Financing Migration, Generating Remittancesand the Building of Livelihood Strategies: A Case Study of Indonesian Migrant Women as Domestic Workers in Singapore

Abstract

In the context of growing female labour migration in Southeast Asia, it has been argued that migration represents an important livelihood strategy forpoverty alleviationamongstmigrants and their families. Using the casestudy of Indonesian women migrating as domestic workers to Singapore,this paper draws on a quantitative survey (n=201) and qualitative in-depth interviews (n=30) to examine the migration trajectories of these women—in particular,their experiences of recruitment and placementin Indonesia and Singaporerespectively, as well asremittance-sending behaviours—concerning whetheror notthere are significant discrepancies between the costs of migration and benefits of employment through remittances(both economic and in-kind).It also examines the mediating role of communicationtechnologies in reducing the transaction costs of migration and remittance-sending, as well as contributing tothe maintenance of family tiesacross borders.