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Downward Mobility for Women Migrants in Thailand

For many female migrant workers in Thailand, there's only one way to go - and it's not up.

The MAP Foundation is working to make a difference by educating migrant workers and fighting for their rights. By 10 o'clock on a fine Sunday, several young Shan women have begun to arrive at an old two-storey house situated deep inside a narrow soi - Wat Umong - in Chiang Mai province.

Most work as servants; every other Sunday is their only holiday. But instead of going to a cinema or shopping, they choose to be where they no longer feel alone in a hostile land.

The house may be simple and small, but for them it is where they can feel safe talking about their lives in servitude, their innermost feelings, the problems they cannot speak of elsewhere, like sexual harassment, rape and unplanned pregnancies. It's also a place to get help.

"These domestic workers are the lucky ones. Most never have any days off. They have no information about their rights. They don't know anyone except their employers and they don't know where to seek help," says Pranom Somwong, co-ordinator of the MAP Foundation, which has been running a workshop once every month since July  2006 for female migrant workers in Chiang Mai.

"Domestic workers are very hard to get in touch with as they live inside private households and rarely see anyone but their employers. It is very hard to know their condition, whether they are abused or not. The workshop is one way to reach them," she said.

At the workshops they share stories from the day when they fled poverty in their hometown in Shan State to seek jobs in Thailand. Many stories are tragedies. One was raped by her employer, another worked for free for 10 years but finally escaped and fought for her back wages. Some complain about working more than 12 hours a day, being scolded by employers, not having enough holidays.

Domestic work is one of the few jobs not protected by the national labour law for minimum wage, working hours, type of work, working conditions, leave days and annual holidays, let alone medical and other benefits. Working in isolated environments like private homes makes them even more vulnerable to all forms of abuse and exploitation.

As of May 2005, there were 126,343 migrant domestic workers from Burma, Laos and Cambodia given work permits in Thailand. The number ranked only second after migrant workers who worked in the agriculture and livestock sector, according to the Ministry of Labour.

If unregistered migrants are taken into account, however, the number of female foreign workers may be between 150,000 and 200,000, according to the International Migration in Thailand 2005 report, which was published by the International Organisation for Migration.

The need for Thailand and other countries in the region to provide better legal protection to female migrant workers who work as servants will be addressed at the two-day high-level government meeting in Bangkok.

Organised by UNIFEM, the meeting will see senior officials from eight countries in Southeast Asia discuss how to use CEDAW, or the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, to better protect female migrant workers.

Adapted from: ‘Downward Mobility.’ Bangkok Post. 6 November 2006.