The International Women’s Alliance - Asia Pacific salutes all women domestic workers today in celebration of the international domestic workers’ day!

While we celebrate the selflessness and grit of women domestic workers in unconditionally providing for their families and communities, we must also remember the deep-rooted causes of their situation today. Everyday for decades now, thousands of women are uprooted from their families and culture to seek ‘better’ opportunities in big cities and abroad.

This brutal reality is traced back to the unjust existence of neoliberalism and capitalist greed across the region and the globe. Lack of domestic employment opportunities and landlessness are two of the most notorious causes of women’s demise and subjugation. The continuing proliferation of anti-people socioeconomic measures such as deregulation, liberalization, and privatization of essential services have led to severe societal breakdown in many countries. This is accompanied by the intensifying imperialist plunder of foreign powers in developing countries. In this context, commodification of labor, including domestic work of women have grown rampant and concerning.

The maintenance of patriarchal power relations also contribute to the structural violence that women in domestic work face. Women find themselves in precarious conditions as not only are they receiving very low wages and experience unsafe working conditions, domestic workers are also almost always at risk of gender discrimination and sexual violence. This is very true in the experiences of foreign women domestic workers in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Middle East among other countries that hire women from less developed countries en masse.

Furthermore, patriarchal values put back-breaking pressure on women to financially provide for their families while also bearing the responsibility of taking care of children and other family members. In this regard, many women have to give up their own dreams and aspirations as demanded by a society that wishes to maintain social inequities.

Now more than ever, women domestic workers, the migrants’ movement and other people’s movements must come together to hold the powers that be accountable for the compounded struggles that working women face.

IWA-AsPac supports efforts to protect women domestic workers in Asia Pacific who tirelessly provide services and education to disenfranchised women. They are the ones who fill in the gaps in essential public services which have become elusive over the years due to regulations that favored profit over people-centered responses to important issues.

We also call on governments to protect the rights and welfare of women domestic workers through policies that holistically reflect their lived experiences. Abolish neoliberal policies that enslave women. Fight for genuine land reform and uphold national industrialization to address the root cause of migration. End the Labour Export Program that commodifies women’s bodies.

Finally, IWA-AsPac stands in solidarity with all women domestic workers in Asia Pacific who are at the forefront of multiple crises today yet, are headstrong in being the pillars of their families and communities. Through rigorous arousing, organizing and movement building, a better world for women is possible in our lifetime.