Interpreting Their Powerlessness: The Case of Filipino Domestic Workers in Vancouver

Resource type
Author/contributor
Title
Interpreting Their Powerlessness: The Case of Filipino Domestic Workers in Vancouver
Abstract
This thesis points to an oversight in the literature about foreign domestic workers. Foreign domestic workers have, too often, been portrayed as one-dimensional victims — a group of powerless women vainly struggling for a respectable place in Canadian society. This portrayal, however, while it can explain their disadvantage along class and gender analyses, assumes a concept of power which dismisses their ability to resist. This thesis argues that foreign domestic workers, although occupying a highly disadvantaged position relative to others in society, are not only victims but actors. This argument acknowledges that their lives in Canada are only part of their grander life histories. When foreign domestic workers are placed at the centre of analysis, as subjects rather than objects, I was able to investigate a multifaceted notion of power. Fifteen foreign domestic workers from the Philippines were interviewed and specific questions were asked about their day to day lives, their background, and their ambitions. Their answers reveal a profound understanding of who they are as women, and as domestic workers. Some clearly understand the connections between the economic crisis in the Philippines and their role in that crisis. The interviews also show that domestic workers contemplated their situations beyond the present, and that they recount their lives in episodes of opportunities as well as constraints. Finally, what is most revealing is the strategies they employ to get through their days. Overall, the interviews with foreign domestic workers illustrate that when they are viewed as active social agents, they articulate power at various levels corresponding with their overlapping social roles and multiple levels of struggle.
Type
M.A., Anthropology and Sociology
University
University of British Columbia
Place
Vancouver
Date
1995
# of Pages
138 pages
Language
en
Short Title
Interpreting Their Powerlessness
Accessed
4/7/22, 5:14 PM
Library Catalog
open.library.ubc.ca
Extra
Citation
Sanchez, G. B. (1995). Interpreting Their Powerlessness: The Case of Filipino Domestic Workers in Vancouver [M.A., Anthropology and Sociology, University of British Columbia]. https://doi.org/10.14288/1.0086921