ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the workers gendered identities and understandings of their historical selves and future possibilities define and direct their responses. It emphasizes how an individuals behavior is influenced by socio-structural factors and how one learns from and interprets past experiences and others experiences, as presented in Albert Banduras work on social cognitive theory and self-efficacy. Then illustrates the range in domestic workers actions from compliance to self-advocacy by comparing the case studies of two women whose lives are intertwined as a mother and daughter, yet whose actions differ significantly. The literature on Chinese domestic workers remarks upon their isolation, their lack of power and influence over work and conditions. This chapter differs from other scholars work on Chinese migrant workers in its approach to workers engagement with subordination as a social, political, psychological, and cognitive process which is also determined by past experiences and evolving conceptions about self.
