Third World Domestic Labor

Migration is a complex issue and it cannot be explained by simple theories that attempt to define the reasons for migration, which ignore important contributing factors especially for women of color all around the globe. Migration not only perpetuates socioeconomic instability, but also reinforces the brutal legacies of the colonization of indigenous land, labor and people. In addition, mainstream theories regarding migration tend to ignore the ways in which colonial empires have continuously created conditions that force people to migrate in order to survive, and as a result, obliterates family dynamics and creates a commodification of third world domestic labor. The commodification of third world domestic labor is one prime example of how
Filipina workers can maintain their families in their home country, as well as themselves with a minimum wage domestic service job in the United States. Also with this wage, women are able to hire a caretaker to replace her role in their homeland. Parreñas utilizes the term contradictory class mobility and explains how “First, they perform domestic work under the fantasy of reversal; in other words, they dream of eventually returning to the Philippines to be served by their own domestic workers” (120). The status of domestic labor has been defined as an extremely low-wage job within the global market. Parreñas has used the term contradictory class mobility to showcase the contradictions domestic laborers undergo as their class status and financial status are greatly impacted when working abroad. The United States along with other imperialistic forces have created a global need for domestic laborers, which creates this type of labor as a norm. Although domestic laborers are being exploited, it has been deemed normal for them to hire a domestic laborer to take care of their family, which further expands the global need for domestic