Negotiating Leisure Constraints in the Pandemic: The Case of Migrant Domestic Workers in Hong Kong

Abstract

AbstractHow did migrant domestic workers accomplish serious leisure during the pandemic (Stebbins RA (1982) Serious leisure: A conceptual statement. Pac Sociol Rev 25(2):251–272, 1982)? In this paper, I look at the uneven effects of the disruptions in leisure activities as governments introduced lockdowns and physical distancing measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus. While the restrictions were applied broadly across societies, it is necessary to examine how these played out for ‘temporary’ migrant communities subjected to different conditions of stay in their host countries. I address this question by looking at the experience of One Filipino Migrants – a network of Filipino domestic worker organizations in Hong Kong engaged in advocacy work for migrant workers’ welfare even prior to the pandemic. In the Special Administrative Region, the prescribed living-in arrangements and the absence of spatial separation between home and work life steer these mostly female workers to spend their leisure time outside their domicile. But with the spread of COVID-19, their leisure activities are now met with stringent physical distancing measures. Through interviews and participant observation, I narrate how their pre-pandemic activities were scaled down through government and employer regulation of their use of leisure spaces and mandated time off. But I also show their capacity to negotiate with constraints through behavioral changes while challenging notions that portray them as virus carriers. This paper shows how leisure constraints could grow in disaster situations. But it also highlights how leisure agents can come up with negotiation tactics to maintain participation.