Practicing Agency in Vulnerable Spaces: Migrant Female Domestic Workers Bargaining with Capitalist Patriarchy

This study explores the ways in which migrant female domestic workers bargain with patriarchy and capitalism in Qatar through the analysis of key structures and women’s behavior within capitalist patriarchy. Primarily based on first-hand narratives from semi-structured interviews, this dissertation aims to highlight ways in which women navigate and strategize within the structures that work to oppress them. I build on Deniz Kandiyoti’s theory of women ‘bargaining with patriarchy’ (1988) to argue that migrant female domestic workers can identify and strategize within the structures that oppress them based on their gender, nationality, and class, to exercise their agency. Moreover, I question how migrant female domestic workers navigate spaces of vulnerability where dependency on employers and limited access to justice hinder their rights and lived condition. This dissertation highlights three central lines of inquiry: the legal framework of the kafala and Qatar Law No.15 of 2017 and subsequent crafted work arrangements; the politics of space in the household that determine boundaries of private and public; finally, the demands of a gendered-emotional labor experienced by female employer and female employee in domestic employment, to reflect the capitalist patriarchal structures defining women’s position in Qatar, and reflective throughout the global care-chain. Lastly, this study seeks to highlight the intricate and often unappreciated lived experience of women in vulnerable conditions who strategize to navigate the boundaries of their workplace and home.