Filipina domestic workers in Hong Kong: Between permanence and temporariness in everyday life

Abstract

Hong Kong is residence to around 200,000 Filipina domestic workers who have migrated to the city in order to earn money for their families and futures. The employment of these migrants is organized through temporary two-year contracts. However, since many women stay for ‘multiple contracts’ in Hong Kong, their situation may be better characterized as permanently temporary. In this respect, scholars have coined the term ‘permanent temporariness’, signifying both a specific experience of temporal or circular migration, as well as a sort of disciplinary mechanism that informs people’s everyday lives. Lacking in these understandings, however, is a solid theoretical exploration of the temporal dimension. Based on ethnographic work, individual and group interviews, this article attempts to further the theoretical discussion on permanence and temporariness by focusing on the ‘lived time’ of Filipina domestic workers in Hong Kong. The article discusses how temporariness and permanence are enacted and experienced in the everyday lives of Filipina workers, how these women reflect on and cope with this, and, how this informs everyday life decisions and negotiations with employers. The study indicates that engaging permanently in temporary labour involves many uncertainties that are reflected in the domestic workers’ experiences and decisions with respect to their migration trajectories.