[Anthropgrad] MONDAY 12:30 Seminar on Chinese Female Migrant Domestic Workers

[Mei-Ling Ellerman]

The Australian National University 
Gender, Sexuality and Culture Seminar Series
Seminars are in Seminar Room C, Top Floor, RSPAS Coombs Building, Monday 12.30 - 2.00 p.m.
Monday 27 October 2008
Mei-Ling Ellerman, Graduate Scholar
Gender Relations Centre, ANU
Investigating the Barriers and Potential Pathways to Critical Consciousness and the Empowerment of Chinese Female Migrant Domestic Workers
This pre-fieldwork seminar will outline my PhD research project. I will also refer to the two years of fieldwork (2005-2007) on Chinese migrant domestic workers' workplace issues that I conducted after completing my Masters in International Development. Within the Chinese context of massive rural-urban migration, many women who find work in cities end up in low-status feminized occupations, such as domestic work. Within the informal sector, domestic workers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and mistreatment because they are isolated within their workplace and are not protected by the law. My previous research project revealed many unresolved workplace issues such as discrimination, abuse, sexual harassment, restricted freedom of movement, wage issues and insufficient provision for basic needs. Through interviews, teaching and workshops, I came to understand that many workers felt silenced and impotent against exploitative treatment. My current PhD research will explore and address socio-structural and psychological factors that contribute to Chinese female migrant domestic workers' silence and inaction in the workplace in Beijing. I am adopting a feminist and participatory action research approach, and will draw upon multi-disciplinary literature such as: migrant literature, learning and knowing literature, social psychology literature, critical consciousness work and work addressing power, resistance, agency and voice. I will not only research factors that inhibit women's voice, perceived agency, and action through series of interviews, but will draw upon critical pedagogical practices in my discussion groups to support a process of building critical awareness about oppressive structures and beliefs in the workers' lives. Critical awareness can strengthen a feeling of agency and help deal with conflict and inequality in the workplace. 
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