Indian Household Workers in Hong Kong- Resilience and Transnational Family Relationships

Transnational relationships between Indian migrant women household workersin Hong Kong and their family members in India is the focus of the book.The impact of migration on these solo women migrants the strengths thatthey draw from work income and friendship ties developed with fellowmigrants at destination and the cumulative impact these have on transnationalrelationships with families that they left behind were unknown.Firstly it emerged that Indian migrant women household workers in HongKong drew strength from their membership of small groups by developingreciprocal 'lunch box rights'. Secondly the concept of 'bangled husband'highlighted the reversal of gender roles between breadwinning migrant wivesand their non-migrant husbands. Thirdly the pain of separation was centralto the transnational relationships between mothers and the children they leftbehind. Finally it was only after migrant women household workers struck abalance in the disbursal of their income between the demands from familymembers as well as their own needs for education recreation and accumulationthat it worked in their favour to gain influence in their natal ormarital family.