Mei-Ling Ellerman

1

Published in Transforming Chinese Cities, ed. Mark Y. Wang et al. (New York: Routledge,

2014)

Gendered Identity and Voice:

Chinese Female Migrant Domestic Workers’ Responses to Subordination

Chinese female migrant domestic workers’ actions are framed by their position and

experiences within a society characterized by divisions and inequalities, the repercussions of

which are felt both in the home and workplace. These women confront similar issues to

migrant workers in other low-status occupations such as significant inequality, financial

insecurity and vulnerability to discrimination and exploitation, except they usually work out

of sight and alone in private households. In order to understand how these relatively

powerless members of the urban underclass cope with these challenges, we must examine

how they respond to subordination and inquire into the underlying rationale for why they

respond as they do.

This chapter will address these questions by exploring how the workers’ gendered

identities and understandings of their historical selves and future possibilities define and

direct their responses. It becomes apparent from the women’s stories that they have

encountered gendered norms and expectations throughout their lives, which have influenced

how they see themselves and their responsibilities, and contributed to their adoption of

feminized and low-status work. Rather than viewing their workplace actions in isolation, I

draw upon their past to shed light upon their present. I refer to the workers’ historical selves,

because workers’ sense of self and perception about their capacity to act are in large part born

from an agglomeration of past events, decisions, and outcomes. I argue that workers’ current

actions are motivated by these past experiences and decisions, by dominant norms, and by

their own values and self-identity as they evolve over time. The women act from a

constrained context of power within which they envision the limitations and possibilities of

their future actions and potential self-development.

The domestic workers I interviewed in Beijing from 2009-2010 were typically in their 30s

and 40s and married. They had settled for domestic work primarily since they were hampered

by a lack of formal skills, driven by the need to provide for their families, and wanted flexible

work with regular wages. My fieldwork exploring the factors that influence workers’

understandings and responses to subordination included several focus and discussion groups,

and life history and individual interviews with over 40 workers. My informants were either

hourly workers living on their own and working for multiple clients, or live-in workers who

worked for one family and were dependent upon them for food and board. Domestic workers’

livelihood which involves cleaning, cooking and caretaking within others’ homes can also

involve varying degrees of discrimination, mistreatment and exploitation. They are generally

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2

on their own when dealing with these types of subordination, and most of them comply,

remain silent or leave to find another job.1 Although many workers are upset by their

subordination, their actions tend to be individualized, restricted in scope, and non-

confrontational. At the other end of the spectrum of action however, a small minority of

workers do resist, readily and consistently communicate their concerns to their employers, or

openly advocate for themselves.

The literature on Chinese domestic workers remarks upon their isolation, their lack of

power and influence over work and conditions, the arduous nature of their work, and the

stigma, vulnerability to control and poor treatment that accompany it.2

Wanning Sun

examines workers’ resistance ranging from negotiation to violence, within the context of

dominant discourses of risk and control. She questions why workers do not communicate

with their employers about workplace issues, and concludes that their unequal power

relations lead workers to feel they must tolerate a situation or leave.3 My own research also

found this to be workers’ most common sentiment. It is far more rare for James Scott’s

“hidden transcripts,” or workers’ feelings and concerns to be made public.

In writing about the significance of female migrant workers’ gender identity and sense of

individualism, Tamara Jacka notes that married women tend to not distinguish themselves

and their goals from those of the family and do not refer to their gender as a primary

identity.4 She effectively uses a life history approach to analyze different forms of female

migrant worker narratives to elicit the meanings that the women communicate while

describing how they address challenges and seek change through migration.5 I primarily

employ life histories to draw out patterns of action, compliance or resistance, and what they

indicate about the women’s conceptions of self and space for change amidst patriarchal

pressures and dominant norms. I listen to how women describe the major events and phases

of their lives, and also employing a socio-cognitive approach, look at how and why they

make their decisions.

I emphasize how an individual’s behavior is influenced by socio-structural factors and

how one learns from and interprets her past experiences and others’ experiences, as presented

in Albert Bandura’s work on social cognitive theory and self-efficacy. An individual not only

1 The Labor Law only protects domestic workers who are hired by domestic service agencies, whereas the vast

majority of workers find work on their own or through agencies that act as intermediaries. These agencies tend to be biased towards their clients rather than the workers, as their clients comprise a greater source of income.

2 Arianne Gaetano, "Off the Farm: Rural Chinese Women's Experiences of Labor Mobility and Modernity in

Post-Mao China (1984-2002)" (University of Southern California, 2005); Xinying Hu, China's New Underclass: Paid Domestic Labour (New York: Routledge, 2011); Tamara Jacka, Rural Women in Urban China: Gender, Migration, and Social Change (Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2006); Wanning Sun, Maid in China : media, morality, and the cultural politics of boundaries, Routledge studies in Asia's transformations (London ; New York: Routledge, 2008); Hairong Yan, New Masters, New Servants: Migration, Development, and Women Workers in China (Durham: Duke University Press, 2008).

3 Sun, Maid in China : media, morality, and the cultural politics of boundaries: 126-44.

4 Jacka, Rural Women in Urban China: Gender, Migration, and Social Change: 219-23.

5 ibid., 245-77.

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has an active role in directing her own actions, but adjusts her actions based upon what thinks

could happen as a result of different hypothetical actions, and on her belief in her capacity to

meet her own goals. One’s perceived self-efficacy, or the belief that one can succeed in

achieving certain outcomes through one’s actions, affects how bold or difficult an action one

might attempt.6 Bandura further claims that one’s self-efficacy beliefs shapes one’s actions,

goals, the efforts and perseverance one puts forth despite challenges, and even affects one’s

resilience and actual outcomes.7 For example, a domestic worker with a low sense of self-

efficacy would be less likely to believe she can change negative work situations, and

consequently would feel more averse or timid about taking such actions. She would be more

likely to tolerate her difficult situation, or leave without ever feeling that she can voice her

feelings and concerns. I see this as important because a worker’s loss of voice can have a

negative psychological impact, highlighting her comparative lack of power and reinforcing

her impression of being oppressed or subordinated.

In this chapter I will illustrate the range in domestic workers’ actions from compliance to

self-advocacy by comparing the case studies of two women whose lives are intertwined as a

mother and daughter, yet whose actions differ significantly. Examples ranging from rural

marriage to work in the city serve to illustrate the complex nature of interactions between the

self, society and authoritative power, and the women’s decision-making and actions. I

conducted life history interviews with each woman, both of whom described engagement or

marriage as the unhappiest period of their lives. In both cases the decision to marry was made

for them, and as women, they were supposed to bear the consequences. The mother endured a

difficult and abusive arranged marriage and remained with her husband until migrating to

Beijing for domestic work, but when she expected her daughter to consent to arranged

marriage, her daughter resisted. The actions of the mother, who I will call Song, may be more

representative of migrant domestic workers, whose actions are usually undertaken in the

interest of their families and who tend not to openly advocate for themselves.

Song

Song, is a 37 year old live-in domestic worker from Gansu, who looks far older than her

years. She grew up in poverty and attended school so infrequently that she was functionally

illiterate by the time she migrated to Beijing. As did everyone in her village, she said she also

got married at 18, which was in 1989. Her sister-in-law’s husband acted as matchmaker.

When I asked what she thought about meeting her future husband for the first time, she

replied, “at that time I was too stupid, I didn’t know what was good and what wasn’t, but

whatever my parents said was the way it was, I didn’t dare ignore them.” Her family also

needed her to get married because they had too many sons, not enough land and not enough

food or even clothing at that time. Song got married out of obligation to her family, who

6 Albert Bandura, "Social Cognitive Theory: An Agentic Perspective," Asian Journal of Social Psychology 2, no. 1

(1999): 24-28. 7 ———, "Guide for Constructing Self-Efficacy Scales," in Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Adolescents, ed. Frank Pajares

Tim Urdan, Adolescence and Education Series (Information Age Publishing 2006), 309.

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doted on her, as well as out of obedience or the fear of saying no. It was also common for

other girls to get married at a young age.

Her marriage ended up with an unhappy and unforeseen outcome. Song said,

Things were still ok the first two months after I got married, but after that my

mother-in-law said that I always liked to go have fun and then didn’t allow me to go.

Whenever I was about to go out, my husband wasn’t happy, and his mother would

say things that were really unpleasant to hear. He was always getting mad at me,

about this or that. When he was still with his mother, whatever his mother said was

the final word. At that time I was always feeling bad, I wasn’t really happy, I just

tended to cry all the time. When there was no freedom, it was like there was always

a knot in my heart.

At some point she and her husband separated from his parents’ household, however she was

still treated badly. Furthermore, Song’s circumstance appeared to be the norm in the village,

which may have led her to believe there was no alternative. She said:

“People in the countryside are all backwards. If people say that you can do

something, then you really want to do it. If they said that you should hit your wife,

then you want even more so to hit her, that sort of thing.” After asking how common

this was, she replied, “all the women in the village suffer, it wasn’t just me. They all

suffer. The men all beat you sometimes, and sometimes they are all affectionate.

After they hit you, you still have to work.”

Here Song shows she is aware, at least in retrospect, of the dynamics of gendered violence

and recognizes women’s lack of social power and ability to change their situation. She was

also abused by her husband, and the fact that she remained in the marriage despite this

treatment, suggests she may have believed herself to be equally powerless. The concept of

social modeling is relevant here. When people see others like themselves fail, then they may

doubt their own abilities. In this case Song did not see herself as able to resist the norm and

her husband’s abuse and attempts to control her.8

Song remained in her husband’s village until she migrated for work, but she said she also

migrated once before she was married. In both cases she insisted on leaving despite the

objection first of her mother, and then of her husband. She illustrated their controlling and

unsupportive attitudes,

The first time that I migrated to the city, my mother didn’t let me go, she said that if

you are hungry then you can just starve at home, you don’t have to go to starve in

some other place. But then my family just couldn’t get by anymore, and I absolutely

8 Albert Bandura, and Kay Bussey, "Social Cognitive Theory of Gender Development and Differentiation,"

Psychological Review no. 106 (1999): 23.

Mei-Ling Ellerman

5

had to go. Before my husband said he wouldn’t let me go, he said that we share each

other’s crimes and fortunes together. He mistakenly thought that I was going to

come out to enjoy a comfortable life while leaving him behind to endure hardship.

That was his meaning, but our family had no money, we had little land, we didn’t

have enough to eat, and didn’t have enough money to spend. So he agreed with me

that I should come out, and so I came out.

In making her decision to migrate, Song persisted despite initially being told she could not,

however she also attributes her motivation to a desire to ensure her family’s well-being. She

takes the responsibility to keep her family from starving and she succeeds both in migrating

and keeping her family going.

Song’s professed priority in life is earning enough for her son to get married and to

rebuild their family home which was destroyed in the Sichuan earthquake. She denies having

any plans or dreams for herself; her family comes first. Additionally, although she would be

interested in learning any number of things, she doesn’t consider herself capable. She

periodically refers to herself as stupid and unable to learn, and mentions her inability to read.

This sheds light on how she perceives her own possibilities and capabilities, although she

also admits that she’s learned many practical things since first coming to Beijing.

Work Experiences

Song’s accounts of her work experiences show that she is very aware of when she has

been mistreated, such as when she was given very little to eat and not allowed to leave for

days at a stretch, but now she will leave a bad job within days. When an elderly disabled man

attempted to sexually harass her, she said to his son, “older brother, your family needs

another appropriate person, look for another, I want to leave.” She expressed her anger to me,

but did not reveal it to the employer, and agreed to stay a few more days until he found a

replacement. She, as many other workers do, feels hesitant about telling the employer the

truth, or feels afraid that it would cause trouble. She said that since she was very young, she

would not cause trouble with others. What she thinks inside isn’t necessarily positive, but

whatever comes out of her mouth is. On the other hand, she said she is willing to give

anything to people who are nice to her, but if people aren’t nice to her, she hates them. This

powerful word, “hate,” underlines her frustration and anger at being mistreated. The outcome

of her actions is that she now protects herself, but her lack of authentic voice leaves her with

suppressed anger.

In this case study, Song has suggested that her major decisions such as marriage which she

complied with and migration which she argued for, were both motivated by her dedication to

her family’s well-being. She was strongly influenced by social and familial norms and

expectations when in the countryside, and viewed her main role as being a good wife and

provider. In her experience, being a woman has meant complying for the most part with

authority and dominant gender norms and practices, even when this meant ceding her

Mei-Ling Ellerman

6

autonomy and happiness. However, her migration is not only a necessity because of her

family’s poverty, but is also a political choice born of her own volition, because she indicated

that she would go even if her husband wanted her to stay at home. Her decision to migrate

and her capacity for earning money for her family are the two instances in her accounts which

reveal a sense of empowerment and self-efficacy. She also looks out for her well-being in the

city even though she has to pay a fine to the employment agency for leaving jobs early, and

has to pay every night she sleeps in the employment agency between jobs. In these cases, her

well-being and her dignity come before saving money for her family.

Nonetheless, Song has a pattern of past experiences in which for the sake of others she has

either accepted situations which are detrimental to her interests and well-being, or silently

exited jobs where she was treated poorly. She displays anger against the employers who treat

her badly, although she keeps it hidden from them. In these contexts she avoids conflict and

hurting others with her words. These traits are common to many domestic workers: they are

driven by family obligations, avoid conflict and do not directly address their subordination,

and will leave bad work situations without voicing the real reason why.

Xiao

Song’s 18 year old daughter, who I will call Xiao, has a different story with different

motivation and actions, although both women ended up in Beijing as domestic workers. As

opposed to her mother who would ideally like to return home to farm, Xiao’s identity lies

with the city where she has spent her most independent years. Even though she is also

earning money for her parents, she has no desire to return to her hometown. Just as her

mother’s life took a turn for the worse regarding her marriage, Xiao’s life became difficult at

age 11 when she discovered that she’d been engaged since birth to her cousin. She attributes

the engagement to her parents’ lack of education, but it also becomes clear that her mother

was motivated by concern for her own eldest brother who was single with an adopted son.

Song thought if her daughter was married to the son, then she could eventually care for her

aging uncle.

Patterns of Empowered Decision-Making

Xiao thought it was really frightening that they wanted her to marry him, and was determined

not to marry her cousin. She said that dead or alive she was not going to his village, so made

plans on her own to migrate to Beijing to work. Since her mother was in Beijing, she was

allowed to migrate with fellow villagers. From the ages of 11 to 13, Xiao made three major

life decisions - to drop out of school, to reject her engagement, and to migrate to the city for

work. As young as she was, she was successful in carrying them out, which may have given

her greater confidence in resisting common norms and expectations and speaking out.

Mei-Ling Ellerman

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Bandura referred to the concept of mastery experiences, where success builds a belief in

one’s self-efficacy.9

In analyzing Xiao’s decisions, I want to first address the fact that unlike her mother, she

rejected her family’s demands for such self-sacrifice. Ten years ago, early arranged marriage

and marriage to relatives were not uncommon, although clearly there had been some

controversy within the rural community, indicated by Xiao’s references to people gossiping

behind her back. Although the social outcome of her actions was to strain her relationship

with her family and generate more gossip within her village, Xiao’s main concern was how

she herself would be affected if she went through with the marriage. She felt the outcome of

her decision to migrate was positive because she didn’t have to deal with the gossip which

made her miserable. Xiao also took initiative to find work in Beijing. She was tall as a 13

year old, so she was able to get work even though the minimum age was 18. She lied to the

employment agency, telling them that she’d lost her identity card and would apply for a

replacement.

Xiao’s early experiences taught her that she needs to look out for herself, that she cannot

rely on her family or community to look out for her interests. Once in Beijing she created a

new community of supportive friends that she meets with once a week. Having demonstrated

her independence, Xiao also proves that she is willing to advocate for herself at work. She

has done live-in domestic work and cooked fast-food. Restaurant work is preferable, because

as she says, “when working in a restaurant, there’s a time when you start and you get off

work, and there are also more people. In people’s homes, in the end you are the only outsider

and have to work there day after day. When you stay 24 hours a day in people’s homes there

are a lot of things you have to watch out for, like other people’s facial expressions,” meaning

seeing how they react to her and her work at any given time. Although Xiao has been

exploited in her restaurant jobs, they are preferable to how she is expected to act as a

domestic worker, and how she is treated. Domestic work for her is alienating; it involves

subordination and a loss of dignity.

Xiao had found one fast food job through the housekeeping agency. To begin with she had

to work 14 hours a day instead of a promised 8 hours. After the third day she wanted to quit

but agreed to hold on until the boss found a replacement. He strung her out, delaying paying

her back for her first month’s wages until half a year had passed. After some time, she started

arguing everyday with her boss and then finally left. Like her mother, she leaves when she

can’t stand it anymore. She said she was still thinking of how to get her wages back. She

called the boss, but he says he’s too busy. She deliberated about either going directly to his

house or contacting the Labor Bureau. When asked how she makes this type of decision,

Xiao says that she will not just lose her temper right away. Instead she’ll pretend that nothing

has happened, and then take some time to think about how to resolve it. She exercises

9 Ibid., 699.

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forethought, persistence and sees self-advocacy as the only way to solve such situations,

suggesting that she has a strong sense of self-efficacy when protecting her interests.

After her interview, Xiao continued to help me, going out of her way to bring me

interviewees, and to take me to interview some small employment agencies. Although she

and her family were in difficult financial straits, she refused any compensation and just said

she wanted to help. I can guess that she hoped that my research would raise awareness about

the situation of domestic workers. She insisted on waiting outside in the cold, while I talked

with the agency staff who referred disparagingly to the poor quality of female domestic

workers and their lack of education. It seemed that by bringing me to agencies that she had

worked with, Xiao not only enabled my research, but created her own space for a counter-

discourse against the agencies as sources of authority and knowledge. When I mentioned

some of the staff’s other statements to Xiao, she kept saying that what we were told wasn’t

true, that they’d lied to us. Having spent two years with that agency, she knew they did not

offer that particular training, they did not mediate workers’ disputes, and workers had to pay

5 RMB per night to sleep at the agency, it was not free. I suggest that Xiao saw herself as

working to help others through my research; she could envision change, a possible alternative

future for subordinated domestic workers.

Reflections on Voice

Song and Xiao’s actions are related to how they interpret and accept their familial obligations

and others’ expectations, their approaches to conflict and how they see themselves as being

able to learn and effect change. The daughter, Xiao is filial; she contributes money to her

family, but she will not sacrifice her own well-being in an arranged marriage. She is willing

to speak out when mistreated, unlike her mother. Part of the reason she may have advocated

for herself at work is because more was at stake. I have observed more self-advocacy in more

desperate situations involving discrimination, harassment or exploitation. Yet, Xiao also has a

history of standing up for herself, so there is consistency in her attitude towards situations of

injustice.

When analyzing workers’ actions, one should take “voice” into consideration, for voice is

the conduit to express their desires, their independence from authoritative power, and to

assert their right to be treated as human beings. Albert Hirschman defines voice as “any

attempt at all to change, rather than to escape from, an objectionable state of affairs.”10

Aimed at informing others of one’s dissatisfaction, voice is therefore also political and a

mark of resistance. It can hint at or boldly inform powerful others that their attempts at

subordination are unjust and will not be accepted meekly. It includes a tacit demand for

recognition, for being heard and acknowledged regardless of whether any change is expected.

However, many people, particularly women and others with little power, are socialized to

10

Albert O. Hirschman, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1970), 30.

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avoid causing embarrassment, trouble or conflict. Song left bad work situations, but

remained deferent and did not tell her employers why she was leaving. When workers leave

without being able to even hint at their subordination or how it makes them feel, they often

continue to feel wronged and angry. Many workers act compliant and perform deference

within their workplace, and do not reveal that they feel discriminated against or

dehumanized. Song recounted how she still feels angry when she recalls such situations.

Perhaps this is because she remained silent and her employers were never held accountable

for offending her. Silence can be accompanied by feelings of psychological distress because

although it is logical for workers to remain silent when subordinated by those with greater

power and authority, it is like a tacit acceptance of their subordinate position.

The social aversion to using one’s voice when it could cause social discomfort, when

added to other more tangible risks and possible repercussions such as provoking the employer

to complain to the employment agency, further reduces the likelihood that individuals will

resort to using their voice. Domestic workers find it less awkward and more acceptable to

simply leave if they can no longer tolerate their employers’ behavior, offering a benign

excuse. Hirschman mentions that the very existence of the option to exit can “atrophy the

development of the art of the voice.”11

It is always possible for domestics to leave their jobs.

Furthermore, silence is already practiced within the workplace; workers are often expected to

keep their opinions to themselves, and to follow their employers’ dictates.

Voice is much more than just the action of speaking out. In Belenky and her colleagues’

work on women’s self-concepts and ways of knowing, they noted that “the development of a

sense of voice, mind and self were intricately intertwined,” and found that for their

respondents it was a metaphor which related to a “sense of mind, self-worth, and feelings of

isolation from or connection to others.”12

I draw links between how domestic workers

describe their speaking or listening, and their sense of personal power and belief that they can

change their own paths. Xiao spoke about her anger, and how she showed her temper in

order to definitively cut off the engagement. This was also an act of declaring her self-worth

and independence. Another instance was when she argued with her boss when he refused to

pay her back wages. When Song’s parents informed her of her own arranged marriage, she

said, “I didn’t dare not listen…I didn’t dare say I was not going [to meet him].” She also said

“at that time I was too stupid.” These metaphors of voice and depiction of self embody her

lack of power and autonomy in relation to her parents, and her naiveté. While Song’s values

remain congruent with gendered norms about family and work, and her actions reflect these

values, she has also consistently stifled her reaction to being subordinated.

I would venture that relational morality is another reason why such workers do not

respond to subordination in clear-cut ways and why their lack of resistance can result in

negative repercussions such as psychological stress and feelings of oppression, yet also be a

11

Ibid., 43. 12

Mary Field Belenky, Blythe McVicker Clinchy, Nancy Rule Goldenberger, Jill Mattuck Tarule, Women's Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind (New York, NY: Basic Books, 1986/1997), 18.

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conscious decision in line with their values and self-identities. It is clear that relational

concerns are key for these female domestic workers, as both their livelihood and familial

roles involve caring for others, negotiating personal relations, and fulfilling responsibilities

towards others. There is a strong association between women and paid domestic work which

is linked to gendered expectations of care, mothering and careful work. Carol Gilligan who

researches women’s moral development, discusses the “feminine” voice as seen by her

respondents, for whom morality often involves helping others, finding ways to resolve

conflict without hurting others, and sometimes sacrifice. Her respondents, who are

contemplating abortion, also experience conflict between their moral obligations and being

true to themselves.13

Chinese domestic workers also experience a conflict between their own

and their families’ interests, and the intimate yet hierarchical relations with their employers

which are founded on money and meeting particular expectations about morality and labor.

Unless they live with their families in the city, they remain far from their families and homes,

and torn between their independence and the performances oft required by their low-status

work.

It is uncertain how soon change will come for Beijing’s domestic workers, and how long it

will take for greater numbers to generate change through direct communication, negotiation

and self-advocacy. Some workers genuinely enjoy aspects of their work, such as caring for

their charges, but domestic work remains an undesirable job because of how they are treated

and the difficulties inherent in working and often living in strangers’ homes. Domestic

workers’ stories indicate that many of their paths have been limited as a result of others’

gendered expectations for them to comply, and to put their family first and themselves last.

Migration however does offer a sort of freedom and distance from the familial ties they

cannot afford to sever, as it did for both Song and Xiao. Despite the fact that Xiao never plans

to return home again, her daily wages are being funneled back towards this home that she left

so long ago. And although she has acted to obtain justice for herself, and has dreams about

studying how to use computers, she feels disempowered as a poor, uneducated rural woman.

Most migrant domestic workers in Beijing are not as young as she, and as mothers and wives

who must support their own families, cannot even afford these dreams of self-development.

Working in the city is a means towards an improved and more modern lifestyle for the family

and to provide for the older and younger generations.

Conclusion

In the context of migrant domestic workers struggling to make a living in urban China, I

have discussed the factors that influence how they act in response to subordination, and why

some resist while so many others choose to remain silent and leave their jobs rather than

advocate for themselves. This chapter has departed from other scholars’ work on Chinese

migrant workers, in its approach to workers’ engagement with subordination as a social,

13

Carol Gilligan, "In a Different Voice: Women's Conceptions of Self and Morality," Harvard Educational Review 47, no. 4 (1977): 486.

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political, psychological and cognitive process which is also determined by past experiences

and evolving conceptions about self. With past success in self-advocacy, workers are more

likely to perceive that they are capable of effecting change, and therefore are far more likely

to exercise their voice. The act of speaking out communicates speakers’ intents and the belief

that there either is space for change or that there should be, and conveys a moral power in

protesting injustice by holding the action in question up to the light. Although domestics in

the workplace are effectively invisible to outsiders, by communicating they make unspoken

issues visible to their employers, and hence restore, even if momentarily, greater equilibrium

to the unequal power relationship.

Song and Xiao’s act of leaving when mistreated reflects their inner critique of power. The

difference in their resistance and ways that they see themselves as agents is that the daughter

has found her public voice, meaning that she does not keep to Scott’s hidden transcripts, as

her mother does. Although when workers speak out it is mostly out of earshot of their

colleagues, I suggest that this less common form of self-advocacy can still have

transformative implications. When women find their public voice and choose to continue to

speak out despite the risks, exercising their voice can be psychologically and politically

empowering. The workers communicate their experiences to their friends, families and

colleagues who in turn, if caught in a similar situation, may find themselves inspired by their

actions. Audre Lorde evokes one of the most common and human of dilemmas which

domestic workers also face, of being silent out of fear, yet still being fearful while silent:

The transformation of silence into language and action is an act of self-revelation,

and that always seems fraught with danger…For we have been socialized to respect

fear more than our own need for language and definition, and while we wait in

silence for that final luxury of fearlessness, the weight of that silence will choke

us.14

I suggest that for workers, overcoming their fear to speak of their own needs over others can

truly be an act of self-revelation. It emphasizes their individual interests and humanity in an

oft dehumanizing labor relationship. Speaking out serves as a validation of the self, and a

critical assertion of the dignity that can be lost in performances of deference and service.

14

Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider (Berkeley, CA Crossing Press, 1984/1997), 42-44.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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