THE CARE BY DOMESTIC LABORERS AND THE CARE TO DOMESTIC LABORERS IN TAIWAN RUN LIN
The Care BY Domestic Labors / Helper & The Care TO Domestic Labors / Helper in Taiwan
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In 1992, Taiwan officially opened up its domestic labor market to immigrants. Domestic labors help with house chores, care taking of the disables and elders. By 2010, the number of foreign domestic labors in Taiwan had risen to around 350,000. The major reasons of the risen number of domestic labors were the economic transition in Taiwan and the aging population due to healthcare advancement. From the 1970s, Taiwan has gradually transformed from an agricultural to industrial society. That leads to a big problem of elderly care. A lot of the elders were left home alone while the young ones went to work. Therefore, they started hiring domestic workers to help taking care of the elders. In terms of nationality, these immigrants mostly arrived from Indonesia (41.2%), the Philippines (19.5%), Thailand (16.9%), and Vietnam (22.5%). Tari is an Indonesian domestic labor who works in Taiwan. They are helping a family with 3-5 members (the two brothers spent most of the time in different countries). Mainly, they are helping the 75-year-old grandma to most of the cleaning such as keeping the floor, windows, bathroom clean, doing laundry, etc. She does housework while her son and daughter-in-law are at work. Prior to the interview, it was hard for me to ask Mr. Lin for the opportunity to talk to Tari. However, after explaining to Mr. Lin the purpose of this interview, he understood it and allowed me to interview Tari. I did the interview with Tari. Tari does not speak any local languages in Taiwan (Mandarin, Taiwanese, English). Since my family invited Tari in our house, it
DATUM
NO.12
Reporter: Run Lin, aged 20 Nationality: Taiwanese Experience: lived in Taiwan until the age of 16th, currently living in the U.S Interviewee: Dwi Vergiyanti Lestari (they go by Tari), from Indonesia, has been working as a domestic worker in Taiwan for about 5 years, and working for the Lin’s family about 2 years. Relationship with the interviewee: My father, Mr. Lin, is Tari’s employer.
