Am I allowed to be pregnant? Awareness of pregnancy protection laws among migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, pregnancy is not legal grounds for employers to dismiss their migrant domestic workers (MDWs). However a survey of 589 Filipino and Indonesian MDWs in Hong Kong demonstrates that only a third of respondents know their pregnancy rights. Regression analysis of the survey data highlight the statistically significant positive role of being Filipino and length of tenure in Hong Kong in increasing respondents’ rights awareness. Follow-up conversations reveal that workers understand their rights to be contingent upon the presumed morality of their pregnancy (whether they are married, whether their husband is the father) and their employer’s generosity. These findings reveal the influence of the socio-structural frames migrants carry with them from their home countries, and the ones in which they are embedded in their host destinations, in the lack of purchase of a pregnancy rights discourse among MDWs in Hong Kong. Our findings provide new insight into the power of symbolic violence in women migrant workers’ understanding of their rights, and their emphasis on their ‘work ethics’ over their ‘work rights’.