Paradise Betrayed: Investigating the Plights of Female Domestic Workers in Two Contemporary Plays

Journal article

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Publication Details

Author list: Bunsom, T.

Publication year: 2014

Journal: วารสารศิลปศาสตร์ มหาวิทยาลัยอุบลราชธานี (1686-5596)

Volume number: 10

Issue number: 2

Start page: 1

End page: 16

ISSN: 1686-5596

Abstract

According to Yeoh and Huang (2000), the advent of globalization and the attempt to sustain economic strength of world cities unavoidably result in the reliance on foreign workers. Driven by constant economic instability of their own countries, a lot of women from the Philippines and Indonesia have been looking for employment abroad. This economic migration, however, has not always brought them wealth as some may have expected. Reports of abuse and maltreatment of female workers are not difficult to find. Contemporary authors in Southeast Asia have included the unfortunate stories of these women in their writings. In this study, two contemporary plays from the Philippines and Singapore are analysed in terms of the plights of female domestic workers. In Paulino Lim, Jr.’s M้nage Filipinescas (2008), Melissa, an email-order bride in California, is portrayed more as a maid and a prostitute solely subject to the mercy of her husband

Keywords

female domestic workers, plights, contemporary plays, M้nage Filipinescas, Model Citizens