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<p>This article examines how expressions of gratitude among migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in Malaysia operate as an affective mechanism that shapes labour relations and constrains self-advocacy. Drawing on data gathered on the lived experiences of Filipino and Indonesian MDWs in Malaysia, through five focus group discussions (<i>n</i> = 30) and a quantitative survey (<i>n</i> = 313), it argues that MDWs’ perceptions of employer care, manifested through job security, fair wages and support, generate feelings of gratitude which obscure deeper structural inequalities. Gratitude becomes an emotional context that sustains unequal employer-employee power relations as MDWs discipline their own expectations, perpetuating precarity by denying workers the conceptual understanding needed to recognize their grievances as rights violations. In further exploring how feelings of gratitude influence MDWs’ capacity to self-advocate and assert labour rights, this article situates it at the intersection of structurally precarious migration regimes to demonstrate how these emotions can normalize compromised labour protections. Findings reveal that MDWs are unable to recognize their self-regulation as a response to structural inequalities or frame their dissatisfaction as a rights violation. Thus, gratitude serves to mask inequality and suppress self-advocacy. These findings underscore the critical role of collective spaces to foster agency amongst MDWs.</p>

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Gratitude Under Structural Inequality: Limitations on Migrant Domestic Workers’ Self-Advocacy During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Malaysia

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月20日

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  • Alicia Lee,
  • Shanthi Thambiah,
  • Sharifah Shazana Agha,
  • Anis Farid,
  • Denise Spitzer

摘要

This article examines how expressions of gratitude among migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in Malaysia operate as an affective mechanism that shapes labour relations and constrains self-advocacy. Drawing on data gathered on the lived experiences of Filipino and Indonesian MDWs in Malaysia, through five focus group discussions (n = 30) and a quantitative survey (n = 313), it argues that MDWs’ perceptions of employer care, manifested through job security, fair wages and support, generate feelings of gratitude which obscure deeper structural inequalities. Gratitude becomes an emotional context that sustains unequal employer-employee power relations as MDWs discipline their own expectations, perpetuating precarity by denying workers the conceptual understanding needed to recognize their grievances as rights violations. In further exploring how feelings of gratitude influence MDWs’ capacity to self-advocate and assert labour rights, this article situates it at the intersection of structurally precarious migration regimes to demonstrate how these emotions can normalize compromised labour protections. Findings reveal that MDWs are unable to recognize their self-regulation as a response to structural inequalities or frame their dissatisfaction as a rights violation. Thus, gratitude serves to mask inequality and suppress self-advocacy. These findings underscore the critical role of collective spaces to foster agency amongst MDWs.