Work-Care-Migration Regimes and Class Inequalities

Scholars have highlighted the multiple dimensions of care and its intersections with migratory patterns to collectively show that there are wide-ranging and sometimes unintended consequences to the global intensification of migrant care labor. My paper focuses not on migrant workers themselves nor on people who hire them. Instead, it throws into the mix a class of people who do not have access to migrant care workers, but who nonetheless live in a society where norms and standards are set by people who do. I address two main empirical questions: what is the nature of the work-care-migration regime in Singapore, and how is class articulated within it? How are the lives of the lower-income affected by this regime?

As feminist scholars and activists challenge existing state policies, societal norms, and corporate practices, we must continually insert into conversation the question of class variations and inequalities. The chapter makes the case for an expanded view in thinking about the effects of paid domestic work on public policy and the wellbeing of various groups in society and along the global care chain.