This paper aims to analysis forms and means of exploitation of women migrant domestic workers who work as housekeepers in Thai households by considering the working conditions, the legitimacy of the Labor Law, wages and welfare, which are dependent mainly upon their employers’ satisfaction, and without any obligation by the state. This exploitation of maids raises questions about the state’s effectiveness in enforcing laws and the governmental mechanism in protecting the rights of this group of laborers. In answering these questions, some facts must be understood: employers in today’s modern world need women migrants to work in housekeeping, since their capacities have developed and housewives have a more prominent status in society. The greater proficiency of these middleclass urban women has led to specializations, which creates greater economic values than housekeeping. The roles of working women have expanded so they no longer do any housekeeping. Thus, they need low-paid women migrants to work at their private homes. Unfairly treated, the maids' working and living conditions are often neglected by employers and governmental agencies, while the international labor organization and state mechanisms ineffectively regulate the power of employers in private homes. This paper analyses the causes and effects on the hypothesis that "housekeeping", once relevant to women’s home life, has now passed to a “maid” whose duty to hold on to such ideology is constantly suppressed by power relations. Discriminations between employers and domestic workers continue without any state regulation to control it.
