Since the 1990s migrant women domestic workers have emerged as major labouring subjects in the trend of internal labour migration in India. The migrant women domestic workers of the ‘global’ city have shown various migrant patterns and process of ...
Since the 1990s migrant women domestic workers have emerged as major labouring subjects in the trend of internal labour migration in India. The migrant women domestic workers of the ‘global’ city have shown various migrant patterns and process of settlement as a result of urban globalization. The economic flows of home and abroad as well as dynamic changes of labour migrant environment are reflected in the migrant women domestic workers in contemporary India. However there have been a lot of studies about internal labour migration only on male labourers based on secondary data. This thesis shows the character of internal women labour migration and the dynamic identity of internal labour migration focusing on various causes and consequences of migrant women domestic workers in contemporary India with the special reference to Gurgaon city.
Firstly, this thesis notices globalization of the city through the emerging background of migrant women domestic workers. The research site, Gurgaon is called ‘global’ city in the wave of economic reforms in India since 1991. The analysis of the globalization of Gurgaon in the thesis is needed to understand the background of urban immigration. The globalization process of Gurgaon as a new city in India was necessary to know how to immigrate urban citizens, as a material background. New middle class urban citizens, the important human background of Gurgaon, are related to urban globalization. The new middle class citizens were priority in the study because of their relationship to the urban migration of the migrant women domestic workers. Analysis of Gurgaon’s new middle class employers’ own global lifestyle was necessary in the study as they have an enormous influence over migrant women domestic workers for adaptation to their settlement. It was based on the human and material background of the ‘global’ city master plan in India, the purpose of this thesis is to examine what was the weak point of neoliberal labour subject through migrant patterns and adaptation of migrant women domestic workers.
For the research, the researcher conducted her fieldwork from October 2009 to December 2012 sporadically. In total, she visited this field four times, staying for two months in 2009, for eight months in 2010, for two months in 2011 and for one month in 2012 respectively. The researcher conducted participant observations in the study: the cityscape of Gurgaon, the global lifestyle of Gurgaon new middle class and everyday life of the migrant women domestic workers. The researcher tried to understand process of globalization related to urbanization and immigrated rate of urban citizen through long-term participant observation. The two groups as the new middle classes in Gurgaon city and the migrant women domestic workers, were compared to their own lifestyle based on a participant observation and qualitative survey with lots of interviews. Lastly, the researcher gathered data based on participant observation through everyday life of the migrant women domestic workers in relation to their interaction with their employer and what was affected by their identity. Especially, this thesis examined socio-cultural meaning of women mobility in neoliberal era based on in-depth interviews with the migrant women domestic workers. The main results based on participant observation and depth interview at Gurgaon in India are as follows.
First, the number of Gurgaon population have increased rapidly and Chakkarpur has divided to new middle class enclave and labour migrant ghetto since the late 1990s. It was caused by Haryana government which developed industrial areas and then called call centers of multi-companies, at the same time, HUDA and DLF which constructed a large sized apartment complex to DLF enclaves and provided space for new middle class. So with that, Gurgaon has showed ‘global’ cityscape based on mobile capitals of multi-company and global lifestyle of white color’s home and abroad migrant. As a result, it provoked an increase of the migrant women domestic workers to Gurgaon city which then caused the feminization tendency of internal labour migration in India. The economic changes and the globalization of city has provided a foundation for the study of migrant women’s subjects in diverse discussion of internal labour migration in contemporary India. So, we proved a positive relationship between economic changes in a specific cultural area and socio-cultural changes. The increase in supply and demand of the migrant women domestic workers acted on characteristics of the diversity and dynamics in internal labour migration trends at the ‘global’ city.
Second, the number of hindu multi-domestic workers who are using ‘Das’ surname increased at middle class enclave and has made new social network of migrant women with caste and ritual hybrid characteristics at the Chakkarpur, labour migrant complex side by side. It was caused that an anonymous nature of the ‘global’ city and global lifestyle of new middle class, which has changed social relation more flexible in India based on caste and religious ideology. So with that, the researcher proved that the environment of the ‘global’ city and global lifestyle of the urban citizens interacted with adaptation of the migrant women domestic workers. The anti-traditional identity of Gurgaon new middle class employers acted to directly cause the forming of anti-traditional identity of their own employee, the migrant women domestic workers.
Third, the migrant domestic workers provoked the changes of social structure and the fragmentation of their own identity based on family structure and traditional womanhood through the process of settlement at Chakkarpur. The migrant women domestic workers have experienced dispersed families as result of their economic activities and they made a family plan importantly for economic efficiency. More and more, the paid domestic working of women have changed marriage values, perception in children, gender ideology and ritual ideology in their own minds. It was caused by long-distance and long-term migration of women domestic workers who acted on power for change against social structure and traditional ideology of immobility based on patriarchalism. The changes of identity as a result of women migration could be examined by both economic and, socio-cultural factors. In an economic aspect, autonomy, independence and modern ideology of the migrant women domestic workers related to be changes on economic activities of women. The socio-cultural aspect, the identity of migrant women domestic workers has shown the fragmentation of labouring subjects in a whole process of migration and settlement. This thesis proved that the number of migrant women domestic workers increased on economic efficiency and over-competition. Therefore, the researcher proved that anxiety and over-competition acted to cause a main ideology of neoliberal era in which lies a other side of autonomy based on mobility of women labouring subjects. The migrant women domestic worker formed fragmented subjectivity in a economic efficiency and competitive relation, and the experience of migration acted on continuous dilemma to labouring subjects.
From this analysis, this thesis asserted that urban globalization in India and mobility of women labouring subjects have derived hybrid identity of neoliberal and traditional ideology as a new ideology of the migrant women domestic workers. In conclusion, the dynamic culture of India in feminization of the internal labour migration is composed of the migrant women domestic workers as both modern labouring subjects and fragmented subjects in which neoliberal ideology melts in their minds.