The Legal Protection of Women Migrant Domestic Workers: A Comparative Analysis of the Philippines and Sri Lanka

Abstract

As two of the leading labour-sending states in Asia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka have come to increasingly rely on the foreign employment of women migrant domestic workers and the subsequent inflow of their remittances. This thesis examines whether both governments are prioritising a market-driven approach to migration above the protection of the rights of women migrant domestic workers at three distinct stages of the migration cycle: pre-departure, employment in the host country, and on return. In doing so, it assesses the extent to which their domestic legal frameworks are protecting such workers against rights violations and exploitation, on paper and in practice, by reference to standards established by three international conventions: the International Labour Organization’s Decent Work for Domestic Workers Convention, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. This thesis uses a theoretical matrix comprising four different elements, which have intrinsic tensions: political economy with structural violence; and rights and gender. This matrix is employed to highlight the contradictory policy priorities evident in the overseas employment programme for women migrant domestic workers in the Philippines and Sri Lanka. The need to facilitate overseas employment to compete for a greater share of the global labour market conflicts with both governments’ obligations to safeguard rights and gender protections under international law. The thesis proposes that a gender-informed rights-based approach is crucial to effectively safeguard women migrant domestic workers against exploitation throughout the entire migration cycle. However, it questions whether the implementation of such an approach is achievable in the face of entrenched structural pressures that prompt sending states to promote labour export to the detriment of their commitments under international law. It identifies three transformative measures that can be used to pressure both states into taking on a more active role in protecting and defending the rights of women migrant domestic workers in an era of neoliberal globalisation.