1. Restructuring Family Care in Taiwan: From un-dutiful daughter-in-law to cold-blooded migrant household worker
Frank T.Y. Wang
Associate Professor
Graduate Institute of Social Work, National Chengchi University

2. Repositioning Family in the context of global care chain
Family is one of the most popular discourses to construct social reality
In East Asia countries where family plays a key role in care for the elderly, defining family is defining citizenship.
The aim of this presentation is to examine how the discursive practices reposition carers in the context of global care chain.
Repositioning Family in the context of global care chain

3. Filial Piety/Family ethic as an ancient art of Chinese ruling
The integration of family system and political structure lay the foundation for the long-lived imperial China.
In the Neo-Confucianist interpretation, the emphasis on filial piety to the father in the family was made absolute and transformed into loyalty to the emperor. ‘To rule the state with filial piety’
The role of the state becomes that of protector and promoter of filial piety.
With the predominant family discourse in public spheres, the state can easily transform a social problem into a family problem, and then into an ethical problem.
Filial Piety/Family ethic as an ancient art of Chinese ruling

4. The Construction of Un-dutiful Daughter-in-law as deviant carer
The ideal Chinese family system has long been recognized as being a perfect example of patrilineal patriarchy.
Filial piety obligated children to repay parents for nurturing them and ensured old-age security for the elders.
Daughters-in-law were supposed to take care of the elderly in the families of their husbands.
The image of the multi-generation-family has been the symbol of the golden old age for the Chinese elderly.
Failure to take good care of one’s elderly parents implies an un-dutiful daughter-in-law
The Construction of Un-dutiful Daughter-in-law as deviant carer

5. The gendered nature of three-generational-family policy
Democracy movement under the name of Taiwan Independence forced the Nationalist government to lift the forty-years-long martial law in 1987
A rising demand for more public provision of elder care based upon social democratic welfare state in early 90s.
“The three-generational-family is the ideal type of family and should be the future for Taiwanese elder care. There will be no need for Taiwan to develop a comprehensive long term care system like the West, especially the Scandinavian, if all Taiwanese families are three-generational families. Taiwanese people need to preserve our traditional filial responsibility toward our elder parents. That is the root of Chinese culture.” ~ Prime Minister B.C. How, 1992
It is a non-decision policy: doing things with words
Re-privatising discourse of public needs by the state
Daughters-in-law are the target of regulation under this policy
The gendered nature of three-generational-family policy

6. Elder Care goes to Market
Rapid aging population: 25 years from 7%-14% in Taiwan, 50 years in Japan
Increasing female labor participation
24 hour personal care worker as jobs for women in financial crisis in the 80s
Unregulated care facility by personal care workers in the mid 90s
Migrant domestic workers since 1992
Elder Care goes to Market

7. Pyramid of Elder Care Nursing attendant (24hours/day)/ US$1,800
 Private nursing home (24hours/day)/
US$
 Day care (8hours/day)/
US$515 (travel expenses not included)
 Publicly subsidised home care (max 4hours/day)/ US$485
Migrant domestic worker (24hours/day)/ US$600

8. Supply of Long Term Care in Taiwan
Institutional care
56,038
25%
Publicly subsidised home care
28,138
12%
Migrant domestic care workers
141,752
63%
Total
219,835
100%

9. The Taiwanese policy maker adopted the ‘guest worker’ principle in its temporary labor policy in 1992 but vowed to avoid the result of German experience, to prevent migrant worker from becoming residents or citizens.
Quota system: incentive for private broker agents to change worker
Limits on industries and occupations: 1. manufacture jobs that are labor-demanding or environment-dirty, 2. domestic worker: nanny and care worker.
Migrant Worker Policy

10. Time limit: from 2-4 yrs. to 3-12 yrs
Time limit: from 2-4 yrs. to 3-12 yrs. If the employer is willing to apply for extension of the second/third term.
Cannot change employers, unless the employer agrees.
Cannot join or form unions
The result is a worker who cannot say no to her employer.
Restriction on import countries (importing labor quota negotiation as bargaining power in Taiwan’s diplomatic policy)

11. War between two women: Employer and migrant worker relationship
To minimize the management cost for the state, employers are obliged to keep an eye on migrant workers.
If the migrant worker should run away or go undocumented, the employer is obliged to catch the worker and penalized for losing their qualification until the worker is caught. The nightmare of Taiwanese housewife is to play the roles of caregiver and police at the same time.
Broker as the key mediator in constructing employers’ perception of migrant workers.
War between two women: Employer and migrant worker relationship

12. Racialized images of migrant domestic worker: the troublesome but English-speaking Philippine, the obedient Vietnamese who are culturally-alike, and the docile Indonesian peasant.
Cultural images of migrant domestic worker are in fact tightly linked with the calculation of profitability among migrant workers, which is shaped by political economy of international migrant worker brokerage trade

13. International brokerage systems: The case of Vietnam
State-run broker system
Multiple layers of recruitment: Local broker in villages, called ‘Cattle’s head’; provincial and central governments
To work in Taiwan, a Vietnamese worker has to borrow US$1,076~1,285, which is equivalent to what they earn for the first year.
Wang estimates that Vietnamese migrant workers have to work over 1.5 years in order to pay back what they have borrowed, which is the actual length of Vietnamese migrant workers in Taiwan.
Run-away as an act of resistance
International brokerage systems: The case of Vietnam

14. The Making of Migrant Domestic Worker as Cold-Blooded Killer
In 2003, the leading figure of disability movement, Ms. Liu Hsiao, was seriously injured and later died after being attacked by her Indonesian caregiver.
migrant worker was constructed as an ‘insane and cold-blooded killer’ by media
The government promised to strengthen the screening of mental illness.
In fact, they are just workers who are isolated and do not have time to rest

15. Policies behind the Scene of Crime
High level of broker fee caused workers in debts
Quota system: more turn-over, more profits
Guest worker status, excluded from the protection of Labor Standard Law
No freedom to change employers
Families who hire migrant workers are disqualified from public long term care
Policies behind the Scene of Crime

16. Families who hire migrant domestic worker as deviants
Racial discrimination against migrant workers, such as ‘they are just here for money’, ‘they take away our jobs’.
The nationalist tendency of Taiwan Independence movement further legitimizes discrimination against migrant workers and their employers.
Families who hire migrant workers are considered not ‘loving Taiwan by giving jobs to migrant workers’
‘Taxpayers’ money should not be spent on the wellbeing of migrant workers’ ~ government official’s response.
Managing migrant worker becomes one of the duties that daughter-in-law has to fulfill.
Families who hire migrant domestic worker as deviants

17. The migrant domestic workers have enabled the Taiwanese families to fulfill the cultural image of three-generational family.
The cold-blood migrant worker image creates a culture of terror among daughters-in-law.
The missing state just adds more duties on the daughter-in-law who has already too many duties to fulfill.
Understanding of the tragic incidents fails to reveal the power relations that are now trans-nationally organized but feed into the individualized accounts of victim-blaming.
It reinforces the privatization of family care through the growing brokerage market of international care chain.
Migrant worker issue posts threat to the solidarity among social advocate groups. The racial division of we, Taiwanese, and they, migrant workers, prevents the social welfare groups (as representative of employers) from working with migrant workers advocate groups.
Conclusion