This thesis examines the exercise of agency amongst migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in
the face of domination and multi-level power asymmetries. This qualitative study draws on
interviews with 65 participants. 50 participants were returnee MDWs in the Bangladeshi–
Saudi Arabia migration corridor, half of whom returned prematurely, before their contracts
expired. This study highlights how they demonstrated a multitude of negotiation techniques.
They employ a blend of defiance and conformity when subject to violence, abuse, and
exploitation, thus challenging the conventional characterisation of their passivity. Amongst
their responses are the employment of persuasive strategies and the practice of small-scale
overt confrontation, transcending the binary distinction between coping strategies and
everyday resistance.
This study demonstrates that the negotiation strategies by MDWs are circumscribed by multi-
level power asymmetries marked by dominance, complicity, retaliation, and impunity that shape and reinforce the unequal power relationships between MDWs and their employers.
This study argues that power asymmetry remains inadequately understood in migration
studies, particularly within the context of employer-MDW relationships, necessitating the
consideration of larger power structures operating at multiple levels that affect their agency.
This study argues that even when enmeshed within multi-level power asymmetries, which
serve as the backdrop for enduring mistreatment and immobilisation, MDWs show resilience
in determining their negotiation strategies. Exiting an abusive employment relationship is
often perceived as a failure in the existing literature, yet this study contradicts this notion.
This study finds running away and creative story-making as negotiation techniques to exit
exploitative working conditions, constituting an expression of their agency. The term
"agency" in this study pertains to their capability to negotiate domination and power
asymmetry that seek to circumscribe workers’ efforts; whereas "negotiation" encompasses
diverse responses that challenge and undermine power structures through various acts,
tactics, and strategies.
