Women in International Migration Regimes
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Transcript Women in International Migration Regimes
Women in
International Migration Regimes
Between
Coercion and Empowerment
Christa Wichterich
24.08.07, FES, Berlin
Restructuring
Of Economies
Commodification
New
International
Division of
Labour
Cross-Border
Movement
Migration = Gendered Process
… mediated by gendered norms, stereotypes,
expectations, opportunities
… demand for gender specific labour e.g. domestics
… supply of gender specific labour e.g. nurses
migration process itself is gendered… women more
vulnerable
Integration process is gendered
Re-integration is gendered… cultural & social
repercussions
Complex & Changing Nexus of
Push & Pull
Economic crisis, loss of
livelihood, poverty
Change in domestic labour
market, men loose jobs,
new gender roles
Discrimination, lack of
chances
Coercion
Hope for a good life
Demand of labour e.g. IT sector
& care of the elderly
selective strategy of opening of
borders & inclusion
Transnational networks of
migrants offer jobs to people at
home
Migration industry: Labour
agencies, brokers & traffickers
make false promises & lure
women into slavery
Why?
Global reason: inequalities between countries
Individual reason: Poverty, loss of livelihood,
economic crisis, conflict, violence, cultural norms
Survival Strategy:
Search for livelihood, security & rights
Distinction: voluntary forced …
… coercion & choice are interlinked
Agents of their life, decision makers regarding
their future
Latest Trends in Migration
More
temporary and circular
More illegal
More gendered or female
More polarised: skilled & unskilled
Less share of refugees
Feminisation of Transnat. Migration
- Figures 1980
1990
2000
2005
Number of
99.7
Migrants (mio)
154.0
174.9
191.0
Women
47.1
73.8
85.0
94.5
% of Women
47.2
47.9
48.6
49.6
+ 200 mio migrants within China
Feminisation of Migration
Change in goal: Earlier majority of women migrated
as dependent family members (marriage, family
unification) – now migrate as wage earners on their
own
More visible in statistics & in public
Specific female flows of migrant workers
Gender segregated labour market:
Mostly unskilled informal jobs, new international
division of labour
Global Care Chain
1) Nurses & doctors trained in the Philippines work
in Saudi Arabia brain drain lack of medical
personal in the Philippines
2) Middle-class women in the US, full time employed, transfers care work in the household to
undocumented migrant from Mexico whose children are taken care of by a relative care drain
new internat. division of care work
3) Private households in Germany employ care takers
from Poland for elderly & sick people often
deskilling, rotation or shuttle system
Contradictory Discourses & Policies
Building new external borders & internal barriers
fear of competition in domestic labour market,
xenophobia, racism
Shift in discourse: focus on economic advantage:
- for the home country: export of unemployment,
remittances development effect, poverty reduction
- for the receiving country: selective demand, supply
of labour for specific sectors
Remittances
2005: 232 bill. US $ official money transfers
167 bill. US $ for developing countries
Huge profits for financial service sector due to high
fees for transnational money transfer (up to 20 %)
Women: less income, remit higher share than men
- temporary migrants remit more
- depends on family relations
Gender specific use of remittances:
- men invest in consumer goods,
- women invest in human development
Social Costs & Gains
Violation of human
rights, racism
Sexual violence
Lack of access to social
security & health
Wage discrimination,
deskilling, downgrading
Social remittances:
conservative values
Brain/skills/care drain
Recognition as breadwinner for the family
Personal freedom far away
from family & cultural
regime
New transnational families, communities &
networks
Social remittances: liberal
values
Brain gain
Trafficking
Trafficking = recruitment & transport “by means of
threat, use of force or other forms of coercion”
Presently 2,45 mio people enslaved + annually 1,2
mio people trafficked …. 80 % girls & women
Main sectors of destination: prostitution, forced
marriage, labour in sweatshops & agriculture
No clear distinction between forced & voluntary
migration
Refugees, Displaced & Asylum Seekers
12,7 mio refugees (2005) = 7 % of all migrants
90 % of all refugees stay in developing countries
Women lack physical safety & security during flight
& in camps
773.500 asylum seekers
Growing awareness of gender specific reasons for
asylum
However, little progress in gender specific asylum
procedures
New Transnational Spaces for Women
New neoliberal regimes of migration management,
policies of selective opening of borders &
integration, informed by demand of markets
Individual practices & subjectivities between
exploitation & empowerment
Assumptions for Policies
Consider migration as survival strategy & each
migrant women as actor who struggles for livelihood
& rights
Migration is there to stay as long as inequality
prevails
Each human being has “a right to have rights”
Search for concept of global citizenship &
cosmopolitical rights
Struggle against social & economic inequality &
against poverty