Feminization of Indonesian Female Migrant Domestic Workers

Abstract

This paper argues that gender is an important matter in the process and study of migration in the globalization era when people are moving from one nation-state to another. The starting point of this paper is the fact that migration is not dominated by men anymore, where women are left-behind. Nowadays, more than half of a total number of people who migrate are women, furthermore, for several types of migration, women become a dominant group, especially for migrant workers in the domestic sector. In this case, women become primary actors who involve in the migration process without any family members accompany them. Women's experiences during the migration process are totally different in comparison to men 's. The decision to migrate and the process in the destination country are several examples that distinguish the difference between women's and men's experiences in the process of migration. Women and men are located differently within the process of migration, based on several situations, such as: (a) family situation; (b) combination of opportunities and challenges related to crossing the border of nation-state and situation of destination country; (d) discriminative regulations; and (e) globalized gender division of labor. This paper highlights several factors and actors involved in the division of 'men's work', 'women's work', 'masculinized work' and 'feminized work'. In this case, several characteristics are attached to those differences and it seemed unable to discuss or to challenge. Not surprisingly, 'men's work' is closely related to formal economic that is considered as providers, objectives, rational, active, and full of competition. Meanwhile, 'women's work' is considered economically less important, less valuable, voluntary, natural, unskilled and cheap or unpaid. This paper also notes how feminization is visible in relation to migration, in partly because gender is so key to unequal division of labor and their valorization, especially among Indonesian female migrant domestic workers.