Violence against women migrant workers : a case study of Myanmar women migrant factory workers in Mae Sot | |
| Author | Hnin Shwe Zin Hlaing |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.GD-14-02 |
| Subject(s) | Women migrant labor--Myanmar Women migrant labor--Thailand--Mae Sot Women--Violence against--Myanmar Women--Violence against--Thailand--Mae Sot |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science in Gender and Development Studies, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no.GD-14-02 |
| Abstract | This study explores the violence experience of Myanmar women migrant factory workers in Mae Sot. Almost all respondents in this study move to Mae Sot with the hope of better employment opportunities and improved income, and nearly all of them do not have any legal documents to stay and work in Thailand due to various registration hurdles including financial difficulty and uncooperative employers. They face high levels of insecurity at the host society due to their status as irregular migrant workers and as women. Their vulnerability is further intensified when they are away from watchful eyes of parents and family and when they carry cultural and behavioral norms with them from their origin. Their status of irregular unskilled migrant workers renders them invisible under national labor law, and they are therefore subjected to violence at their workplace. Although there is a growing population of migrants from same country of origin, women are still insecure since these male migrants are thought to be more offensive which is in part because of lack of supervision and loss of belongingness in the host community. Their experience of violence is thus different and more extensive than their male counterparts. For partnered migrant women, factors related to migration experience exacerbate or trigger intimate partner violence against them. Many of the consequences as a result of these violence activities suffered by migrant women are more or less similar to those by non-migrant women, but these effects are somewhat worsened for them when their undocumented status leave them with limited access to health care services, to legal redress, and their primary supporters, parents and family, are left behind. Moreover, their experience of violence does not confine to one space only as the violence in two different spaces, public and private, impose a spillover effect on each other. Myanmar migrant women, particularly married ones, are therefore likely to entrap in the vicious cycle of the continuum of violence against women in private space and public space. These women migrant workers have hindrances when trying to cope with the violent incidents in their working and living environments due to their social, cultural and personal contexts. However, these migrant women are active in developing a range of plan of actions against their harassers or batterers complying with their current situation of precariously registered or unregistered migrant workers in Mae Sot. |
| Year | 2014 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no.GD-14-02 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Gender and Development Studies (GD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Kusakabe, Kyoko; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Doneys, Philippe;Grunbuhel, Clemens; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway; |
| Degree | Thesis (M. Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2014 |