Gender and Space Evolution of Domestic Workers' Spaces within Kuwaiti Houses, 1964--2014

摘要

For the past half-century, Kuwait has employed the second largest number of migrated Asian and African domestic workers in Middle-East. The latest statistics state that there are more than 660,000 domestic workers in Kuwait, representing a ratio of one worker for every two Kuwaiti residents. The exponential increase in employing migrated domestic workers in Kuwait accompanied the huge increase in oil revenues in the 1970s. The increase number of Kuwaiti women joining the labor force is another factor causing the phenomenon.;The presence of domestic workers in nearly every house has became essential to Kuwaiti families. Foreign domestic labors live in close proximity to Kuwaiti families, sharing their private spaces and raise and educate their children. Further, the relationship between employer and worker ranges from being embraced as a member of the family to being considered a "domestic enemy". Ever since the beginning of domestic labors emergence in Kuwait in 1960s, Kuwaiti houses included a special space for their domestic workers. The relationship between employers and employees is inscribed in their spaces within the house they share. Through time, these spatial relations between Kuwaiti family's spaces and domestic workers' spaces have changed continuously with the change of many factors.;Despite the long history of domestic workers living with Kuwaiti families, studies of this marginalized group are limited and mostly concern the humanitarian aspect of the subject, while spatial studies of their existence in Kuwaiti houses are lacking. Against this background, this thesis document the spatial aspect of domestic workers'; existence in Kuwaiti houses. Such a study must capture the two sides of the coin, namely the worker's and the employer's sides, as well as the relationship between the two groups within the household. In particular, this thesis focuses on the evolution of domestic worker spaces within Kuwaiti houses from 1964 until 2014. It will reveal, major differences between male and female domestic workers' spaces in Kuwaiti houses, by using theories of gendered space to understand the social, cultural, and lived experiences of both men and women in domestic service.