| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 衛生政策與管理研究所 === 94 === Since 1992, the year in which the import of foreign domestic workers was legalized in Taiwan, the number of foreign domestic workers, which consist of domestic helpers and caregivers, has steadily increased. Currently, there have been more than 130,000 foreign domestic workers in Taiwan. While they devote themselves to people in need of care in Taiwan, the Labor Standard Law of Taiwan nevertheless excludes this population because of the nature of care work in a private family environment. This study was designed to explore their working conditions, and physical and psychological health status in this population.
Domestic workers who came from the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam were studied. This study consists of two parts. In the first part, we carried out qualitative interviews with 12 workers, who were recruited through personal network. In the second part, a quantitative questionnaire survey was carried out to explore the working conditions and health status in this population. Researchers approached foreign workers who participated in some social events, and a total of 231 workers agreed to participate in this survey and returned complete questionnaires during the period from February to October in 2005.
In this study, we found that foreign domestic workers came from very diverse cultural and social backgrounds, yet most Taiwanese people see them as a homogeneous group. Despite that they work in individual families with different family structures and work context, it seems that inadequate working conditions are a universal phenomenon. Their role as a pseudo-family member makes them view their work more like a responsibility in a family, and less like a paid work. Such a work attitude may buffer their stress perception, but at the same time makes it more difficult for them to claim their own rights as a worker.
The working conditions of foreign domestic workers are closely linked to the attitudes and behaviors of individual hiring families. Our policy gives these hiring families an absolute power to determine how to use these workers, leaving room for potential abuse. To enhance the work and health welfares of foreign domestic workers in Taiwan, we have three suggestions for policy consideration. First, we suggest to cancel the restriction that prohibits foreign workers from transferring freely to other employer. Secondly, we suggest to make effort on the legislation of the “Domestic Service Act”. And lastly, how to provide break services to all family caregivers – either Taiwanese or foreign, and paid or unpaid – deserves more consideration.
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