The limits of sending-state power: The Philippines, Sri Lanka, and female migrant domestic workers

Abstract

Sending states have taken various measures to protect their female nationals serving abroad as domestics. A most-similar case comparison is constructed between the Sri Lankan and Philippine states’ defenses of ‘their’ female migrant domestic workers (FMDWs), employing process tracing and relying on data from archival research, interviews, policies, and official statements. Existing explanations for sending-state actions stress dependence on remittances, receiving-country conditions, and the democratic incorporation of emigrants. Here, however, a stock of FMDWs with more highly valued human capital attributes, combined with a stronger civil society and greater gender equity, is shown to compel and enable the Philippine state to adopt a more assertive approach than its Sri Lankan counterpart in defending those migrants.‘