Migrant Domestic Workers and ILO Convention 189: Organizing, Rights, Transnational Solidarity

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H02602
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 海外学術
• Research Field: Gender
• Research Institution: Hitotsubashi University
• Principal Investigator: Ito Ruri 一橋大学, 大学院社会学研究科, 教授 (80184703)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 小ヶ谷 千穂 フェリス女学院大学, 文学部, 教授 (00401688) ; 森 千香子 一橋大学, 大学院法学研究科, 准教授 (10410755) ; 大橋 史恵 武蔵大学, 社会学部, 准教授 (10570971) ; 宮崎 理枝 大月短期大学, 経済科, 教授 (20435283) ; 定松 文 恵泉女学園大学, 人間社会学部, 教授 (40282892) ; 中力 えり 和光大学, 現代人間学部, 准教授 (50386520) ; 平野 恵子 北海道教育大学, 教育学部, 特任准教授 (50615135) ; 小井土 彰宏 一橋大学, 大学院社会学研究科, 教授 (60250396)
• Research Collaborator: SHINOZAKI Kyoko ザルツブルグ大学, 社会学部, 教授 ; SUNAI Naoko ラヴァル大学, 大学院
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 家事労働 / 国際移動 / ジェンダー / グローバル化 / ケア

Outline of Final Research Achievements

There are two main findings. First, through interviews with activists, trade unionists, experts and bureaucrats, we were able to see how factors pertaining to the internal dynamics of ILO as well as those related to international trade union movements came to create a favorable environment for NGOs promoting (migrant) domestic workers’ rights to successfully adopt ILO Convention 189 in 2011.
Second, through fieldwork in Europe, Asia and North America, covering 8 countries and one region, we assessed the impact of C 189 on domestic workers’ movements. The Philippines and Indonesia are two cases where the impact is the biggest, in the sense that the convention not only galvanized migrant domestic workers abroad but also shed new light on the situation of local domestic workers. In Europe, Italy and Germany ratified with relative ease, but interestingly for different reasons. In general, C 189 serves as a normative reference for all countries even when they have not ratified.

Free Research Field

国際社会学、ジェンダー研究