “The Impact of Different Social-Policy Frameworks on Social Inequalities among Women in the European Union: The Labour-Market Participation of Mothers.” Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society 20 (3): 297–328.
  • Kofman, Eleonore. 2012. “Rethinking Care through Social Reproduction: Articulating Circuits of Migration.” Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society 19 (1): 142–162.
  • Lan, Pei-Chia. 2006. Global Cinderellas: Migrant Domestics and Newly Rich Employers in Taiwan. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.10.1215/9780822387787
  • Lazar, Michelle M. 2001. “For the Good of the Nation: ‘Strategic Egalitarianism’ in the Singapore Context.” Nations and Nationalism 7 (1): 59–74.10.1111/nana.2001.7.issue-1
  • Lee, Kuan Yew. 1983. National Day Rally Speech. Singapore: National Archives of Singapore.
  • Lee, Siew Kim Jean, and Seow Ling Choo. 2001. “Work-Family Conflict of Women Entrepreneurs in Singapore.” Women in Management Review 16 (5): 204–221.
  • Lewis, Jane, and Mary Campbell. 2007. “UK Work/Family Balance Policies and Gender Equality, 1997–2005.” Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society 14 (1): 4–30.10.1093/sp/jxm005
  • Lim, Linda. 2013. “Singapore’s Success: After the Miracle.” In Handbook of Emerging Economies, edited by Robert Looney, 203–226. London: Routledge.
  • Lister, Ruth. 2009. “A Nordic Nirvana? Gender, Citizenship, and Social Justice in the Nordic Welfare States.” Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society 16 (2): 242–278.
  • Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. 2009. Fatherhood Public Perception Survey 2009. Singapore: Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.
  • Ministry of Manpower. 2012. “Singapore Work Force, 2012.” Accessed September 18. http://www.mom.gov.sg.
  • Ministry of Manpower. 2013. Labour Force in Singapore. Singapore: Manpower Research and Statistics Department.
  • Ministry of Manpower. 2014. “Foreign Workforce Numbers.” Accessed January 24. http://www.mom.gov.sg
  • Ministry of Manpower. 2015. “Strategies for Work-Life Harmony.” Accessed August 11. http://www.mom.gov.sg/employment-practices/tripartism-in-singapore/Pages/default.aspx-tcworklife
  • ‘Miss Vanda.’ 2015. “Which Country Should You Hire Your Maid from?” TheAsianparent. Accessed August 13. http://sg.theasianparent.com/which-country-should-you-hire-your-maid-from/.
  • Naldini, Manuella, Karin Wall, and Blanche Le Bihan. 2013. “The Changing Mix of Care in Six European Countries.” In Work and Care under Pressure: Care Arrangements across Europe, edited by Blanche Le Bihan, Claude Martin, and Trudies Knijn, 171–194. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
  • Ng, Jing Yng, and Ashley Chia. 2014. “3 New Anchor Operators Set to Provide 8,000 More Childcare Places.” Today, January 28. http://www.todayonline.com/print/403541.
  • Ng, Kok Hoe. 2013. “The Prospects for Old-Age Income Security in Hong Kong and Singapore.” PhD diss., Department of Social Policy, The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
  • O’Connor, Julia S., Ann Shola Orloff, and Sheila Shaver. 1999. States, Markets, Families: Gender, Liberalism, and Social Policy in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, and the United States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • OECD. 2014. “Balancing Paid Work, Unpaid Work and Leisure.” Accessed June 30. http://www.oecd.org/gender/data/balancingpaidworkunpaidworkandleisure.htm.
  • Parreñas, Rhacel Salazar. 2000. “Migrant Filipina Domestic Workers and the International Division of Reproductive Labor.” Gender & Society 14 (4): 560–580.
  • Parreñas, Rhacel Salazar. 2008. The Force of Domesticity: Filipina Migrants and Globalization. New York: New York University Press.
  • Peng, Ito. 2011. “The Good, the Bad and the Confusing: The Political Economy of Social Care Expansion in South Korea.” Development and Change 42 (4): 905–923.10.1111/dech.2011.42.issue-4
  • Piper, Nicola. 2005. “Rights of Foreign Domestic Workers – Emergence of Transnational and Transregional Solidarity?” Asian and Pacific Migration Journal 14 (1–2): 97–119.10.1177/011719680501400106
  • Poh, Joanne. 2015. “How Poor Work-Life Balance and Lack of Free Time Makes Life in Singapore More Expensive.” Money$Mart.Sg, August 11. http://blog.moneysmart.sg/opinion/how-poor-work-life-balance-and-lack-of-free-time-makes-life-in-singapore-more-expensive/.
  • Pratt, Geraldine. 2012. Families Apart: Migrant Mothers and the Conflicts of Labor and Love. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
  • Ramdas, Kamalini. 2015. “Is Blood Thicker than Water? Single Indian Singaporean Women and the Geographies of ‘Being’ Family.” Gender, Place & Culture 22 (2): 255–270.
  • Ray, Raka, and Seemin Qayum. 2009. Cultures of Servitude: Modernity, Domesticity, and Class in India. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
  • Razavi, Shahrashoub, Shireen Hassim, and United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, eds. 2006. Gender and Social Policy in a Global Context: Uncovering the Gendered Structure of ‘the Social’. Social Policy in a Development Context. New York: Palgrave Macmillan / UNRISD.
  • Romero, Mary. 2002. Maid in the U.S.A. New York: Routledge.
  • Saraceno, Chiara. 2011. “Childcare Needs and Childcare Policies: A Multidimensional Issue.” Current Sociology 59 (1): 78–96.10.1177/0011392110385971
  • Saw, Swee-Hock. 2005. Population Policies and Programmes in Singapore. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
  • Singapore Department of Statistics. 2014a. Key Household Income Trends, 2014. Singapore: Department of Statistics.
  • Singapore Department of Statistics. 2014b. Population Trends 2014. Singapore: Department of Statistics.
  • Singapore Goverment. 1988. “Singapore Government Press Release: Increase in Foreign Maid Levy.” National Archives of Singapore. http://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/data/pdfdoc/310-1988-12-03.pdf.
  • Slaughter, Anne-Marie. 2012. “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All.” The Atlantic, July/August.
  • Standing, Guy. 2011. The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
  • Teo, Peggy, Kalyani Mehta, Leng Leng Thang, and Angelique Chan. 2006. Ageing in Singapore: Service Needs and the State. London: Routledge.
  • Teo, Youyenn. 2010. “Shaping the Singapore Family, Producing the State and Society.” Economy and Society 39 (3): 337–359.10.1080/03085147.2010.486215
  • Teo, Youyenn. 2011. Neoliberal Morality in Singapore: How Family Policies Make State and Society. London: Routledge.
  • Teo, Youyenn. 2013. “Support for Deserving Families: Inventing the Anti-welfare Familialist State in Singapore.” Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society 20 (3): 387–406.10.1093/sp/jxt004
  • Teo, Youyenn. 2015a. “Childbearing in Singapore – Do We Have Real Choices?” In Our Lives to Live: Putting a Woman’s Face to Change in Singapore, edited by Kanwaljit Soin and Margaret Thomas, 217–226. Singapore: World Scientific.
  • Teo, Youyenn. 2015b. “Differentiated Deservedness: Governance through Familialist Social Policies in Singapore.” TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia 3 (1): 73–93.
  • Teo, Youyenn. 2015c. “Interrogating the Limits of Welfare Reforms in Singapore.” Development and Change 46 (1): 95–120.10.1111/dech.2015.46.issue-1
  • Teo, Youyenn, and Nicola Piper. 2009. “Foreigners in Our Homes: Linking Migration and Family Policies in Singapore.” Population, Space and Place 15 (2): 147–159.10.1002/psp.v15:2
  • ‘Winter.’ 2015. “House Rules for Maid to Abide.” Life as a Singapore Domestic Maid’s Employer, June 8. http://maid-employer.blogspot.sg.
  • Wong, Theresa, and Brenda S. A. Yeoh. 2003. Fertility and the Family: An Overview of Pro-Natalist Population Policies in Singapore. Singapore: Asian MetaCentre for Population and Sustainable Development Analysis.
  • Yan, Hairong. 2008. New Masters, New Servants: Migration, Development, and Women Workers in China. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.10.1215/9780822388654
  • Yap, Mui Teng. 2007. “Singapore: Population Policies and Programs.” In The Global Family Planning Revolution: Three Decades of Population Policies and Programs, edited by Warren C. Robinson and John A. Ross, 200–219. Washington, DC: World Bank Publications.
  • Yeates, Nicola. 2009. Globalizing Care Economies and Migrant Workers: Explorations in Global Care Chains. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Yeoh, Brenda S. A. 2004. “Cosmopolitanism and Its Exclusions in Singapore.” Urban Studies 41 (12): 2431–2445.10.1080/00420980412331297618
  • Yeoh, Brenda S. A., Shirlena Huang, and Joaquin Gonzalez III. 1999. “Migrant Female Domestic Workers: Debating the Economic, Social and Political Impacts in Singapore.” International Migration Review 33 (1): 114–137.10.2307/2547324
  • Yeoh, Brenda S. A., and Kamalini Ramdas. 2014. “Gender, Migration, Mobility and Transnationalism.” Gender, Place & Culture 21 (10): 1197–1213.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.