(Executive Director, Stichting Sumpay Mindanao Human resources are now the primary commodities for export by the Philippines government -and most of the labour exported is female, respond to labour demands in the advanced countries, such as domestic work, taking care of the aging population and other human service-related work.
Caught in the grip of global competition and neoliberal policies, President Gloria Arroyo's regime has opted for the institutionalization of labour migration as a central measure to counter the economic crisis in the country.
It is also the most profitable way of global trading, with less capital investment and risks on the part of the sending country and the expectation of high returns in the form of remittances.
The aggressiveness of this human trading was even shown during the wars in Lebanon and Iraq, when President Arroyo announced that she was sending more "supermaids" to Middle East countries, while other governments were sending rescue vehicles for their citizens living in these countries.
According to Philippine economic indicators, the remittances of Overseas Filipino Workers (OPWs) exceed foreign direct investment in the country. Remittances per annum amount to about US$12-14 billion, which only includes those working legally abroad, whereas many OFWs working in domestic and other service work are undocumented. The Philippine government relies heavily on the remittances the OFWs send to their families to compensate for the lack of spending on social services such as health and education, to boost domestic consumption and to eover its yearly budget deficits.
And the sad truth is that the income from the labour migration is mostly spent in this way, and not on productive investments, which means that the migrant workers will work forever abroad, in order that their families can simply survive and because there are even fewer options for them to return to the country, whose economy is bankrupt and corrupt.
The dramatic increase in labour migration has created a large population of transnational migrant families. Thousands of children now grow up apart from one or both parents, as the parents are forced to work outside the country in order to send their children school, give them access to quality health care, or, in some cases, just provide them with enough food. Feminization of the Export of Human Labour
Philippine labour migration has a woman's face. According to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), in 2003, more than 70% of the workers abroad were women. Most of them are between 25-29 years old.
Women migrants live and work in more than 192 countries. They work as professional and technical employees, nurses, clerical and sales workers, entertainers, caregivers, and domestic workers. Many are employed in jobs which have traditionally been undertaken by women.
Most of these migrants who work in the service and domestic sectors leave families behind and their children are taken care of by their parents, male partners, or relatives. The function of reproduction of labour that was performed by migrant women is passed on to their male partners and women relatives.
The paradox of this feminization of migrant labour is that the women who have left this reproductive funcstill performing the same on the families migrant women from poor countries of the world.
The migrant women who work in domestic households in the countries of Europe, the Middle East, basically denied their rights
Our Nurses Have: • Clinical Competency/Experience • BSN Degree (4 Year) • Team orientation • English proficiency To Find Out More About Our Registered Nurses... Click Here Thousands of children now grow up apart from one or both parents, as the parents are forced to work outside the countryin order to send their children to school, give them access to quality health care or sometimes provide them with enough food
workers are locked up in the sometimes even killed. An increasing number of of sexual abuse, trafficking, and prostitution. many Filipina women still HS lational
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