According to many citizens with urban 'hukou' the migrant workers that come to town in order to make a living are lacking 'suzhi' and are thus looked down upon. Many of the migrant women workers that go to Beijing and other cities end up working as nannies and take care of urban citizen's children. Others are hired to nurse city dweller's hospitalized relatives. Both kinds of positions, you would believe, require someone with exactly the 'suzhi' these women generally are blamed for not having. These workers are trusted with a huge responsibility but are nevertheless met with prejudice.
The migrant women workers concerned take great pride in their job and show profound responsibility - towards the child or patient they care for, the family that has employed them as well as towards their own family, for whose livelihood they actually left home.
Based on meetings and interviews with migrant women workers I met at the NGO 'Dagongmei zhi jia' in Beijing as well as secondary sources on the topic, my paper is an attempt to explain the working situation and social status of the migrant women workers in the domestic and service sectors, and how at least some of them, despite the prejudice they are surrounded with, manage to raise and keep their self-confidence and self-esteem.