Making “Invisible” Visible: “Pinky Memsaab” as Story of Unknown Migrant Domestic Worker in Dubai

The feminization of migration has provoked work on women’s mobility abroad as an economic and social phenomenon. The International Labour Organization estimated that women accounted for 42 percent of the 164 million migrant workers around the globe. Moreover, the number of women migrant has not only grown but has also diversified on the lines of destination and origin country. Now more and more women are migrating from the countries which were traditionally not known for emigration. Women from Asia, Africa and Latin America migrate as domestic workers, nannies and health workers to help address the care deficit in developed countries. Also, women migrant workers send money in the form of remittances to support their families back home.

While there is remarkable growth in the academic work which brings out different facets of the women’s migration experience, such significance has been rarely portrayed in cinema. Migrant female workers across media and cultural spheres are often represented as passive and parochial “Third World” victims with little to no agency over their lives and bodies (Cheng, 2021). In South Asia, despite significant number of women travelling abroad to work, cinematic expression still conceptualized migration as predominantly a male phenomenon, or women have often been portrayed as torchbearers of culture at home while staying abroad. There is no narrative of the millions of poor women who travel abroad to become primary wage earners of their families, do menial jobs and face gender discrimination  each day for survival to the countries they work.

The Pakistani movie Pinky Memsaab (2018), directed by Shazia Ali Khan, has challenged the above narrative in more ways than one. The central character of the Pinky (Hajira Yamin) represents the journey of millions of women who migrate every year from countries of South Asia to the different countries of the Gulf as nannies, maids or to work in the entertainment industry. The migration of women for work abroad which was mostly associated with the Indian state of Kerala and Sri Lanka is a rapidly growing phenomena in Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan.

The movie reflects how women’s migration experiences at every stage are shaped by patriarchal structures, which starts with the decision to migrate. Gender norms, values and expectations play an important role in migration decision making. The movie gives a glimpse into the life of Pinky back home. A misogynistic husband has left Pinky for another woman as she was unable to conceive his child. This sequence marks the precursor to Pinky’s departure from Pakistan to Dubai. In the movie, poverty is the primary reason behind Pinky’s migration. However, various studies show that women’s migration decision is also influenced by social acceptance and social legitimacy favouring women’s work and migration.  In South Asian societies there is greater acceptance towards the migration of middle-aged, married women migrating rather than the young. Such attitude is also reflected in the State Immigration Policies. All the major women migrant sending countries in South Asia, like India, Nepal and Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have a history of imposing various kinds of bans on migration of women. Among the various factors like sector of employment, destination countries, age and marital status are key component of framing restrictive immigration policies.

In the movie, Dubai represents any global city where society is divided on economic considerations. At one end are the extremely rich businessman, bankers and professionals living in large houses in posh areas of the city, whereas poor domestic workers and maids are other ends living in shared accommodations. Both require each other and this way their lives are interconnected. This is visible in the house which employs Pinky, a rich Pakistani couple comprising Mehr (Kiran Malik), an aspiring writer/socialite housewife and her husband, Hasan (Adnan Jaffar), who is a successful banker. They live in Dubai with their little son. They also have an Indian driver (Santosh) and a Filipino cook (Grace). Pinky gradually allies with the other household help. This highlights the importance of the social network, which helps her explore the city together when they are off work. This subaltern solidarity is a certain strong support network for alienated unskilled newcomer migrants to any city like Dubai.

The wage disparity dictated by racial considerations also plays a role and is very common. Those who are hired to do menial jobs like domestic work and are coming especially from countries of South Asia are at the bottom of the wage spectrum. The existing disparity in the wage for men and women is also visible. The gendered labour market needs to be understood as an intersection of identities such as gender, race, ethnicity and nationalities. There is gross inequality in terms of payments among women workers from South East Asian countries and those from India, Nepal and Pakistan (Oishi, 2005).

In South Asia, the migration of women for work has often been associated with sex work. The movie through one of the characters Kulsoom (Hajra Khan) also gives a glimpse into the Global Sex Trade, which is the underbelly of any global city and a reality for millions of women who are trafficked globally. Kulsoom, who is a cousin of Pinky, works as a bar dancer, which has been generally characterised as a modern form of slavery that commodifies women. However, Kulsoom challenges the debate surrounding trafficking and women working in the Sex Industry. She is unapologetic about her work, which helps her pay off her bills as well as helps send her son to a good school. Thus, she represents a different narrative on which women migrate for work.

The movie ends with Pinky accepting her new work as a waitress and living independently. The challenges faced by migrant women workers are immense while staying and working abroad. Such challenges grow manifold in the case of domestic workers who come from poorer countries like South Asia. They do not have any state support and are mostly dependent on their employers. Their vulnerability is often exploited by the employers who do not pay their wages, keep them confined to homes and exploit them sexually also in many cases. In such a background, independently working Pinky is like a breath of fresh air. She accepted challenges as they came and faced them. She represents the aspirations of millions of women like her who would also like to challenge the harsh reality as a migrant domestic worker to live the life of dignity in a foreign land and earn for their families with respect.

References

Oishi, Nana (2005), “ Women in Motion” Globalization, State Policies and Labour Migraiton in Asia, Stand-ford University Press.

Cheng (2021)  “Agency, precarity and recognition: reframing South East Asian female migrant workers on screen”, South East Asia Research,Vol. 29 (2), 248-264,

Devasundaram (2020)  “Subalterns and the city: Dubai as cross-cultural caravanserai in City of Life and Pinky Memsaab, Transnational Screens”, Vol 11(3),pp  248-265

https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_652106/lang–en/index.htm

https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/global/sites/default/files/migration_women_southasia_gulf.pdf