Migration, Moralities and Moratoriums: Female Labour Migrants and the Tensions of Protectionism in Indonesia

Women constitute the majority of Indonesia’s overseas labour migrants, with most employed as foreign domestic workers. A range of gendered moral discourses underpin women’s roles as domestic workers abroad. These moralities are fuelled by media images of abuse and exploitation of domestic workers, as well as anxieties regarding women’s perceived sexual autonomy overseas. Indonesian women’s overseas labour migration therefore creates persistent moral dilemmas in terms of both women’s safety and sexuality in destination countries. Consequently, the Indonesian government called for a moratorium on domestic workers migrating abroad, intended to begin in 2017, but since retracted. This article explores the gender-specific moralities embedded in the planned moratorium as they applied to female, low-skilled labour migrants. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted among domestic workers in Singapore and in a migrant-sending community in East Java, I explore the nexus between state-based paternal protectionism and women’s own views of the gendered moralities that frame their overseas employment. I argue that the moratorium that ostensibly aimed to protect domestic workers exemplifies state-based projects designed to convey concern for migrant women’s welfare and rights. The article also examines how women negotiate moral tensions of protectionism as they pursue work abroad.