Reaching for the dream: A narrative study of skilled women domestic workers
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Keywords:
domestic worker, symbolic interactionism, women, narrative, skilled worker
Abstract
Women domestic workers are often associated with females whose only task is completing domestic work. However, this construction has changed along with the development of the labour industry. Currently, they are associated with skilled domestic workers. The relationship between women domestic workers and their employer that was previously based on kinship is supposed to have shifted to a formal relationship, with work and wage agreements. This construction is also strengthened by the presence of social media, as a means for conveying their narrative as skilled workers and not just servants for their employers. This study examines the process of symbolic interactionism in women domestic workers through their narratives as skilled domestic workers. The data was collected qualitatively from four women domestic workers in the Jakarta area as the research participants. As a metropolitan city, Jakarta has the highest number of domestic workers in Indonesia. Based on the data analysis, women domestic workers conceptualised their profession as experienced and versatile individuals in performing various domestic work and are the backbone of their respective families. Therefore, this conceptualisation shows that the participants can break away from the stereotype that domestic workers are lowly and unskilled workers. The interaction between participants and their employer raises non-physical symbols reflecting dedication and loyalty. In addition, the interaction process is a learning tool for subjects to obtain resources that equalise them with other workers in the domestic sector.
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Lui, I. D., Vandan, N., Davies, S. E., Harman, S., Morgan, R., Smith, J., Wenham, C., & Grépin, K. A. (2021). “We also deserve help during the pandemic”: The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong. Journal of Migration and Health, 3(February), 100037. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmh.2021.100037
Muryanti. (2019). Stereotype Pembantu Rumah Tangga (PRT) dalam Hubungan Kerja Domestik di Yogyakarta. Peta Pemikiran Fishum.
Nugroho, A. S., & Nurfaizah, D. R. (2020). Kehidupan Pembantu Rumah Tangga di Hindia Belanda pada Pertengahan Abad Ke-19 Sampai Abad Ke-20. Mukadimah Jurnal Pendidikan, Sejarah, Dan Ilmu-Ilmu Sosial, 4(2), 136–145. https://doi.org/10.30743/mkd.v4i2.2617
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Ortuzar, J. (2018). Performing the “foreign Maid” in the Global Market. TDR - The Drama Review - A Journal of Performance Studies, 62(1), 98–112. https://doi.org/10.1162/DRAM_a_00721
Parrenas, R. (2021). The mobility pathways of migrant domestic workers. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 47(1), 3–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2020.1744837
Parreñas, R. S. (2021). Discipline and Empower: The State Governance of Migrant Domestic Workers. American Sociological Review, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/00031224211032906
Pelupessy, P. S. (2017). Effort of Domestic Workers to Realize Decent Work: Learning, Organizing and Fighting. Jurnal Perempuan Untuk Pencerahan Dan Kesetaraan, 22(3), 101–122. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.34309/jp.v22i3.194
Platt, M., Yeoh, B. S. A., Acedera, K. A., Yen, K. C., Baey, G., & Lam, T. (2016). Renegotiating migration experiences: Indonesian domestic workers in Singapore and use of information communication technologies. New Media and Society, 18(10), 2207–2223. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444816655614
Redmond, M. V. (2015). Symbolic Interactionism Symbolic Interactionism Communication Context. English Technical Reports and White Papers, 4. http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/engl_reports/4
Sinha, C., & Kumar, M. (2018). Conceal or not? Management of dehumanized work identity among lower caste domestic workers and non-domestic scavenging workers. South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management, 5(2), 173–193. https://doi.org/10.1177/2322093718787097
Tan, S. E. (2021). Narrowcasting into the Infinite Margins: Internet Sonorities of Transient Indonesian Domestic Workers in Singapore. In L. O. Briain & M. Y. Ong (Eds.), Sound Communities in the Asia Pacific: Music, Media, and Technology. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.
Tiwari, M., Narula, S., & Mathur, G. (2020). Looking-glass-self: Tale of happiness, self-esteem, and satisfaction with life among transgender from Kinner community. Journal of Public Affairs, August. https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2519
Ueno, K. (2009). Strategies of resistance among Filipina and Indonesian domestic workers in Singapore1. Asian and Pasific Migration Journal, 18(4), 239–261. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004258082_011
Uy-Tioco, C. S., & Cabañes, J. V. A. (2021). Glocal intimacies and the contradictions of mobile media access in the Philippines. Media International Australia, 179(1), 9–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X20985962
van den Hoonaard, D. K. (2013). Telling the collective story: Symbolic interactionism in narrative research. Qualitative Sociology Review, 9(3), 32–45.
https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.9.3.03
van Nederveen Meerkerk, E. (2019). Women, Work and Colonialism in the Netherlands and Java. In K. Deng (Ed.), Women, Work and Colonialism in the Netherlands and Java. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10528-0
Vidyarini, T. N. (2020). After the ordeal: health communication messages in a pregnancy-OSG. Jurnal Studi Komunikasi (Indonesian Journal of Communications Studies), 4(1), 49. https://doi.org/10.25139/jsk.v4i1.1946
Wahyudi, I. (2019). Articulating Indonesian migrant domestic workers’ activism in Hong Kong and the use of communication technology. Urban Studies: Border and Mobility, 325–332. https://doi.org/10.1201/9780429507410-51
Wang, C. C., & Geale, S. K. (2015). The power of story: Narrative inquiry as a methodology in nursing research. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 2(2), 195–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2015.04.014
Wang, N., Sun, Y., Shen, X. L., Liu, D., & Zhang, X. (2019). Just being there matters: Investigating the role of sense of presence in Like behaviors from the perspective of symbolic interactionism. Internet Research, 29(1), 60–81. https://doi.org/10.1108/IntR-08-2017-0299
Wareing, J. (2017). Indentured Migration and The Servant Trade From London to America, 1618-1718. Oxford University Press.
Weng, S. F., Malik, A., Wongsin, U., Lohmeyer, F. M., Lin, L. F., Atique, S., Jian, W. S., Gusman, Y., & Iqbal, U. (2021). Health service access among indonesian migrant domestic workers in taiwan. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(7), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073759
Willis Hepp, B., Hrapczynski, K., & Fortner-Wood, C. (2019). Using Symbolic Interactionism to Model Transitions to Adoptive Parenthood. Journal of Family Theory and Review, 11(2), 262–276. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12326
Zhao, S. (2015). Reconceptualizing the self phenomenon: Toward an emic conception of the self. Symbolic Interaction, 38(2), 235–260. https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.151
Aryanto, D. (2017, July). Sulitnya Mencari Bedinde Saat Ini. Mediaindonesia.Com, 5–6. https://mediaindonesia.com/read/detail/113741-sulitnya-mencari-ybedinde-saat-ini
Babis, D. (2021). Digital mourning on Facebook: the case of Filipino migrant worker live-in caregivers in Israel. Media, Culture and Society, 43(3), 397–410. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443720957550
Bhattacharjee, S., & Goswami, B. (2020). Female Domestic Workers: Income Determinants and Empowerment Correlates—A Case Study. Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 63(2), 483–498. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41027-020-00223-8
Butarbutar, R. D., Milala, R., & Paunganan, D. D. (2020). DALIHAN NA TOLU SEBAGAI SISTEM KEKERABATAN BATAK TOBA DAN REKONSTRUKSINYA BERDASARKAN TEOLOGI PERSAHABATAN KEKRISTENAN. Dharmasmrti Jurnal Ilmu Agama Dan Kebudayaab, 20, 21–28. https://ejournal.unhi.ac.id/index.php/dharmasmrti/article/view/1019/650
https://doi.org/10.32795/ds.v20i2.1019
Choi, S. (2019). Governing through support: Migrant women’s affective labor and government services for migrant workers in South Korea. Asian Journal of Women’s Studies, 25(3), 352–374. https://doi.org/10.1080/12259276.2019.1646494
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research Design : Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (5th ed.). Sage Publication, Inc.
de Villiers, B., & Taylor, M. (2019). Promoting a positive work experience for South African domestic workers. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 17, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajhrm.v17i0.1206
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2018). The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Reasearch (5th ed., Vol. 195, Issue 5). Sage Publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-017-1319-x
Dillon, M. (2019). An Introduction to Sociological Theory (3rd ed.). John Wiley&Sons, Ltd.
Elias, J. (2018). Governing Domestic Worker Migration in Southeast Asia: Public–Private Partnerships, Regulatory Grey Zones and the Household. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 48(2), 278–300. https://doi.org/10.1080/00472336.2017.1392586
Fink, E. L. (2015). Symbolic Interactionism. The International Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Communication, December 2015, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118540190.wbeic266
Galvaan, R., Peters, L., Smith, T., Brittain, M., Menegaldo, A., Rautenbach, N., & Wilson-Poe, A. (2015). Employers’ experiences of having a live-in domestic worker: Insights into the relationship between privilege and occupational justice. South African Journal of Occupational Therapy, 45(1), 41–46. https://doi.org/10.17159/2310-3833/2015/v45no1a7
Henderson, S. (2021). The legal protection of women migrant domestic workers from the philippines and sri lanka: An intersectional rights-based approach. International Journal of Care and Caring, 5(1), 65–83. https://doi.org/10.1332/239788220X15976836167721
Housley, W. (2021). Society in the Digital Age : An Interactionist Perspective. Sage Publication.
Inglis, D., & Thorpe, C. (2019). An Invitation to Social Theory. In Symbolic interactionism: Social perspectives in the 21st century (2nd ed.). Polity Press.
Jordhus-Lier, D. (2017). Claiming industrial citizenship: The struggle for domestic worker rights in Indonesia. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift, 71(4), 243–252. https://doi.org/10.1080/00291951.2017.1369453
Ladegaard, H. J. (2018). Reconceptualising ‘home’, ‘family’ and ‘self’: identity struggles in domestic migrant worker returnee narratives. Language and Intercultural Communication, 19(3), 289–303. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2018.1509984
Lai, F. Y. (2021). Migrant workers and LGBT activism: A comparative study of Filipino and Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong. Sexualities, 101. https://doi.org/10.1177/13634607211025903
Lee, M. (2021). Borders and migrant domestic workers. In L. Weber & C. Tazreiter (Eds.), Handbook of Migration and Global Justice (pp. 49–64). Elgar Handbook in Migration. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789905663
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (2013). The Constructivist Credo. In The Constructivist Credo. Left Coast Press, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315418810
Lui, I. D., Vandan, N., Davies, S. E., Harman, S., Morgan, R., Smith, J., Wenham, C., & Grépin, K. A. (2021). “We also deserve help during the pandemic”: The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong. Journal of Migration and Health, 3(February), 100037. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmh.2021.100037
Muryanti. (2019). Stereotype Pembantu Rumah Tangga (PRT) dalam Hubungan Kerja Domestik di Yogyakarta. Peta Pemikiran Fishum.
Nugroho, A. S., & Nurfaizah, D. R. (2020). Kehidupan Pembantu Rumah Tangga di Hindia Belanda pada Pertengahan Abad Ke-19 Sampai Abad Ke-20. Mukadimah Jurnal Pendidikan, Sejarah, Dan Ilmu-Ilmu Sosial, 4(2), 136–145. https://doi.org/10.30743/mkd.v4i2.2617
Nugroho, K. B. (2016, July 14). Mereka Pekerja , Bukan Budak. Tirto.Id. https://tirto.id/mereka-pekerja-bukan-budak-bsVy
Ortuzar, J. (2018). Performing the “foreign Maid” in the Global Market. TDR - The Drama Review - A Journal of Performance Studies, 62(1), 98–112. https://doi.org/10.1162/DRAM_a_00721
Parrenas, R. (2021). The mobility pathways of migrant domestic workers. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 47(1), 3–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2020.1744837
Parreñas, R. S. (2021). Discipline and Empower: The State Governance of Migrant Domestic Workers. American Sociological Review, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/00031224211032906
Pelupessy, P. S. (2017). Effort of Domestic Workers to Realize Decent Work: Learning, Organizing and Fighting. Jurnal Perempuan Untuk Pencerahan Dan Kesetaraan, 22(3), 101–122. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.34309/jp.v22i3.194
Platt, M., Yeoh, B. S. A., Acedera, K. A., Yen, K. C., Baey, G., & Lam, T. (2016). Renegotiating migration experiences: Indonesian domestic workers in Singapore and use of information communication technologies. New Media and Society, 18(10), 2207–2223. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444816655614
Redmond, M. V. (2015). Symbolic Interactionism Symbolic Interactionism Communication Context. English Technical Reports and White Papers, 4. http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/engl_reports/4
Sinha, C., & Kumar, M. (2018). Conceal or not? Management of dehumanized work identity among lower caste domestic workers and non-domestic scavenging workers. South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management, 5(2), 173–193. https://doi.org/10.1177/2322093718787097
Tan, S. E. (2021). Narrowcasting into the Infinite Margins: Internet Sonorities of Transient Indonesian Domestic Workers in Singapore. In L. O. Briain & M. Y. Ong (Eds.), Sound Communities in the Asia Pacific: Music, Media, and Technology. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.
Tiwari, M., Narula, S., & Mathur, G. (2020). Looking-glass-self: Tale of happiness, self-esteem, and satisfaction with life among transgender from Kinner community. Journal of Public Affairs, August. https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2519
Ueno, K. (2009). Strategies of resistance among Filipina and Indonesian domestic workers in Singapore1. Asian and Pasific Migration Journal, 18(4), 239–261. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004258082_011
Uy-Tioco, C. S., & Cabañes, J. V. A. (2021). Glocal intimacies and the contradictions of mobile media access in the Philippines. Media International Australia, 179(1), 9–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X20985962
van den Hoonaard, D. K. (2013). Telling the collective story: Symbolic interactionism in narrative research. Qualitative Sociology Review, 9(3), 32–45.
https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.9.3.03
van Nederveen Meerkerk, E. (2019). Women, Work and Colonialism in the Netherlands and Java. In K. Deng (Ed.), Women, Work and Colonialism in the Netherlands and Java. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10528-0
Vidyarini, T. N. (2020). After the ordeal: health communication messages in a pregnancy-OSG. Jurnal Studi Komunikasi (Indonesian Journal of Communications Studies), 4(1), 49. https://doi.org/10.25139/jsk.v4i1.1946
Wahyudi, I. (2019). Articulating Indonesian migrant domestic workers’ activism in Hong Kong and the use of communication technology. Urban Studies: Border and Mobility, 325–332. https://doi.org/10.1201/9780429507410-51
Wang, C. C., & Geale, S. K. (2015). The power of story: Narrative inquiry as a methodology in nursing research. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 2(2), 195–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2015.04.014
Wang, N., Sun, Y., Shen, X. L., Liu, D., & Zhang, X. (2019). Just being there matters: Investigating the role of sense of presence in Like behaviors from the perspective of symbolic interactionism. Internet Research, 29(1), 60–81. https://doi.org/10.1108/IntR-08-2017-0299
Wareing, J. (2017). Indentured Migration and The Servant Trade From London to America, 1618-1718. Oxford University Press.
Weng, S. F., Malik, A., Wongsin, U., Lohmeyer, F. M., Lin, L. F., Atique, S., Jian, W. S., Gusman, Y., & Iqbal, U. (2021). Health service access among indonesian migrant domestic workers in taiwan. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(7), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073759
Willis Hepp, B., Hrapczynski, K., & Fortner-Wood, C. (2019). Using Symbolic Interactionism to Model Transitions to Adoptive Parenthood. Journal of Family Theory and Review, 11(2), 262–276. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12326
Zhao, S. (2015). Reconceptualizing the self phenomenon: Toward an emic conception of the self. Symbolic Interaction, 38(2), 235–260. https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.151
Published
2022-03-20
How to Cite
Astagini, N., & Sarwono, B. K. (2022). Reaching for the dream: A narrative study of skilled women domestic workers. Jurnal Studi Komunikasi, 6(1), 32-53. Retrieved from https://ejournal.unitomo.ac.id/index.php/jsk/article/view/4430
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