SUNDAYS IN SINGAPORE: NAVIGATING LOVE, INTIMACY, AND SOCIAL HIERARCHIES AS A MIGRANT WOMAN

Abstract

This thesis is an ethnographic exploration of the dating lives of migrant women in Singapore namely, migrant domestic workers (MDWs) and expatriate women. This thesis asks the key research question: How does social class, migrant status, and gender shape the experience of love and intimacy in Singapore? While this study focuses on MDWs, a comparative element is included by relating MDWs dating experiences to those of expatriate women (or, foreign talent in national parlance). Though both groups are migrant women, their social class in Singapore as a result of migration history, visa/resident status, and income level produce vastly divergent dating outcomes. Using space as a lens of analysis, I examine the disparate digital and physical spheres inhabited by MDWs and foreign talent to understand their intimate lives better. Doing so elucidates the differences that characterise their intimacies, particularly highlighting how physical space afforded to either group is also reflective of the place they have in Singapore society. This thesis therefore also delves into the reproductive restrictions unevenly placed across migrant women and the implications this has on the permanence of their futures in Singapore.