Reconsidering the migration–development link: capability and livelihood in Filipina experiences of domestic work in Paris

Abstract

Abstract Drawing from the experiences of Filipina domestic workers in Paris, this paper reconsiders the migration–development relationship in order to inform current research and policy on the protection of migrant domestic workers. The paper employs Martha Nussbaum's Capabilities Approach to explicate the migrant workers' experience as dynamically produced through the interconnection of their migration with development processes. The paper shows how it is through the evaluation and promotion of migrant domestic workers' capabilities that current approaches can secure rights along with sustainable livelihood choices at the immediate, individual migrant worker level, as well as in the long term, at state and global levels. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.