Coming Out of Employers’ Homes:Migration, Domestic Work and Health Claims

Abstract

Migrant domestic workers in Kuwait live amid structural inequalities, including health disparities, yet little is known about how they manage wellness alongside imperatives to work and earn. In this article, I examine Sri Lankan women’s coming out of employers’ homes through authorized and unauthorized channels and how they use illness and exhaustion to justify their need for more autonomous conditions. Exploring the physical, emotional, and political dimensions of these processes, I highlight the Sri Lankan vernacular notion of “heart-being” within women’s actions to safeguard health and seek existential grounding, as they assert biolegitimate claims to return home or live unauthorized.