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Migration
of women is a survival strategy Lima, Jul 5 - Most people emigrating from developing countries in search of work are women, a phenomenon which has its roots in the process of economic globalisation. The most complete data of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) comes from Asia, which shows that growing numbers of women are moving to Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong, often illegally, and most are from the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. In the three labour markets, 12 of 13 Philippines, three of four Indonesians, and three of five Sri Lankans are women, according to Youyun Zhang, ILO special adviser on women's labour issues. Peru is seeing a similar emigration phenomenon, where three of every five people leaving the country in search of work are women. For most women emigrating from Latin America and the Caribbean, the goal is western Europe, especially Italy, Spain and France. In Europe, the migrant women find work as domestic employees, nurses, retail workers, or waitresses. If they are young and attractive they may find work as hostesses in casinos or other entertainment centres. More than a few, however, find themselves exploited in prostitution networks. The number of Latin American women working in Europe is unknown. But the government of Peru, for example, calculates that in Italy alone there are some 18,000 Peruvians, mostly women. But the number is only an estimate because the subject population is mostly illegal. In Europe, however, there is reliable data showing that most immigrant women are coming from Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Brazil, Colombia and Peru. "You can make more money here. I have to work hard but at least I can send a little something to my family," says Ana Pelaez, a 34- year old nurse in a letter sent from Liguria, Italy to a friend in Peru. "There isn't any obvious mistreatment, but you always live with a sense of being uprooted, that you don't belong. They pay me less than what they pay European nurses, but even so, I'm much better off than in Peru," she writes. The testimonies that appear regularly in the press about the difficult living conditions faced by immigrant women in Europe do not appear to change women's decisions about taking the leap. They say they cannot imagine it could be any worse than the lives they are living in their home countries. The massive migration of women overseas obscures what experts warn is a survival strategy, and they call on the authorities to be more flexible in handling the problem. The entry of women "into the international labour markets is one of the most impressive responses to the deterioration of options in their national labour markets," affirmed Youyun Zhang. This phenomenon "represents a strategy of family survival," she stated in her study of women's participation in the globalised labour market. The presence of foreign women working illegally or for extremely low wages has permitted a continuous and intensive industrialisation of the work force, which attracts investments, stressed the ILO adviser. The Asian countries once again provide an illustration for her statements. South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, and, to a lesser extent, Japan, have been able to grow economically thanks to the supply of female workers, whether local citizens or immigrants. The benefits of this influx for investors and manufacturers has been so great that they are now recruiting women workers in Indonesia, China, Bangladesh, India and Vietnam. The work force is cheap in those countries and women do not tend to demand much as far as their work conditions or compliance with labour laws. In Central America, the expansion of the maquiladoras (duty-free zones for producing exports, especially assembly), another indicator of economic globalisation, has also prompted the mass exodus of women from rural areas to the cities, where the maquiladoras are located. Migrational flow between the region's neighbouring countries has soared as women cross boarders hoping to find work in maquiladoras, the majority of which are financed by South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. In Honduras alone, the maquiladora companies employ an estimated 60,000 people - 90% are women and the remaining 10% are men and minors. Work conditions are generally difficult, the pay is meager, and workers must occasionally bring their work home in order to meet their required quotas. "Women are most vulnerable in the globalisation process because, unlike men, they are not as demanding in their wages or in work conditions," explained sociologist Luis Lora. "For women, the most important thing is to have an income, especially if they are the head of the family, poor and lack specific training for the labour market." Many men prefer unemployment to working under adverse conditions, said Lora. "But often women don't have a choice. What is important for them is to ensure the well-being of their children," he emphasised. According to Lora, this explains why many women are more likely to take whatever work they can get: seasonal, part-time, in homes, and piecework. "Women don't have a choice. Many do not have the resources to return to their home countries. They have risked everything for a better future and they are the only hope for their families," he stated. "When women obtain work overseas, they don't ask about the work conditions, they accept the job as if it were a blessing," Lora said.(IPS) The above article by the Inter Press Service first appeared in the South-North Development Monitor (SUNS).
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