Beyond Remittances – The Fragmentation of Ginhawa Among Filipina Migrant Domestic Workers and a Critique of Institutional Policy Gaps

Abstract: As global demand for domestic labor grows, female migrant workers increasingly navigate precarious employment characterized by systemic vulnerability. This qualitative study investigates the mental health and wellbeing of Filipina domestic workers through the Indigenous lens of ginhawa (holistic wellbeing). Moving beyond Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) psychological frameworks, the research explores how migration for household service redefines wellbeing as a financialized and future-oriented construct, often necessitating the sacrifice of current mental health for family solvency. Utilizing an intersectional critique and Indigenous semistructured interviews, the study examines how the compounding identities of woman, migrant, and domestic worker intersect with nationality-based labor hierarchies to amplify isolation and distress. The findings reveal three core themes: first, the financialization of ginhawa (holistic wellbeing), where holistic wellness is reduced to economic remittances; second, the psychological cost of transnational mothering, where nurturing is performed through offshore provision rather than physical presence; and third, the intersectional precarity, where host-country structural gaps and discriminatory hierarchies limit access to formal mental health support. The study contributes to global migrant literature by demonstrating how Indigenous concepts of wellbeing can explain the high tolerance for distress among migrant populations. It argues that current policy frameworks – including those aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – remain culturally insufficient. The paper concludes with a call for a fundamental policy shift toward accessible, culturally competent, and formal mental health services that address the structural and intersectional nature of migrant precarity.