Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace VOL 9 Thanh-Dam Truong Des Gasper Jeff Handmaker Sylvia I. Bergh Editors Migration, Gender and Social Justice Perspectives on Human Insecurity Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace Vol. 9 Series Editor: Hans Günter Brauch Thanh-Dam Truong, Des Gasper, Jeff Handmaker, Sylvia I. Bergh Editors Migration, Gender and Social Justice Perspectives on Human Insecurity E ditors Dr. Thanh-Dam Truong, International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Kortenaerkade 12, The Hague, N L-2502 LT Netherlands. Prof. Dr. Des Gasper, International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Kortenaerkade 12, The Hague, NL-2502 LT Netherlands. Dr. Jeff Handmaker, International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Kortenaerkade 12, The Hague, NL-2502 LT Netherlands. Dr. Sylvia I. Bergh, International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Kortenaerkade 12, The Hague, NL-2502 LT Netherlands. ISSN 1865-5793 ISSN 1865-5807 (electronic) ISBN 978-3-642-28011-5 ISBN 978-3-642-28012-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2 Springer Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London L ibrary of Congress Control Number: 2013946205  The Editor(s) and the Author(s) 2014. The book is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. Open Access This book is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. All commercial rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other way, and storage in data banks. 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The publisher makes no warranty, e xpress or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Cover illustrations: The photograph of the Burmese women crossing the Moei River, also a border between Burma and Thailand, on their way to work in Mae Sot, North Eastern Thailand, was taken by Kyoko Kusakabe in 2007. The photograph of African migrant workers, living next to the airport in Tripoli, Libya hoping to fly home, was taken by Moises Saman in March 2011. The photograph of Bangladeshi returnee women migrant workers at a march to raise awareness about gender-based violence in migration, using the slogan “Safe Migration, Economic Development”, was taken by Anindit Roy-Chowdhury for UN Women in 2011. All photographers granted their permission. Copyediting: PD Dr. Hans Günter Brauch, AFES-PRESS e.V., Mosbach, Germany Language editing: Michael Headon, Colwyn Bay, Wales, UK Typesetting and layout: Thomas Bast, AFES-PRESS e.V., Mosbach, Germany Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xi Part I Introduction 1 1 Migration, Gender, Social Justice, and Human Insecurity 3 Thanh-Dam Truong, Des Gasper, and Jeff Handmaker Part II Transformation of Social Reproduction Systems and Migration: Local-Global Interactions 27 2 From Breaking the Silence to Breaking the Chain of Social Injustice: Indonesian Women Migrant Domestic Workers in the United Arab Emirates 29 Sulistyowati Irianto and Thanh-Dam Truong 3 From Temporary Work in Agriculture to Irregular Status in Domestic Service: The Transition and Experiences of Senegalese Migrant Women in Spain 47 Aly Tandian and Sylvia I. Bergh 4 Burmese Female Migrant Workers in Thailand: Managing Productive and Reproductive Responsibilities 69 Kyoko Kusakabe and Ruth Pearson 5 Transnational Marriage Migration and the East Asian Family-Based Welfare Model: Social Reproduction in Vietnam, Taiwan, and South Korea 87 Duong Bach Le, Thanh-Dam Truong, and Thu Hong Khuat 6 Masculinity at Work: Intersectionality and Identity Constructions of Migrant Domestic Workers in the Netherlands 105 Aster Georgo Haile and Karin Astrid Siegmann Part III The State and Female Internal Migration: Rights and Livelihood Security 121 7 Traversing Myriad Trails: Tracking Gender and Labour Migration across India 123 Indrani Mazumdar and Indu Agnihotri 8 From ‘Integration into Cities’ to ‘An Integrated Society’: Women Migrants’ Needs and Rights in Fujian Province, China 153 Yu Zhu and Liyue Lin V vi Contents 9 Migration, Woodcarving, and Engendered Identities in San Martín Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico 173 Serena Eréndira Serrano Oswald 10 Strategic Invisibility as Everyday Politics for a Life with Dignity: Guatemalan Women Migrants’ Experiences of Insecurity at Mexico’s Southern Border 193 Martha Luz Rojas-Wiesner and Maria DeVargas Part IV Complexity of Gender: Embodiment and Intersectionality 213 11 Masculinities and Intersectionality in Migration: Transnational Wolof Migrants Negotiating Manhood and Gendered Family Roles 215 Giulia Sinatti 12 Intersectionality, Structural Vulnerability, and Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services: Filipina Domestic Workers in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Qatar 227 Thanh-Dam Truong, Maria Lourdes S. Marin, and Amara Quesada-Bondad 13 Sub-Saharan Migrants’ Masculinities: An Intersectional Analysis of Media Representations during the Libyan War 2011 241 Maria DeVargas and Stefania Donzelli 14 Complexity of Gender and Age in Precarious Lives: Malian Men, Women, and Girls in Communities of Blind Beggars in Senegal 265 Codou Bop and Thanh-Dam Truong Part V Liminal Legality, Citizenship and Migrant Rights Mobilization 279 15 Migrants’ Citizenship and Rights: Limits and Potential for NGOs’ Advocacy in Chile 281 Claudia Mora and Jeff Handmaker 16 Diminished Civil Citizenship of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates 291 Antoinette Vlieger 17 The Right to Education for Migrant Children in Thailand: Liminal Legality and the Educational Experience of Migrant Children in Samut Sakhon 307 Kamowan Petchot 18 Challenges of Recognition, Participation, and Representation for the Legally Liminal: A Comment 325 Cecilia Menjívar and Susan Bibler Coutin Contents vii Part VI Migration Regimes, Gender Norms, and Public Action 331 19 Gender, Masculinity, and Safety in the Changing Lao-Thai Migration Landscape 333 Roy Huijsmans 20 Public Social Science at Work: Contesting Hostility Towards Nicaraguan Migrants in Costa Rica 351 Carlos Sandoval-García Part VII Conclusion 365 21 ‘Women in Motion’ in a World of Nation-States, Market Forces, and Gender Power Relations 367 Des Gasper and Thanh-Dam Truong Abbreviations 387 Biographies of Contributors 391 Index 399 Preface This book emerges from a collaborative effort between partners from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The empirical data of the book originate mostly from the IDRC research programme on Women and Migration (2006–2011) that was funded as a component of the larger Women’s Rights and Citizenship programme (WRC). Whereas previous support for research on gender by IDRC has been integrated into broader themes such as agriculture, health, social and economic policy, science and technology, the WRC programme has used the concept of citizenship as an entry point and sought to bring Southern voices more fully into current international debates in the field of gender and development. Built on the vision of a just world where women in the South are acknowledged to have a sense of self that is connected to the ideals of citizenship, the WRC programme has supported work directed at undoing social discrimination based on gender and enabling the realization of the full range of rights and freedoms for women. With the support of IDRC, a team based at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam has led the work of distillation and synthesis of the research findings of the Women and Migration research programme, by way of a sustained exchange of knowledge and practice between partners over a two-year period (2011 and 2012). The synthesis project had the title Migration, Gender and Social Justice (MGSJ). It involved an opening workshop at ISS in The Hague in January 2011, followed by individual visits to The Hague for writing and discussion, and a concluding workshop at the Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum (India) in February 2013. The synthesis of research findings has aimed at promoting long-term collaboration based on reciprocal and self- reflexive learning between partners. It is hoped too that by connecting communities of research and practice the collaboration can contribute to a change in attitudes and views in order to bridge differences in the understanding of migration and thus improve policy interventions. Against this background, the book is problem-oriented and multidisciplinary and connects the research results of international teams working across different research sites, with dif- ferent emphases and on different scales of analysis. Given the diversity of research approaches, the richness of the findings, and the complex realities of rights claiming, the task of the MGSJ research project has been threefold. 1. The first task of the project has been to distil the research findings of WRC projects, and articulate commonalities and differences in the operation of different structures of power (gender, class, race/ethnicity, generation) and their interaction within the institu- tional domain of migration (with reference to organizational practices, legal regula- tions, circulation of material and ideational resources) which produce context-specific forms of social inequality. 2. The second task was to generate critical reflections on the intersection of the different power structures that circumscribe the space for migrants to claim rights, and to relate these perspectives with existing approaches to social justice. For this purpose additional contributions were solicited to cover core issues that had not been fully addressed by the WRC projects, including legal liminality and how the social construction of not only femininity but also masculinity affects all migrants and all women. IX x Preface 3. The final task has been to jointly produce both an academic volume and a set of policy briefs1 from the perspective of the South that can be used in engagement with policy- makers. Such an engagement can help identify connections between different forms of rights violation and accountability in different locations, in order to improve the styles and structures of the administration of migration. We hope this book contributes to processes of change in the perceptions and values inscribed in the framing of policy, and those held by migrants and related actors, and will thereby contribute to improve inter-group interactions and respect for migrants’ rights. The Hague, February 2013 Thanh-Dam Truong, Des Gasper, Jeff Handmaker, and Sylvia I. Bergh 1 The policy briefs are available for free download at: . Acknowledgments We would like to acknowledge the contributions to the preparation of this book by many individuals and organizations. First and foremost, the book rests on the work of a large number of researchers and research teams from many different countries. It has been a pleasure to work with them in presenting their findings and perspectives, and to help to interconnect these rich materials. Secondly, the book would not have been possible without the initiative and generous sup- port from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) for the synthesis project Migration, Gender and Social Justice (MGSJ) coordinated by the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague, led by Thanh-Dam Truong. Among the IDRC staff, we thank especially Ramata Molo Thioune, who supervised the project with keen interest and a facilitating flexibility. The IDRC project budget allowed us to host several contributors as visiting fellows and organize seminars at which early draft chapters were presented and discussed. It also ena- bled us, amongst other items, to conduct an inception workshop in The Hague, which brought together many of the contributors and ensured an invaluable discussion of the themes running through this book. Our appreciation is extended for the support of several ISS-EUR alumni in workshop logistics, especially Camilo Villa, Tamara Soukotta, and Sophie Conin. Thirdly, during the workshop, and through the subsequent two years, we benefited from the involvement, administrative support, and intellectual contributions of colleagues at ISS and elsewhere, including Silke Heumann, Helen Hintjens, Roy Huijsmans, Rosalba Icaza, Mahmoud Messkoub, Linda McPhee, Karin Astrid Siegmann, Giulia Sinatti, Rene Spitz, and Joop de Wit. At the MGSJ panel organized on the occasion of the ISS’s 60th Lustrum festivities in October 2012, we benefited from commentaries by Han Entzinger, Eleonore Kofman, Ruth Pearson, and Helen Schwenken. Fourthly, we wish to thank the following peer-reviewers whose valuable comments greatly enhanced the quality of the various chapters: Fikret Adaman, Kif Augustine Adams, A. K. Bagchi, Beth Baker-Cristales, Magdalena Barros Nock, Amrita Chhachhi, Papa Demba Mahoumy Fall, Bina Fernandez, Arjan de Haan, Leo de Haan, Wendy Harcourt, María Hernández Carretero, Lan Anh Hoang, Jerrold Huguet, Roy Huijsmans, Rosalba Icaza, Majella Kilkey, Jonathan Klaaren, Mahmoud Messkoub, Sverre Molland, Ingrid Palmary, Emanuela Paoletti, Ruth Pearson, Doris Marie Provine, Louk de la Rive Box, Oscar Sale- mink, Helen Schwenken, Magueye Seck, Karin Astrid Siegmann, Giulia Sinatti, Massimil- iano Trentin, Rolando Vasquez, Gustavo Verduzco Igartua, Sharuna Verghis, Sarah K. van Walsum, and Rekha Wazir. Critically, the project could not have succeeded without the tireless efforts, efficiency, and human touch of our dear colleague Ms Maria DeVargas Ortiz, who has kept the editorial and administrative processes on track, ensured smooth communication with the authors and publisher, and contributed to the intellectual work. Appreciation is also extended to Paul Huber for his professional inputs in the preparation of the design of the project, David Wubs-Mrozewicz for taking charge of overseeing the project managerially, and Veronika Goussatchenko for her periodic project support. XI xii Acknowledgments We would also like to thank the photographers who granted permission to use their pho- tos for the front cover of this book, to the United Nations for permitting us to use a map, and to the College of the Southern Border of Mexico who designed another map of Mex- ico and its southern border with Guatemala specifically for the purpose of chapter 10. The process of preparing the book has benefited throughout from the prompt and expert advice and support of Adj. Prof. Dr. Hans Günter Brauch, Editor of the Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace. Mike Headon and Thomas Bast are warmly acknowledged for their efficient language editing, and typesetting and indexing work, respectively. We offer our thanks and our apologies to all those who have influenced this work and whom we have forgotten to cite by name. Despite our many debts to others, responsibility for any remaining errors remains ours alone. Finally, we gratefully acknowledge the support of the IDRC grant as well as the ISS Open Access Fund to allow us to publish this book in Open Access, thereby greatly facilitating dissemination of an effort to present and understand something more about the situation of hundreds of millions of women migrants and their families, worldwide. The Hague, February 2013 Thanh-Dam Truong, Des Gasper, Jeff Handmaker, and Sylvia I. Bergh Part I Introduction Chapter 1 Migration, Gender, Social Justice, and Human Insecurity Thanh-Dam Truong, Des Gasper, and Jeff Handmaker 1 Migration, Gender, Social Justice, and Human Insecurity Thanh-Dam Truong, Des Gasper, and Jeff Handmaker 1.1 Context of the Book der’ as a set of values linked to the identity of ‘mi- grants’ as social subjects. This book examines the links between gender and mi- Rethinking migration and social justice in the con- gration and their implications for social justice think- text of globalizing processes requires, firstly, challeng- ing, both at the experiential and normative levels. It ing the dominant forms of knowledge that operate offers insights also into the uses of human security under the guise of neutrality, and revealing the hierar- thinking as a framework for attention to social justice chies of power-to-interpret that undermine principles concerns, including in trans-border contexts, and to for a just world. Secondly, since the notion of belong- their intersectional complexity. The volume presents a ing that underpins concepts of citizenship and rights diverse but selective set of empirical, theoretical, and is now polycentric and fluid in social terms, it must be methodological issues on gender in migration from located in society-centred practices of solidarity that migrant-centred and Southern perspectives. Its aim is seek to claim rights by emphasizing the interconnect- to stimulate debate and discussion among migration edness and interdependence of rights, rather than de- scholars and professionals engaged in migration-re- fending them only on the basis of conventional hierar- lated policy and to enable insights and enrich prac- chies (i.e. civil and political over socio-economic and tices on gender and social justice. cultural) and delinking these legal rights from mi- The point of departure of the book is a recogni- grants’ experiences and consciousness. Accordingly, tion that the practice of governing migration as popu- social-justice-seeking strategies for migrants should di- lation flows has been closely connected with the rise rectly challenge hegemonic understandings of human of the modern nation-state, with the human sciences, mobility produced by legal categorizations. Such cate- and with the production of “knowledge about the gorizations can also be seen as sociopolitical con- population and individuals” (Foucault 2007). Such structs to be countered by an ascending approach to practices are to be understood as an interface be- realizing rights. Gender hegemony (either male-cen- tween government and society, or what Foucault tred or female-centred) must be subject to scrutiny in called ‘governmentality’ (Truong 2009, 2011). Central order to bring attention to the confluences of social to this interface is the role of dominant forms of relationships (gender, class, race, generation) that knowledge of society in shaping the regulation of so- shape migrants’ experiences and identities in ways cio-demographic processes, inclusive of gender rela- that set the boundaries of their access to rights. tions, lifestyles, and their social forms. These forms of Taking off from the ideas of the feminist historian knowledge have created historically distinct regimes Joan Scott (1986), this book approaches ‘gender’ si- of discipline over individuals and their subject identi- multaneously as (1) a constitutive element of social re- ties and self-regulation (Foucault 1995). lations built on the perceived differences between the An understanding of the contemporary mode of sexes and (2) a signifier of power in a relationship – governing migration in the depth that it deserves often operating in conjunction with other types of means tracing the different forms of knowledge and power relations. This definition enables us to estab- rationalities used by various actors (states, migrants, lish intersections of significant subsets of power rela- social networks, recruiting agencies). Each of these tions that are specific in time and place and their so- forms may be expressed differently, but together they cial formations. Specifically, we note that in a chang- buttress the relationships between specific interests ing environment of border controls, the institutional and powers that define entitlements, rights, and obli- structures of the state, and knowledge about migra- gations in migration, as well as the framings of ‘gen- tion (internal and cross-border) are also changing. T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 3 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_1, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 4 Thanh-Dam Truong, Des Gasper, and Jeff Handmaker Rather than seeking wide empirical generalizations Though on various occasions the United Nations about the impact of migration on women’s rights, this (UN) has emphasized the distinction between the book essays empathetic and careful listening at many meanings of ‘state security’ and ‘human security’, in levels, presenting the research findings in ways that practice the politics of securitization in different parts help bring to light a range of meanings of social jus- of the world demonstrates that the focus of practices tice. By situating notions of ‘citizenship’ and ‘gender’ called ‘security’ has mostly shifted from the security in their contexts and problematizing their expression of those human beings on the move to ‘border secu- as a signifier of relational power, the book also takes rity’ (Truong 2011). A variety of binary constructs – ‘le- on board the diverse ways in which femininities and gal and illegal’, ‘regular and irregular’, ‘victim and masculinities are constructed and how they impact on agent’ – have been utilized, and these have fuelled xen- the subject positions of migrants. ophobic sentiments and legitimized ever more strin- Distancing itself from the hegemonic treatment of gent practices of control and discipline over migrants, the North and South as binary opposites of power including extraterritorial forms of control. From the and privilege, this book adopts a perspective on struc- perspective of the South, the notion of statehood has tural inequality and vulnerability as a phenomenon generally been subject to the impact of colonization that cuts across countries, whether defined as belong- and an artificial definition of the ‘nation’. For this rea- ing to the North or the South. In doing so, the au- son, in many cases the discursive apparatus that regu- thors open empirical and theoretical space for reflec- lates migration cannot simply be read off from inter- tion on, and by, those groups of migrants (male or fe- national models of codification.1 Identifying the dis- male) situated in vulnerable positions within the hier- crepancy between the normative and the experiential archies of social power. Rather than a fixed state of helps to demonstrate the relationships between the being, vulnerability can be understood as a process of categories of ‘security’, ‘gender’, and ‘migration’. becoming while on the move. As Munck (2008) These are historically constituted by unequal political, pointed out, adopting a Southern vantage point on economic, and social structures. New ways of realiz- migration in contrast to the Northern bias of the ing rights (through qualitative transformations in the dominant discourses is a necessary step for moving to- relationships between people as well as with, and be- wards a holistic global approach to the interlinked tween, states and bureaucracies) are sorely needed. processes of migration and development, in order to This introductory chapter provides an overview of develop a paradigm through which processes can be how different understandings of gender have influ- properly contextualized and placed in an adequate enced migration research and considers the values for historical perspective. policy of their various insights, especially when This interpretation of the ‘South’ triggered our use viewed from the perspective of migrants’ experiences of the United Nations’ framework of Human Security of human security. Section 1.2 provides the theoretical (Commission on Human Security 2003) as one impor- context in which gender research on migration has tant point of reference for studying social justice in emerged and the diverse ways in which the meanings migration. Security, according to this framework, of ‘gender’ have been applied, as well as the short- means the absence of, or freedom from, any threat to comings and explanatory potentials of these mean- the core values of human dignity (including in partic- ings. Gendered forms of engagement with power ular physical survival, well-being, and identity with re- should be analysed in contextual terms, contingent on spect). The framework is based on the norms of hu- the discourses and practices of migration and security man rights and human development and pays specific in specific places. Finally, section 1.3 presents a de- attention to population groups defined as ‘people on tailed overview of the chapters of the book and the the move’, situated between different jurisdictions studies it draws together. and rendered vulnerable by socially embedded forms of power operating at both the inter-group level and the level of states, including inter-state relations and citizen-state relations. With the exception of the work convened by the United Nations Educational, Scien- tific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (see Bur- 1 Regular versus irregular; legal versus illegal; economic gess 2007; Goucha/Crowley 2008), most work on hu- migrants versus asylum seekers; knowledge workers as man security has not done justice to the relationship subjects in trade in services versus migrant workers as between subjective identity and security as lived. subjects of immigration control; human trafficking ver- sus human smuggling. Migration, Gender, Social Justice, and Human Insecurity 5 1.2 Concepts and Objectives Though popular in usage, so far the term refers mainly to the increasing statistical share of women in Long dominated by a state-centric approach, models various migration streams (internal, cross-border, of analysis of migration have tended to favour the in- South-North, and South-South). In other words, the terests of states over people. In recent decades, new term conveys a representation of the empirical reality forms of analysis have emerged and new theoretical of migration based on a normative distinction be- and empirical spaces have been opened up to address tween male and female migrants. Yet the evidence the multilayered phenomenon of migration. Along- shows that the term can be extended to cover also the side analyses that treat people’s mobility as faceless discursive codification of gender in (a) migration re- and placeless flows, a wide range of perspectives now gimes that bear and/or promote distinct gendered val- exist and these try to identify specific institutional do- ues, norms, and characteristics, and (b) gendered mains where the specific causal relationships underly- forms of subjectivity and agency that emerge from the ing certain types of flow and their human conse- enactment of these regimes. Therefore, questioning quences may be located and explained. why gender relations are constructed in the migration Broadly, different conceptualizations of migration process as they are, and deciphering the logic of their may be differentiated as follows: 1) migration as an in- operation and transformation, may help open a new tegral aspect of macro-changes (socio-demographic, space for conversations on the relationships between economic, cultural, and political) in the longue durée gender and migration and the implications for de- (Braudel 1972; Castles/Miller 2003; Hatton/William- bates on the rights and human security of migrants. son 2006; McKeown 2004; Hoerder 2002); 2) migra- tion as a time- and space-bound phenomenon pat- 1.2.1 From International Migration to terned by interactions between migration-related Transnational Mobility institutions and collective actors (household, labour markets, recruitment and employment agencies, mi- Migration scholarship has been traditionally influ- grants’ organizations) (Brettell/Hollifield 2000; Faist enced by a twofold methodological bias inherited 2000; Faist/Özveren 2004); 3) migration policy and from positivist sociology and its epistemological ori- practices as bounded by the ethos of nation-states, entations. Until recently, this bias treated the nation- public opinion, and the politics of migrants’ rights state and the individual as relatively fixed units of and identities (Thränhardt/Bommes 2008). analysis and shaped a large core of theoretical expla- Migration research can thus be seen as being sub- nations about contemporary patterns of internal and ject to two different ontological standpoints, static cross-border movements (Wimmers/Glick-Schiller and interactive. The first limits the formation of migra- 2002). The central focus of migration studies has tion systems to economic fundamentals (resources, been the monitoring of stocks and flows of migrants, population, exchange), while the second takes a more later extended to their patterns of remittances and open approach to exploring the interactive dynamics their capability of assimilation and social integration capable of releasing non-actualized possibilities and in host societies. Refugees have been handled as a unexercised powers within existing structures, and the separate category, through different procedures of sta- conditions under which these produce legally and so- tus determination and classification, thus producing cially unanticipated migration systems, such as those the field of refugee studies as a distinct entity. Migra- formed by the confluence of human trafficking and tion research, by and large driven by policy concerns, smuggling practices (Kyle/Koslowski 2011; Truong is often structured more by ideas concerning what 2008). should be rather than what is actually happening and Feminist research on migration has been engaging emerging. Assumptions that are disconnected from with the power of cognition embedded in models of the social worlds of migration can obscure significant thinking on ‘gender’, human mobility, and migration. aspects of ongoing social transformations. The key challenge has been to show how these mod- The intensification of various migratory flows els actually inform research and shape results, includ- since the 1990s following the fall of the Berlin Wall ing how different understandings of gender influence and processes of economic liberalization worldwide the choice of sites of inquiry and methods (Mahler/ has posed huge challenges for policymakers and re- Pessar 2006; Silvey 2004a, 2004b). One striking issue searchers. In particular, the transformation of the is the emergence of the term ‘feminization of migra- state from society-led to market-led, coupled with the tion’ and its common usage in the last two decades. rise of social network theories and theories of the in- 6 Thanh-Dam Truong, Des Gasper, and Jeff Handmaker formation-driven post-industrial society, has exposed migration being constituted by power relations that the limits of the assumption that the individual and connect sending and receiving countries and areas. the nation-state are relatively static entities. The detailed explanations of these relationships still The ‘transnational’ approach to migration offers vary according to the relative emphasis placed on dif- an alternative perspective that sees the rise of non- ferent types of power, but generally migration (inter- state actors in the globalizing processes as a force ca- nal or cross-border) is becoming accepted as part and pable of curtailing the power of states to assume an parcel of social transformations occurring on differ- increasing role in shaping cross-border migration; by ent scales. Migration research has now moved beyond implication these non-state actors also become capa- the view of flows between fundamental building ble of changing certain features of the societies of or- blocks (household, labour market, and nation-states) igin and destination (Smit/Guarnizo 1999). Social net- to cover also processes involving networks of relation- work theories, as applied to the study of non-state ships that are constantly changing, affecting individual actors, direct analytical attention to interactions be- migrants and affected by their actions. This has pro- tween micro-, meso-, and macro-levels, and view indi- vided new empirical and theoretical spaces for gender vidual migrants’ decision-making as inseparable from analysis in migration research. influences at many levels (household, informal social groups, formal organizations and the community, and 1.2.2 Gender Equality and Women’s Rights in sometimes also nation-states). Migration: Siting the Power of Denial Nowadays, the human dimensions omitted by the classical approach in migration studies are brought to The framing of women’s rights in migration from the the fore and integrated with the analysis of transna- perspective of the South stemmed from the seminal tional migration as an aspect of identity formation work of Ester Boserup (1970) on women in processes within a plurality of intertwined life-worlds of mi- of demographic transition and economic develop- grants connecting the area/country of origin and of ment. Women appeared in her work both as actors in destination (Basch/Schiller/Szanton-Blanc 1994). Flows migration and as bearers of the consequences of male of values and ideas play a central role in shaping mi- migration. Her work played a prominent role in the gration patterns; wage differentials are not the only UN-led campaigns in the 1970s for women’s rights in determinant. Portes and Sensenbrenner (1993) dem- the development process and contributed to the fram- onstrated the ‘social embeddedness’ of migration ing of the policy debate on women’s rights in terms of chains, and directed researchers to explore how mi- access to resources in countries categorized as ‘under- gration is mediated through local structures of power developed’ (Tinker 2006). and networks at both the sending and receiving ends. Migration research since then has included The ‘circular and cumulative’ characteristics of these women as a category, and has generated a rich body chains have been noted, especially their certain degree of knowledge that refutes the view of the male mi- of dependency on the paths laid down by earlier mi- grant as always head of the family and instead regards grants (Massey/Arango/Hugo/Kouaouci/Pellegrino/ women, analytically, as persons in their own right, Taylor 2005). Furthermore, interactions between pol- whether migrating or staying behind.2 More than icy norms and the agency of migrants can change pub- three decades of research on women as subjects of mi- lic opinion and so influence and alter the practices of gration has generated a full critique of migration the- states in migration management (Maas/Truong 2011; ories. Feminist research often begins with a perspec- Irudaya Rajan/Varghese 2010). tive on social lives and uses plural methodologies, Turning to the literature that addresses specifically including historical, narrative, and case study ap- the links between migration and development, De proaches. Even those preoccupied with statistical Haas (2010) has shown that many of the discursive shifts in the migration and development debate may actually be seen as part of more general paradigm shifts in social and development theory. Furthermore, 2 This has consequences for extant male-centred stand- in view of the heterogeneous empirical evidence re- ards of measurement of the costs and benefits of migra- garding the impacts that migration has on develop- tion (employment defined as paid economic activity; ment, caution should be exercised against ideologi- gains and risks defined in monetary terms; remittances cally-driven positions. There is now a certain degree and their impacts defined in monetary and investment of consensus about the social and political world of terms; use of remittances for education, health, and food categorised as unproductive use; and so forth). Migration, Gender, Social Justice, and Human Insecurity 7 analysis use these perspectives to challenge dominant obstruction in a terrain of struggle for economic, po- representations. litical, and social rights. Following Boserup, research that initially included Turning to the literature that has addressed the women in dominant models of analysis of migration links between migration, gender, and development, took off from the critique of state-generated demo- Sassen-Koob (1984a) noted that export-oriented pro- graphic and socio-economic indicators that provided duction and women’s international migration since a ‘view from above’ which depicts men as being the the 1970s have evolved into mechanisms that incorpo- central subjects. Chapter 7 by Mazumdar and Agni- rate women from the South into wage labour in and hotri provides an intensive example of such a critique. for the North. Women migrants have filled emerging When women were included, their marital status was labour demands in the urban service sector in metro- the main template used to infer their motivations.3 politan centres that have acquired a global role (Sas- Scant attention was given to the unequal structures of sen-Koob 1984b). Research that integrated the house- power that govern their activities in migration as an hold as an analytical sphere to account for decision- entire process that connects sending and receiving making and resource distribution has looked at links ends, hence the silence on them as individual subjects between rural-urban migration and poverty. Such stud- of rights. ies demonstrated gender-differentiated motivations Phizacklea’s edited volume (1983) focused on Eu- for, and the impacts of, migration, and how class and ropean countries and examined the place of migrant gender relations at the household and community lev- women in the labour market, the gender division of els have structured migratory processes (Phongpaichit labour in factories, discrimination against second-gen- 1982; Chant 1998; Wright 1995). Phongpaichit’s work eration migrant women in the workplace, and ‘home on the migration of young women from rural Thai- working’ as a pervasive form of employment at piece land to Bangkok to take up employment as masseuses rates for migrant women. Studies on political and cul- demonstrated the gendered aspects of urban-rural tural identity have explored how second- and third- linkages. Though she examined migration as an out- generation women migrants still faced the boundaries come of individual decisions, she also demonstrated of ‘belonging’ set by the societies of their residence, its link with women’s responsibilities as daughters. and exposed the links between gender, race, and class Their remittances not only sustained their rural house- in the social construction of the ‘nation’ as ‘commu- holds but also sustained cultural practices at the com- nity’ (Anthias/Yuval Davis 1992). By exposing the munity level such as maintaining temples and village modern notion of the ‘nation’ as a false construct, ceremonies. From this perspective, women’s migra- this work laid the ground for exploring the distinctive tion may be seen as integral to the intergenerational social hierarchies (gender, race, class) built into it. In- process of social and cultural reproduction, and as re- tersections of these hierarchies in white societies de- flecting the relational nature of female agency. limit the space for women of colour (who can be seen Explaining the differentiated motivation of migra- as migrants of different generations) to articulate tion between men and women requires understanding their experiences of discrimination and non-belong- the gendering of the household as a site of power ing (Carby 1999; Creenshaw 1991; Collins 1986; 1990). where many activities and interests can be viewed as These studies were among the first to resist the liberal cooperative conflict (Sen 1990) and where gender as notions of women’s rights and ‘emancipation’, and cultural hegemony strongly influences behaviours and turn instead to issues of cultural representation as an defends the legitimacy of gender norms (Kabeer 2000; Silvey 2004a, 2004b). These insights emphasize the contextual nature of ‘gender’ as power relations within the household defining the actors’ cultural dis- 3 For example, Thadani and Todaro (1984) introduced a positions and their derived bargaining power. The la- typology of women migrants that had been missing bour market, social networks, and national policy and from earlier analyses, consisting of: (a) married women migrating in search of employment; (b) unmarried legislation also play an important role in making the women migrating in search of employment; (c) unmar- motivation to migrate legitimate (Silvey 2007). ried women migrating for marriage reasons; and (d) Gender equality strategies in migration that use a married women engaged in associational migration with universal category of ‘women’ as subjects of rights no thought of employment. The conceptualization of without a complementary perspective on the social women’s migration remained heavily influenced by embeddedness of gender relations have encountered views on the male-dominated heterosexual family as an many difficulties related to the power of the state and institution. 8 Thanh-Dam Truong, Des Gasper, and Jeff Handmaker its ethos on gender, which can operate as a double- sexual services to become the auxiliary of tourism edged sword. On the one hand, this ethos can be (Truong 1990; Moon 1997). used to define women’s right to migrate for work and By treating movements in the care and sex sectors also impose restrictions on their mobility by drawing as integral to broader transformations in sending and on the state’s responsibility to ‘protect’ women, to the receiving societies, a new area has opened up for the- extent of ‘infantilizing’ them (Kapur 2010). On the oretical reflection on the gender hegemony (in favour other hand, it can promote women’s migration to join of men) in legal and policy frameworks that obliterate the global labour force, often in unregulated sectors the reproductive side of societies and economies such as domestic work and entertainment where they through the exclusion of domestic work and commer- are excluded from civil, social, and political provisions cial sexual services as categories in the classification for protection as workers. of occupations (Ehrenreich/Hochschild 2002; Yeates 2010). This obliteration has produced ambiguous pol- 1.2.3 Gender as a Social Structure and icy and social environments that have enabled the for- Structuring Process mation of distinct networks and pathways of move- ments of women across borders in search of The corpus of knowledge in feminist research that employment in the care or sex sectors (Tyner 2004, treats ‘gender’ as a property of the state, the econ- Oishi 2005). omy, and social institutions has brought to the fore Migration chains in the care and commercial sex- the significance of social reproduction, ignored by ual services sectors show how a gender division of la- mainstream theories. Building on perspectives from bour is an institution vested with power, and how we feminist perspectives on political economy, Truong must treat gender as a resilient social structure. This (1996; 2003; 2006) posits that the emergence of power comes from the recursive and reiterative prac- women’s migration across borders as domestic help- tices of individuals and groups who adhere to the no- ers and sexual service providers constitutes a transfer tion of an asymmetrical gender order as ‘natural’, and of reproductive and sexual labour from one social from the neglect of the reproductive side of the econ- group and nation to another. Parreñas (2001) has ex- omy. The following chapters in this book will illus- tended this idea and formulates the concept of the trate this in detail – for example in the studies by Ku- ‘international division of reproductive labour’ to cover sakabe and Pearson (chapter 4); Duong, Truong, and the transfer of care duties between three groups of Khuat (chapter 5); Haile and Siegmann (chapter 6); women: female employers in the receiving countries, Serrano Oswald (chapter 9); Truong, Marin, and Que- migrant workers, and women in the countries of ori- sada-Bondad (chapter 12). This neglect of social re- gin who care for those who stay behind. This form of production produces a hegemonic understanding of analysis has exposed the chains of negative externali- the law, of public morality about care as a moral duty, ties by which an enhancement of care provision and of sex as intimacy, which refuses to recognize that through labour import in some countries can lead to the liberalization of economies and broadening mar- the denial of the entitlement to care of others who ket relations can free up a social and moral space for have stayed behind. care and sexual services to become incorporated into Contemporary migration chains in this ‘intimate’ (semi-industrial) labour relations. side of the economy operate within a two-tiered sys- Growing links between different national systems tem. Tier (1) consists of the care sector in which the of social reproduction, now spanning most countries chains have been formed by a combination of macro- and regions, are being formed, and point to the for- and institutional factors. These include the care defi- mation of a new class of women based on their gen- cit in major industrialized countries caused by ageing der identity (female), their work (domestic helper, populations, structural reforms affecting the quality commercial sexual provider, foreign bride), and their and coverage of care, and the growth of women’s par- unrecognized status in migration law (Truong 1996; ticipation in the labour force without a corresponding Chin 1998; Kojima 2001; Cheah 2009; Agustin 2003). rise in the range and intensity of men’s ‘domestic’ par- The socio-legal space through which these migratory ticipation. Tier (2) consists of the commercial sex sec- movements take place is ambiguous and therefore tor, which has evolved with a different set of dynam- abuse is frequent and often without redress. The pol- ics. These came about through the growth of tourism itics behind discursive constructions of gender, and of driven by the desire for foreign exchange earnings, skills, work, and legislation regarding rights and enti- combined with the political will to allow commercial tlements, have become important areas of theorizing Migration, Gender, Social Justice, and Human Insecurity 9 and empirical research regarding women’s agency in rected. Beyond individual social attributes, the strug- migration. gles for gender equality have different expressions, By integrating macro-, meso-, and micro-perspec- contingent on geography, history, and culture. tives, gender research on migration has produced new perspectives on (1) how migration systems evolve 1.2.4 From Citizenship and Legal Liminality to from gendered interactions between regulation and Acknowledging Multiple Scales of Social the actions of all those involved: migrants, employers, Justice social networks, civic organizations, and law enforce- ment agents; (2) how the intersecting inequalities A legacy of the Enlightenment in European history which shape the security-seeking actions of particular and philosophy, the concept of citizenship embodies groups of migrants pose new challenges to justice- the epistemological orientation discussed earlier: a seeking actions. We will see this in detail in the chap- focus on individuals within national boundaries and ters that follow. Gender is now approached as a ma- on defining the terms and conditions and benefits of trix of power relationships operating at multiple lev- membership in such a political community. Although els: 1) as a resilient structure expressed through the membership of such a community on the basis of the various social and cultural meanings of being male idealized and seldom realized liberal notions of equal and female that are embedded in the ethos of the individual rights rarely guarantees social justice as state; 2) as a set of relationships that have organized lived, this formal membership remains an indispensa- the social and cultural reproduction of society; and 3) ble basis in the struggle for achieving rights for both as the formation of identities and the definition of internal and international migrants – men, women, subject positions in a given social order. and children. A key point of contention is whether the contem- Until very recently, the relationship between citi- porary, economics-dominated framing of migration, zenship and migration has been debated mainly from and the diffusion of related practices of management, the perspectives of receiving countries, using a variety contain emancipatory potentials for marginalized mi- of approaches to address the rights of ‘strangers’ in a grants, or whether these have become another appa- framework of concentric circles of belonging. In the ratus of power that has created new categories of gen- inner core, rights obtained either via jus soli (through dered mobile subjects whose identities remain distant territory) or jus sanguinis (through blood) define the from the human rights framework based on citizen- ground for nationality. In the additional layers, the ship as the main criterion of belonging. This has led other legal principles that define criteria of belonging to the exploration of the social construction of femi- – for immigrants, foreign residents, or temporary visi- ninities and masculinities in migration. A small body tors – vary according to particular histories, demo- of literature has now emerged on how transnational graphic concerns, and the particular concerns of mi- migration also impacts on masculine identities, gration policy at a given point in time, creating a hier- norms, and conventions, and how men negotiate and archy of statuses, as pointed out earlier in this reconstruct their identities as they encounter different introduction. gender regimes, rationalize their experience of racial Debates on migration and citizenship in the discrimination, and find new lines of inter-group dif- United States of America (USA) and the European ferentiation (Datta/McIlwaine/Herbert/Evans/May/ Union (EU) boomed during the 1990s. Many contri- Wills 2008). Several chapters in this volume engage butions were from the perspective of cosmopolitan- with those themes, including the studies by Haile and ism, understood as a cognitive process essential in the Siegmann (chapter 6), Sinatti (chapter 11), and Huijs- recognition of ‘strangers’ and for overcoming the bi- mans (chapter 20). nary distinction between ‘self’ and ‘others’. Bloem- The use of ‘gender’ as a heuristic device in several raad, Korteweg, and Yurdakul (2008) discern three disciplinary interfaces (political economy, law, sociol- main areas in the debates. These include: 1) the legal ogy, and anthropology) in migration studies suggests foundations of citizenship and how particular concep- that satisfactory treatments of the relationship be- tions of national belonging or institutional configura- tween gender and human rights require insights and tions can be linked to conceptions of citizenship as le- angles of multiple kinds. Aspirations for a gender- gal status or right; 2) how group rights and multicul- equal world cannot avoid employing epistemic vigi- turalism may or may not be realized, from the point of lance to discern where and which thinking about ‘gen- view of the normative political theory of citizenship, der’ is valid and how unjustifiable biases may be cor- taking into account how the assimilation and integra- 10 Thanh-Dam Truong, Des Gasper, and Jeff Handmaker tion of immigrants and their descendants into receiv- migration systems operating within a national jurisdic- ing societies may also transform these societies cultur- tion or across two or more jurisdictions. These forms ally and socially; 3) equality of participation in a host may be locally rooted in the absence of protection country’s economy, society, and political system. measures or arise from the dysfunctional character of From a socio-legal perspective, work on liminal le- existing measures. gality in respect of migrants with an uncertain legal A perspective on transnational justice that adds in- status (Menjivar 2006; Coutin 2002) is more ethno- sights into how global connections can demand addi- graphically informed and provides a more grounded, tional responsibilities for social justice may help to albeit sombre picture. Centred on segmented integra- keep states and relevant actors in check rather than al- tion, this body of work focuses on migrants whose so- lowing them to use discretionary powers to deflect cial lives are situated in a zone of legal ambiguity and their responsibilities.4 Such a perspective may help to their ways of struggling for residency under tighter im- develop notions of responsibility for social justice in migration policies based on an anti-immigration an inductive way and contribute to an approach to re- stance. Coutin (2011) especially highlights the trends alizing rights for migrants closer to their lived realities. in the USA towards a conflation of immigration and The exercise of citizenship and entitlements in the criminalization as a result of a process of securitiza- transnational migration process is socially embedded tion of the homeland following the attack of 11 Sep- at each phase; departure, work placement, and return. tember 2001. This perspective is applied and explored For the universal language of citizenship to become in Part V of the book. meaningful to migrants for whom existing systems of Both bodies of literature show the need to ap- protection fail, preconceived ideas about their social proach the migrant populations as heterogeneous and positions must be challenged. amongst whom citizenship as entitlement to legal pro- Nancy Fraser’s (2009a) proposal for a reflexive tection does not necessarily carry the same meanings and dialogical approach to social justice offers some and implications. Furthermore, this debate lacks a interesting ideas for the field of migration. In her transnational perspective on citizenship that connects view, globalization has dramatically changed the ter- all moments of the migration process and the institu- rain of social justice, clearly revealing the limitations tional accountabilities of the parties involved (send- of a statist model. Both the ‘who’ of justice as well as ing, transit, and receiving states; third parties; and the ‘how’ the ‘who’ should be determined are objects of migrants themselves). Chapter 2 by Irianto and struggle (Fraser 2009b: 283). Two existing stances on Truong will offer such a perspective. Just as migration justice obligations are predicated on the notion of be- policy tries to control inflows, migrants themselves in- longing, defined either by a political relationship (to creasingly rely on third parties to adjust their trajecto- the nation and/or state) or by an abstract notion of ries from the ideal to the viable, and in so doing they moral personhood (the humanity principle). These enable the migration business to take root and ex- are not sufficient to address the requirements of what pand, giving rise to multidirectional flows rather than she calls transnational justice derived from cross-bor- the traditional bidirectional flows. Migrants’ needs der social relations of interdependence. As acknowl- and aspirations are often adjusted to family circum- edged in chapter 15 by Mora and Handmaker, the stances as well as to legal and economic possibilities. Westphalian stance carries the danger of discrimina- The categories for the classification of migrants by tory nationalisms, which can become aggressive, and ‘place of origin’ and ‘place of destination’ and as ‘per- of obscuring economic inequalities, hierarchies of sta- manent’, ‘temporary’, or ‘return’ migrants can nowa- tus, and asymmetry of political power within a terri- days be seen as policy constructs that have been out- tory. The humanity stance offers a one-size-fits-all dated by the changing character of migration. frame that does not fully take into account actual or In a transnational context, liminal legality is also a historical social relations, and can foreclose the possi- reality for migrants whose struggle may not be about bility that different issues require different frames or settlement but rather about legalizing their presence as a temporary or transient migrant in a long-term mi- gration project. It is important to bring forward a per- 4 For example, Young (2006) provides a model of politi- spective (such as that presented in the Irianto and cal responsibility based on global connections, such as Truong chapter) that connects forms of arbitrary in the claims of the anti-sweatshop movement, or treatment at different points in the migration process indeed, any claims of responsibility that members of a to provide a fuller picture of dysfunctions in particular society might be said to have towards harm and injus- tices to distant strangers. Migration, Gender, Social Justice, and Human Insecurity 11 scales of justice (Fraser 2009b: 290). A third approach nomic, and social structures in determining migratory to obligation to justice is what she calls the all-affected processes historically. It will help also in imagining principle, which views the ‘who’ of justice as neither new ways of realizing rights through qualitative trans- always national nor always global, and presents tran- formations in significant social relationships under- snational injustice as contextually expressed. pinning these processes. This implies a new ethical re- What makes a group of people fellow subjects of justice sponsibility among researchers and policymakers for is their objective co-imbrication in a web of causal rela- sustained engagement in reciprocal and self-reflexive tionships. Whoever is causally affected by a given action learning that values flexibility, diversity, and knowl- nexus has standing as a subject of justice in relation to edge sharing in order to provide sharper analyses of it. Thus, the ‘who’ of justice is a function of the scale of the political practices and norms applied to social jus- social interaction. As the latter varies from case to case, tice in migration. Co-responsibility and mutual respect so does the former….Unable to identify morally relevant are indispensable for innovations in thinking to re- social relations, it [the all-affected principle] treats every causal connection as equally significant (Fraser 2009b: solve the tension between a notion of citizenship that 291–292). is bounded by the nation-state as a determinant of le- gal and social belonging and the ongoing forces that Fraser’s solution is to address misframing as a problé- are redefining territorial, cultural, political, social, and matique, by introducing the all-subjected principle, ac- economic boundaries and, consequently, undermin- cording to which “all those who are jointly subject to ing traditional norms of belonging. a given governance structure, which sets the ground rules that govern their interaction, have moral stand- ing as subjects of justice in relation to it”. To her, the 1.2.5 From Human Security as Protection of structure of governance as a broad expression can en- People on the Move to Critical Studies of compass relations to powers of various types (states, Borders and Belonging inter-state, and non-state agencies that generate en- Human security analysis is a framework brought into forceable rules that structure important swathes of so- prominence by the United Nations Development Pro- cial interaction). The all-subjected principle affords a gramme (UNDP)’s Human Development Report of critical standard for assessing the (in)justice of frames; 1994 (Gasper 2005, 2010). It involves a pervasive con- an issue is justly framed if, and only if, everyone sub- cern for human vulnerability derived from all sources, jected to the governance structures that regulate a including organized political violence, generalized given swathe of social interaction is accorded equal deprivation caused by structural inequality, natural dis- consideration (Fraser 2009: 293). asters, disease, and environmental degradation Applied to migration, the all-subjected principle is (Brauch/Scheffran 2012). This concern matches and relevant in that it makes possible a critique of mis- extends the two pillars of the UN Charter, the foun- framing migration caused by the epistemological bi- dations of human rights instruments, “freedom from ases that reproduce hierarchies of status and asymme- want” and “freedom from fear”. Many disagreements try of political power (e.g. knowledge migrants, are related to the stance on humanity at the meta-po- labour migrants, asylum seekers, trafficked persons). litical level which can be used as the one-size-fits-all Misframing can lead, and has led, to distinctive forms frame discussed in the previous section. Moreover, as of economic and cultural injustice (as in the treatment Fukuda-Parr and Messineo (2012) point out, its open- of migrant domestic workers) and/or denial of equal endedness has made the concept vulnerable to politi- standing within democratic deliberation (as in the cal dynamics and to use for purposes unrelated to the case of asylum seekers and trafficked persons). In this original concern. These may include exaggerating respect the Global Forum on International Migration new post-Cold-War security threats; locating these and Development and the associated events (Roldan/ threats in the developing world; and facilitating short- Gasper 2011) and the World Social Forum which has term policy-making in the absence of clear strategic taken up the theme of migration offer nascent politi- foreign policy visions (Chandler 2008: 248). cal spaces for migrant organizations and socially en- In so far as migration is concerned, going by the gaged scholars to interact with each other to address reports made accessible by the human security gate- meta-political injustice and its practical implications. way,5 policy intervention over “protection of people Bridging the discrepancy between the normative on the move” appears to be primarily directed at and the lived realities can help to reveal how the mis- framing of categories of ‘security’, ‘gender’, and ‘mi- gration’ obscures the role of unequal political, eco- 5 See at: . 12 Thanh-Dam Truong, Des Gasper, and Jeff Handmaker forms of movement caused by organized political vio- them as social problems and displace their position as lence (freedom from fear) and environmental stress. subjects of rights. Showing how such representations Much less attention is given by governments to those can serve to deflect political responsibility at various movements that are related to economic instability levels necessitates interrogating the categories used in (freedom from want), though the unfolding economic defining the subjects of human security by using mi- crisis that is sweeping across the globe may well turn grants’ experiences of insecurity as an indicator of the the tide towards even more stringent border control. reality as lived, against which conventional hypotheses Even for the responsibility to protect (RToP) individu- can be tested and new questions can be asked. als from large-scale and systematic violations of their The coding of identities of ‘people on the move’ human rights by states, in practice only nationals of into standardized bureaucratic categories delimits the those states are protected, whereas non-nationals who fields of their action and also those of border control- may be foreign workers tend to be left to fend for lers as well as those of civic advocates for human themselves or to be cared for by their own govern- rights. Spaces of legal ambiguity that have emerged ments (see chapter 13 by DeVargas/Donzelli). from these forms of administrative coding of migrants Furthermore, the term human security can be, and have significant consequences for migrant workers, has been by some, retracted to the comfort zone of people fleeing from conflict situations, and people collective security, as in the case of the European Un- subject to human trafficking networks, in terms of ion, which has defined terrorism, proliferation of their ability to make choices in the present and of weapons of mass destruction, regional conflicts, state their life chances in the future. Ensuring greater trans- failure, and organized crime as the key threats to hu- parency in negotiating and honouring formal interna- man security in Europe (Kaldor 2007). The impact of tional commitments requires interrogating the catego- such a vision on migration is the securitization of bor- ries used in defining the subjects of human security ders that creates what Van Houtum (2010) calls “the and understanding the power relations implicated in global apartheid of the EU’s external border regime”. the applications of such categories through the per- Debating social justice in migration requires spectives of the migrants themselves. That is what this awareness of the history shaping present circum- book attempts to do. stances and a perspective on human security that makes sense of migrants’ own conceptions of ‘secu- rity’ and the relational aspects of their agency, as has 1.3 Overview of the Chapters been shown by Mushakoji (2011), Burgess (2007), and some of the national Human Development Reports The chapters are grouped into five parts after this in- (Jolly/Basu 2007). Integrating these aspects into criti- troduction and overview. They cover five continents, cal analyses of the norms and politics of policy is an and address both intra-national and especially interna- important task ahead. Being contingent on the opera- tional migration, as well as both ‘South-to-North’ and tion of various power relations, the relationship be- ‘South-to-South’ migration. They illustrate the often tween identity and security is subject to dynamics that shared issues across these categories and how such can produce hybridized experiences of insecurity, as categorizations have become in many respects too shown by the case of Libya (see DeVargas/Donzelli crude. chapter 13, as well as chapter 4 by Kusakabe/Pearson and chapter 10 by Rojas). 1.3.1 Social Reproduction, Gender, and For policymakers, this poses a major problem of Migration: Local-Global Interactions assigning weight to and setting priorities for which content of identity is to be secured (with reference to Part II opens with a chapter by Irianto and Truong gender, age, ethnicity, religious identity). For example, (chapter 2), which sets the stage for critical reflections programmes for safe migration of young women tend on social reproduction, gender and migration. It sur- to prioritize the prevention of human trafficking for veys the migration chains: from villages and townships sex work to protect a specific group of the population all over the Indonesian archipelago, through various considered to be at risk, but are silent on the key as- intermediate phases, locations, and agencies, in both pects of gender relations in the everyday life of people Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – the who depend on migration as an opportunity for earn- weakly regulated private recruitment agencies, brokers ing income. It is important to engage with the various and subcontractors at various levels in Indonesia, and representations of ‘people on the move’ which depict the employment agencies and Government offices in Migration, Gender, Social Justice, and Human Insecurity 13 the Emirates – through to homes in the UAE where rise and fall, physical and emotional maintenance, is Indonesian women domestic workers sustain the highly dependent on ‘domestic workers’ who are households and seek to save in order to support their largely not recognized and protected as ‘workers’, and own households seven to eight thousand kilometres whose own physical and emotional maintenance is away. Table 2.2 gives a valuable summary overview of stressed and often violated. Illustrations of this recur the chain and the key aspects of structural depen- in the later chapters by Tandian and Bergh (chapter dency. Drawing on field research in Java and Abu 3), Truong, Marin, and Quesada (chapter 12), Vlieger Dhabi, as well as documentary research, Irianto and (chapter 16), and Sandoval (chapter 19). Truong report on every level of the chain, and the Highlighted by Irianto and Truong, the status of problems, misinformation, deceptions, and injustices ‘domestic work’ as employment was finally acknowl- that are common at each level. Some of the cases re- edged internationally in 2011, with the signing of the ported convey the appalling vulnerability of workers ILO Convention Concerning Decent Work for Do- with no status in labour law and no powerful defend- mestic Workers. This ‘breaks the silence’ about do- ers. While including detailed treatment of common mestic work, previously hidden behind use of euphe- problems of employment in the UAE – paralleling the misms like ‘guest’ to excuse the absence of rights en- discussions in chapter 16 by Vlieger on Saudi Arabia forceable in law. The chapter engages with ‘breaking and the UAE and by Truong, Marin, and Quesada the chain of social injustice’ by re-crafting the links (chapter 12) on Qatar – Irianto and Truong note that along the labour-supply chain (elaborating laws, perhaps eighty per cent of the problems arise from spreading information to ensure laws are respected, shortcomings within Indonesia, and call for deficien- and so on), rather than breaking the labour-supply cies there (in legislation, regulations and their enforce- chain itself. ment, and in education, training, and supervision) to Chapter 3 by Tandian and Bergh also extensively be addressed. Reflecting on this leads one back to discusses domestic work, for that proved to be the their discussion of the ways in which domestic work main destination for the women workers brought to and women workers are conventionally viewed, or ig- Spain for seasonal agricultural labour by a scheme in- nored – framed or left out of the frame. Indonesian la- itiated by the Spanish government and administered bour legislation itself, like the legislation in the UAE, in cooperation with the Senegalese government. The does not recognize the category of domestic work. scheme, intended to promote regulated seasonal tem- Domestic worker migrants are very largely porary migration, facilitated the opposite: long-term women, including in the case of Indonesia where they ‘irregular’ in-migration, into personal care services form by far the largest part of an emigrant labour and domestic work. Faced with a wide discrepancy force which, by 2010, was sending remittances equal between promised and actual living and working con- to eleven per cent of the country’s gross domestic ditions, which in many other situations migrants have product. Rich countries increasingly depend for their no alternative but to accept, in this case the migrants social and family reproduction on migrant women’s did have alternatives: many of them were well-edu- labour for a range of demanding or ‘menial’ tasks that cated, not merely the bearers of ‘pairs of harvesting their own populations are less willing to undertake: hands’, and had networks in Spain or nearby (often, a cleaning, cooking, childcare, and care of the sick and husband or other close relative) and possibly in Sen- of the old. The large movement of women in rich and egal too (including potential access to persuadable or middle-income countries into paid employment, while bribable public officials connected to the allocation the numbers of old people steeply rise, is based to a of places in temporary migration schemes). Based on large extent on the ability to hire poorer women (and a set of 525 interviews with women migrants in Spain, men) to undertake these tasks, whether women from the chapter also draws key insights from thirty-three their own country or – increasingly – women from supplementary in-depth qualitative interviews which poor countries who are drawn to richer locations by allow it to explore more profoundly the women’s the low level of opportunities in their home places, lives, with attention not just to economic variables but the high expectations placed on them for support for to their whole economic and social situation in terms family members, the hopes raised by successful exam- of their full range of rights as seen through their own ples, and the promises circulated by migration indus- eyes. While domestic work is a relatively easy entry try brokers. The social reproduction of rich countries sector, many interviews recount the advantage that (and rich people in middle- and low-income coun- some employers take of their ‘irregular’ employees, tries), in all the cycles of daily living and generational and how migrants may thus after a while move on 14 Thanh-Dam Truong, Des Gasper, and Jeff Handmaker again to less oppressive and humiliating work, if and quires a household registration, which is essentially in- when they see a possibility. Related to this they may accessible for these immigrants. Kusakabe and seek to regularize their status. Undocumented mi- Pearson describe the struggles by and ingenuity of the grants can fortunately already register with a munici- women and their families, nuclear and wider, to main- pality for access to health care and to schooling for tain themselves on a daily basis and support the new- children. But their options have become less and less born, the young, the old, and the sick or disabled. favourable under the economic crisis in Spain. Over- Childcare is often sustained through frequent shifts of all, this sort of outcome of immigration appears un- children or caretakers to and fro across the border. satisfactory to both the Spanish state and to very The chapter vividly conveys the contradiction be- many migrants. Tandian and Bergh comment on ways tween the Thai economy’s hunger for cheap depend- in which mutually more attractive arrangements might ent Burmese labour and Thai society’s predominant be established: Spain needs migrants’ work contribu- comprehensive hostility to the labourers and their tions, while most Senegalese migrants may well aspire families. Results from its ramifying investigation are to dividing their time between Senegal and Spain, reported in fuller detail in a book (Pearson/Kusakabe eventually returning permanently to Senegal; but the 2012). migrants will require more secure and respectful, Duong, Truong, and Khuat’s chapter 5 continues rights-based, options for their employment in Spain the analysis of social reproduction, again with refer- than the sort of scheme that was examined in this ence to both daily and generational processes. The chapter. emerging crisis of the East Asian family model has led Chapter 2 by Irianto and Truong described the to significant flows of both domestic workers and complex machinery of the multi-location migration brides from South-East Asia to Japan, South Korea, system, and yet how much of it centres on the most Taiwan, and now also China, to compensate for a intimate types of work, in homes; and those themes shortage of women in those countries, increasing lon- were echoed in chapter 3 by Tandian and Bergh. In gevity and female employment, and a growing unwill- contrast, Chapter 4 by Kusakabe and Pearson focuses ingness amongst some East Asian women to marry on different types of work, in factories, and on inti- some categories of East Asian men and to follow the mate relations outside the workplace, in the homes of model’s expectations, such as to care for a husband’s the women factory workers where they act as young parents. Foreign brides may be a solution for working- mothers, and in their connections with their families class families who cannot afford the full-time hire of a in places of origin, in which they are daughters and foreign domestic worker and who continue to adhere providers. Kusakabe and Pearson’s research concerns to traditional gender norms. (So, for example, the re- one of the larger cross-border migratory movements cruited brides must proceed through the charade of a in the world: the possibly two million Burmese mi- virginity check, which serves to assert masculine privi- grants in Thailand. They look at the export-oriented lege and gender hierarchy rather than to actually garment and textile factories concentrated in a check anything.) The chapter reports on a study of number of cities just within Thailand along the border the movement of Vietnamese women to South Korea with Burma (Myanmar), which rely on the cheap la- and Taiwan via commercially arranged marriages, and bour of mostly young Burmese women; in particular examines the contexts, pressures and motivations on the export factories located in Mae Sot. How have both sides, and the brides’ varied subsequent life the (typically ‘illegal’ or ‘registered irregular’ or some- paths. Research was undertaken in sending areas in times now registered as temporary) women factory rural Vietnam and in cities in Taiwan and Korea, workers combined their multiple responsibilities as amongst potential, actual and ex-brides, husbands, workers, wives, mothers, household managers, daugh- and others involved. The chapter employs Pearson ters and economic supporters of their families who re- (1997)’s concept of ‘the reproductive bargain’: the main in (or exit from) crisis-ridden Burma? They are partly (re)negotiable arrangements that divide respon- paid far below the official minimum wage, work ex- sibilities for daily, generational, and social reproduc- traordinarily long hours, and receive little or no sup- tion between different members of the household, port for the upbringing and education of their chil- and between households and the state and other dren from the Thai state, the Burmese state, or their agents. The cases studied here make it clear how the employers. Instead they must rely on their own addi- bargains today frequently span countries, and not just tional efforts and their networks of family and fellow at the moment of marriage. The Vietnamese brides migrants. Access to Thai schools, for example, re- abroad are expected to function as the multi-duty pro- Migration, Gender, Social Justice, and Human Insecurity 15 viders required in the Confucian family model but paper by Zhu and Lin (chapter 8) looks at the current also, from their own side, as economic providers for state of migration to the coastal province of Fujian in their families of origin. If one or both of these aspects China, and to its capital city Fuzhou in particular; a is not fulfilled the marriage becomes at risk of termi- part of the biggest migration in human history, to cit- nation. But in any event, concludes the chapter, tran- ies in the coastal regions of China during the past gen- snational marriages may only slightly postpone a crisis eration. It gives special attention to policy choices. of social reproduction that is emerging in East Asia. The paper by Serrano Oswald (chapter 9), on a local- The final study in this part, by Haile and Sieg- ity in Mexico, looks at the other side of massive out- mann (chapter 6), also concerns out-migration from migration: lives in the areas from which people have South-East Asia that serves to fill gaps in domestic la- migrated but to which many wish to and do return, bour in rich countries. Like the Tandian and Bergh eventually or periodically. The three papers thus give chapter 3 it examines migrants’ work situation in the special attention to, respectively: conceptualization, rich country, here with specific reference to Filipino policy, and lived experiences; and each illustrates a and Filipina domestic workers who have irregular sta- special methodological depth of a distinctive type. In tus in the Netherlands. Based on a far smaller-scale re- all the cases we see, first, how the very term ‘migra- search project than the preceding studies, its distinc- tion’, if it conveys an expectation of a once-for-all tiveness lies in its main focus: men who are employed movement, fails to do justice to much of reality; and, as domestic workers, an occupation that is seen as second, that the greatest pressures arising from the ‘women’s work’ but which is the avenue most open to multi-location lives which many families adopt, given them. It complements a series of later chapters (by Si- their limited opportunities and their personal and cul- natti [chapter 11], Donzelli and DeVargas [chapter 13], tural commitments, fall upon the shoulders of women. and Huijsmans [chapter 20]) which likewise look at Mazumdar and Agnihotri’s chapter 7 addresses male migrants and ideas about masculinity, including the enormous topic of women’s employment-related about what is fitting work and suitable behaviour for migration in all of India, a country of over 1.2 billion men; and other chapters which explore predominant inhabitants. It is based on a correspondingly huge ideas about appropriate gender identities, such as the multi-year study that involved surveys in numerous piece by Serrano Oswald (chapter 9). Like that chap- parts of the country, both in places of origin and des- ter it applies ideas from Nancy Fraser (2000, 2007) tination, complemented by other discussions and about social recognition and distributive justice. The long-term literature review and critique. Even though male domestic workers interviewed by Haile and Sieg- women are officially recorded as the large majority of mann did not transcend beliefs that domestic work is Indians who change their usual place of residence, feminine and of low status, but reconciled themselves due to their movement after marriage – and the re- to it as a route to fulfilling their manly role of material corded proportion of rural women who migrate for provisioning for family in the Philippines. Yet domes- marriage has almost doubled since the early 1990s – tic work’s multiple skills and essential role in social re- women’s migration has received little attention in re- production justify its own recognition as honourable search and policy on migration, since these moves are and important, in addition to deserving inclusion in not seen as employment-related. Further, the criterion the regimes for worker protection. of change of usual place of residence leaves out the huge numbers of short-term migrants, which have 1.3.2 Women and Internal Migration: grown enormously since the 1990s and now contain a Visibility, Rights, and Livelihood Security high proportion of women, as a result of the agrarian crisis in much of India and the marked decline in se- The first three chapters in Part III are each the prod- cure employment of women in most sectors in the era uct of very large, though sharply contrasting, research of market-led growth. “Armies of women [are] migrat- projects that address different aspects of how migra- ing in search of [seasonal] work”, reported one ob- tion within subcontinental-scale countries involves server cited in the chapter. But, due to a view of ‘real’ and affects women. The paper by Mazumdar and Ag- migration as meaning permanent transfer from rural nihotri (chapter 7) covers women’s work-related mi- to urban areas, short-term migrants only entered offi- gration in the whole of India, and shows how it has cial figures as recently as 2007–2008. Even then, those grown enormously but has been conventionally mis- whose migratory cycles exceed six months are ex- conceptualized and greatly under-recorded, including cluded; and the employment-related component in in the major government statistical publications. The movements that are also for marriage is overlooked. 16 Thanh-Dam Truong, Des Gasper, and Jeff Handmaker Even so, the chapter takes such a component as sec- ellers, but to follow a circulatory pattern. Although in ondary in importance and confines itself to the huge contrast to India women migrants are much more enough canvas of women’s migration for the primary concentrated in manufacturing, sales, and service in- reason of paid employment. It aims to identify ways dustries, they suffer from concentration in unstable, to better understand, support, and improve such em- high-intensity, temporary, and relatively low-skilled ployment. types of work and enjoy very little formal welfare pro- By investigating what are the different modes of tection or upward occupational mobility. On the con- migration (including many that diverge from the ster- trary, while popular with employers when young, eotype picture – circulatory; short-term seasonal; irreg- women migrant workers ‘are not wanted when they ular short-term; medium-term; daily or weekly long- are over forty’. distance commuters, including urban to rural; and mi- Zhu and Lin return then to the policy issues aris- gration for unpaid family care) and the different types ing from, and develop proposals to respond to, the of employment, the chapter gives a far deeper, richer tensions between, first, the enormous scale of migra- picture than do the official statistics and associated tion, second, the restriction of socio-economic rights analyses. It demonstrates, for example, the concentra- to people registered as belonging to an area, and tion of migrant women workers from the scheduled third, the choice by very large numbers of people to castes and tribes into the most marginal, poorly-remu- spread their lives, loyalties, and resources across more nerated, and physically arduous employment, espe- than one location by circulating between their places cially in short-term and circulatory migration and par- of origin and destination and/or eventually returning ticularly for work in agriculture and brickmaking. In permanently to the area of origin. Problems generated general, the current patterns of female migration do by the second factor, institutionalized in the hukou not display a major shift of migrants into new types of system, have been considerably reduced by recent pol- employment that are more ‘advanced’. Instead, the icy changes that aim to extend the hukou-based, resi- relatively fast-growing and higher-status urban service dence-based welfare system to cover in-migrants. But occupations are largely the preserve of urban upper- problems remain, including those due to the third fac- caste women; the women from outside the cities who tor: the choice by many migrants to maintain land, se- enter such occupations are themselves in general of curity, and family connections in their area of origin upper caste. Overall the study shows the desperate (not necessarily their exact birthplace) and/or some pressures on many poor women as the rural economy third location, both as insurance – given the limits and increasingly marginalizes some groups, groups who unreliability of demand for their labour in the cities also have the least access to the relatively few formal where they are presently located – and out of family sector jobs generated in the urban economy. and regional loyalty. In addition to their parents and Zhu and Lin’s chapter 8 on rural-to-urban migra- other relatives, often the migrants’ children remain in tion in the economic boom province of Fujian in the area of origin because of employment instability China presents a contrasting case, though again of a and the extra costs of urban residence. What is logi- combination of economic structural transformation cally required to match the real nature of migration – and yet continuity. The chapter preludes its empirical as not a once-for-all transfer but a fluctuating, risky, reportage with a detailed explanation of the welfare partial, long-term experimental process – is a national- regime for migrants – the rights and actual access they scale welfare regime rather than a place-based one. have to housing, health and education services, insur- Rather than integration of migrants into urban areas, ance, and pensions. The Hukou household registra- integration of the national society as a whole is re- tion system has been the legal basis for social entitle- quired, to construct a welfare regime which has the ments. The system has recently begun to evolve but same span as the economic system that it seeks to large gaps remain. Social insurance has remained very make whole. One can add that, eventually, the same largely place-bound: people who move on to another logic may have to be acknowledged for the world as a location cannot take all, or sometimes any, of the ac- whole. cumulated rights with them; hence most migrants After the colossal scale of the issues treated in the choose not to participate in these insurance schemes chapters on India and China, the next two chapters, or to withdraw from them. Drawing on a pair of large both on Mexico, look at individual women’s lives, surveys, the chapter then maps the situation of mi- though still with strong attention to bigger structures grants, in many dimensions. As in India, a large pro- and processes. Serrano Oswald’s chapter 9 focuses on portion of migrants are found not to be one-way trav- the significance of migration for women who stay Migration, Gender, Social Justice, and Human Insecurity 17 rather than for those who move. Migration studies theory of social justice, which distinguishes three as- that focus only on trajectories of departure and remit- pects or types of justice, involving redistribution, rec- tance do not capture many of the human implications ognition, and representation. Fraser (2009) argues the and interconnections. She shows how large-scale mi- need for each of economic justice, political voice, and gration to other parts of Mexico and especially to the cultural respect, for each person and group; and in USA brings major changes in a community of origin, her own work has placed these issues in a global especially for women, for they receive new and ex- rather than solely national context (see Fernandez panded duties; but that this occurs within an evolving 2011). continuity of tradition, male dominance, and female The remaining chapter in part IV, by Rojas-Wies- subordination. Based on years of research into an in- ner and DeVargas (chapter 10), parallels the explora- digenous Zapotec locality in Oaxaca state in southern tion of lived experiences of particular women seen in Mexico, her study looks at transformations and conti- Serrano’s chapter, and prefigures Section V’s investiga- nuities in the local economy and society. Most mi- tions of legal liminality. Rojas-Wiesner and DeVargas’ grants remain culturally rooted in their community of study of long-term immigrants from Guatemala in origin and intensely connected to it, maintaining fre- south-eastern Mexico combines narratives gathered quent communication and revisiting regularly, often as from in-depth interviews with a structural analysis. It the prelude to eventual return. shows the central importance of access to recognition This pattern operates with particular intensity in and rights as a citizen, to be able to protest when one the locality observed by Serrano Oswald because of is a victim of injustice and excluded from basic serv- the strength of indigenous identity and organization ices. In contrast, women of immigrant origin feel and the opportunities provided by tourism and the re- forced into invisibility, to avoid discrimination due to lated growth of woodcarving, which have made sea- their origin or risk of being reported to the authori- sonal international migration-and-return very com- ties and perhaps deported. This fear applies especially mon. The pattern has a special impact on women, where networks and organizations that might protect who are expected to remain behind (or return and set- them are too remote, geographically or socially. In- tle after they have children) and to maintain the com- creasingly restrictive immigration policies in the name munity, the children, the culture, the elderly, the of ‘national security’ keep migrant women powerless homes, the cherished agricultural base, and the local and vulnerable. physical and organizational infrastructure, as well as to support the comings and goings of the migrants 1.3.3 Intersectionality in Migration and the and the additional demands of the new economic ac- Complexity of Gender tivities, and often to bear a new child after a return visit home by their husband. The impact on the chil- The chapters in part IV articulate and apply the theme dren of such migration is also intense, with an absent of intersectionality – the crucial significance of the father and a severely loaded mother. Local women to- combinations and interactions of factors that consti- day work on average twenty to twenty-five hours extra tute a person’s situation, including gender, economic per week when compared to their male counterparts, class, ability, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, re- and the discrepancy is higher for women whose hus- ligious and political affiliation, and more. Chapter 11 band is away. Yet migrant men retain de jure authority by Sinatti looks at transnational families, “families and exercise it de facto, directly or through their who maintain close relations and a sense of unity blood relations. The role assigned to wives is as sub- across geographic distances”, as illustrated also in sev- ordinates and as mothers, for whom all sacrifices for eral other chapters. The definition has equal relevance their family are mandatory. to families spread across subcontinental-scale coun- In exploring this sort of social terrain, Serrano Os- tries like India, China, and Mexico. Migration from wald demonstrates the relevance of a combination of: Senegal is central to its society – a tenth of the popu- first, critical ethnography, that allows local people to lation are outside at any one time – and its economy. express and present themselves within long-term stud- The migrants are to a large extent young unmarried ies that provide space for the researcher to become men, who carry high family expectations on their aware of ‘silences, omissions, and processes of invisi- shoulders in addition to their individual dreams. Sin- bility’; second, social representation theory, which ex- atti looks at the evolution of their ideas of gender amines the systems of ideas used to define, character- roles, notably their constructions of masculinity, dur- ize, and legitimate roles; and third, Nancy Fraser’s ing the stressful years abroad, years in which they are 18 Thanh-Dam Truong, Des Gasper, and Jeff Handmaker separated from the comfortably familiar but may ac- and culturally isolated, typically not legally recognized quire great importance and higher status in their fam- as workers, and often culturally disempowered in ily as a provider of vital resources, while at the same such a way that they believe that sexual needs and time seeking to accumulate the resources to establish many reproductive health issues are matters of shame their own independent household. Typically the un- that cannot be discussed. Truong et al. provide case married men eventually acquire a wife (or wives) dur- studies of and from three of the financially richest ing a trip (or trips) back to Senegal and subsequently countries in the world: Qatar, Singapore, and Hong live separated abroad while they seek to save for prop- Kong (Special Administrative Region of China). The erty at home. Sinatti’s research on Senegalese mi- chapter illustrates what is the truly shameful behav- grants, in Italy and also when they are back in Sen- iour, that of employers who take advantage of vulner- egal, reveals that while migration is seen as a path to able women to the maximum extent possible – work- increased status at home, including status as a serious ing them without limit and in some cases abusing man, it carries the price of years of low-status living them physically, mentally, and/or sexually. The chap- abroad, without societal respect there, obliged to ter also illustrates elements of good practice. Some cook for oneself, and separated from the daily exer- non-governmental organizations (NGOs) try to build cise of authority at home in Senegal and at risk of be- these workers’ awareness, skills, self-image, and self- ing treated only as the supplier of money. Some ab- confidence, to provide the bases for effective agency. sent fathers maintain their family presence through Domestic workers’ legal status in Hong Kong in- carefully selected gifts. This is an example of how cludes obligatory employment protection and health their role as man and father, which their emigration insurance, in contrast to the de facto situation in even sought to ensure, is led to become something other Singapore, where only in 2012 did migrant domestic than it would be if they were living at home. workers receive the legal right to a rest day. In Qatar The human right to health applies to migrants, to – the first- or second-ranked country in the world in women, and not least to migrant women. In particu- many listings of real gross domestic product per cap- lar, migrant women have sexual and reproductive ita – a 1963 Sponsorship Law still ties migrant workers health (SRH) needs which are largely ignored by mi- to a single employer. Foreign workers are denied the gration regimes, which frequently treat women as sex- legal protection given to Qatari workers and even less units of labour to be used maximally and then dis- their limited rights under the 1963 law are to a large carded. Chapter 12, on “Intersectionality, Structural extent not enforced, reflecting their marginal situa- Vulnerability, and Access to Sexual and Reproductive tion. In all three countries the health of the migrant Health Services” by Truong, Marin, and Quesada- domestic workers is largely dependent on the quality Bondad, shows the centrality of the issue of migrant of their relationship with their employers. Financial workers’ sexual and reproductive health. The Filipina wealth here appears something rather separate from women migrant domestic workers who were inter- human wealth. viewed were largely in their child-bearing years, and The intersections examined in chapter 13 by De most continued to have children during the cycle of Vargas and Donzelli are those that structured the lives their overseas employment. Older women too have of foreign black sub-Saharan African male migrant SRH needs. The chapter thus transcends an abstrac- workers in Libya during the war in 2011, and enabled tion that is convenient in the migration industry – an the resulting extremes of insecurity, including armed assumption that women workers are the equivalent of attacks, that they faced as a group having multiple vul- a washing machine or an electric iron, sexless produc- nerabilities. What the chapter distinctively adds is to tion inputs, or that they must be rendered ‘safe’ show the importance of how these migrants were rep- through pregnancy prevention. resented (and sometimes ignored) by the foreign me- A holistic approach to the lives of real persons dia. This contributed to the allocation of attention with real bodily and affective needs, in situations con- and the processes of opinion formation amongst in- stituted by the intersection of multiple factors – cul- fluential foreign publics and decision-makers, and in tural, psychological, biological, legal, financial – brings turn to the actions and inactions of the dominant for- out migrants’ human right to SRH, the constraints of- eign powers and the deaths of many migrants. Com- ten encountered, and the need for cooperation be- mon in the representations of the diverse groups of tween researchers and policymakers in the fields of black African male workers was that they were sup- health, migration, and gender. Foreign women do- posedly threats to some other actors, with an implica- mestics working in distant countries are physically tion that their own protection and security had no pri- Migration, Gender, Social Justice, and Human Insecurity 19 ority. In the background, argue DeVargas and only on the idea of the individual rights of women or Donzelli, amongst other notions (such as of pro- children may not necessarily be appropriate. Gaddafi black African mercenaries, an idea promoted The legal framework of human rights is under- by the anti-Gaddafi rebels) was often a Eurocentric standably criticized as being too soft in its implemen- presumption that the African workers in Libya were tation and too individualistic in its orientation, ap- eventually headed for Europe and needed to be de- proaching social justice and the advancement of terred, dispersed, and sent back southwards. minorities in terms of, for example, ‘affirmative ac- The chapter’s analysis of a selection of reports tion’ initiatives rather than by addressing the struc- during 2011 in The New York Times, The Guardian, tural barriers faced by migrants. At the other extreme, and Al Jazeera finds a shared and consistent set of efforts by states to administer migration policy re- themes: a picture of the events as a democratic revo- gimes in a legal-technocratic manner have proved to lution that advanced human rights; a mitigation of the be highly unsuccessful, as well as having negative con- violence against black Africans as being a product of sequences for migrants in terms of social justice. a racist inheritance from the Gaddafi era and Gadd- Whether framed by migrant advocates or government afi’s perverse resistance, and as an unsurprising risk to officials, narrow legalistic understandings of migrants’ be faced by rash illegal immigrants; and representa- rights do not adequately address the social justice con- tions of masculinities that matched Connell (2005)’s cerns of migrants. For example, relations of power as categories: the hegemonic masterful controlled mas- well as macro-economic policies tend to be much culinity of the intervening Western powers; the imper- more significant for ensuring migrants’ human secu- fect complicit approximation by the anti-Gaddafi rity than the existence or non-existence of rights in forces; and the inferior irrational and brutish mascu- law. linities of the Gaddafi regime and its desperate black African dependents. The chapter adds ideas on how 1.3.4 Liminal Legality, Citizenship, and to try to counter myth-making and marginalization, in- Migrant Rights Mobilization cluding by assertion of the right of those in insecure situations to specify what security signifies for them The chapters in part V explore the circumstances in and what steps would improve their conditions. which rights are denied to migrants by way of policy The section concludes with a case study by Bop regimes and enforcement measures, illustrating what and Truong (chapter 14) of a particularly striking set Menjivar (2006) has identified as a situation of liminal of intersections. It concerns the migratory blind beg- legality and which Coutin (2002) has described as le- gars, victims of river blindness, who move between gal non-existence. Chapter 15 by Mora and Hand- Mali and Senegal, and the non-blind girls or young maker on Peruvian migrants in Chile suggests that the women who function as their guides or eyes. Rather main factors that structure the potential for advocacy, than as individual migration, this form of migration is both by and on behalf of migrants, seem to be the best understood through the lens of communities af- presence of a vibrant civil society and the presence of fected by an insidious illness, with sensitivity to the democratic institutions that can serve as a reliable embeddedness of gender relations in the coping re- channel for rights claims. While acknowledging the sponses. The blind male migrants must deal with mul- potential for civic advocacy to protect migrants’ tiple conditions of disability to continue their role as rights, Mora and Handmaker elaborate the structural the family providers. They are joined by non-blind and institutional barriers faced by the Peruvian mi- boys and girls, but generally rely on the guidance of grants, pointing out the consequences for the mi- the girls and young women since boys mostly beg for grants and the specific challenges to be taken up by themselves. A variety of social arrangements for guid- Chilean advocates. They argue that migrants and Chil- ing are in practice, including a modification of ‘child ean migrant advocacy organizations could make more fostering’ as a tradition, biological kinship and mar- productive use of Chilean state institutions than they riage, and employment. Intersections between disabil- have until now. ity, gender, class, and age obliterate the visibility of the While migrant advocacy might hold much poten- girl guides in the eyes of policymakers. Mutual depend- tial in Chile, the possibilities of invoking state institu- ency based on gender and age can be interwoven into tions is substantially less possible in countries that layers of culturally defined intergenerational obliga- highly restrict freedom of association, such as certain tions, for which social justice strategies that are built countries in the Gulf region, according to Vlieger in chapter 16. In a more extreme set of examples, she il- 20 Thanh-Dam Truong, Des Gasper, and Jeff Handmaker lustrates the appalling treatment of many women mi- scope for migrants wishing to exercise their agency grant domestic workers in Saudi Arabia and the and claim social justice, either on their own or United Arab Emirates, where the numerous protec- through intermediary organizations. tion efforts of migrant advocacy organizations, and in Reflecting on these studies, Menjivar and Cou- some cases by the states from which migrants have tin’s chapter 18 underlines the value of a socio-legal come, have proved highly insufficient. In addition to perspective and more particularly its potential to eval- a range of restrictive laws, she vividly illustrates a uate the limits of complex legal regimes to protect mi- range of social, structural, and institutional ‘dysfunc- grants or to serve as a reliable basis for policy imple- tions’ faced by migrants working in the domestic serv- mentation. As they make clear, in the absence of ice sector in both the United Arab Emirates and Saudi rights-based policies for the protection of migrants at Arabia. Vlieger goes on to explain the various legal ob- the national level, migrants experience a situation of ligations owed by these states according to interna- ‘legal non-existence’, or liminal legality, where the tional law. In the light of the record of such wide- mere possession of legal status is of limited value, if at spread impunity, she concludes, rather depressingly, all. Liminal legality, they argue, is produced by na- that there is, in fact, very little prospect for human tional laws in receiving states that with increasing fre- rights to serve as a protective framework at all in ei- quency grant new migrants nothing more than tempo- ther of these countries. rary statuses that limit their social rights and access to Similar difficulties in advocating for migrants’ justice (e.g. ‘registered irregulars’), thus enabling rights through state institutions exist in Thailand, as states to appear to satisfy both demands for rights and Petchot (chapter 17) observes in her chapter on Bur- calls for restriction. Liminal legality is also produced mese children born in Thailand, but who lack citizen- through clashes between different legal orders or dif- ship and rights. Placing an emphasis on the duties of ferent agencies. It gives employers and the state itself the receiving state, as Vlieger has done, she demon- greater power in relation to migrants while still using strates that migrants pursue active transnational lives, their labour when wished. In the precarious legal and with little if any official intervention, although the social context experienced by migrants, the potential possibilities for migrants relying on state institutions for violating their rights is high. Where states tend to to protect their human rights are far more limited resist the recognition, let alone realization of rights to than in Chile, but substantially easier than in Saudi migrants, the legal consciousness of stakeholders con- Arabia. As in Chile, there appears to be at least some cerned with migration and its management becomes potential in Thailand for advocating social justice and very important. Moreover, the consciousness that mi- human rights on behalf of migrants through appealing grants have of their rights, that NGOs have of the pos- to law, media, and other social or state institutions. sibilities for realizing those rights, and that govern- Petchot elaborates this further with reference to the ment officials have in relation to state obligations specific institutional challenges that migrant children towards migrants, plays a decisive role in mediating face in obtaining education in Thailand. Accordingly, the liminal legal status of migrants. she addresses the grey area between labour laws and In all of the preceding three case studies (Mora/ migration laws in Thailand, and the consequences Handmaker [chapter 15]; Vlieger [chapter 16]; Petchot this has for migrant children’s education. In doing so, [chapter 17]), the socio-institutional factors make it ex- Petchot reveals the structural opportunities for ex- tremely difficult for migrants to make a social justice panding migrants’ rights in Thailand by exploiting the claim, despite their ‘entitlement’ to a range of na- tensions between the labour laws and immigration tional, regional, and international rights. Even worse, laws. conflating migration and crime, or crimmigration, The approaches adopted by the contributors in can translate into highly restrictive policy and/or en- this section differ, although they cover similar case forcement regimes (Welch 2012; Stumpf 2006), in- studies. For example, Vlieger and Petchot place cluding ethnic profiling by the police (Leun/Woude greater emphasis on the receiving state and its institu- 2011). Systematic violation of migrants’ rights can tions and less emphasis on the migrant herself. By even be regarded as a form of structural violence, as contrast, Irianto and Truong, in chapter 2 at the out- opposed to ‘direct violence’, with the violence calcu- set of the book, adopt a more transnational perspec- lated in terms of the ‘number of (life) years lost’ (Gal- tive, accepting the inadequacies of the receiving tung/Höivik 1979: 73). This could be a direct or indi- state’s institutions, but exploring the responsibility of rect consequence of migration policies and/or the sending state, in this case Indonesia, as well as the enforcement measures, or other factors leading to mi- Migration, Gender, Social Justice, and Human Insecurity 21 grants’ social exclusion, especially where the possibili- men of spending some years away in Thailand, and ties for redress through public or official institutions examines how dominant gender notions mould the are highly restricted. In short, both the tendency of migration experiences of both men and women. In re- states to resist rights, and of migrants and migrant ad- visiting both the themes of migration regime and mas- vocacy organizations to resist oppressive state poli- culinity the paper highlights the link between two key cies, can be measured. Barbara Oomen argues that elements in this book’s analysis; the systemic subordi- “[i]n an empirical sense, this resistance can be under- nation of women in migration regimes may only be stood as closely related to the constitutional pluralism overcome when the contributory ideas about not only that characterizes today’s world”. Looking beyond a femininity but also about masculinity are surfaced and strictly legal interpretation of this concept, as the au- reconsidered. thors in this section do, Oomen recognises that, from Although around sixty per cent of migrants from an anthropological perspective, interactions between Laos (the Lao People’s Democratic Republic) to Thai- these different normative orders often take place in a land have been women, a new migration policy re- situation of “unequal power relations”, where one sys- gime formalizes the labour supply chain to Thailand tem can “subvert, resist and evade the dominant legal by the insertion of authorized labour bureaus and is order” (Oomen 2011: 21). bringing an increase in the share of men. Migrants are The policy implication is that stakeholders in- supposed to enter only via the services of an author- volved in migrant advocacy – whether NGOs, state in- ized bureau. The new system is declared necessary in stitutions, or international organizations – need to order to make migrants safer. But since undocu- adopt a more nuanced and critical understanding of mented migration remains predominant, due to the the dynamics of transnational migration and the real- costs and inflexibility of the new formal system, and ities of migrant life. Realizing social justice and mi- has become unsafe, migrant vulnerability has actually grant rights claims requires much more than a purely increased. The new bureaus are largely private migra- legalistic approach and must be intertwined with tion-employment agencies that impose high charges other, more grounded and migrant-centred strategies. and leave migrants uninformed and misinformed. Al- though their advance information is mostly mislead- 1.3.5 Migration Regimes, Gender Norms, and ing the bureaus do nothing when appealed to later by Public Action workers who are in difficulties. The high charges render most workers who use them indebted and Chapter 19 by Huijsmans in part VI is the last in the hence insecure but tied to the agency and the assigned series of papers which pay particular attention to male job. The system also has gender implications. First, migrants as gendered subjects. He does this within a prospective migrants using this channel are more de- perspective on the policy regime that governs migra- pendent on parental approval and support in order to tion from Laos to Thailand and in this respect the pay the charges, and so traditional gender notions of- chapter figures also as the Janus partner to chapter 2 ten re-enter. The idea that women are more vulnera- by Irianto and Truong. Haile and Siegmann (chapter ble, whereas men need a period abroad in order to 6) looked at male migrant workers with irregular sta- grow as men, comes into play to reduce the share of tus in domestic work; Sinatti (chapter 11) discussed women in migration. Second, domestic work is not the role of notions of masculinity and how these are recognized by the Lao state as an approved reason for affected by the experience of international migration; migration; this serves as a way of asserting its honour DeVargas and Donzelli (chapter 13) considered the sit- in relation to its dominating neighbour Thailand. uation of African male migrants trapped in an armed Women’s migration into domestic work in Thailand conflict and stereotyped in ways that maximized their continues as by far the largest migrant flow from vulnerability; Bop and Truong (chapter 14) examined Laos, given the limited domestic opportunities, but the multiple conditions of disability experienced by the women are forced to work irregularly in the eyes male beggars and their dependence on the support of of the Lao state. Safety is not increased, while migra- young women and children; and here Huijsmans ar- tion brokers reap gains. Policy functions as public the- gues that the lack of attention to male migrant vulner- atre that fulfils objectives other than the ones de- ability in migration policy reflects hegemonic notions clared. of masculinity which present hardship as something The sequence of case studies concludes with a that real men must experience and overcome. His wide-ranging reflection by Sandoval (chapter 20) on chapter looks at the rite of passage for young Lao the roles of migration research, researchers, and pol- 22 Thanh-Dam Truong, Des Gasper, and Jeff Handmaker icy campaigners, with reference to the case of Costa Tandian and Bergh [chapter 3] or Serrano [chapter 9], Rica. About ten per cent of Costa Rica’s residents are and the formats of popular culture, including music, immigrants; people from neighbouring Nicaragua film, videos, and novels. It requires also bridging the comprise nearly seven per cent, a figure that is now gap between abstracted policy advocates and analysts growing only slowly. Nicaraguans play essential roles on the one hand, whose work remains in a vacuum in the national economy but are widely stereotyped as when disconnected from popular discourses, and the a fast-growing horde of criminals and welfare-depend- community activists and practitioners on the other, ents, and this hostility is exacerbated now by a border who can connect well to these. A final, related, type dispute. Consistent with Michael Burawoy’s call for of involvement has been trying to help migrant “public sociology” (Burawoy 2005, 2007), Sandoval groups in their own organizations, participation, and considers ways in which social scientists have contrib- self-projection, to help them make use of public uted and could further contribute in this situation. So spaces and connect to broader political actions and far these have ranged from seeking to clarify the real advocacy work. levels of immigrant population and its growth, Sandoval concludes how all of this implies the through to involvement in taking up to the Supreme need for forms of social science training and organiza- Court in 2011 a writ of unconstitutionality against the tion that respect each of: skills in description and State for new anti-immigrant legislation. Sandoval ar- analysis, skills in critique and attempted change, and gues that international funders who fondly sponsor skills in listening and cooperation within coalitions of migration research, often on themes that have already varied types of researcher and activist. His sentiments been well studied, should spend rather more on sup- well reflect the spirit of this book as a whole. porting the necessary follow-up work of long-term The book's final chapter, by Gasper and Truong, policy advocacy and public education. steps back from the case studies, to draw out some of Much of the contribution by social scientists to the underlying issues of social and political philoso- public debate has pointed out how immigrants per- phy and political economy, including in regard to form tasks that the local population no longer wishes basic conceptions about migration, women, men and to, notably heavy manual work in key export agricul- their roles. It also extends Sandoval’s themes to a ture sectors and as domestic workers. Large numbers broader stage. The hundreds of millions of women of Costa Rican women have joined paid employment nowadays who engage in migratory movement do so because they can hire Nicaraguans to care for their in settings that are structured by market forces, sys- children, homes, and older generations. But Sandoval tems of nation-state authority and identity, and sys- finds Costa Rican society is not ready to acknowledge tems of gender identities and gender power relations. this fundamental interdependence; Nicaraguans are Market capitalist systems generate mobility; nation- instead commonly represented as scroungers and state systems limit the rights and entitlements of ‘Threatening Others’. Consequently, the next major migrants; and these systems combine in hybrid migra- type of social scientist involvement has been to try to tion regimes to use and exploit migrant labour. A counter unfounded stereotypes and their formation, human rights and human security perspective adopts, for example the false claim that deterioration of pub- in contrast, a global framework for according sympa- lic services under neo-liberalism is because of high de- thetic attention and respect to all persons, as well as mands placed on them by immigrants. In reality, pre- for understanding interconnections worldwide, includ- dominantly working-age migrants require relatively ing global-local and local-local. The book's set of stud- little health care, for example. ies contributes, we hope, to understanding and A further type of involvement responds to the im- responding to the reality that the 'people on the plicit overwhelming reliance on the nation-state as the move' are now often primarily women, who are typi- basis for self-identification and collective identifica- cally subject to migration regimes that, in the terms tion in public debate. It tries to build on values of hos- we used earlier, bear and promote distinct gendered pitality and solidarity, including on ‘a social fabric of values, norms and characteristics. While women fre- cosmopolitanism from below [that exists] around the quently already serve as social and economic ‘shock eating establishments, clinics, or schools’ in the bina- absorbers’, migrant women can be exposed to partic- tional communities where poorer Costa Ricans and ular and particularly intense patterns of exploitation, Nicaraguan migrants co-reside. To articulate and con- at the intersection of multiple systems of power. vey this experience requires use of the methods of Awareness of this remains insufficiently developed in ethnography (as illustrated here in the chapters by work on migration and even in much work on human Migration, Gender, Social Justice, and Human Insecurity 23 rights and human security, approaches which are often gendered migration regimes and directions for not explicitly or sufficiently gendered. The chapter attempting to counter them. The chapter concludes considers ways to integrate insights from thinking with some indications for further work, including on about human rights, human security, feminist theory South-South migration, the on-going transformations and migration studies, for studying the relationships in the nature of borders, and portability of social pro- between gender and migration, giving attention to tection, with attention in all these cases to differential relations of gender subordination but also to how the impacts on various categories of women, men, chil- relationships are highly varied and may change. It dren, and families. reviews forms of ‘invisibility’ and misframing used in References and Educational Frameworks in Western Europe (Paris: UNESCO). Agústin, Laura, 2003: “A Migrant World of Services”, in: Carby, Hazel V., 1999: Cultures in Babylon: Black Britain International Journal of Social Politics, 10,3: 377-396. and African America (London: Verso). 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Part II Transformation of Social Reproduction Systems and Migration: Local-Global Interactions Chapter 2 From Breaking the Silence to Breaking the Chain of Social Injustice: Indonesian Women Migrant Domestic Workers in the United Arab Emirates Sulistyowati Irianto and Thanh-Dam Truong Chapter 3 From Temporary Work in Agriculture to Irregular Status in Domestic Service: The Transition and Experiences of Senegalese Migrant Women in Spain Aly Tandian and Sylvia I. Bergh Chapter 4 Burmese Female Migrant Workers in Thailand: Managing Productive and Reproductive Responsibilities Kyoko Kusakabe and Ruth Pearson Chapter 5 Transnational Marriage Migration and the East Asian Family-Based Welfare Model: Social Reproduction in Vietnam, Taiwan, and South Korea Duong Bach Le, Thanh-Dam Truong, and Thu Hong Khuat Chapter 6 Masculinity at Work: Intersectionality and Identity Constructions of Migrant Domestic Workers in the Netherlands Aster Georgo Haile and Karin Astrid Siegmann 2 From Breaking the Silence to Breaking the Chain of Social Injustice: Indonesian Women Migrant Domestic Workers in the United Arab Emirates Sulistyowati Irianto1 and Thanh-Dam Truong2 Abstract3 This chapter provides a perspective on the chain of social injustice faced by Indonesian migrant domestic work- ers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). By using the lens of gender to connect practices within the Indonesian management system for labour migration with those guided by regulations governing the management of for- eign labour in the UAE, the chapter reveals the consequences of the absence of a specific law governing the presence of domestic workers in both countries. Labour migration management systems are bounded by the nation state, whereas domestic workers must rely on transnational coordination between two systems. Where their work is not legally defined, they can become subject to arbitrary treatment at different points in their migration along a transnational chain of relations of structural dependency. They tend to bear the weight of institutional dysfunctions, often with dire consequences for their private lives. Learning from their experiences can help us draw lessons for future action towards achieving standards of decent work within a territory and standards of basic human security applicable to their transnational movement. Just as research into transna- tional migration has moved beyond methodological nationalism, so also labour migration policy needs to find frames of reference appropriate to context to ensure that workers’ rights are protected in different places. Keywords: domestic work, decent work, gender, migration, transnational, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, social justice, human security. 2.1 Introduction12 3 the United States of America (USA), made this state- ment in June 2011 on her way home from the hun- “We have broken the silence. We have yet to break our dredth annual conference of the International La- chains.”4 bour Office (ILO), which passed the Convention Ai-Jen Poo, a second-generation domestic worker and Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers. Af- director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance in ter decades of hard work, the Convention now recog- nizes the labour rights of persons engaged in domes- tic work under an employment relationship within a 1 Dr. Sulistyowati Irianto (Indonesia) is a Professor of the territory as well as when this relationship involves the Anthropology of Law at the Faculty of Law, University movement of a person from one territory to another. of Indonesia The Convention is a victory for campaigners who 2 Dr. Thanh-Dam Truong is Associate Professor in Women/Gender and Development Studies at the Insti- have succeeded in breaking the wall of silence around tute of Social Studies in The Hague (The Netherlands). domestic work. It has destabilized the hegemonic 3 This chapter is based on a broader study entitled “Indo- view that demarcates the limits of thinking about the nesian Women Domestic Migrant Workers in the value of domestic work and the status of persons en- United Arab Emirates” funded by IDRC, project gaged in it. It has recognized that, today, this service number 105442. The research team members were: has become a subsector in a broader economy of care Sulistyowati Irianto, Titiek Kartika Hendrastiti, Liem organized transnationally.5 Sing Meij, Vidhyandika, Tirtawening and Henky Irzan. 4 See at: (accessed 19 March 2012). derstandings have indeed fostered a hegemonic view T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 29 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_2, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 30 Sulistyowati Irianto and Thanh-Dam Truong of domestic work as unproductive, i.e. ‘non-work’ and domestic service. The major destinations are high-in- a ‘private matter’.6 This view underpins the rationale come countries in South-East Asia (Malaysia and Sin- for the exclusion of domestic work from formal regu- gapore), East Asia (Hong Kong Special Administrative lations concerning labour migration and their en- of China and Taiwan), and West Asia, especially the forcement. The Convention, in fact, requires govern- countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). ments to take action by designing inter-state Malaysia and Saudi Arabia are the major destination arrangements (bilateral, regional, or multilateral countries, accounting for more than seventy per cent agreements) to govern in accordance with national of the total flow. In the GCC countries, since 1997 laws, regulations, and practices the operation of pri- the UAE has become the most important destination vate employment agencies that recruit or place do- after Saudi Arabia (IOM 2010: 15). Third, the annual mestic workers. As the human subject is the primary volume of financial remittance from Indonesian la- substance of labour as well as of migration, the dig- bour migrants has grown from US$1.5 billion in 2002 nity of a person is to be honoured and treatment of to US$7.1 billion in 2010 – or about eleven per cent of labour as a commodity forbidden. Many governments the gross domestic product for that year (World Bank have yet to take steps towards realigning their national 2011: 139). laws and moving towards ratification of the Conven- Seen from this perspective, Indonesia’s growing la- tion. bour exports seem to rely mainly on rural women’s la- Using the cases of Indonesia and the UAE, this bour; there is no clear sign of diversification. Though chapter offers an insight into the prospects of realiz- financial earnings from remittances are growing, ing standards of ‘decent work’ for domestic workers much of this still goes through informal channels.7 in the absence of a specific national law governing the Sassen (2002) uses the term the “feminization of sur- workers’ presence in the receiving country. It high- vival” to refer to the ways in which particular groups lights specific dysfunctional aspects of existing meas- of women and their feminine gender roles are deeply ures of rights protection in both countries and the im- implicated in sustaining national economic restructur- plications for domestic workers. Indonesia is a ing in a globalized world. In Indonesia, this view may striking case for a number of reasons. First, although be more relevant to local economic restructuring, women’s rural-urban migration for domestic work is given the country’s decentralization policy. Together, an old phenomenon, traceable at least to the early deregulation and decentralization have enabled re- days of colonization, only since the 1970s have Indo- cruitment agencies in particular provinces to gain an nesians migrated overseas for employment in this sec- important position in matching local supply with in- tor (Silvey 2006). Second, there has been a remarka- ternational demand for domestic workers. Workers ble rise in this migration since the financial crisis of depend entirely on cooperation between the recruit- 1997 and the subsequent process of liberalization. Ac- ment agencies in Indonesia as the sending country cording to IOM (2010: 9), in 1996 Indonesian women and the employment agencies on the receiving end represented fifty-six per cent of the total flow of over (Linquist 2010). Where local practices of labour con- half a million Indonesian workers deployed abroad, trol are severe and archaic, many incidences of the vi- but by 2007 the figure had risen to seventy-eight per olation of rights have been reported (Esim/Smith cent of a total of nearly seven hundred thousand. Be- 2004). ing mainly of rural origins with low education and Placing these issues in the context of the forma- skills, these women migrants are deployed mainly in tion and transformation of the labour migration man- agement system in the sending and receiving coun- tries is helpful for understanding their individual 5 For the full text of the Convention see at: ‘work’ are built into regulations and institutional prac- (accessed 21 June 2012). 6 Recent estimates reveal figures between 53 and 100 mil- tices that shape the organization of the migration of lion domestic workers worldwide (if hidden and unreg- istered people are taken into account). Around 83 per cent of these workers are women or girls and many are 7 The Bank of Indonesia has estimated that in 2006 more migrant workers (ILO 2010). This confirms that women than ninety per cent of the total flow (nearly US$2.7 bil- are the main cultural signifier of domestic labour glo- lion) from Malaysia to Indonesia went through informal bally, though men are also found in domestic work channels (Hernández-Coss/Brown/Buchori/Endo/ (Duffy 2011). Todoroki/Naovalitha/Noor/March 2008). Indonesian Women Migrant Domestic Workers in the United Arab Emirates 31 domestic workers may help to identify systemic dys- 2.2 Framing Domestic Labour from functions that will carry negative consequences for the Perspective of Gender the protection of the rights of domestic workers in Equality: Context, Issues, and different places. This seems to be the main challenge for future attempts to ensure standards of ‘decent Implications work’ transnationally. Housework, activities related to the maintenance of Section 2.2 reviews the debate on domestic work the home and the well-being of its members, is peren- as an important concept in the gender politics of so- nial, historically specific, and culturally defined. The cial equality, focusing on the contextual significance framing and reframing of the definition of housework of its framing and the multi-scale implications for pol- by different theoretical tendencies make manifest an icy in today’s reality. Section 2.3 discusses the main ongoing struggle over the meaning of its economic, features of Indonesia’s national regimes of labour mi- social, and cultural value. Since they are created by gration and the UAE regulations affecting migrant do- particular relatively powerful interest groups, value mestic workers, highlighting how domestic work con- frameworks do play an important role in influencing tinues to be legally undefined. This has facilitated the public thinking and policy agendas. In the debate formation of informal rules of governance concerning about housework – renamed as ‘domestic labour’ and their presence in the Indonesian overseas workforce ‘domestic work’ by various authors (see Kaluzynska and in the UAE migrant workforce. Section 2.4 1980) – value frameworks are related to the wider de- presents the outcomes of this socio-legal environment bates about equal rights between men and women, as seen in the operation of the migration business in and to the distribution of resources to ensure these Condet, Indonesia. It also discusses the effects on the rights. For this reason, value frameworks should be lives of domestic workers in Abu Dhabi, who are analytically treated as historical and cultural products. known as ‘runaways’ in the local vernacular, and in le- The following discussion presents the different fram- gal terms as those who have ‘absconded’ from their ings of domestic labour on a broad canvas that can employers. The narrations of the personal experi- help capture the key aspects of people’s engagement ences of those who have sought protection in shelters with, avoidance of, or resistance to domestic work set up by the Indonesian embassy facilitate an under- and policy responses. Understanding domestic work standing of the practical meaning of being excluded through the perspective of the historical and cultural from the law as workers, and an appreciation of the relationships between the state, men’s and women's weight of inadequate national regimes of transna- gender identities, and the family can help us to appre- tional labour migration on their lives. The conclusion ciate subtle differences regarding how rules concern- points to the need for understanding of the social dy- ing domestic work can be enforced, altered, repro- namics that has formed and transformed a national re- duced, or reinvented at different levels and at specific gime of transnational labour migration. This under- points in time and space. standing can help shift such a regime towards a Within feminist debates in the Anglo-Saxon litera- direction that can better address the specific aspects of ture, housework as defined above has been variously the human security of domestic workers from a gender framed, reflecting the historical transformation of the perspective. This would include (1) security of identity relations that organize domestic work. These frames for those who join the transnational labour migration are: the ‘social factory’; the ‘second shift’; the ‘care flows (legal identity, gender identity, and sexual iden- deficit’; and the ‘international division of reproductive tity); (2) security of regulations covering working condi- labour’. Each category refers to an object of regulation tions and wages; (3) protection when rights are violated and to the people being implicated, such as: 1) a wage prior to and during migration and on return. A law that for housework for the housewife; 2) subsidized child- governs the presence of domestic workers is the first care for working parents; and 3) the intersections be- step. tween care regimes and migration regimes and their consequences for regulating the migrant workforce in care work. The term ‘social factory’ emerged in the context of post-World War II growth and the rise of the nu- clear family in Western democracies, as perceived through the application of Marxist categories to hu- man activities hitherto unanalysed by mainstream po- 32 Sulistyowati Irianto and Thanh-Dam Truong litical economy. Dalla Costa and James (1972) used The term “working women’s ‘second shift’” of- the term to depict those working-class homes under fered by Hochschild (1989) from a perspective of so- state-led capitalism where women were toiling with- cial psychology tries to capture the gendered division out recognition in physical isolation, resulting in their of responsibilities in the domestic sphere, including powerless position in the public domain. Though not just the manual work of maintenance of the living women's domestic work, as defined by the power unit but also the ‘embodied labour’ in the manage- holders, has no value, or only use value, it should be ment of emotions and healthy lives for family mem- seen as effectively as productive as men’s, and thus bers. Her perspective has provided the analytical containing a surplus value. This argument was aimed space to also appreciate the discrete meanings of cer- at using economic value to justify women’s class posi- tain housework activities within kinship, rather than tion in support of the campaign for a ‘wage for house- seeing them seamlessly as drudgery. The idea behind work’; housework was framed thus far as the ‘labour the second shift, it seems, was to reject the notion of of love’. An independent wage for women was seen as ‘social factory’ as a mechanistic concept, and to ac- a means of freeing them from patriarchal bondage un- knowledge the diverse activities of domestic work, der a marriage contract. some of which may be closer to the notion of care in However, both the absence of an employment re- human relationships. lationship within the family applying to domestic Care involves the human beings for whom care is work and its fragmented constitution posed many being provided as well as the ones who provide care. methodological problems for measurement and for Care needs can be mediated by different relationships discerning the embedded values – human and market. on a continuum of moments of the life cycle, and The debate about the use and exchange values was these can take many different forms. From this per- thus inconclusive. Himmelweit and Mohun (1977: 27) spective, Folbre (2002) proposes extending family val- offered a compromise by acknowledging that domes- ues to society as a whole in order to increase the qual- tic labour does reinforce women’s subordination, but ity and recognition of care, using different measures that this subordination is mainly due to the invisibility such as tax credits for the provision of care services by of domestic work and not necessarily due to profit. men and women who should also be encouraged to This had directed the campaign for gender equality to- share care duties in the family and community. wards making women’s work – paid or unpaid, at In the face of the advance of market liberalization home, in the labour market, in the community – visi- since the 1990s, intergenerational care (childcare and ble to policymakers (Beneria 1992). care for ageing people) has come under pressure in Today, in view of the Convention on the Elimina- many countries. Generally, childcare arrangements to tion of All Forms of Discrimination against Women alleviate the ‘second shift’ for working parents, how- (CEDAW) and the 1995 Beijing Plan of Action, a ever modest, became no longer seen as an entitle- widely shared view of gender equality rests on the be- ment. Subsequently, national care regimes, within lief that a socially just democracy must create the con- which domestic work is situated, have also been ditions for women to earn their own income as a ba- prised open to allow for the inflows of migrants sic requirement for achieving their political rights workers (Lutz/Palenga-Möllenbeck 2011). Sevenhui- (Molyneux/Razavi 2002). Yet, despite finely grained jsen’s (2003) study of the Dutch case directs attention differences, the codification of women’s work and to the shift of reasoning from the welfare to workfare wage as different from men’s has historically been a regime and to how the politics of social policy have dis- stable system of practices and signification (Krais cursively relocated care from state to societal level by 1993); the gender division of labour at home can be promoting practices of ‘active citizenship’. At the same extended to the labour market, as shown in early in- time, notions of relationality and interdependence have dustrialization periods when women entered waged been used to justify the actual relocation of care re- work (Rowbotham 1975), and during a resurgence of sponsibilities to families and communities. More gener- this phenomenon in the 1980s and 1990s (Tzannatos ally, support for subsidized childcare in the 1990s was 2008). In industrialized countries, the corresponding soon replaced by private services with tax rebates, pa- support through family policy for women’s responsi- rental/care leave and nanny/au pair arrangements bilities for household maintenance and child-rearing (Morgan/Zippel 2003; Lutz/Palenga-Möllenbeck has been found to be quite diverse owing to factors re- 2011). lated to sociocultural and political values and circum- From this position, Parreñas (2000) revises the stances (Gauthier 1996). concept of the international division of labour to Indonesian Women Migrant Domestic Workers in the United Arab Emirates 33 make it applicable to her analysis of practices of allo- from twelve per cent in the UAE to sixteen per cent in cating domestic and care responsibilities between Saudi Arabia and forty-six per cent in Kuwait (Bald- working women. Her concept of the international di- win-Edwards 2011). vision of reproductive labour tries to capture a reality Here, gender-based barriers to participation in the that involves women in Italy and in the USA who are labour force do not seem to be related to women’s employed in the formal labour market and who infor- lack of education and skills but to a combination of mally hire undocumented foreign women as domestic factors, such as religious and cultural values that bar workers and nannies to shoulder the burden of their women from certain jobs, or socio-spatial rules that second shift. In turn, these foreign women reallocate affect their mobility. The significant presence of do- their own second shift to women in their countries of mestic workers in this case seems to reflect the struc- origin for payment, or through the mechanisms of ex- ture of families and living arrangements, lifestyle, and tended kinship. Hochschild (2000) reconceptualized the maintenance of newly acquired social status (An- this phenomenon as links between people and la- derson 2000; Sabban 2002: 12–13). As has been sug- belled it the “global care chain”, emphasizing its inter- gested, the growing dependence of households on personal aspects. foreign domestic servants in the UAE may also be A variation of how households and family respond seen as part of the unspoken bargain between the to women's entry into the labour market may be modern state and the emerging civil society, by which found in East and South-East Asian high-growth coun- the state provides a leisured life in exchange for com- tries. In Japan and South Korea the organization of plete political control, leading to what has been de- domestic work under rapid industrialization has gone scribed by a local politician as the growth of an “un- through several phases. In the early phase of develop- productive family” (Sabban 2002: 13). ment the ‘second shift’ did not seem to affect women In this latest phase of the transformation of the re- workers significantly because most entered waged lations that organize domestic work, there is a revi- work at a pre-marital age, and withdrew from employ- sion of the term ‘second shift’ into the ‘care deficit’, ment when they reached childbearing age. Re-entry to to emphasize ‘care’ as a public issue (Ehrenreich/ the labour market at a later age through casual and Hochschild 2004) that concerns young children and part-time work allowed them to combine work and the ageing population as well as the health care sys- family duties (Brinton 1994). This scenario changes at tem (Yeates 2010). the onset of globalization. Given the difficulty of bal- In sum, the organization of domestic work, paid ancing work and family, more women have been de- or unpaid, must be seen as contextual and nested in a laying marriage to continue their education in order mixture of care-related institutions within a broader to have a career and an independent life (Raymo policy framework concerning gender equality, the 2003; Brinton 2001). In Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singa- family, and women's economic participation in a na- pore, and Malaysia, where rapid economic develop- tion state. The emerging intersection between care ment was also based on the massive entry of young and migration as distinct national policy domains calls women into the labour market, the presence of mi- for analytical attention to the value frames applied in grant domestic workers has become more visible as a the interpretation of care and domestic work within public issue throughout the 1990s and 2000s (Chin the broader transnational economy of care. The place 1998; Cheng 2003; Lan 2008). that care work (including domestic work) occupies in By contrast, the in-migration of domestic workers national law and policy regulating migration has con- from Asia and Africa to the Gulf Cooperation Coun- sequences for how actors cooperate among them- cil (GCC) countries presents a different reality, which selves transnationally in order to move care and do- raises some doubts about the universal relevance of mestic workers as service providers across borders. the concept of ‘second shift’ as originally defined. Their modes of cooperation have implications for ac- The GCC countries have been dependent on foreign countability that concern the protection of the rights labour since the beginning of the oil boom in the of the workers who are being moved in order to de- 1970s. They have adopted indigenization policies in liver a service. the last two decades to reduce this dependency and have implemented massive social development pro- grammes that drew many women into the spheres of education, economics, and politics. Even so, the cur- rent proportion of females in the labour force varies 34 Sulistyowati Irianto and Thanh-Dam Truong 2.3 The Place of Domestic Work in 2.3.1 Domestic Work Undefined in Migration Indonesian National Law on Law in Indonesia Labour Migration and the UAE Indonesia’s Law No. 39/2004 is an extensive modern Labour Law piece of legislation that provides guidelines for admin- istering the country’s labour migration policy and its Qualitative gender research on women’s labour migra- decentralization. It has evolved since 1977 from previ- tion from Indonesia to the GCC countries has pro- ous regulations.9 According to Robinson (1991; cited duced important insights into the role of state policy in Silvey 2004), the Indonesian government under Su- in producing the domestication of women transna- harto’s New Order had seen the prospects of gain tionally (Silvey 2004), and into how women’s agency from the export of labour to the Middle Eastern in joining the overseas workforce as domestic workers countries since 1983, when it permitted private agents is also shaped by their gendered identity, personal 8 to recruit its nationals to work abroad through formalconceptions of motherhood, and faith (Silvey 2006). channels. From 1984 to 1994 the majority of docu- Rudnyckyj’s (2004) study of recruitment practices mented workers chose Saudi Arabia. Two-thirds of uses Foucault’s concept of governmentality to dissect these workers were women, of whom some eighty per practices of the state and recruiting agencies, showing cent were estimated to be in domestic service; this what she calls the “technology of servitude”, or the was seen by the government as an emerging niche production of the “maid” as a “docile subject” within market (Silvey 2004: 250). a grid of power relations. Missing is a perspective that Under Suharto’s New Order, state ideology con- reveals what Rajan and Varghese (2010) call a “na- cerning the family – built on the ideal of the middle- tional regime of transnationalism” in labour migration class nuclear family with a non-working wife – was al- that comprises specific administrative and policy tered to justify the active encouragement of low-in- frameworks, supported by discursive practices on na- come women to migrate overseas for work. These tional identity and interests in capturing transnational women were called upon to play the dual role of fam- resource flows in migration. These provide the nor- ily maintenance and wage earning through migration mative context within which transnational coopera- “as long as their mobility did not interfere with their tion between institutions and private actors can take domestic duties…[and] for the sake of the ‘national’ place in different localities. Situating Indonesian do- family’s larger goal of economic development” (Silvey mestic workers in this perspective can help unpack 2004: 253). the dense institutional context that regulates their mi- Following the financial crisis of 1997 and the fall gration and the connecting links with the receiving of Suharto’s New Order, deregulation and decentrali- countries. Together these regulations and practices of zation policies have generated a remarkable growth of relevant actors define the boundaries of women’s licensed migration brokers operating within a certain agency in different places and at different stages of geographical and cultural proximity (Malaysia and the their migration. GCC countries [IOM 2010]). In 2002 Malaysia imple- Indonesia’s Law No. 39/2004 on the Placement mented the Immigration Act to limit migrant labour and Protection of Indonesian Manpower Abroad inflows, which resulted in the mass deportation of In- does not have a specific regulation governing domes- donesian migrant workers. Subsequently, migrant tic workers. UAE Federal Law No. 8 on labour ex- workers and migrant labour organizations intensified cludes domestic workers, who are placed under immi- gration law where they are governed by the Kafala system (Esim/Smith 2004; Nisha 2011). Jointly, these 9 Ministerial Decision No. 4/1970 on worker’s deploy- laws leave domestic workers vulnerable to abuse with- ment; Ministerial Decision No. 1/1983 on private com- out formal avenues for redress. Interpersonal relation- panies in charge of worker’s deployment; Ministerial ships prevail over formal standards in rights protection. Decision No. 5/1988 on employment between coun- tries, extended by Ministerial Decision No. 1/1991 under the same name; Ministerial Decision No. 2/1994 8 Silvey (2006) shows how, as mothers and followers of on placement of workers inside and outside the coun- Islam, in choosing to migrate for domestic work these try; Ministerial Decision No. 204/1999 on the place- women are also pursuing their desire to improve their ment of Indonesian workers overseas extended by children’s social standing (through acquiring consumer Ministerial Decision No. 104/2000 and then extended goods such as motorbikes for their sons) as well as to again by Ministerial Decision No. 104 A/2002 on the improve their family status by visiting their Holy Land. same issue. Indonesian Women Migrant Domestic Workers in the United Arab Emirates 35 their demands on the Indonesian government for PER-23/MEN/V/2006, removed in 2007 and rein- more protection (Ford 2004). This has prompted the stated in 2008 due to pressure from civil society or- introduction of Indonesian Law No. 39, 2004, a pri- ganizations. Thus the law now recognizes the risk of mary piece of legislation that provides the key legal rape in the workplace but is still reluctant to recognize principles for an extended system of administration labour abuse. under the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration Without legal recognition of their presence, fe- with an expanding numbers of affiliated Decrees in male domestic migrant workers are vulnerable to vio- the last few years. lations of rights committed by the staff of recruiting Law No. 39, 2004 makes no reference to ‘domes- agencies, trainers, employers, or other actors in the tic work’ as a category, and mentions ‘women’ as a so- migration business. The protection they may receive cial group only once in Article 35, which refers to “fe- overseas by the representatives of their government is male currently not pregnant” as a criterion of derived from their citizenship and not necessarily eligibility for employment overseas. It recognizes the from their being recognized as a full member of the presence of ‘women’ as a social group insofar as their Indonesian overseas workforce. state of pregnancy is concerned, and uses this as a Furthermore, there is a consensus among scholars barrier to entry. The character of the work they do in and civil society organizations in Indonesia that Law domestic service is left out. For this reason, this law No. 39, 2004 is weak on protection. Despite a cannot give women domestic workers the same pro- number of additional Ministerial Decrees and central tection it affords other workers. More significantly, it government regulations, the overall assessment is that cannot include the category of domestic work until the law puts far too much emphasis on work place- national labour legislation does. ment and pays insufficient attention to protection Articles 33 and 34 of Labour Law No. 13/2003 dif- measures within Indonesia’s territory and abroad. ferentiate between domestic employment and over- Among the 109 articles and sixteen chapters, there are seas employment. Supporters of a centralized ap- only eight articles (Articles 77 to 84) that regulate pro- proach to the management of transnational labour tection, while the rest deal with the mechanisms for migration use these clauses to keep Law 39, 2004 on the placement of migrant workers. The articles on labour migration separate from labour law (Bachtiar protection do not codify the specific rights for which 2011). The absence of an evidence-based discussion at an Indonesian migrant worker can enjoy legal protec- the national level about legislation concerning domes- tion, and do not comprehensively govern protection tic work, whether provided inside Indonesia or as in the migration process across all stages. part of the labour export programme, may reflect a Article 76 states that private recruiting agencies deeply rooted ambiguity in society about gender rela- can charge the following costs: processing identity tions generally, and domestic labour in particular. The documents; health and psychological tests; job train- tension between central and local government levels ing and certificates; others. The category ‘others’ is in interpreting responsibilities may also play a role. spelled out in Decree No. PER.14/MEN/X/2010 and In 2001, a Draft Law on Domestic Work was sub- covers: visas; food and accommodation during train- mitted by a non-governmental organization to the Pro- ing; airfare; airport tax; local transport to the training vincial Parliament of Yogyakarta; but it was met with centre; insurance premium; and agency service fees. Ar- silence. Subsequent attempts were also made at the ticle 77 defines protection in phases: pre-placement, level of the City Government and the Regency Gov- placement, and post-placement, and the rest of the pro- ernment of Yogyakarta (ILO 2006: 17). In 2010 a draft visions define placement in terms of the specific period of the Domestic Workers’ Protection Bill was placed during which the worker is deployed overseas. on the national legislative agenda for debate, and Article 82 assigns private human resources compa- again in 2011. In June 2012, Parliamentary Commis- nies to be in charge of recruitment and training; these sion IX decided to postpone the debate. According to are to be known as private recruitment agencies. The Amnesty International, the lack of progress on the Bill regulations covering education and training in the pre- is due to unresolved disputes between political par- departure phase (Article 42, sub-point 1) demonstrate ties.10 Though domestic work is not legally recog- the seriousness of the government in preparing the nized, the risk of rape was included in Decree No. applicants for labour export programmes with knowl- edge of the law and an understanding of their rights in line with the requirements of their jobs in the des- 10 See at: (accessed 19 June 2012). 36 Sulistyowati Irianto and Thanh-Dam Truong tives of the migrant domestic workers in the UAE, process of decision-making in migration, whereas the this intent does not appear to have been taken seri- emigration rule concerning passport processing re- ously by private recruitment agencies, possibly due to quires the formal approval of a family member. cost factors and competition. In sum, the combination of the absence of a spe- To obtain a licence, a private recruiting agency cial law governing the presence of domestic workers must have a work plan and sufficient capital require- in the country and as they join the overseas workforce ments. The financial requirements for obtaining a and the weakness of Law No. 39, 2004 on protection placement licence consist of a deposit of Indonesian may be regarded as a structural cause of their vulnera- Rupiah 500 million (US$50,000) and a working capi- bility in the migration process. In spite of their contri- tal of the same amount (ILO 2006). There is no re- butions to the economic development of the ‘national quirement for the work plan to specify protection family’, migrant domestic workers in Indonesia are measures for overseas workers, for example against still waiting for the nation to act on reducing their extortion and overcharging. As Bachtiar notes (2011: structural vulnerability. 1–9), eighty per cent of the problems facing migrant workers (identity fraud, extortion, and detention) oc- 2.3.2 Exclusion of the Category of Domestic cur on Indonesian territory. Yet there is no clause cov- Worker in the UAE’s Federal Law No. 8 ering who supervises the recruiting agency and moni- and the Role of the Kafala System tors overcharging. There is no penal sanction or punishment covering practices by a recruiting agency In the last three decades the oil economy has helped that violate the regulations regarding work contracts. the UAE to acquire a prominent international eco- Criticism has led to the introduction of Government nomic profile and a regional political profile as one of Regulation No. 38/2007, which spells out the supervi- the most liberal countries in the GCC. With a rela- sion of recruitment and outlines thirteen other re- tively small indigenous labour force, large-scale in- sponsibilities of local government,11 but it is unclear flows of low-skilled guest workers and highly skilled as to whether local governments have the resources to expatriates were required to ensure the transition carry out these duties (Bachtiar 2011). from a traditional subsistence economy, characterized Articles 83 and 84 require the worker to pay a fee by herding, agriculture, fishing, pearling, and sea to cover assistance and protection overseas. Decree trade, into a modern economy under a federal state No. PER-23/MEN/V/2006 obliges workers to pay for system. The foreign labour force now constitutes their insurance prior to departure, yet there is no clear ninety per cent of the total labour force (Shah 2008: indication of what services are available when the 20). Low-skilled workers are deployed primarily in worker encounters a legal problem or a misfortune construction (infrastructure and housing) and in while working overseas. Finally, the law also refers to cleaning and domestic services. the implicit or partial involvement of family members As in other GCC countries, the UAE’s manage- when a migrant worker dies at her or his workplace ment of inflows of expatriates and foreign workers (Article 73, sub-points 2 b, d, and e). It thereby places has been supported by what Longa (2005) calls the members of the family of migrant workers outside the “ethnocratic politics” of governing, or a normative system of inclusion/exclusion. Under this system, the 11 These responsibilities include: (i) information dissemi- indigenous people – a minority from a demographic nation; (ii) registration of workers; (iii) selection of point of view – are politically dominant and benefit workers; (iv) supervision of recruitment; (v) facilitation from generous state support in many spheres of life. of bilateral and multilateral agreement implementation; Foreign workers are governed by Kafala – a sponsor- (vi) permit to establish a private recruitment agency ship system based on a two-year, renewable contract – branch office; (vii) recommendation for workers to and classified according to their region, nationality, obtain their passport; (viii) information and dissemina- tion of information regarding opportunities in overseas ethnicity, and skills. employment in a computerized system and supervision Shah (2008) notes that the UAE’s structural de- of compliance by the migrant worker’s application on pendency on migrant labour stems from two diver- payment of the required protection fee; (ix) socializa- gent tendencies. On the one hand, the strategic diver- tion of the contents of placement and work contract; sification of the industrial structure towards a post-oil (x) assessment and validation of a placement contract; economy has expanded activities such as manufactur- (xi) assistance, supervision, monitoring of placement, ing, construction, and services, some of which are la- and protection of migrants; (xii) permit; (xiii) home return service. bour-intensive and most of which are privately owned. Indonesian Women Migrant Domestic Workers in the United Arab Emirates 37 On the other hand, nationals prefer employment in the Unit for Handling Problems in the Immigra- the public sector or to remain unemployed because of tion Office. superior benefits. Attempts to solve this problem 3. If a domestic worker runs away from her em- through the expansion of education and vocational ployer, the employer must report this to the Immi- training have achieved limited results. This has created gration Office and give the worker’s passport to not only a segmented labour market, but also spatially the Office. and socially divided societies, within which strong in- 4. A domestic worker who runs away loses all her formal networks of care have been developing among rights as set forth in the contract and her resi- the migrant populations across and also within eth- dence permit will be revoked after the employer nic, national, gender, and class categories (Ticku files a report to the Immigration office. No later 2009; Kathiravelu 2012). than one week following that, the domestic The UAE Federal Law No. 8 on the Regulation of worker must leave the UAE. Otherwise, she is de- Labour Relations of 20 April 1980 (with a consoli- clared to have violated the immigration regula- dated version including amendments up to 2001) ap- tions and her status is changed into overstayer and plies to foreign workers but excludes the category of illegal, punishable by fine and imprisonment. domestic worker, locally referred to as a servant work- 5. Every worker, including domestic workers wishing ing in a private residence, though it is expected that to leave the UAE, must first obtain clearance from changes will be made in view of the government sup- the Immigration Office, who will issue his or her port of the ILO convention on Decent Work for Do- visa. Without clearance, a worker may not leave mestic Workers. At the time of the research, the Im- the UAE. migration Department of the Ministry of Interior has 6. Under the sponsorship system (Kafala), a domes- jurisdiction over domestic workers. There is no other tic worker does not have to obtain a labour card in law governing their presence in the country; the em- order to be employed, nor does the employer ployment contract is the only legal reference of their need to seek the approval of the Ministry of La- presence.12 Under immigration law the following bour for their employment. principles are binding: Rooted in Bedouin culture, the Kafala system is or- 1. A foreign national may stay in the UAE as a ganized around the concept of ‘guardianship’ by domestic worker so long as there is a sponsor which a ‘guest’ is given a place in the ‘host’ abode. (employer) willing to be her guarantor. The system operated as a custom of temporarily 2. Prior to issuing a residence permit, the immigra- granting protection to strangers, and even affiliation tion office requires each employer and domestic into the tribe for specific purposes (Beagué 1986; employee to sign an employment agreement wit- cited in Longva 1999: 78). It was adopted as the prac- nessed by an immigration official. The employ- tice of labour organizations on the pearling dhows ment agreement contains provisions on the rights and now serves more broadly in the organization of and responsibilities of both parties and the agree- migrant labour (Longva 1999). ment will be a legal reference should there be any In its modern form, Kafala operates simultane- dispute in the future. In the event of a dispute con- ously as an employment and residence system, sup- cerning the content of the agreement, any party porting a relationship of structural dependency that who feels a disadvantage may report the matter to normalizes the practices of withholding migrant work- ers’ passports and of socio-spatial control. These have given rise to practices such as guarded labour camps 12 On 22 June 2011, the government of the UAE voted in favour of the the International Labour Organization's known ‘bachelor cities’ for male workers (Gardner Convention 189 and Recommendation 201 on Decent 2011) and strict mobility control over live-in domestic Work for Domestic Workers. Before the convention workers.13 In some cases, the kafeel (sponsor) may comes into force, a two-stage ratification process must take on the position of a guardian who holds the re- be completed: (1) the government must verify to what sponsibility for potential cultural transgressions by extent their existing laws meet the convention’s require- foreign workers. This can also normalize and legiti- ments; (2) the government must then work to align themselves with the convention, if necessary. This may involve new legislation or amendments to existing law. See at: beirut/downloads/aef/migration_eng.pdf> (accessed 1 (accessed 9 March 2012). April 2012). 38 Sulistyowati Irianto and Thanh-Dam Truong mize control over the behaviour and social contacts of and Arabic, rather than Indonesian, must be signed – migrant workers. As Gardner (2010, 2011) shows, rela- a factor that contributes much to the clash of perspec- tions of structural dependency can turn into structural tives on wage and work conditions. Upon arrival, an- violence, particularly when migrants abscond from other contract, which assigns the worker to the posi- untenable positions with their sponsors, thus aban- tion of the third part, must be signed. doning the sole legal position under which they can Informants have reported cases in which the con- be employed. tract signed in Indonesia prior to departure specifies The risks for those who run away from their em- a monthly salary of 800 Dirham (US$217), the official ployers are serious. The employer can make a state- minimum wage in the UAE, while the one signed in ment of absconding to the UAE migration office, the UAE states their salary as 600 (US$163) or even which releases all obligations towards their domestic 500 Dirham (US$136). From this perspective, ab- worker. Under the terms of the Employment Agree- sconding by the worker means a lost investment for ment for Domestic Workers and Sponsors, running the employer and administrative and legal problems away from the employer is perceived as illegal and for the agency. For the worker, absconding can be the punishable by UAE law. Runaways know that they are result of a system of multiple contracts, an anomaly breaking the law and can be deported. Still, the risk of arising from the involvement of several parties at dif- leaving an oppressive relationship is better for them ferent stages (recruitment and placement). It appears than staying without a voice. Joining the illegal labour that the employment agency can make gains from force is an option, especially for those who have heavy both the employer and the worker, by charging a fee financial obligations at home (such as debts incurred to the former, and deducting the salary of the latter. in the pre-migration phase), or who simply wish to re- Since monitoring by the UAE Immigration Office coup their losses. can neither reach the daily practices of signing a con- Data gathered from different sources, including tract, nor deal with the volume of labour disputes, discussions with the owner of an employment agency many domestic workers end up running away from in the UAE, revealed some important issues embed- their employers rather than going to the Immigration ded in the practices of signing contracts that might ex- Office. Consistent complaints about absconding from plain absconding. An employer first places an order employers, as well as from the representatives of the for a domestic worker with an employment agency migrant workers in the sending countries, have led to and pays general fees to the UAE government when the launch by the government of Dubai of an initiative the worker arrives. These include a residency visa, a to enforce specific requirements in the contract. The refundable deposit, service fees, and a medical test initiative was later adopted at the federal (state) level and government health card. The cost can run to and eventually the provision in the contract related to 9,000 Dirham or US$2,450. In addition to this, a fee ‘domestic help’ was passed on 1 April 2007. This pro- to the employment agency must also be paid, and this vision includes the following standards: duration of can be up to US$398 (as of 2005; Shah 2008: 10). the contract, salary and other benefits, accommoda- Upon the arrival of the domestic worker, the employ- tion, healthcare, working hours, paid leave, repatria- ment agency and employer sign a written agreement tion ticket, dispute settlement, recruitment fees, and that sets out a warranty for a replacement of the do- coordination with the relevant embassies. Domestic mestic worker in the first three months (probation pe- migrant workers are now obliged to sign the contract riod). If the worker cannot continue working for spe- upon arrival under the auspices of the UAE Immigra- cific reasons, the agency is obliged to replace her with tion Office. The worker’s passport has been declared another worker. This contract is important to prevent a personal document not to be withheld by an em- disputes between the agency and the domestic ployer or agency. worker’s employer. In sum, the structural dependency of households It is important to note that the agency is the first in the UAE on domestic workers also comes with a party and the sponsor (employer) the second party to price tag for all sides. Inadequate pre-departure brief- the contract. The name and nationality of the em- ings and inadequate training on legal rights and obli- ployer and the name and nationality of the domestic gations can lead to conflict at the workplace abroad. worker and the wage are stated in the contract, which Placing domestic work outside the labour law and un- also has to be signed by the migrant domestic worker der immigration law in the receiving country puts the as a third party. From the perspective of the migrant worker under constant threat of deportation while worker, before departure a contract written in English providing no room for negotiation over labour con- Indonesian Women Migrant Domestic Workers in the United Arab Emirates 39 flict (perceived or real). Legally, the state is the sole in Abu Dhabi, as the main research location. Follow- protector of the rights of citizens, foreign residents, ing Kaptani and Yuval-Davis (2008), a participatory and workers. Yet governments on both the sending theatre was adopted as a sociological research and receiving sides have allowed third parties to prac- method to provide embodied, dialogical, and illustra- tise unfair contractual dealing regarding work. tive data and information on the articulation of the power relations in different phases of the migration process in the lived experience. 2.4 Recruitment and Placement as a Business: The View from Condet 2.4.2 Condet as a One-stop Service Centre and the Voices of Women Domestic Workers in Abu Dhabi Originally a small enclave for the indigenous people of Jakarta (the Betawi) and a conservation area (Budi- ati 1995), in the last three decades Condet has been 2.4.1 Field Research Methodology absorbed by urban development and now serves as a The field research methodology tries to trace the ar- business centre for labour recruiting and deployment ticulation of standards of domestic work in practice, overseas, especially to GCC countries. The commu- despite their absence in the law. Fieldwork in Indone- nity has undergone Islamic gentrification in terms of sia was conducted in 2008 in Condet, a community fashions and lifestyles after decades of pilgrimage to that serves as a processing centre for labour migra- Saudi Arabia and labour migration to the GCC coun- tion. Observations aimed at mapping the socio-spatial tries. Much of its spatial transformation has been aspects of recruitment, one-to-one interviews with sev- driven by its new role as an important service centre eral owners of local recruiting agencies, persons work- where rural women undergo the ‘initiation rites’ to ing with supporting facilities, and the relevant officials become a member of Indonesia’s overseas workforce in the Ministry of Labour aimed at gaining insights as domestic workers. This is the place where the im- into how Indonesian Law No. 39/2004 is imple- plementation of Indonesia’s Law No. 39/2004 on the mented in the pre-departure phase, and at identifying Placement and Protection of Indonesian Manpower the main legal and administrative problems that Abroad can be observed as practised and lived. Con- should be explored further in the UAE. det may be considered as a silent witness of women’s In the UAE, fieldwork was conducted in 2010 at entry into the ‘social factory’ that produces ‘domestic the shelters set up by the Indonesian embassy in Abu workers’ as labour for export, a mechanical process Dhabi and the Indonesian consulate in Dubai, se- with little regard for the dignity of the person. 15 lected recruiting agencies and the Zayed Women's For migrant applicants, the pre-departure phase is University.14 These shelters provide accommodation the most critical and involves much paperwork: an and assistance to Indonesian domestic workers who identity card; an education diploma; a birth certificate have absconded and are facing problems with the law or a marriage certificate; a letter of permission from of the host country. During the research visits, there husband or wife or guardian; a passport; a medical were always approximately seventy women in the Abu certificate. Migrant applicants have to rely on a re- Dhabi shelter and 100 women in the Dubai shelter. cruitment agency for many services. An important Several focus group discussions (FGDs) were held in point to note is that because the financial ceiling re- the Abu Dhabi shelter at different times. Between quired by Law No. 39/2004 for eligibility to set up a fifty-six and seventy women participated in the FGDs recruitment agency is too high, few entrepreneurs each time. Each FGD consisted of eight women, fo- could comply. An unintended consequence is the rise cusing on the extent to which they have a legal under- of unlicensed agencies. standing of being a woman, a domestic worker, and a In Condet, a common practice among unlicensed migrant, and how their status as a legal subject ena- agencies is to “borrow” a licence from a legal agency bles or prevents their access to legal assistance. In- to run the business. The owner of the registered depth interaction between the researchers and agency to which the licence belongs controls its use. women migrant domestic workers took place mainly 15 Women applicants must submit their bio-data, pictures, and other personal information to help recruitment 14 Female students in this university employ domestic agencies on the sending side and employment agencies workers. on the receiving side find an appropriate match. 40 Sulistyowati Irianto and Thanh-Dam Truong The choice of which company’s licence to borrow is work skills base on the type of work, situation, condi- governed by family relationships or friendship. Any- tion, culture, custom, religion, work risks, language of one can run a recruiting agency with a borrowed li- the destination country, and the rights and obliga- cence, as long as the owner of the licence is kept in- tions of the workers. In Condet most training facili- formed about the operation. Bribes and other ties for domestic workers were integrated in the shel- informal arrangements to obtain required documents ter, with limited scope for effective learning. and clearances are common among unlicensed agen- Furthermore, many recruiting agencies do not own a cies. training facility; applicants who go through these Despite government prohibition of pseudo-recruit- channels did not undergo any training. The involve- ing agencies, many still operate with a borrowed li- ment of multiple stakeholders in Condet in providing cence. One way of “legalizing” a pseudo-business con- services to aspirant migrants cannot be separated sists of a request from the pseudo-agency to the from the fact that migration has become a lucrative licensed company to issue a formal letter of appoint- business. ment as its ‘sub-division’. The ‘sub-division’ receives a Using the research data collected, the relationship verbally agreed share from the licensed company, between structural dependency and the costs of mi- ranging from Indonesian Rupiah 300,000 (US$30) to gration for the workers are summarized in the follow- Indonesian Rupiah 400,000 (US$40) per worker ing tables. sent. If any government official, such as those from the Ministry of Labour or police, come to inspect it is Table 2.1: Recruitment Fees Breakdown: A Sample. sufficient for the ‘sub-division’ to show the letter of Source: Morgan and Nolan (2011). appointment and to ensure that there is no signboard Item Cost (in IND Cost (in US in front of the office. To maintain the flow of the Rupiah) Dollars) business as a pseudo-agency, the owner must regularly Medical examination 250,000 30 pay protection money to the local police. Apart from recruiting agencies and their ‘sub-divi- Insurance 950,000 111 sions’, ‘street hawker agencies’ are those unlicensed Passport processing* 50,000 6 actors who usually settle in rented houses away from Airline ticket** +/- 5,000,000 600 the main road, some of them only tenements. Local Labour tax on agency 250,000 30 residents of Condet explained that these are sub-let to women migrant worker applicants who need a transit Agency fee 500,000 60 place for three or four days during which they must Total 6,950,000 837 go through the pre-departure process. Another affiliated business is the medical service * The government charges a fee of Indonesian Rupiah providing blood and urine tests and X-rays for mi- 50,000 to process passports for new and first-time grant worker applicants before they can proceed with migrant workers and Indonesian Rupiah 300,000 for passport renewals. training and passport processing. In Condet, there are at least eight medical centres in operation. The tariffs ** This is the largest expense and the one which agen- of medical tests set by the government in 2007 range cies try to manage most closely, given the inevitable uncertainties around price fluctuations. Urgent from Indonesian Rupiah 306,500 (US$33) to Indone- demands to fulfil job orders often increase this cost sian Rupiah 597,000 (US$65), depending on the re- further and cut into agencies’ margins. The cost of quirements of the destination countries. The aim of the air ticket is adjusted for Jakarta-Dubai. the tariff is to ensure the quality of the medical tests. A local informant reported that some medical centres To sum up, a major outcome of the absence of a law were found to be providing sub-standard health certif- governing domestic workers within a territory as well icates for migrant workers. They lowered their fees to as when they migrate for work in another territory, to- Indonesian Rupiah 150,000 (US$16) to attract clients gether with the privatization of the migration busi- and in consequence the tests were inaccurate, on one ness, is the fostering of an environment in which mi- occasion leading to the return of about 1,000 migrant grant domestic workers are subject to successive workers. relations of structural dependency that can reduce Legally, every recruiting agency is required to pro- their status to ‘labour-as-commodity’, rather than per- vide training for migrant worker applicants. The train- sons with rights. ing is to provide knowledge and understanding of Indonesian Women Migrant Domestic Workers in the United Arab Emirates 41 Table 2.2: Recruitment and Placement: Successive Structural Dependency. Source: Compiled by the authors. Recruitment, key actors, and pre- Processing and pre-departure Work placement in the host country financing preparation Village Broker: Human Resource Company (locally Employment Agency: • pre-finances cost for the aspirant referred to as recruiting agency): • works with a human resource com- migrant to travel to urban areas to • liaises with unlicensed company to pany in the country of origin of the apply for an overseas job. obtain qualified workers; migrant but has no incentives to investigate its practices; Unlicensed company: • works with brokers in destination countries to deliver them; • receives a fee from employer per • works with a licensed human worker allocated. resource company and receives a • income is based on the volume of share per worker sent. employees placed in destination countries. Domestic Migrant Worker applicant Successful Migrant Domestic Worker Migrant Domestic Worker under social under social and financial dependency: applicant under financial dependency and legal dependency • borrows money from the village bro- • receives an advance for ticket and • depends on employment agency as ker (or other sources), who can be a other costs (fees, and pre-departure the third party in the destination member of the local elite, in order to costs); country to mediate problems with get to the recruiting centre; • pays back through wage deduction the employer; • if successful proceeds to the next for the first few months; • pays a portion of the monthly wage step with a human resource com- • faces threat of deportation for non- for this service; pany; compliance with employer’s • submits passport to agency or • if unsuccessful tries another com- demands. employer; pany, usually unlicensed; pressure of • in case of conflict with the employer debt and honour is a strong incen- goes to agency for mediation; tive to continue; • faces unclear standards on griev- • faces more risks with an unlicensed ance handling processes (can be company due to the lack of transpar- threatened at this stage to be forced ency and accountability. to return to work or be locked up, both as a means of harsh punish- ment and as ‘storage’ until the next employer can be found). 2.4.3 The Weight of Dysfunctional Law and own passport with her. Suspension of passport by Policy on Domestic Workers: Voices their employers, or recruiting agencies, was consid- from the Embassy’s Shelters in Abu ered to be a ‘normal’ practice. Dhabi and Dubai When asked As mentioned in the previous section, at the pre-de- “What do you know about the regulations in the UnitedArab Emirates which apply to domestic workers?”, parture phase recruiting agencies are responsible for the education and training of the workers and there is a typical response was no obligation on the part of the government to mon- “… law of the UAE requires a domestic worker to have itor the quality of the training. The dire consequences important documents, which means that an Indonesian of the lack of monitoring are expressed by the ab- citizen who comes to the UAE must have an identity sence of any consciousness of the legal implications document from her country. A domestic worker must of moving across borders among the majority of know the name of her agency in the UAE and the name of her employer, comply with the law and customs in women who have run away from their employers. the UAE, work properly as expected by the employer, Many women did not properly understand the official sign the contract and keep to the contract while work- migration procedures in Indonesia, much less the le- ing in the workplace...”. gal protection provided in the United Arab Emirates. Another common response was Most significantly, they did not realize the importance of a passport as a legal document. At the time of the “... never heard...” or “.... don’t know...” or “...never interviews, there was no single woman who had her know...”. 42 Sulistyowati Irianto and Thanh-Dam Truong Only few of them knew that the employer must also These findings suggest that the training offered dur- comply with, and treat domestic workers in accord- ing the pre-departure stage, which should provide the ance with the applicable law as set forth in the work- migrant workers with legal knowledge, falls short of ing contract. They understood that during their stay this duty. Training in the relevant laws seemed to be in the UAE, they are entitled to insurance and can ac- mixed with information about the working contract cess hospital care whenever they are sick or injured. and the culture of the host country, and failed to im- They knew that, when abused, they are entitled to part systematically the knowledge of the law required have their case specifically handled by the police, and when crossing national borders and the importance they can report to the Indonesian embassy to seek jus- of the passport as a legal document. Training in tice from the UAE government when they are in con- knowledge of the relevant law is ultimately the re- flict with their employer. sponsibility of the government because it concerns When asked the rights of migrant workers as citizens of Indonesia. “Who holds your passport while you are in the UAE?”, Entrusting this task to recruiting agencies involves a “What is the content of the passport?”, and “What hap- conflict of interests, i.e. ‘producing’ obedient subjects pened to your passport when you ran away?”, to fulfil the employment contract smoothly versus im- a common response was that it was bound by the parting knowledge about the citizenship rights of working contract, therefore must be held by the em- workers deployed overseas by their government so ployer. If they cause trouble, the passport will move to that they can defend their rights. another hand. If they went to the Immigration Office Recruiting agencies in Indonesia are obliged by to try and settle their problem with their employer, law to ensure their workers access to legal aid, cov- then their passports would be held by the ‘authority’, ered by payment to the insurance consortium by the cited as the employer, immigration office, agency, and migrants before departure. In the event that migrant the Indonesian embassy. None knew that since 2007 workers face a legal problem in the receiving country, UAE law has prohibited employers and recruiters the insurance consortium would cooperate with local from withholding a migrant worker’s passport. lawyers or with the institution that handles legal pro- Some of them mentioned that the Immigration tection for foreign workers. A gender-specific issue for Office in the UAE is the institution that issued their migrant women domestic workers concerns the risk residence permit, and that a passport contains the sta- of rape. Despite the fact that the law covers the risk tus of a person in the UAE, i.e. the validity of their of being raped, this coverage is far removed from re- stay in the country and their status as ‘domestic ality. helper’, and overstaying would make them subject to A runaway domestic worker shared her experience deportation. of being raped by her male employer as follows. After the incident, she reported to her female employer (the “...A passport is the evidence that we have stayed for wife), who settled the matter with the placement two years in the UAE because we are not citizens of the agency and gave the agency 2,100 Dirham (US$573). UAE...”. The amount covered the salary owed to her, minus The women workers also understood that if they the cost of the flight ticket. The female employer told practised takmim (absconding), their permit to stay the victim to go to the employment agency to claim in the UAE would expire. Some said that the em- her entitlement. She proceeded with these instruc- ployer should return the passport of the worker who tions and was confined on the sixth floor of an office ran away because, without a passport, the worker building where the agency is located for one month would not be able to return to her country. One and four days, having to endure physical punishment, woman shared her anxiety: denial of food, and the threat of being sold to some- “… I cannot return to Indonesia yet and will stay longer one in Oman. She absconded from the employment in the shelter of the Indonesian embassy, because I have agency with the help of co-workers (Indonesian, Fili- to wait until I get a ticket, while my employer kept my pino, and Indian women trapped in the same situa- passport. If the employer does not return the passport, tion) to reach her embassy. At the embassy, she re- I will be put in prison or return to Indonesia using a ceived protection but faced problems in processing ‘temporary’ passport. Some employers keep or burn her insurance claim due to the clauses that oblige their passport as an expression of their anger against workers who run away ... to make their status illegal ... claimants to attach a report from a medical doctor, a it is hard to recover the unpaid salary or salary which is letter from the local police, specific medication and taken by the employer without a legal status...”. Indonesian Women Migrant Domestic Workers in the United Arab Emirates 43 treatment from the hospital, and/or a letter from the Indonesian embassy’s shelters reveal a dysfunctional representative of Indonesia in the host country. system of migration management that has allowed Even if these conditions are fulfilled, the prevailing space for the circumvention of legal and administra- practice of allowing the insurance company to ap- tive standards, which in themselves are already weak point lawyers can create a conflict of interest because on protection and strong on fees to be paid by the insurance companies are business-oriented entities, workers. Ensuring the standards of ‘decent work’ for and therefore must minimize the scope of being the domestic workers deployed overseas will require an party who ends up paying the settlement (ILO 2006: institutional transformation at many levels, with a spe- 25). In fact, the insurance coverage for the risk of acts cial law governing domestic workers as the first step. of violence, including rape, during the employment phase can offer protection on paper only. Running away from a situation of abuse is a right. 2.5 Conclusion Because of the legal implication of absconding, run- ning away is seen as a crime. The consequence of stay- This chapter has shown how the absence of a specific ing in the shelter is that they have to undergo the re- law governing the presence of domestic workers in In- quired process in the embassy, and they have to donesia’s overseas workforce and the UAE’s migrant accept whatever decisions are taken for them. For workforce combined with deregulation of labour and those women facing a lawsuit due to charges such as migration-related services has fostered national re- adultery, theft, and child abuse, providing legal con- gimes of labour migration that generate the condi- sultancy and aid has become the most important task tions of structural dependency for domestic migrant of the Indonesian embassy. workers. These occur at several places in the process The Indonesian government set up a labour at- of their migration and are interlinked. Within a larger taché in 2005 in five host countries, including the policy environment that does not recognize domestic UAE. Help mechanisms as of 2010 include: (a) shel- work as work to begin with, it is easier for the unethi- tering; (b) reaching agreements with recruiting agen- cal practices adopted by mediating institutions to be cies to guarantee protection for domestic workers; (c) diffused, allowing the framework of reasoning about endorsing self-regulation by hosting regular meetings the transnational migration of domestic workers to with recruiting agencies from across the UAE, deter- become tilted towards economic gains rather than the mining the minimum salary standard for non-Emirati protection of rights. Understanding the social dynam- employees, and blacklisting unethical recruiting agen- ics that have formed, and can transform, a national re- cies; (d) facilitating dispute settlement (providing legal gime of transnational labour migration into a domes- consultancy, legal service, and mediation).16 However, tic service can better address the specific aspects of because of the different legal jurisdictions only local human security faced by domestic migrant workers in lawyers are allowed to handle cases in the UAE. The different places. involvement of Indonesian government representa- Domestic workers who have absconded and tives is limited to escorting the victim of an abuse to sought protection in the shelter of the Indonesian em- report her case at the police office. The alternative bassy in Abu Dhabi and Dubai may be considered as possibility is to build a partnership between the Indo- a prototype of the justice seeker in the transnational nesian representative and local Emirati lawyers, but economy of domestic service between Indonesia and this is not affordable for the Indonesian representa- the UAE. Finding ways to enforce standards of decent tives because of very high fees, in addition to the costs work and fair dealing is a longer journey that requires of running the shelters. a political space for domestic workers to organize na- Taken together, the experiences of domestic work- tionally and transnationally for their rights. At the ers who have absconded and sought protection in the broader level, socializing standards of domestic work as work – paid or unpaid – helps ensure the recogni- tion of the dignity of the person doing such work, whether within the family or cohabitation relation- 16 Facilitating dispute settlements was not allowed by the ships, or in employment relationships. Such standards UAE government as of 2007. 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Bergh2 Abstract3 Amid increasing irregular flows of Senegalese migrants to Spanish territories, the two countries entered into a bilateral agreement in 2007 for a temporary work scheme that ultimately saw the migration of more than 700 Senegalese women for work in the agricultural sector in Spain. Due to a number of factors, including weak- nesses in the recruitment process on the sending side and the nature of the work on the receiving side, many of the women subsequently abandoned their posts in search of domestic work or jobs in personal services in Spanish cities, thus transitioning to irregular status. Using data collected from 525 of these Senegalese migrant women, this chapter examines how they came to form this unintended cohort of unauthorized migrants and their experiences as they strive to live, work, and access various social rights in the context of the current Span- ish labour market and economic crisis. Some measures are suggested to strengthen the management of future temporary work schemes and protect Senegalese women migrants in Spain. Keywords: Agriculture, domestic work, gender, labour market, migration, Senegal, social justice, Spain, women. 3.1 Introduction123 tus4 in a variety of occupations in the care sector, es- pecially in domestic work. This chapter focuses on Senegalese women migrants’ So far, research on Senegalese migration has fo- economic and social situation (including access to so- cused on three main areas. First, Senegalese interna- cial protection) in Spain, largely as presented through tional (and especially intercontinental) migration is their own eyes. These women first came to Spain in the object of a large corpus of research, though this 2007 as part of a temporary agricultural work scheme has traditionally been conducted from a strictly global which they abandoned for various reasons, and then economic angle, with an emphasis on men and there- ended up as migrants with irregular immigration sta- fore without specifying the situation of women (Gar- reta Bochaca 2001).5 Second, research using the tran- snational approach in particular has focused signifi- cantly on non-economic aspects of this migration. 1 Aly Tandian is Director of the ‘Groupe d’Etudes et de Recherches sur les Migrations & Faits de Sociétés’, Uni- versité Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis, Senegal. 2 Sylvia I. Bergh is Senior Lecturer in Development Man- 4 Following the United Nations Educational, Scientific agement and Governance at the International Institute and Cultural Organization (UNESCO 2008: 15), “per- of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The sons with irregular immigration status” refers to persons Netherlands. “entering, travelling through or residing in a country 3 We would like to thank the Groupe d’Etudes et de without the necessary documents or permits”. Recherches sur les Migrations & Faits de Sociétés 5 See also the Migrations between Africa and Europe (GERM) & Faits de Sociétés, the two anonymous (MAFE) research project publications on Senegal, reviewers, Giulia Sinatti, Thanh-Dam Truong, and Des including Lessault and Mezger (2010) and González-Fer- Gasper for their valuable support and comments. We rer and Graus (2012). See . For an overview of Senegalese migration flows, Tappert for sharing their unpublished work with us. see Wabgou (2008). T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 47 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_3, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 48 Aly Tandian and Sylvia I. Bergh However, while transnationality is now one of the posed to health risks and social costs such as poison- most popular concepts in migration research, the ing, food shortages, low wages, overwork, etc. Ac- processes of immigrants’ dynamics in destination cording to the International Labour Organization countries such as their moves across sectors have not (ILO), these issues are crucial to the fundamental been the focus of much scholarly attention (Van Nieu- rights of migrants, in particular with reference to the wenhuyze 2009: 16, 30). Third, research covering the Decent Work Agenda.6 migration of women to Spain and other European The findings presented here are also of considera- countries is widespread (e.g. Gutiérrez-Rodríguez ble policy relevance, given that the EU and its mem- 2010; Lutz 2011). Yet despite feminization trends be- ber states are considering increasing temporary/sea- ing on the rise in Senegalese migration and women sonal labour schemes in the agricultural sector. Policy- having entered the debate on labour migration man- makers are thus invited to learn from the Senegal agement (e.g. seasonal migration schemes), most aca- experience how schemes and access to rights can be demic research treats them as wives or as independ- improved. ent, self-employed merchants (commerce de valise) The rest of the chapter is structured as follows. (e.g. Rosander 2005; Babou 2008; Blanchard 2012). The next section will discuss the research methodol- Research focusing on female migration to Spain or ogy. This is followed by a brief review of Senegalese Europe has further been limited to issues involving mi- migration to the EU and Spain and its legal frame- grant remittances to Senegal and family reunification, work, setting the context for the research findings. and not much has been written about their economic These are presented in two main parts: one dealing and social rights (the right to decent work, the right with the temporary agricultural work migration to adequate housing, the right to social protection, scheme, and another, more substantive one on the the right to adequate health care, among others; Apap process of becoming irregular migrants employed in 2001; Sow 2006; Coulibaly-Tandian 2008). Similarly, the domestic work sector in Spain. This is followed by the process of becoming a migrant with ‘irregular sta- a discussion of the legal and social implications of mi- tus’ after having entered a country legally has rarely grant workers’ ‘invisibility’. The chapter ends with a been the focus of research. brief assessment of migrant workers’ attempts at This chapter therefore contributes to our knowl- claiming social protection and some conclusions fo- edge by focusing on the independent migration of cusing on the implications of the findings for migra- women as labour migrants, which can be empowering tion policy. for them, but also on the patterns of exclusion that they face in the country of immigration (Spain, in this case). The main research question to be addressed 3.2 Methodology here is: why and how do initially legal temporary women labour migrants (in the agricultural sector) ac- This chapter is based on a research project that fo- quire ‘irregular’ status in Spain, and how do they fare cused on the social protection of Senegalese women as such in the domestic work sector? migrants operating in agricultural activities and per-7 Migrants with ‘irregular status’ or ‘undocumented’ sonal care/domestic work in Spain. Given the main or even ‘illegal’ migrants, as they are also often research question mentioned above, the methodology referred to, have become increasingly a pressing pol- was designed to elicit insights from the women mi- icy issue at the core of the migration debate, as grants themselves as much as possible. A survey was undocumented migrants by definition challenge the conducted among Senegalese women who were part system, break laws and rules, and compete with legal of a temporary migration scheme set up by the gov- migrants and citizens for job opportunities, while liv- ernments of Senegal and Spain in the agricultural sec- ing at the core of many European societies and per- tor, specifically strawberry picking, as well as migrants forming much-needed services (Van Nieuwenhuyze who had already arrived in Spain earlier. The majority 2009: 36–37). of women were workers with an irregular status who There is thus an urgent need for a comprehensive had become such after abandoning agricultural activi- understanding of the integration of Senegalese ties to work as domestic workers. Many of them women migrants in the (formal and informal) labour market, with an emphasis on social protection for workers in sectors such as agriculture and domestic 6 See (30 October 2012). From Temporary Work in Agriculture to Irregular Status in Domestic Service 49 (though it is hard to give exact figures as the women grant associations and their networks. At the start of interviewed mostly did not want to share this informa- the research, a database was constructed with fifty- tion) came to Spain on the agricultural work scheme one Senegalese migrant associations in Spain. while their husbands were already in Spain. The hus- The sampling of the respondents was carried out bands did not fulfil the conditions to allow their wives by the snowball technique in various Spanish cities to join them under family reunification rules (due to (Barcelona, Lerida, Valencia, Madrid, Murcia, Huelva, insufficient funds to pay for a large apartment or so- Granada, Malaga, Seville, Almeria, and the Canary Is- cial security dues) and some of them instead preferred lands). Snowball sampling was necessary because of to send them money to bribe the Senegalese officials the lack of detailed official data on Senegalese in order to be selected for the temporary work women migrants in Spain that would have allowed for scheme (see discussion below). Other women inter- choosing a representative sample based on socio-pro- viewed were in a legally irregular situation because fessional and socio-demographic variables. Selection they had stayed in Spain and worked without a permit criteria of the snowball sample included: gender (fe- and therefore had not paid their social security contri- male), profession (working in the agricultural and per- butions. This situation is an obstruction to attempts sonal care sectors), length of stay (having lived in to renew their residence permit in Spain. Spain for at least six months), and length of working In total, 525 Senegalese women migrants in Spain in the same sector (at least three months). For the sur- were surveyed during the period March 2010 to Octo- vey, an additional selection criterion for choosing the ber 2011. The questionnaire included closed and cities was the density of the Senegalese male and fe- scaled as well as open questions and focused on their male migrant population (on this, official data ex- migration histories, life and work conditions, and eco- ists9). As for their educational status, thirty-three per nomic and social situation.8 In addition, semi-struc- cent of the women in the sample have completed pri- tured interviews were held at both workplaces and mary education, thirty-six per cent have completed homes with a sub-sample of thirty-three women with secondary education, and only two per cent have no relevant experiences in order to deepen some insights education at all. gained from the survey data, notably the challenges In the pre-fieldwork phase, interviews were held in they face in accessing and/or ensuring respect for Senegal with officials at the Labour Directorate, the their social protection rights. The meetings with the National Youth Employment Agency, and the Minis- respondents were made possible largely through mi- try of the Interior on the immigration policies and mechanisms relating to migrants to Spain and the mi- grant worker selection process. In Spain, officials at 7 “La protection sociale des migrantes Sénégalaises évolu- ant dans les activités agricoles et les services aux par- the Senegalese consulate and migrant association ticuliers en Espagne” (translated as “Social and Health leaders and members were interviewed in order to Protection of Women Migrants from Senegal in Agricul- contextualize the implementation mechanisms of the tural Activity and the Personal Care Industry in Spain”), migration scheme and investigate the extent to which research conducted by Le Groupe d’Etudes et de migrants’ rights are respected. Recherches sur les Migrations (GERM), Université Gas- The main research challenge lay in having to over- ton Berger de Saint-Louis (Senegal), funded by the Inter- come the suspicion of respondents, some of whom national Development Research Centre (IDRC), project number 105463–001. For the final research report, see only agreed to be surveyed or interviewed in the pres- Tandian, Coulibaly, Sow, Tall, Wade, Dioh, Dime, Ba, ence of their husbands (due mainly to sociocultural Badji, Gueye, Mbaye, Tandia, Diallo, Diagne, Mbengue, norms). Some women wrongly assumed that the re- Vasquez, Seron, Kebe, Sane, Thiakh, Thioye, Gueye, searchers were a mixed team of Senegalese and Span- Niang, and Ciss. (2011). See also (30 October 2012). The data collection team consisted of Senegalese who had lived in Spain for at 9 In Spain, even irregular migrants can sign up with the least a decade. Some team members were or are enrolled padron municipal (the municipal registry), thus gaining in the Ph.D. programme at the Complutense University access to social services (e.g. health care). This means of Madrid and at Barcelona University. that the country has relatively good estimates of the 8 The total number of questions was 261, of which 18 numbers of its irregular immigrant population. See the addressed sociological identification, 36 previous activi- publications coming out of the MAFE project, which ties and migration patterns, 36 marital and family status, relied on data from the padron municipal for sampling 45 living conditions, 115 working conditions, and 12 the purposes ( (30 Octo- economic and social situation of migrant women. ber 2012). 50 Aly Tandian and Sylvia I. Bergh mere facilitators helping Spanish researchers to collect decision. Indeed, Senegal is a country with a deeply information from Senegalese migrants. This distrust rooted and long tradition of migration. The journey is can be explained by the fact that the survey was con- assimilated in Senegalese society as something posi- ducted only shortly after the broadcast, on a large tive because it is supposed to build character and al- scale, of Spanish TV documentaries chronicling the low the one leaving to acquire material and/or intan- escape of Senegalese women sent to Huelva. Moreo- gible goods, even though it may entail difficult ver, prior to the data collection period, a Spanish experiences. Migration thus represents for many newspaper had published articles that drew links be- young Senegalese the ability to access a first job that tween prostitution and the presence of sub-Saharan they would have little chance of finding in their own migrants in Spain. Thus, building relationships of country (Bocquier 1992), while their elders see it as trust was a major challenge and a time-consuming ac- the only solution to improve a daily life marked by the tivity. Using migrant associations and other gatekeep- “goorgoorlu” or “daily getting by” (Fall 1998). Particu- ers and key informants as intermediaries was useful in larly now that education no longer represents social this regard. mobility in Senegal, (temporary) migration is seen by all segments of society as the only way to survive eco- nomically and, more importantly, to be someone (Van 3.3 Senegalese migration to the EU Nieuwenhuyze 2009: 76; see also Riccio 2001). As we and Spain: A Brief History and will see below, in the face of Europe’s closed doors, Institutional Framework immigrants develop strategies to circumvent migra- tion laws, as “legal and bureaucratic obstacles to mi- This section first gives a brief overview of the history gration and settlement are seen not as absolute barri- of Senegalese migration to Spain, and then focuses on ers, but as factors to be taken into account in personal the institutional and legal framework governing Sen- strategies, migration networks and community infra- egal–EU and Senegal–Spain migration and the Spanish structures” (Van Nieuwenhuyze 2009: 77, citing Cas- labour market. Individual women migrants’ decisions tles 2002). at the micro-level need to be placed in a broader per- Though “the Senegalese migration to France has spective of the functioning of labour markets and long been boosted by the special relations with the states to understand the possibilities and constraints former colonial power, ease of movement and linguis- they encounter (Van Nieuwenhuyze 2009: 13). tic ties, French being the official language of Senegal” While a detailed history of Senegalese migration (Tall 2008: 42), the key turning points were the clo- to Europe is beyond the scope of this paper (see Van sure of French borders to labour migration in 1974 Nieuwenhuyze 2009: 67ff.; Kaplan Marcusán 2005), it and the introduction in 1985 of visas for some African is clear that the Structural Adjustment Programme nationals, including Senegal, issued under certain con- conducted in Senegal during 1982–1992 resulted in a ditions under the Schengen Agreement (Tall 2008). combination of economic growth with greater pov- These processes affected the profiles of Senegalese erty, and a fifty per cent currency devaluation in 1994 migrants as well as their conditions of departure, ar- increased the importance of remittances from abroad. rival, settlement, and mobility. They also intensified More families invested in an international migrant, the feminization of Senegalese migration to France as with the orientation shifting from France to other after 1974 family reunification became a major means countries such as Italy and Spain, reaching three mil- of legal entry into France. Moreover, Senegalese mi- lion out of eleven million Senegalese living abroad grants increasingly migrated to Spain and Italy, re- (Van Nieuwenhuyze 2009: 72–75). flecting a change “in the spatial configuration of their Citing a 2002 survey of the labour market in mobility in Europe” (Coulibaly-Tandian 2008: 72). Dakar of the Organisation for Economic Co-opera- Several factors explain this redeployment to Spain. tion and Development (OECD 2005), Van Nieuwen- In its early days, mainly “illegal” migrants were at- huyze (2009: 75) points out that underemployment tracted by the relative permeability of the Spanish bor- (adding the unemployed to those working less than ders. Later, although Spain had begun to implement a the official working hours and those working for less migration policy in 1985 (see below), there were gaps. than the minimum wage) “hits nearly 72.5 per cent of The Senegalese, like other migrants who arrived in the active population in Dakar”. Apart from poverty the country, took advantage of legal loopholes to en- and being pushed by family members, ambition and ter and settle there, especially because of the possibil- curiosity are also important factors in the migration ity of bringing their families to the country (Robin From Temporary Work in Agriculture to Irregular Status in Domestic Service 51 1996). The choice of Spain can also be explained by care sector, there is of course also the second, and ar- its economic dynamism in the labour-intensive small guably much larger, category of Senegalese women and medium enterprises and industries sector (espe- migrants who came to Spain independently of this or cially in its vibrant underground economy) that re- any other scheme (see García-Cano 2002). The latter quired a massive and low-skilled workforce (Tall generally work in the trade in exotic products, the ca- 2008). tering and hotel sector, hairdressing, and personal To this diversification in terms of new destinations care/domestic work. It should also be noted that it is was added a diversification of origins, categories, and not uncommon to find women who combine several profiles of migrants. The profile of the migrant can- activities. Although these women, often without profes- not be reduced to the classical picture of a rural and sional training, have more chance of finding a job in illiterate male. “The old figure of Senegalese migrants Spain than in Senegal, they are concentrated in precar- made up of rural and illiterate gives way – but without ious, poorly paid, and low-status sectors. There are disappearing – to new players who have strong profes- however also health workers and teachers for whom it sional or human capital and are, generally, from the is easier to obtain a visa to enter Spain as they fulfil the urban areas” (Tandian 2008: 366). conditions (bank statement, professional identity card, Here, women are gaining increasing importance etc.) and are considered by the Spanish consular au- among the migrating Senegalese. Most of them mi- thorities more likely to return to Senegal. These grate within family reunification schemes, or to work women often apply for a short-stay visa but then over- or study. In doing so, some migrate legally and others stay their visas and acquire irregular immigration status. illegally. Coming in the name of family reunification We now turn to a short discussion of the changes does not prevent these women from having an eco- in the Spanish economy and the labour market as well nomic migratory project, however, even prior to their as the migration framework to provide the context for departure from Senegal. Today, Senegalese women the research findings. migrants in Europe, generally speaking, have very var- Since the economic downturn of the 1970s, many ied characteristics and profiles both in regard to their European countries have experienced post-industrial geographical origins and socio-economic and educa- economic restructuring, in which Fordist structures of tion levels and motivations for migration. And what- mass production and rigid labour markets have been ever their migration conditions are, they almost all replaced by highly fluid and flexible production ar- carry an individual and family economic migratory rangements and labour markets, with an emphasis on project (Coulibaly-Tandian 2008). new intermediate and support services, locational ad- Indeed, the migration of Senegalese women to vantage, and changes in private consumption pat- Spain has reached unprecedented numbers. Accord- terns. The ‘casualization’ of employment is reflected ing to the National Institute of Statistics, in 2009 in downgraded and informal sectors staffed by mi- there were 56,048 Senegalese in Spain, of whom grant workers. Their lives and strategies are heavily in- 46,858 were men and 9,190 women (Instituto Na- fluenced by the degree of protection in the labour cional de Estadística 2009).10 These data are however market and the rules for redistributing welfare bene- to be put in perspective since many Senegalese living fits by the state (Van Nieuwenhuyze 2009: 31, 34). in Spain had not been identified at the time of the Spain has only recently (in the last two decades) census. Most Senegalese women migrants are settled changed from being a labour exporter to becoming a in Catalonia and Andalucía. This trend is reinforced country of net immigration. The low productivity sec- as Spain is implementing quota policies resulting in tors (intensive agriculture, tourism, construction, and employment contracts that favour women, as we will small industries) have had to become dependent on see below. immigrant workers from poor countries in order to While the main focus of this chapter is on Senega- stay competitive. These have also increasingly become lese women migrants who came to Spain as part of a part of the informal or underground economy which temporary agricultural work scheme which they sub- in 2000 represented twenty-two per cent of the total sequently abandoned, mainly to work in the personal economy. Furthermore, temporary and part-time jobs represent more than thirty per cent of all jobs (Van Nieuwenhuyze 2009: 46–48; see also European Mi- 10 Data for 2009 were obtained from the online database gration Network (EMN) 2010). of “Municipal Register Population Figures” available at: Spain’s recent status as a net immigration coun- (19 November 2012). 52 Aly Tandian and Sylvia I. Bergh rapid development of new laws imposing visas and tate their access to markets (labour, housing, banking, work and residence permits, and establishing social etc.) and public services (social security, education, and political rights. Most authors seem to agree that health, personal social services, etc.)”. The campaigns these represent an “ineffective attempt to organize le- could however be criticized as providing strong incen- gal entry, curtail illegal entry and regularize those al- tives for further undocumented migration. Spain also ready inside” (Van Nieuwenhuyze 2009: 37–38, citing adopted a quota system in 1993, but instead of attract- Freeman 1995). This outcome reflects the tension be- ing new workers, it functions more as a concealed reg- tween two opposite policy logics: compliance with ularization mechanism for migrants with irregular sta- strict border control polices as demanded by the EU tus already in Spain. A complicating factor is Spain’s (of which Spain has been a member since 1986) on advanced degree of decentralization, which means the one hand, and the fulfilment of the need for un- that migration issues require the collaboration of both skilled workers in agriculture, industry, and services national and local levels (Van Nieuwenhuyze 2009: on the other (Van Nieuwenhuyze 2009: 49). 46, 50). This tension explains the existence of legal restric- As a receiver of circular migration, Spain has con- tions that hardly allow other working possibilities for siderable experience with non-European groups, par- immigrants than the work in specific niches marked ticularly Moroccan workers. The first major Moroc- by precariousness and uncertainty and defined as can migration to Spain in search of work occurred in “new employment mines” (Agrela Romero/Gil Araujo the 1980s and was aimed at the agricultural areas of 2005: 5, cited in Dobner/Tappert 2010: 7). As a conse- Catalonia’s Maresme region, at a time when Moroc- quence, three-quarters of the immigrants in Spain work can citizens could travel to Spain without a visa. Both in five labour market sectors: domestic work, agricul- then and in the 1990s (after the visa requirement was ture, hotels and catering, construction, and the retail introduced in 1991 but when irregular migration be- trade. These sectors represent less than forty per cent tween Morocco and Spain was still in practice an easy of the labour market (Dobner/Tappert 2010: 7).12 option), many of the Moroccan migrants were actu- The first Spanish law to regulate immigration was ally practising circular migration, combining their the ‘Foreigners Act’ in 1985, widely regarded as con- work and period of residence in Spain for some troversial, restrictive, and discriminatory. It was re- months with farming activity and maintaining their placed by a new ‘Foreigners Act’ in 2000 that hard- family and home in Morocco. When irregular immi- ened many conditions, including increasing the gration became more difficult due to legal changes period of residence required for individual regulariza- and increased monitoring of the Straits of Gibraltar tion from two to five years (Van Nieuwenhuyze 2009: (mainly since 2002), this kind of back-and-forth migra- 49).13 Regularization campaigns have been used on six tion became impossible, especially for immigrants occasions (1986, 1991, 1996, 2000, 2001, and 2005) to whose situation was still irregular and who did not try to address issues of exploitation and marginaliza- wish to risk having to return to Morocco. From then tion. As Van Nieuwenhuyze (2009: 50) states, “by le- on, circular migration was regulated through interna- galizing all immigrants they give migrants living in tional agreements and was legally channelled via quo- Spain without a working permit or residence permit tas. Romanians, Bulgarians, Moroccans, Ecuadorians, access to a legal and administrative status and facili- and Colombians made up the bulk of this contingent until the first two nationalities became able to migrate freely from January 2009. The total number of immi- 11 Spain saw a more than fivefold increase in the number grants using this channel, mainly for seasonal agricul- of immigrants between 2000 and 2010, though annual tural labour migration, is very small compared to the growth has declined significantly since 2008 (EMN total inflow, although, following the restrictions im- 2010: 19–20). Despite the rapid increase, (legal) immi- posed on the arrival of new labour immigration as a grants represent only two per cent of the country’s pop- result of the economic crisis, it has become one of the ulation (Solé/Parella 2003: 121–122). In 2006, four per cent of the total immigrant population in Spain was few means of legal immigration (González Enríquez from sub-Saharan Africa (see Lessault/Beauchemin 2011). 2009). In terms of social policies, the Spanish welfare sys- 12 See also Corkill (2001) for a discussion of the Spanish tem pays lower benefits compared to other OECD labour market for migrants. countries, relying on family networks. As for mi- 13 For more details on the 1985 Immigration Law and sub- grants, “since the 2000 law, legal immigrants have the sequent legal changes, see Solé/Parella (2003: 127ff.) same civil and social rights as Spanish nationals, and and Mendoza (2001: 169ff.). From Temporary Work in Agriculture to Irregular Status in Domestic Service 53 undocumented immigrants have the right to basic so- icies have increased the supply of certain jobs on the cial rights such as free access to public health care one hand but increased women’s workload of paid services, free compulsory education (three to sixteen and unpaid work on the other. This brings out the years), and the very scarce public housing. This is problem of reproduction and/or extensions of do- based on the criterion of residence, explaining why mestic work in the North, a question often concealed even undocumented immigrants inscribe in the cen- in conventional analysis (Sassen 2000). Irianto and sus” (Van Nieuwenhuyze 2009: 51). However, specific Truong (this volume, chapter 2), analyzing the trans- policies are mostly reactive, and “many migrants rely formation of relations that organize domestic work, on third-sector organisations and social services that point out that such work “must be seen as contextual help undocumented immigrants, often with support and nested in a mixture of care-related institutions from state administrations”, though these are very within a broader policy framework concerning gender much locality-specific (Van Nieuwenhuyze 2009: 51– equality, the family, and women’s economic participa- 52, citing Domingo/Kaplan/Gómez Gil 2000). tion in a nation state”. We will return to some of these In short, current migration policies, a segmented observations below with regard to the Spanish case. labour market, and a growing informal economy in Spain have led to an ethnicized and gendered labour market. Solé and Parella (2003: 124) define the Span- 3.4 The Temporary Agricultural Work ish labour market as ‘ethno-stratified‘, in which immi- Scheme: Process and Outcomes grants are employed in the lowest positions, due to, among other reasons, the discriminatory practices of This section discusses the temporary agricultural employers and the state, rather than a lack of qualifi- work scheme launched in 2007 that included more cations. than 700 Senegalese women coming to Spain for Indeed, it has been argued that in Spain, the immi- three to six months, starting in January 2008 for the grants from the Third World, from different races and strawberry harvest in Huelva; many subsequently cultures, are facing racist oppression in addition to abandoned their workplaces to find other jobs, that related to their social class or gender. “This three- mainly in the personal care sector in Spain. The main pronged oppression puts the migrants in a position of dimensions of this case study are illustrative of other, 14 extreme subordination regarding the power relations similar schemes around the world and include weak- within the host society” (Solé 1994: 15). In other nesses in the selection processes and hardships in the words, Senegalese women of different culture and work itself linked to the nature of the work contracts, skin colour experience many difficulties in the Span- the relationship with the employer, living conditions, ish labour market. This is especially the case in the do- and finally, the nature of the work itself. mestic work sector, where, as Falquet, Hirata, Ker- Before considering the case in more detail, it is goat, Labari, Le Feuvre and Sow (2010: 101) observe, useful to briefly review the main legal provisions for women are by definition ‘invisible’ to outsiders, “sup- temporary migration to Spain. Indeed, the bulk of the porting children and the elderly and other hardly ‘de- temporary and circular migration entering Spain is co- localizable’ tasks, performed in families whose in- ordinated through recruitment schemes for agricul- come allows the outsourcing of those activities in a ture (EMN 2010: 14). The general legal framework es- specific social relationship, the one of domesticity. tablished by Organic Law 4/2000 introduced the These women are most often without legal status [...] possibility of residence and work permits for seasonal and have frequently left their own children and ex- work under a special scheme while maintaining the as- tended family in the country. Opinions differ on the sociation with the ‘contingent’ (Contingente de Tra- consequences of their migration, because they are bajadores Extranjeros), the general programme for based on a sociocentric [and Western ethnocentric] foreign seasonal workers who do not enjoy free circu- conception of what is women’s autonomy or the ‘sub- lation within the EU labour market. Newland, Agu- ject’ and her ‘desire’, although of course, the individual- nias, Dovelyn and Terrazas (2008: 7) summarize the ity of these women cannot be reduced to the work they key features of the programme as follows. perform and that they have often not chosen to do.” These observations are linked to those made by feminist economists who have shown that deregula- 14 For example, see Siregar (2010), Morgan and Nolan tion and free market policies have created working (2011) and Irianto and Truong (chap. 2 above) for simi- conditions rather unfavourable for women. These pol- lar issues with bilateral agreements on Indonesian migrants. 54 Aly Tandian and Sylvia I. Bergh It is annually adjusted by province and sector according mits, and train workers for employment in Spain. In to needs and establishes an easy procedure for hiring 2007, the agreements signed with Senegal led to the seasonal workers, for no more than nine months per hiring of 700 female workers on farms in Andalucía year. The Contingente encourages circular migration and a further 2,000 (mainly male) on Spanish ships.15 with a combination of demands and incentives. First, it requires participating migrants to sign a binding com- Workers from Mauritania (2008) and Mali (2008 and mitment to return to their country of origin at the end 2010) have also been recruited during agricultural sea- of the work season. Migrants must register with a Span- sons in recent years (EMN 2010: 35; Burnett 2007). ish consulate in their origin country; the consulate then The social protection conditions for workers who monitors compliance. A worker who returns home can have been recruited collectively in their country of or- participate in the program again without going through igin for fixed-term work and with a residence permit the selection process. After four years of following the and who start work in Spain seem to be adequate, at rules, the migrant gains easier access to permanent work authorization. least on paper. For example, they must register with the social security system at the start of their employ- The recruitment of seasonal workers in their coun- ment and may register as jobseekers with the public tries of origin has thus come to be one of the main employment services if they lose their job before the ways of managing migration flows and an important end of the validity period of the permit or of the em- source of labour for seasonal work. Through this sys- ployment. They are however exempt from unemploy- tem, employers can offer temporary or seasonal jobs ment contributions but mandatory contributions are and contract work for a specific project. According to payable to cover the costs of occupational and non- the provisions of article 39 of Organic Law 4/2000, occupational accidents and illnesses. As mentioned vacancies can be generic or nominative (for hiring earlier, they must agree to return to their country of named individuals; EMN 2010: 20–21, 27; see also origin at the end of the employment relationship. To Kohnert 2007: 17). verify that this return has indeed taken place, the Since 2000, bilateral agreements have constituted worker must visit the diplomatic mission or consular an important mechanism for recruiting workers (both office within one month of the end of his or her per- stable and seasonal) in their country of origin. None- mit for work in Spain (EMN 2010: 28–29, 31). theless, since 2004, the agreements have included a On the part of the employer, Spanish legislation new dimension that now entails, in addition to for seasonal workers requires them to guarantee de- worker recruitment procedures, flow control, the pre- cent accommodation with appropriate hygiene condi- vention of illegal immigration, readmission proce- tions and to organize the journey to Spain and back to dures, and development cooperation. These “second the country of origin, bearing at least the cost of the generation” framework agreements on migration aim first of these journeys and the expenses of transfer to to adapt the profile of workers to the structure of de- and from the point of entry into Spain and the worker mand in the Spanish labour market while also foster- accommodation. Monitoring of compliance with ac- ing the development of countries of origin. At least in commodation conditions is carried out through the theory, they include actions to distribute information Work Departments and Provincial Labour Inspector- on channels of legal migration and the risks of their ate. The legislation also requires diligence on the part illegal alternatives, to promote training in the country of employers in ensuring that workers return to their of origin, and to set up offices for technical coopera- countries of origin at the end of the employment rela- tion. To date, Spain has signed bilateral agreements tionship (EMN 2010: 31). with Colombia (2001), Ecuador (2001), Morocco However, as will be shown below, experiences un- (2001), the Dominican Republic (2002), Romania der the labour scheme as related by the migrant work- (2002), Bulgaria (2003), and Mauritania (2007). It has ers themselves contrast quite significantly with these also signed cooperation agreements on immigration provisions. with The Gambia (2006), Guinea (2006), Guinea Bis- The political context in which the bilateral agree- sau (2008), Cape Verde (2007), Mali (2007), Senegal ment that launched the scheme was signed on 9 No- (2007), and Niger (2008), all of which are second-gen- vember 2007 is important here. Senegal announced eration agreements (EMN 2010: 34). the scheme (the first of its kind) after it agreed to take In the case of Senegal, and with the assistance of back hundreds of illegal Senegalese migrants from the International Labour Organisation, a board of em- ployment has been set up in Dakar to select candi- dates, manage the administrative processing of per- 15 The findings presented here only discuss the experi- ences of the female workers in the agricultural sector. From Temporary Work in Agriculture to Irregular Status in Domestic Service 55 Spain in September 2007. A year earlier, in 2006, turning to Senegal at the end of their contracts. New- about 30,000 illegal immigrants had arrived in Spain, land/Agunias/Dovelyn/Terrazas (2008: 8; see also mainly on the Canary Islands, of whom at least half González Enríquez 2011) report experience with an were Senegalese. Thus the scheme was seen by gov- earlier seasonal worker programme which Spain had ernment leaders as a major way of combating illegal implemented progressively since 1999 and the Euro- immigration.16 Perhaps Senegal also tried to use the pean Union supported since 2005, and which opened threat of more illegal migration as a bargaining chip in legal channels for Moroccan women to work in the achieving debt relief, more development aid, and citrus and strawberry industries in and around Car- eventually also more opportunities for legal employ- taya, Spain. ment-related migration.17 The fact that President Although return of the workers was one of the pro- Wade was preparing his re-election campaign at that gram’s objectives, only 5 percent of the 1,200 participat- time may also have played a role. ing workers in 2005 went home; in 2007, therefore, only After the agreement was signed, Spanish job offers married women with children were selected for the pro- for 744 Senegalese women were received through the gram – and they were not permitted to bring the chil- Spanish Embassy in Dakar, based on a quota deter- dren with them. If they returned on schedule, they were mined by the Spanish farmers’ union of employers. guaranteed a job for the next season. After the 2007 sea- son, 85 percent of the 4,563 workers returned voluntar- Under the terms of the contracts, the cost of travel ily. from Senegal to Spain, around 600 euros or more, was to be covered by the employer. However, this In any case, the selection procedure was hampered by amount was to be deducted from the salary paid to the lack of coordination and clear mandates of the the worker. The agreement also stipulated that Sen- various agencies involved, though according to some egal would deal with the selection. The key selection members of the National Commission for Manage- criteria were being female, competent in doing farm- ment and Monitoring of Job Offers and members of ing work, and originating from a rural area in Senegal. various NGOs, the National Agency for Youth Em- The Spanish government committed itself to taking ployment (ANEJ) was the only institution that actually care of the formalities for visa and travel arrange- managed the selection of agricultural workers. Ac- ments in Spain through its appropriate structures. cording to the Executive Director of ANEJ, The criterion for selecting female workers only the management of the departure and accompaniment was explained by the Senegalese Ambassador in Spain of the selected workers was chaotic because of several in an interview as follows: “For the choice of women, changes in the staff in charge of the trip, linked to the you know, the strawberry is very sensitive; it takes a governmental instability experienced by Senegal [...]. lot of attention for the picking. Here you are! You This has greatly affected the administrative structures of the various ministries involved in the management of know the women have hands that are very different Senegalese migration.18 from men’s. They can pick strawberries without squashing them. I think that’s why Spain wanted Another level of dysfunction was found in the target- women to be recruited.” However, a more convincing ing or profiling of the candidates. During an inter- reason for selecting only female workers is probably view, an official at the Ministry of Youth argued that that Spain anticipated problems with workers not re- “candidates had to submit a file including a medical certificate proving their good health, a certificate of training in agriculture and horticulture and the degree obtained”. This contrasts with his later admission that 16 This reading was confirmed in an interview with the Senegalese Ambassador in Spain. “some girls expressed concerns about their abilities to 17 Earlier agreements between Senegal and Spain include do the job properly”, and leads us to doubt the offi- the following but do not explicitly address issues of cial view according to which Spanish employers were social protection: Framework Agreement on Coopera- adequately represented in the recruitment commis- tion for Development, signed on 10 October 2006; Joint sions and had heard the candidates. This doubt seems Statement on the management of migration flows of 5 justified in the light of complaints by Spanish employ- December 2006; Agreement on the prevention, protec- tion, repatriation, and reintegration of unaccompanied Senegalese migrant minors, signed in Dakar on 5 18 Statement given during the launch ceremony of the December 2006; Declaration of Intent signed in Dakar research project on “Social protection and Senegalese on 15 February 2007 between the Spanish Minister of migrants working in agricultural activities and personal Labour and Social Affairs and the Senegalese Minister care services in Spain”, University Gaston Berger of of Youth and Youth Employment. Saint-Louis, Senegal, 26 June 2008. 56 Aly Tandian and Sylvia I. Bergh ers as well as women migrant workers about their dif- regret it (Aissata19, who came to Spain for agricultural ficulties of adapting to life and work in Spain and work, Barcelona). their declarations of illness. According to the Spanish These political and institutional failures, including recruiters, who went as far as insulting the Senegalese lack of information about their work contract and sal- workers as ‘lazy‘ or ‘Naomi Campbell’ and so on, ary, attempted or real bribery, and the dire living and some women became pregnant, in addition to many working conditions arguably are part of the reason cases of unavailability due to illness. Moreover, even why migrant workers returned prematurely from though a youth inspector said he did not see any cases Spain or ‘escaped’ to work in other sectors and lead of corruption in the recruitment procedure, he did us to question the viability and the transparency of the mention having been the target of an attempted bribe selection process. Admittedly, the negotiating capacity by the parent of two girls who offered him two mil- of these women was very limited during the recruit- lion CFA francs (3,000 Euros) in return for their selec- ment process despite their regular status. They con- tion. tented themselves with having been chosen among Most importantly, the main stakeholders, namely many in a Senegalese context where migration is the female agricultural workers selected, were not in- highly valued and travel opportunities to Europe very volved in drawing up the contracts, which led to their limited. not being aware of their contents. During an inter- As Van Nieuwenhuyze (2009: 106) points out, view in Seville, a Senegalese trade unionist observed: given the fierce global competition in the agriculture I have heard that the girls did not know the terms of sector, it has some of the worst labour conditions in contracts, nor the conditions under which they were to the informal sector, for both migrant and Spanish work in Huelva. But again, I say this is the error of the workers: workers need to be available (often staying Senegalese state, because it seems foolish to engage at the farm), flexible in terms of overtime and able to nationals without the support of a lawyer or a labour accept that there may not be any work at all at times, inspector. They signed without knowing what is stipu- and hard-working (accepting physically hard condi- lated in the contract, the salary procedures, the accom- modation, etc. tions). Salaries are low (about three euros an hour) and employment is never long-term or secure, as it de- The women interviewed in this study confirm this pends on how weather conditions affect crops. Al- lack of detailed information concerning their tasks, most all work is therefore temporary. The trend to- remuneration, accommodation, working hours, etc. A wards casual work has increased with new laws woman selected at Diourbel and whom we met in imposing heavy fines on employers hiring clandestine Barcelona shares her experience: workers, although labour inspections are relatively As for the contract signed before coming, we did not rare (Van Nieuwenhuyze 2009: 106–107, 116; Corkill even read it; we did not even know what it was about 2001: 835). It is therefore no surprise that while agri- and the people who accompanied us told us nothing culture is definitely a very common first employment clearly on the contract. They only showed video images sector for African (undocumented) migrants, most of explaining the work in a strawberry field, not more. They also affirmed that we would be housed in apart- them try to leave it as soon as possible for a more se- ments with all amenities required and that we would live cure job in another sector (Hoggart/Mendoza 1999, in a good family atmosphere. Instead, we were thrown cited in Van Nieuwenhuyze 2009: 169). and enclosed in a kind of bush with no electricity or any Indeed, as mentioned earlier, the contracts stipu- type of basic convenience, with eight people sharing lated that the Senegalese migrant workers were to small rooms and not knowing the language. At Diour- return to their home country at the end of their activ- bel, after the interview they made to test our willingness ities. However, some preferred to stay in Spain by and ability to work in fields, they had us sign some papers, but we do not even know what we have signed. their own will or under the influence of their relatives. Everything was in Spanish! Nothing was written in At Lavapies, a neighbourhood of Madrid, one of the French! In Huelva, regarding the payslip, we have never Senegalese agricultural workers told us: had or seen one. Everything was confused with the I had an employment contract for three months, but I story of labour contracts. I have no doubt that some worked for two months and fifteen days. [...] Fifteen women have the skills to work in fields. They are used days before the end of the contract I went to join my to it. They did so for several years in Senegal, but next brothers. If I had not done it, my boss would have taken to them there are women who have paid to be selected. The women had promised to keep quiet but facing real- ity and the many difficulties, there was noise. Lots of 19 All names of Senegalese women migrant workers have noise. I preferred to go do something else and I do not been anonymized. From Temporary Work in Agriculture to Irregular Status in Domestic Service 57 me back to Senegal. For me it was not an escape but a Spain for the picking of strawberries seems to have reasonable choice I made on the advice of my brothers, been for many of them a mere pretext for easy access who have been living in Spain for several years (Ami- to Europe. nata, who came to Spain for agricultural work, Madrid). By abandoning their jobs and moving to urban The first results of this temporary migration scheme centres, the women in fact became migrants with ‘ir- suggest that migrants and their Spanish employers are regular’ status, as the temporary residence permit disappointed by its method of operation, agreed at with which they were able to travel to Spain obliged the highest level between the governments of Senegal them to settle in the territories where they were re- and Spain. The strategy that was supposed to provide cruited. In addition, the permits did not allow them employment opportunities for migrants only in- to carry out any activity other than agricultural work. creased the number of migrant Senegalese living clan- However, for some women, abandoning the fields destinely in Spain. The Spanish government authori- clearly represented a better alternative to the harsh ties remain silent about future temporary migration working conditions, even though they faced an uncer- schemes. The Spanish employers’ refusal to renew tain future. Many ended up in the personal care/do- contracts and to continue the programme is undoubt- mestic work sector. Khady explains that after leaving edly one more obstacle for the Senegalese migrants the greenhouses in Huelva, she joined some friends who have remained in Spain. According to EMN settled in Barcelona. She lived for some time with (2010: 25–26), criticisms of this and similar pro- them before leaving for Tarrasa: grammes have also been aired over the last ten years After leaving the strawberry fields, I was trying to sur- by Spanish representatives of trade unions, NGOs, mi- vive as I could. I joined some hairdresser friends and grant associations, and the scientific community. On that is what explains my initial presence in Barcelona. I the selection of countries with which bilateral agree- met with associations and I joined them thinking that ments have been signed (especially from 2000 to my living conditions would change, but as you can see 2004), they argue that the criteria were motivated by here, this is not luxury. It is a life of getting by day by reasons of diplomacy and strategic positioning and do day! I have a membership card of the Association of not always coincide with the approach of the long- Senegalese in Catalonia, but I do not take part in their activities. With my irregular situation, I preferred to term migration policy or the true features of the flows leave again and I moved to Tarrasa. I do odd jobs in of migrants they should be addressing. Secondly, homes. I clean, I sweep, and I sometimes cook! It’s bet- there has been criticism that the procedures for the ter than nothing, isn’t it? (Khady, Barcelona, 37 years recruitment of foreign workers by employers do not old). include measures to guarantee that they are based on Just like Khady who recently settled in Tarrasa to es- criteria of qualifications and experience, as opposed cape the harsh conditions of agricultural work, many to cultural or racial preferences. However, it seems Senegalese women left for other Spanish cities where that for subsequent temporary work schemes, the se- they hoped to find new and less harsh job offers than lection procedures have been clarified, streamlined, those in Huelva. Very often they only found domestic and better coordinated (see EMN 2010: 28 for de- work, as their new status does not facilitate their pro- tails). fessional integration especially with the financial crisis affecting Spain (see below). Domestic work is the 3.5 Becoming a Migrant with most accessible employment because many employers pay no attention to the legal status of their regular em- Irregular Immigration Status: ployees. Indeed, employees with irregular status are Senegalese Women in the often preferred as their legal status prevents them Domestic Work Sector in Spain Some Senegalese women agricultural workers man- 20 There are no exact figures available as to the extent of aged to ‘escape’ from their jobs in the agricultural sec- this phenomenon. According to comments gathered tor through the complicity of their families who had from several women who came to pick strawberries, been established in Spain for several years.20 From the more than half of the workforce defected to other Span- survey, we learnt that some women abandoned the ish cities or travelled to Italy. Tall and Tandian (2010: 11) fields to join their husbands or family and friends in mention the case of 70 women out of 540 who arrived other cities in Spain (Barcelona, Seville, Madrid, Alm- in March 2008 and who did not report back when their eria, etc.) and Italy by car or train. Indeed, arriving in contracts were discontinued or ended, i.e. about 13 percent. 58 Aly Tandian and Sylvia I. Bergh from taking legal action in case of abuse. In the light can only resign yourself and bear all conditions (Yacine, of this precarious legal status, these migrants have 42, Valencia). very limited flexibility in their choice of employment, Facing these difficulties in domestic work, some which explains their low bargaining power at the time women feel that street vending (of belts, glasses, etc.) of recruitment. is less restrictive although they recognize that with As indicated earlier, apart from the migrant work- street trading, there are risks such as being chased by ers who initially came to Spain on the agricultural the police. Other women migrants feel that the bene- work scheme, other Senegalese women working in fits of street trading, as opposed to domestic work, domestic work came to Spain much earlier, as individ- are first, not to be regarded as a mere “slave” and sec- uals or as part of family reunification. Those who ondly, to make money without having to endure an came as part of family reunification usually have regu- employer who demands the resumption of a task al- lar status and work with contracts through placement ready done. agencies while the others usually have irregular status and are self-employed, seeking their own clients and I think I was like a slave! I had no freedom. Not at all! Iwas only earning a small salary despite all the work I often working without a written contract, relying on was doing. The salary did not match what I really an oral agreement. Their salary varies greatly because deserved! I was not allowed out! My boss asked me to they can charge by the hour or by the day or specify wake up at 7 a.m. and if I was not up she would come fixed rates, depending on the assignment. Their work- and wake me up before returning to bed. I was prepar- ing hours may be longer than those of contract work- ing breakfast before she woke up around 9 a.m., that is ers but this seems to be perceived as a privilege be- to say, two hours after me! I had to work hard for eve- cause these workers can earn more, even though they rything to be clean before they woke up. Once she was 21 up I served them breakfast. And after all this, I cleanedare excluded from social protection. the table and then walked the dog. It was slavery! It was During a discussion, some migrants emphasized really slave labour! (Fatim, 40, Madrid). the ambiguity they live in: on the one hand, they are With domestic work, I was like a slave; this is how I forced to keep their jobs even if they mean drudgery, could describe myself! You know why? It’s because it is harsh requirements by employers, and their own ac- not possible to measure the heaviness of the work I per- ceptance of the undesirable, while on the other hand, formed! And then I had no freedom! Someone who once they are determined, some migrants successfully works without freedom, what is she? What can she be manage to abandon domestic work if the work condi- called? Freedom is priceless and I had none at all! (Awa, tions become too difficult. This experience is illus- 42, Madrid). trated by the following interview quotes: In addition to long working hours, some women suf- At the home where I worked, there were eight rooms, fer from isolation, a situation they have difficulty in five toilets, a tennis court, a bar, a large swimming pool. accepting. The house was so big that I cannot tell you the actual On some points, I can say I was treated well by my boss dimensions (...) and I was alone cleaning it, I was doing and her children. They gave me enough to eat and all the work. Can you imagine? (Fatima, 35, Valencia). drink. But it is the isolation that bothered me. It hurt a You know, if you are recruited for a job that you have lot! I was sidelined as if I had a disease and paradoxi- never done in Senegal, it is normal that you suffer. And cally it is me who was cooking for them! It was very if you come across a demanding boss who does not painful to feel isolated! Yet it was me who was doing value your work, as is often the case, things may be very their bedrooms, I cleaned their toilets. In fact, I was like complicated. I know Senegalese whose employers were a slave in the house! The work I did reminded me of very difficult. They also left their jobs after a few slavery! I started at 7 a.m. and went to bed at midnight. months. According to them, their work became pure And it’s a job I did for three years. I used to work flaw- exploitation. You know, sometimes women are forced lessly (Arame, 38, Madrid). to stay because they have no alternative but to endure Moraleja! A bourgeois neighbourhood! When I was what the employers demand. When you are in need, you hired, I was alone! I had my own cup, my own table, my own spoon, my own fork, my own knife, etc. I was not eating with the others! No way! I had my own room, my own toilet. I did not share anything with others! Every 21 In Spain, three different subforms of domestic work are morning I was obliged to get up early before the others. distinguished: internas (live-ins), externas (live-outs) and I put on my uniform and my crown. As seen on TV! ‘por horas’ (hourly workers). Every sector presents dif- That is how I dressed. At first it was difficult but I even- ferent schemes for payment, duties, and hours of work tually got used to it. (...) This is what prompted me the (Dobner/Tappert 2010: 2, footnote 3). most to emigrate and to accept this job, yet I was eight- From Temporary Work in Agriculture to Irregular Status in Domestic Service 59 een when I came to Spain. A humiliating job! Humbling neighbourhoods, cities, and even countries to look for because I was washing the dog! I did his daily toilet and better opportunities. Search strategies usually rely on when he got sick, it was me who would take him to the ethnic networks, i.e. fellow Senegalese, family mem- vet (Ndeye Marieme, 42, Madrid). bers and friends, and word of mouth, which in turn Given the clash of cultures inherent to the situation of leads them to be pushed into the same sectors. With migration, for many migrant domestic workers, wash- a larger network and language skills come more op- ing dogs or walking them is considered demeaning tions, though as no jobs for highly educated people and humiliating. According to the Muslim religion, exist in the informal economy, human capital and which is the religion and sociocultural practice of ref- skills disappear. Most migrants are stuck in the erence for a majority of them, the dog is considered shadow economy where they are vulnerable to abuse an unclean animal surrounded by many taboos. For by the employer: for regularization purposes, they example, Islam recommends washing clothes touched need a contract, no matter how abusive. by a dog before praying. For one of our interviewees however, having a le- Another issue is that some Senegalese migrant gal status or not was not her primary concern. Unlike women experience a deterioration of their skills as other migrants, what mattered to her was to find they work in Spain in low-skilled activities, while in work, earn money, and support her family back in Senegal, some of them had considerable professional Senegal: work experience. Thus, with migration, some Senega- I had no documents but I really needed to work and lese women experience a true professional downgrad- earn some money to send to Senegal, the documents ing, a situation that is very frustrating for them. were not a concern for me. I did not care about docu- Despite the migrants’ awareness of their demean- ments. What mattered to me was to work, earn money, ing working conditions, they prefer to stick to them to and help the family (Khardiata, 42, Almeria). make money. This is due mainly to the pressure of rel- The opinion of this migrant was different from most atives left in Senegal. As one migrant worker ob- of the other women we interviewed. For them, their served: irregular status constitutes a real handicap. In the ab- If the relatives remaining in Senegal were aware of the sence of a valid residence permit, migrants are in an many deprivations which we endure to make money, economically precarious and legally vulnerable situa- they would spend every penny we send them with a tion. By working informally, migrants sometimes find twinge of regret (Soukeyna, 43, Malaga). themselves exploited by their employers who dictate The expectation of the family residing in Senegal is the terms of the arrangement: not the sole reason for pushing migrants to continue Some Senegalese women work without being paid! Oth- to stay in personal care work. Sometimes, they stay ers face all kinds of difficulties before being paid. Such because it is the only activity they can perform, given cases, we see them every day. I have seen here employ- their precarious legal status. ers whose practices do not exist anywhere else. They will pay you only half the salary and ask you to wait until In Senegal, it was my mother or my sister who were pre- next month. It is abnormal! Everyone knows it is wrong paring food and were undertaking the cleaning work. but what can you do? Without the documents, it is hard (...) When I arrived in Spain and I began looking for to complain. In addition, the financial crisis does not work, I was informed that I could not do certain tasks help much. If you refuse a job, the next minute others because I had no documents. I was told that the only will accept it and sometimes they may even offer to be job I could do was to look after elderly ladies. When I paid less (Sara, 35, Granada). asked my fellow countrywomen with whom I lived about this, I was told simply and clearly that I could As they are unable to fulfil the legal requirements for only work in areas that the Spanish women did not want claiming labour rights, Senegalese migrants with irreg- to be in. That’s it! (Fanta, 41, Seville). ular status are forced to contend themselves with hav- Van Nieuwenhuyze (2009: 124–128) confirms that giv- ing had the chance to find work: ing up and returning home is not really an option if Without documents! I’m in an irregular situation (...) I one has not been at least able to pay back the money accept all kinds of work without complaining but once the family has invested in the trip, and preferably one I have the resident card in my hand, I will claim all my should return with much more money and a ‘project’; rights. Without the documents, it is difficult to say no to often the moral pressure from the family pushes mi- the boss (Rokhaya, 35, Almeria). grants to endure their hardships. Instead of giving up, Pregnant migrant domestic workers with irregular sta- many undocumented migrants move around between tus are especially vulnerable to exploitation. This is 60 Aly Tandian and Sylvia I. Bergh the case with this migrant who was at an advanced 3.6 Working Without Being Visible: A stage of pregnancy but preferred to continue working: Denial of Existence When you are in need, you take risks! And afterwards, one wonders how can we take such risks? I happened to The invisibility of some Senegalese migrant women in work in Dallus Milagros in a big house when I was in a Spain is thus partly explained by the fact that they very advanced state of pregnancy. But hey, I had no work without the required papers.22 In so doing they choice! I had just arrived and I had no documents. The contribute to the growth of Spain’s informal econ- work was very tough, given the advanced stage of my omy. This situation has been further accelerated by pregnancy. At one point I wanted to stop and resume work later but as I had no documents, I did not qualify the financial crisis in Spain in recent years. The infor- for paid maternity leave. I was working informally. I had mal economy accounts for 19.2 per cent of the official to hide my pregnancy as much as possible to avoid Spanish GDP (Mallet/Dinmore 2011), while Spain being dismissed by my boss. I was doing all sorts of had an unemployment rate of 21.2 per cent in late activities. It was very tiring, especially given the preg- 2011, a record among OECD countries (OECD 2011). nancy. Finally, I was forced to stop because I had enor- Not having the required documents exposes most mous problems that jeopardized my pregnancy. I think Senegalese migrants to risky situations. Even if some it is because of some heavy tasks I was doing that I ended up giving birth by Caesarean section (Farmata, of them are aware of the danger, they still prefer to 35, Sevilla). follow this path to earn a living. During an interview, a migrant who has worked in domestic services in Ma- These words reveal unambiguously the low flexibility drid for several years argued, based on her own expe- and bargaining power of migrant workers caused by rience, that there is often a tacit agreement between their irregular status, which deprives them of the the employer and the migrant worker on this issue: rights to enjoy good working conditions. Employers are aware of and sometimes exploit this situation: I was working without proper documents, knowing that there are risks especially in case of accident! If this Some employers prefer to hire someone who does not would happen, I would take care of myself by my own have papers to pay him a pittance or nothing at all means. This was very clear in my mind! My boss was because they know that this person will not report them understanding. There was a tacit agreement between us (Sara, 35, Granada). on this point. But as I was doing my job well, she saw Favouring the recruitment of women with irregular no reason to worry! I also worked for a lawyer and we status to the detriment of others is a way for some never spoke about the documents. With some employ- ers, you never talk about it unless they insist! (Mame Spanish employers to have a docile labour force at Mariétou, 35, Madrid). low cost. Indeed, “because migrants are forced to stay in the domestic service sector due to migration poli- Particularly in Spanish households where both cies, quota politics and the ethno-stratified labour spouses are working, we found an increasing delega- market Spanish employers believe that a long lasting tion of family responsibilities to their migrant domes- work relationship is guaranteed” (Dobner/Tappert tic workers. These, in addition to preparing meals and 2010: 18). cleaning the house, spend a lot of time with the chil- Senegalese migrants are aware that their irregular dren of their employers, and this in turn leads to status does not militate in their favour because it greater closeness to them. This situation has become makes them ‘invisible workers’ with no legal legiti- more visible on public transport (bus and metro) and macy. According to Falquet, Hirata, Kergoat, Labari, in some school playgrounds in large cities where of- Le Feuvre and Sow (2010: 102), with few exceptions, ten women domestic workers are accompanied by these migrant women are mostly invisible, like the work they do, and possess an involuntary feature which is often overlooked – they exert a downwards 22 Van Nieuwenhuyze (2009: 98, 194) usefully points out pressure on wages in the care sector. Despite their of- that although we often distinguish between the formal and informal economy or jobs, this does not overlap ten very specific training as care professionals, these completely with people being undocumented or not, as women accept working conditions and variable hours a migrant without papers (undocumented) can do for- that Spanish women try to resist. mal work with someone else’s papers, and documented migrants can do informal work. Moreover, the strict division between undocumented and regular migrant status is often blurred, partly because of the documen- tation strategies of migrants, partly because of informal toleration practices by the authorities. From Temporary Work in Agriculture to Irregular Status in Domestic Service 61 young Spanish children. This is part of the interna- tion of society. Due to precarious employment condi- tional transfer of social reproductive work related to tions and low wages in the domestic service sector, the globalization of production that we observe domestic workers have thus become affordable for around the world (Truong 1996). middle-class families who exhibit the highest demand Domestic workers come to Spain because they are for domestic workers in Spanish society. There is an able to fill this niche in the labour market. In that ongoing demand for domestic workers in Spain, de- sense, Spanish society is also actively involved in the spite the economic crisis, and it is mostly met by fe- migration process. Thanks to the presence of migrant male immigrants (Dobner/Tappert 2010: 2–6). workers, Spanish women manage to balance house- Indeed, it is interesting to consider the impact of hold tasks and pursue leisure activities or paid em- the financial and economic crisis. From the findings ployment, while the migrant workers are sometimes of a qualitative field study by Dobner and Tappert exposed to situations dangerous to their health, as we (2010: 10–13), it seems that working conditions are have seen with regard to pregnant migrant workers getting worse, especially in terms of working hours who prefer to hide their condition to avoid being and wages. The crisis influences working conditions fired.23 insofar as it leads to more dependency on the part of Indeed, at the macro-level, Parella Rubio (2003: migrant domestic workers (with both regular and ir- 187, cited in Dobner/Tappert 2010: 2) identifies three regular status). Domestic workers who now want to different causes leading to an increased incorporation change their labour sector see no chance of doing so of migrants into domestic service in Spain: migrant and prefer to remain in the domestic sector. They are networks, the migrant politics of the Spanish state, also more likely to accept poor and humiliating work- and changes in family structures and the gendered di- ing conditions than before the crisis, for fear of not vision of labour in Spain. The last includes the growth finding another job or one that is even worse than the of the ageing population, falling birth rates, the inte- current one. Migrant women who have not worked in gration of women into the labour market, and an in- the domestic work sector for a long time are being creasing privatization of the social system since the compelled to return to it. This is also the case for 1980s. Despite the growing participation of women in Spanish women, who are again increasingly seeking the Spanish labour market, traditional gender roles jobs as domestic workers. While the domestic work and the position of women as responsible carers in sector has not been hit as hard as other work sectors, domestic work are maintained and reproduced in so- the composition of the workforce is changing, as ciety and state policies. Domínguez-Folgueras and many women, female migrants as well as Spanish Castro-Martín (2008: 1518, cited in Dobner/Tappert women, are seeking (secure) jobs, and some are re- 2010: 3) define Spain as “still organized on the basis turning to the domestic work sector. Labour competi- of a traditional model of gendered responsibilities tion thus increases, leading to a worsening of working within the family. The unpaid work of women as car- conditions. There is a preference for migrant workers ers within the family remains an important pillar of and therefore a positive discrimination towards them social welfare, and public policies aimed at balancing on the part of the employer, because of their greater family and work responsibilities remain underdevel- dependency on the employer for work and a resi- oped.” The outsourcing of domestic work is therefore dence permit than is the case with Spanish domestic usually resolved privately with the employment of mi- workers (Dobner/Tappert 2010: 19–20; see also Solé/ grant domestic workers, mostly women. There also is Parella 2003: 124). an increasing demand for domestic workers in the As indicated earlier, the demand for this kind of field of childcare due to low public financial support employment arrangement has to be set in the broader and limited public childcare services, with private frame of an internationalized and globalized labour childcare services only being affordable by a small sec- market, as well as taking into account international migration, in which the transnationalization and fem- 23 Although probably only relevant for the case of regular inization of the workforce are linked processes. The migrants, in Spain employment tribunals (conseils de demand for a flexible and cheap workforce in the la- prud’hommes) continue to fight against the dismissal of bour market results in the production of identities pregnant domestic workers, enforcing workers’ rights shaped by gender, ethnicity, and class (FMP 2009: 724, such as the law of work procedure, the law of reconcil- cited in Dobner/Tappert 2010: 8). ing personal and professional lives, and the law of effec- To sum up this section: in terms of the individual tive gender equality, which all provide for the annulment migrant’s life project, the process of ‘becoming invisi- of dismissals and the reinstatement of the worker. 62 Aly Tandian and Sylvia I. Bergh ble’ and/or having irregular status could in many and this hinders the changing of employers and gen- cases be seen as an expression of agency, with respect erates an extreme dependence on them, as domestic to how they navigate opportunities in the Spanish la- workers can lose their residence permit when chang- bour market, i.e. a rational decision though based on ing employers or in periods of unemployment. The limited knowledge of the consequences. In fact, fol- legal bundling of work and residence permit means lowing Van Nieuwenhuyze (2009: 54), it is useful to that when they lose their job, or if for whatever rea- think of an individual’s migration project as compris- son they are not able to produce a job contract, the ing three stages in which he or she uses different strat- risk of not being able to extend the residence permit egies: ‘survival strategies’ apply mostly to migrants and therefore of being expelled is high. Live-ins in par- who arrive in Europe without the necessary docu- ticular experience a high degree of vulnerability as ments or acquire irregular status, as in the group of they work and live in spaces that are invisible to the women studied in this chapter; afterwards, many of public, the private households of their employers, as them may try to regularize their stay, developing ‘doc- we have seen in the examples cited above (Dobner/ umentation strategies’; and finally, they may start to Tappert 2010: 7–8, 14). consider strategies for upward or geographical mobil- Nevertheless, it is possible for undocumented mi- ity. It is clear that the last strategy is increasingly being grants to register on the list of local residents at the postponed due to the economic crisis, but it is worth municipality, provided they possess a valid passport – at least briefly – considering migrants’ ‘documenta- and proof of housing/address, so that they can claim tion strategies’. the right to health care and education for their chil- dren. However, the preconditions of registration ex- clude certain groups from access to health care (e.g. 3.7 Seeking Access to Social those who were never registered in Senegal), though a Protection Rights number of special health care centres focus on these groups (Van Nieuwenhuyze 2009: 133). Before turning to the issue of how Senegalese women There is also the quite common practice of bor- migrants seek to access their rights, it is useful to rowing, renting, buying, or falsifying somebody else’s briefly review the legal framework governing the do- documentation of residence and work permit to ob- mestic work sector in Spain. Since the 1980s, it has tain a formal job using another name, though this can been declared a special work regime (Real Decreto then jeopardize the regularization process (see Van 1424/85) and does not form part of the common la- Nieuwenhuyze 2009: 134 for examples). In any case, bour law. Rather it is defined as an “employment ar- since, at least until recently, Spain preferred to control rangement with exceptional characteristics”. As a spe- illegal immigration at the border rather than control cial work regime it contains many disadvantages undocumented migrants inside the country, undocu- concerning working conditions and social benefits, mented migrants do not seem to have a high level of some of which have already been discussed. For exam- fear of repatriation. When a migrant is caught without ple, work contracts are not obligatory; the wage is a residence or labour permit, he or she can be admin- equal to the national minimum wage (624 € a month), istratively expelled but this is rarely translated into a but working as a live-in can decrease the salary by up physical expulsion (Van Nieuwenhuyze 2009: 138). to forty-five per cent; maximum working hours are However, even if the feeling of repression is not over- forty hours per week, but live-ins are often obliged to whelming, “the pending promise of ‘papers’ binds work more due to their continuous presence in the [migrants with irregular status] to jobs and employers, household. Most importantly, domestic workers do providing Spain with a vulnerable and therefore obe- not have a right to unemployment benefits (Dobner/ dient labour force for the informal sector” (Van Nieu- Tappert 2010: 3, footnote 7; see also Solé/Ribas/Ber- wenhuyze 2009: 156). galli/Parella 1998). The ‘invisibility’ of Senegalese migrants in the do- The work permit has to be applied for by the mestic work sector is linked for some to the ignorance employer and can only be extended by him or her, of their rights, the fear of losing their jobs, their unfa- miliarity with the Spanish language, and their neglect of reading their work contract in the case of migrants 24 Federación mujeres progresistas (FMP), 2009: Tenemos la with regular status. The latter sometimes show their persona que necesita. Tres meses de garantía. See (4 December 2012). From Temporary Work in Agriculture to Irregular Status in Domestic Service 63 stand the content. They usually prefer to use their so- 3.8 Conclusions cial networks rather than private lawyers, work inspec- tors, social workers, etc. By sending women to Spain for the picking of straw- Some migrant women turn to community associa- berries as part of a temporary migration scheme, the tions when the terms of employment contracts are Spanish and Senegalese governments hoped to offer not respected, the tasks are not clearly defined, or the them a job in Europe as well as finding cheap labour working hours are too long. This is often the case for agricultural enterprises. Due to harsh working with women domestic workers with regular status conditions and low wages which were misaligned to who claim to be the victim of the strategies of some their profiles and expectations, some Senegalese employers, who, citing the financial crisis, avoid giv- women preferred to abandon the fields for other ing the workers permanent contracts after nine Spanish cities where they joined other Senegalese months of work as required by law, preferring to ter- working in domestic service. Without regular resi- minate the temporary contract after a few months dence permits, some of these women found them- without any compensation. This contributes greatly to selves in precarious situations reducing their statutory keeping Senegalese migrant women in a precarious and contractual rights. They encountered abuses such situation. Thus Senegalese migrants are able to receive as overtime being rarely paid, extremely variable work- legal support or improve their living and working con- ing hours, and sometimes even verbal, physical, and ditions, even if they sometimes question the effective- psychological violence. Domestic workers with legal ness of such associations in the field of social protec- status also face difficulties such as the downgrading tion. The lack of financial resources and trained of skills, isolation, and not being allowed to change personnel are a real handicap for Senegalese associa- employers or become pregnant for a certain number tions in Spain trying to meet their members’ needs in of years. terms of realizing their rights to social protection. We From the findings presented here, we can draw found that most Senegalese women migrants are conclusions and policy implications for both tempo- aware of the social injustices which they suffer in the rary (agricultural) work schemes and for the situation performance of domestic work, but their illegal sta- of female migrant domestic workers in Spain, all of tus, their lack of mastery of the Spanish language, and which revolve around labour market issues, questions their ignorance of the labour code prevent them from of regulation, and unforeseen outcomes in terms of effectively addressing them. social (in)justice. In documenting the process of tran- At the national level, other authors (Danese 2001: sition from one sector to another, we have also seen 77; Solé/Parella 2003: 131–132) observe the weakened that while choices are limited as a result of the restric- role of trade unions in representing all workers, in- tive migration regimes and economic adverse condi- cluding non-EU immigrants. While some have taken tions, agency remains important (Van Nieuwenhuyze action to encourage non-discrimination and protect 2009: 195). the rights of immigrant workers, and some have had The findings on the temporary agricultural work a key role in the regularization processes, there are scheme show that policies which fail to understand low levels of union membership in the domestic serv- the temporary migrant workers’ lives – that many are ice, construction, and agriculture sectors, and the ma- well educated, that they are not merely pairs of har- jority of (non-Latin American) immigrant workers vesting hands, that they have networks in Spain, that have no experience of trade union practices in their allocation of places in temporary migration schemes country of origin. Dietz (2004: 1092) shows how “the will in Senegal inevitably be partly on the basis of pa- migrant populations recently appearing in Andalucía tronage – can never obtain their objectives. do not integrate into the local, urban or rural settings As for the findings on migrant domestic workers of the host-society neighbourhoods, but into the presented here, they illustrate very clearly the special ethno-national networks which enable them to survive characteristics found in the domestic work sector, in the unstable continuum of legal and illegal eco- namely “the intimate character of the social sphere nomic activities”. where the work is performed; the social construction of this work as a female gendered area; the special re- lationship between employer and employee which is highly emotional, personalized and characterized by mutual dependency” (Lutz 2008: 1, cited in Dobner/ Tappert 2010: 8; see also Gutiérrez-Rodríguez 2010). 64 Aly Tandian and Sylvia I. Bergh In terms of policy implications, legal immigration visas, visas tied to particular employers, and no flexi- of the unskilled is arguably desirable, along with af- bility to switch to other admission categories are all fordable social protection for these workers. Tempo- conditions that create incentives for migrants to leave rary migration schemes are seen as a good match be- the programs and move into irregular status”. They tween the needs of some labour markets, the pressure therefore suggest that “incentives for circulation, like for migration, the fear of a brain drain, and the poten- pension portability or an ‘earned’ right to remain per- tial of return migration. Theoretically, if the system is manently, may be more effective than enforcement transparent, predictable, and rights-based, it could be measures” (2008: 23). a realistic and cost-effective policy option (Baldwin- It seems that the Spanish government is making Edwards 2004; Ghosh 2000; cited in Van Nieuwen- progress along these lines, as its Ministry of Labour huyze 2009: 198). In practice, to address some of the and Immigration produced the Plan Estratégico de shortcomings presented here it is necessary to build Ciudadanía e Integración (Strategic Plan for Citizen- on the institutional capacities of the governments of ship and Integration) for 2007–2010, which was ap- countries of origin for the management of migration proved by the Spanish Government in 2007. Among flows, increasing the number of diplomatic represen- other measures, the Plan includes actions to foster the tations, consular offices, and jointly-run employment inclusion of seasonal workers and encourage their re- services, in order to streamline the processes of re- turn with skills and resources enabling them to act as cruitment, selection, and return of foreign workers development agents in their places of origin. This is (EMN 2010: 55; see also the lessons learnt from the sought through active employment policies in coun- management of seasonal Moroccan migration around tries of origin and voluntary return programmes.25 Huelva as found in González Enríquez 2011). Other The Plan also seeks to encourage the signing of bilat- studies have also shown that the need for well-pre- eral social security agreements with several countries pared workers includes training on contracts, knowl- (as of 2010, not yet with Senegal) for the recognition edge of legal processes and resources in host country, of pension rights and other benefits, which could be including basic rights, some job skills training, cultural a stimulus for temporary and circular mobility in the awareness, and adequate language abilities (Morgan/ medium and long term (EMN 2010: 22–23). Nolan 2011: 17). Since bilateral treaties still mostly do not take into However, if foreign workers do not wish to return account the views of the migrants themselves (Wab- home, the creation of a population of undocumented gou 2008: 148), such policy changes would help mi- immigrants may be almost inevitable (Van Nieuwen- grants to fulfil their life projects. As Riccio (2001: 590) huyze 2009: 198). observes, most Senegalese migrants in Europe would This is particularly the case for Spain, which has prefer to conduct truly transnational lives, living part not yet developed a legal framework to encourage the of the year here and the other part there, and making temporary or circular migration of documented for- the best of both worlds. However, “far from being in eign nationals living in Spain to and from their coun- a post-national era […], transnational organization still tries of origin. Although any foreign worker with a needs to negotiate with nation and local state regula- valid work and residence permit may enter and leave tory and sometimes exclusionary practices as well as Spain, the requirement to fulfil the necessary resi- with the representations of immigrants held in the mi- dence and (uninterrupted) employment criteria for gration context” (Riccio 2001: 590, citing Grillo/Ric- maintaining or renewing these permits restricts circu- cio/Salih 2000).26 lar and temporary mobility from Spain to countries of origin. Only in the case of migrants with long-term residence permits (obtained after residence for a con- tinuous five-year period) are there no practical restric- tions on movement between Spain and countries of 25 See also the (limited) training activities organized by the ILO for Senegalese migrants, targeting among others origin (EMN 2010: 32). the return and reinsertion of migrants (see (19 November 2012). On nias/Dovelyn/Terrazas (2008: 22) conclude that return to Senegal within government-led initiatives and “many of the conditions of migration programs for their misalignment with migrant perspectives, see Sinatti the less skilled, intended to ‘enforce’ circularity, seem (2012). to have the opposite effect of encouraging irregular 26 See also Sinatti (2011) for the argument that Senegalese migration: very short contract periods, non-renewable migrants’ self-perception of successful return is still largely associated with permanent return. From Temporary Work in Agriculture to Irregular Status in Domestic Service 65 References in times of crisis. A comparative analysis of conse- quences for women on both sides of the coin”, Paper Agrela Romero, Belén; Gil Araujo, Sandra, 2005: “Con- for the SGIR 7th Pan-European International Relations structing Otherness. 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This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. 4 Burmese Female Migrant Workers in Thailand: Managing Productive and Reproductive Responsibilities Kyoko Kusakabe1 and Ruth Pearson2, 3 Abstract This case study argues that even in increasingly unstable circumstances women migrant workers have to con- tinue to balance their reproductive responsibilities as mothers and daughters with their ongoing roles as wage workers and economic providers, often managing complex transborder care arrangements. The chapter extends the global care chain framework to investigate the ways in which Burmese migrant factory workers in Thailand organize reproduction and childcare in the place of destination and in the in-between places at the international borders between the two countries. The chapter provides new insights into ways migrant women factory work- ers adapt and strategize to achieve daily, generational, and biological reproduction needs and the links between these strategies and the pattern of capital accumulation in Thailand’s border industrialization strategy. The elab- oration of multiple forms of control and regulation from the state to the factory as well as community highlights the structures of constraint as well as the ways women negotiate around these constraints. The aim of the chap- ter is to delineate key issues of social injustice relating to their nationality and legal ambiguity of status (migrant or worker). Focusing on the individual agency of migrant workers, our research demonstrates that existing anal- yses of the women’s experiences of work and of harassment in Thailand needs to be supplemented by an under- standing of their ongoing but changing connections with home and family, in terms of resourcing care for chil- dren, the elderly, and other relatives in their home country, as well as their community and family obligations and responsibilities in their place of employment. Keywords: Women, migrant workers, Thailand, Burma/Myanmar4, social reproduction5, border factories, glo- bal care chains, nationality, citizenship, graduated sovereignty 4.1 Introduction1 23 4 workers, though of course many women straddle both categories. A central focus of such research con- Over the last two decades it has become clear that the current phase of globalization has been marked not just by transborder trade and investment but also by 3 This chapter is based on the research findings of the international mobility of labour. But it is only in re- IDRC-funded project “Gender, Cross-border Migrant cent decades that academic and policy analysis has fo- Workers and Citizenship: A case study of the Burmese- cused on women who migrate to seek employment, Thai Border”, project number 103851-001. It is an rather than on those accompanying other migrant updated and expanded version of an article published in the International Migration Journal (See Kusakabe/ Pearson 2010). It also draws on material discussed in Pearson/Kusakabe (2012b). The research has been car- 1 Kyoko Kusakabe is an associate professor at Gender and ried out with the support of Naw Htee Heh, Zin Mar Development Studies, School of Environment, Resources Oo, Naw Eh Mwee, Cecil Khin. Also acknowledged are and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, support from Kanokporn Jaroenrith, Lada Phadungki- Pathumthani, Thailand. ati, San Sithilertprasit and Usamard Siampakdee. Sup- 2 Ruth Pearson is Professor of Development Studies at port from MAP Foundation and its director Jackie the School of Politics and International Studies, Faculty Pollock, Yaung Chii Oo Workers' Association and Pat- of Education, Social Sciences and Law, the University of tanarak Foundation were also indispensable for the Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom. completion of the research. T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 69 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_4, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 70 Kyoko Kusakabe and Ruth Pearson cerns the links between the accumulation of capital fects on the economy, which in many cases has pres- and the processes and networks that provide for the sured the state to rethink its support for care, as is the reproduction of labour power—what feminists have case in contemporary Japan (Osawa 2011). termed social reproduction. This analysis focuses not The situation for migrant workers in terms of sup- just at the macro level on the structural causes and port for childcare and other reproductive responsibil- process of migration, but importantly on the micro ities is generally worse than for other workers. In level, which foregrounds the experiences, subjectivi- most situations neither the state of origin nor the des- ties, and agency of migrant women involved in glo- tination state takes any responsibility for the childcare balizing production processes (see Silvey 2004). needs of women migrant workers, who are usually ex- This article explores how Burmese migrant cluded from any entitlements available to national cit- women workers in Thailand negotiate conflicting re- izens. Destination states consider migrant workers as sponsibilities for the families they have left at home, only temporary residents in the country, so see no rea- for their new households formed in the Thai cities in son to invest in the reproduction of the next genera- which they now live, and for the paid work which is tion; and sending states, even those which sponsor the purpose of their migration. It foregrounds the outmigration of women workers, are more inter- women’s agency and explores how migrant women ested in the repatriation of remittances from migrant workers negotiate with wider social and political earnings than in contributing to their childcare costs, structures (Parreñas 2001; Yeoh/Huang 1998). This in- particularly when the children are raised in another volves going beyond the analysis of the vulnerability country. So most migrant workers are left to organize to exploitation of migrant women workers, due to the and finance the costs of bearing and raising their own lack of effective protection from either the sending or children from their own resources without state or the receiving state, to analyzing the gendered implica- other support. In the face of this situation, which is tions of their responsibilities for reproduction (Tha- coupled with low bargaining power as workers, and pan 2006: 13; Pearson/Kusakabe 2012a). There is a often indifference or even hostility from the receiving continuous struggle between wage earners and the state, migrant workers actively mobilize their family state to meet the resource and other costs of childcare and other networks in order to juggle their care re- and other reproductive responsibilities, which Pearson sponsibilities with the demands of their paid employ- (1997) termed the ‘reproductive bargain’. But when ment, in spite of the harsh environment they find the state rolls back its responsibility for taking care of themselves in. childcare, disabled and sick people, and increasingly, This is the situation for Burmese migrant women elderly people, it is most frequently women who have in our study who are employed in the garment and to extend their paid and unpaid work to ensure that textile factories in the border areas of northern Thai- any care deficit is covered. Very often this adjustment land, and are involved simultaneously in reproductive takes the form of unpaid work, which can restrict as well as productive work. The micro-level analysis of women’s participation in the labour force, or the their experience enables an understanding of the ways range of paid work which they can access, or both. in which migrant women’s reproductive (domestic) la- Women’s restricted participation can have negative ef- bour is linked to the global economy. An important focus of recent research has been on ‘global care 4 Burma is the name of the country, used since British chains’, which describe the transborder commoditiza- colonial rule. However, it was renamed by the ruling tion of care work resulting from the migration of do- military junta as the Union of Myanmar in 1989 and in mestic and other care workers, mainly from low-wage 2011 the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. The name developing economies of the global South to the in- remains contested. The UN has endorsed the name dustrialized economies of the North (Hochschild 'Myanmar' although many governments still refer to the 2001; Yeates 2005; Sassen 2008). Our research ex- country as Burma. Media outlets have a mixed practice. tends this analysis by demonstrating how care work Opposition groups, especially non-Burman ethnic groups refuse to recognise the new name because the and global production are also linked by the repro- term "Myanmar" has historically been deployed only by ductive work of women migrant factory workers who majority Burman ethnic group. Our practice is to retain are employed in other sectors of the economy, but the name 'Burma' which is universally used by migrant who still retain the responsibility to resource, organ- workers in Thailand in the English-speaking media and ize, and often deliver care work for their own families, academia but we use Burma/Myanmar when referring including their parents and siblings as well as their to official treaties, documents or government actions own children.5 where relevant Burmese Female Migrant Workers in Thailand: Managing Productive and Reproductive Responsibilities 71 This chapter analyses the experience of Burmese derstanding (MOU) with neighbouring countries, mi- migrant women workers in Thailand, looking at the grant workers in Thailand remain in a precarious situ- structure of constraints within which they have to ex- ation. Indeed in some respects their situation has ercise individual agency, particularly concerning the is- deteriorated – for instance, workers registering under sue of social reproduction, that is, not just biological the previous system were covered by compulsory reproduction but also the reproduction of labour health insurance,7 but under the temporary passport power as daily and generational processes (Mackin- and work permit system, migrants have to purchase tosh 1984; Folbre 1994). The existing literature on mi- private health insurance for themselves and employers grant workers in Thailand has provided a detailed, if no longer have any obligation to provide health insur- grim, picture of the exploitative conditions where mi- ance for them. grants work, mainly in the agricultural, construction, Migrants’ opportunities and constraints are also and manufacturing sectors.6 Attention has also been affected by the national and bilateral citizenship and paid to the ways in which migrant workers’ labour nationality regimes in both Burma (Myanmar) and rights and human rights have been continually vio- Thailand, which have become more institutionalized lated by immigration officials and the police and the with the introduction of the bilateral MOU in 2003, military in Thailand. Our research takes this analysis although this was not implemented until 2009–10. At further by demonstrating that the workers’ experi- the same time, women face gendered constraints on ences of work and of harassment in Thailand needs to mobility, enforced both by the gender regimes of their be supplemented by an understanding of their con- communities of origin and destination and by the fac- nections with home and family, in terms of resourcing tory owners and the police and immigration authori- care for children, the elderly, and other relatives in ties in Thailand. And in spite of the fact that the ma- their home country, as well as their community and jority of the migrant workers in this case study are of family obligations and responsibilities in their place of prime reproductive age, political discourses which employment. Their experiences are also shaped by the construct Burmese migrants as polluting and prob- ways in which migrant workers have been regulated lematic, as well as their economic constraints and lack and controlled within Thailand historically, through a of access to health care, education, and citizenship series of registration exercises seeking to “regulate ir- rights, all serve to further constrain these women’s re- regular migration” (Traitongyoo 2008), which offer productive choices and practices. While it is widely ac- very temporary permission for ‘illegal migrants’ to re- knowledged that global competition since the 1970s main in Thailand to work in specified jobs and eco- has frequently been based on the search for cheap la- nomic sectors. Although the situation for migrant bour, the gendered ways in which transnational repro- workers in Thailand has recently become more regu- ductive labour is performed reflect “the ways in which lated with the introduction of temporary passports the globalization of the market economy has ex- and work permits as the result of memoranda of un- tended the politics of reproductive labour into an in- ternational arena” (Parreñas 2001: 62). At the same time, as this chapter illustrates, the 5 For a more theoretical treatment of this point see Pear- politics and policies of globalized production and la- son and Kusakabe (2012a). bour markets reach down through regional and na- 6 World Vision/Asian Research Center for Migration (2003); Institute of Asian Studies/Thailand Develop- tional policy arenas into the households and families ment Research Institute/Institute for Population and of the migrant workers themselves. This chapter Social Research (2003); Thammasak (1998); Arnold therefore seeks to explore these issues by tracing the (2004, 2006); FTUB (2004); FTUB Migrants Section/ connections between the experiences of transborder Robertson Jr. (2006); Amnesty International (2005); migration from Burma to Thailand of women factory Hveem/Than Doke (2004); Pearson/Punpuing/Jampa- workers in the context of the economic policies and klay/Kittisuksathit/Prohmmo (2006); Chulalongkorn strategies of the Thai government and a rapidly glo- University (2003); Asian Human Rights Commission (2005); Asian Research Center for Migration/Institute balizing world. This chapter is organized as follows: for Population and Social Research/Thailand Develop- the next section sets out the context of the case study ment Research Institute (2004); Caouette (2001); research, and the details of the research methodology Huguet/Punpuing (2005); Martin/Asian Research and data collected in the study. This is followed by a Center for Migration/Institute for Population and discussion of the regulation and control of Burmese Social Research/Thailand Development Research Insti- tute (2004); Myint/ Bhumiprabhas/ Kerdmongkol (2004); Pollock (2006); Punpuing 2006. 7 Bangkok Post, 13 May 2012. 72 Kyoko Kusakabe and Ruth Pearson migrants working in the export factories of Mae Sot, men) carried out by Burmese members of our re- in Tak Province, and the constraints on women work- search team in Mae Sot between June 2007 and De- ers’ mobility. The subsequent sections set out the cember 2010, as well as a semi-structured question- ways in which the costs of reproduction of labour, naire survey of 302 migrant workers (women 211, men daily and generational as well as biological, are borne 91). Participatory workshops were also organized with directly by woman workers who have to resource, and male and female Burmese migrants as well as inter- often deliver, the labour required to care for children views with a number of migrant workers’ organiza- and dependent elderly parents from a wage earned in tions and individuals in Mae Sot between 2007 and precarious and often exploitative employment. To- 2009. The migrant worker interviews covered life his- gether these processes ensure that Thai factories have tories, work histories, and working conditions and as- access to cheap migrant labour. pirations. This involved the researchers spending time in pagodas, libraries for migrant workers, and health clinics and hospitals, where they were able to get to 4.2 Research Methodology and know migrant workers and establish rapport with Context them and engage in informal discussions. The re- searchers conducted longer in-depth interviews with The location of this study was the border between some of the workers who indicated that they were Thailand and Burma: the town of Mae Sot, in the willing to talk at more length. By basing themselves Thai province of Tak. Mae Sot has been designated for several weeks at a time in Mae Sot, the interview- for development by the government of Thailand, and ers were able to build up relationships of trust with was named in the context of the twin border cities in- many of the interviewees, and make the acquaintance cluded in the Bagan Declaration for mutual coopera- of more migrant workers through a snowballing meth- tion and development.8 The town has grown since the odology based on these workers’ networks. early 1990s and is one of the areas in Thailand which The semi-structured questionnaires were adminis- has witnessed a rapid growth in migrant workers from tered with the help of Yaung Chi Oo Workers Associ- different parts of Burma. Mae Sot is also the location ation (YCOWA) in Mae Sot. Rather than attempt to of a large number of export garment and textile facto- construct a representative structured sample, which ries, many of which have relocated from other parts was not possible because of the research context, of Thailand, and which employ virtually 100 per cent which did not allow access to workplaces and lacked migrant Burmese workers. These factories range from any reliable statistical data, the methodological ap- large industrial enterprises with a workforce of up to proach taken was purposive sampling. Employees at two and a half thousand, to small “house factories” specific garment factories were targeted based on the with a few dozen workers. Most of the factories are connections that YCOWA had within particular facto- Thai-owned, and many are subcontractors for East ries. The survey focused on married women and mar- Asian or Western supply chains producing for the in- ried men who had been working in Thailand for more ternational market. than three years at the date of interview. This study draws on eighty in-depth interviews In addition, the research used secondary data, in- with migrant workers (sixty-eight women and twelve cluding academic studies and reports from both Thai and international NGOs and migrant organizations. It 8 The Bagan Declaration, adopted November 2003, states also drew on two workshops held in Mae Sot in July the intention of the four countries involved – Myanmar, 2007, one for representatives of organizations work- Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam – to collaborate on a range ing with migrant workers, and one for factory work- of development projects over the following decade (in: ers themselves (Kusakabe/Pearson/Naw Eh Mwee/ Myanmar Times, 17–23 November 2003; at: ) and was followed by a series of The demographic profile of our respondents is de- bilateral projects aimed at strengthening regional eco- nomic integration and border area development (Tsu- tailed in table 4.1. It should be noted that the educa- neishi 2005). The stated aims of this bilateral tion level of migrant workers is not necessarily low, cooperation are not only to facilitate flows of goods with most workers having completed primary school and investment, but also to reduce socio-economic dis- and many with secondary education or above. Many parities. Thailand pledged 100 million baht (US$ 2.5 of our respondents were single when they initially million) for 2004 and 2005, and was considering ear- came to Mae Sot, but had married since starting to marking 10 million baht over a period of five years work in the factories there. More than seventy per (ACMECS 2004). Burmese Female Migrant Workers in Thailand: Managing Productive and Reproductive Responsibilities 73 Table 4.1: Demographic profile of respondents in Mae 4.3 Regulation and Control of Sot. Source: Authors’ analysis of semi- Migrant Factory Workers in structured questionnaire. Thailand’s Border Areas Women Men Average age 29.77 29.81 4.3.1 Creating ‘Cheap Labour’ for Thailand’s Export Industries Average years of 7.23 8.71 schooling Factories in Thailand have responded to growing glo- Marital status Married: 89.6% Married: 94.5% bal competition in export markets by seeking to re- Divorced: 8.1% Divorced: 5.4% duce labour costs through the utilization of “cheap” Remarried: 1.4% Widow: 0.9% migrant labour. As has been extensively noted by pre- vious research on export sectors that involve manual Number of One child: 75.2% operations, women have historically provided the children (227 respondents) Two children: 21.9% most productive source of cheap labour, and their low (66 respondents) unit costs of production are routinely attributed to Three children: 2.3% , their ‘natural’ attributes as unskilled, docile, and sec- (7 respondents) ondary (and therefore disposable) labour (Elson/Pear- Four children: 0.3% son 1981; Wright 2006). But they are also cheap in (1 respondent) terms of the ways in which the capital that employs Five children: 0.3% them, and the state in which they are situated, are (1 respondent) able to avoid any contribution to the costs of repro- Ethnicity Burman: 78.2% Burman: 90.6% duction of their daily labour power and the genera- Karen: 11.4% Karen: 1.2% tional reproduction of the workforce. In Thailand as Mon: 8.5% Mon: 3.5% Others: 1.9% Others: 4.7% elsewhere, migrant workers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation in the form of below-standard wages Based on questionnaire interview with 211 women and and poor working conditions since they are generally 91 men. not protected by labour regulation or citizenship rights. Moreover, they also subsidize capital and the cent of the women migrant workers surveyed in Mae state through the complex ways in which they manage Sot gave birth to their first child after coming to Thai- their gendered reproductive responsibilities for secur- land. ing housing, food, education, and health care and car- The information gathered from these sources ing for children and elderly and disabled family mem- complements a range of previous studies which have bers (Nagar/Lawson/McDowell/Hanson 2002). documented the working conditions of Burmese mi- Burmese women migrant workers constitute an espe- grant workers in Mae Sot’s border factories (Arnold cially vulnerable and exploitable source of ‘cheap la- 2004, 2006; FTUB 2004; FTUB/Robertson Jr. 2006; bour’ in manufacturing. Whilst in other contexts ex- Pollock 2006). The information derived from the port factories have migrated to cheap labour workshops and interviews was triangulated with the platforms, for example from the United States to views of key specialists within Thailand, particularly northern Mexico or the Asian Newly Industrialized from NGOs and the Thai academic community. This Countries (NICs), in this instance Thai capital has re- allowed us to construct a more holistic understanding mained in the country, whilst the cheap labour has mi- of the ways in which Burmese migrant women work- grated over the borders from Burma. Because of the ers juggled their reproductive responsibilities with the economic and political repression in Burma (Fink demands and constraints arising from their working 2009) and the limited rights of migrant workers lives within the factories, and dealt with the gendered within Thailand, Burmese women migrant factory restrictions and constraints they faced in terms of the workers are protected by neither their state of origin labour regimes within the factories, as well as the im- nor their state of destination, and, as has been exten- migration regulations and restrictions on their mobil- sively documented, are subjected to arbitrary and ex- ity and entitlements within Thailand. These are dis- ploitative labour conditions including excessive hours cussed in the following section. of work, unhygienic living conditions, arbitrary deduc- tions from their wages, and vulnerability to arbitrary dismissal, arrest, and deportation. 74 Kyoko Kusakabe and Ruth Pearson Since the 1990s, when the policy of employing mi- the nationality verification would make them more grant workers in Thailand’s border industries took vulnerable because of the prevailing political situation off, there has been a series of government measures in Burma. They were particularly afraid that their fam- aimed at exercising some control over the influx of ilies back home would be harassed by the authorities, transborder migrants into the country, a process fre- through higher tax collection and so on, if they gave quently seen as “regulating the irregular” (Traitangyoo Burmese officials information about their villages of 2008). Regulation has sought to reconcile two com- origin.10 Even though the current moves towards peting concerns: the fear of migrants’ bringing dis- greater democracy and political pluralism promise the ease, criminality, and political unrest into the Thai legalization of trade unions and extension of workers’ polity, and the expressed desire of government and in- rights within Burma, such changes have not yet perco- dustrialists alike to access cheap labour in order to ex- lated through to the rural areas or the border states port to an increasingly competitive market where la- where ethnic minority groups are still fighting for au- bour-intensive products such as garments and foot- tonomy. At the same time, although the MOU states wear face strong competition from emerging that those who migrate under this process will enjoy economies in the region, particularly China and Viet- a full guarantee of labour rights equal to those of Thai nam, who are able to undercut Thailand on the basis workers (FTUB/Roberston Jr. 2006), there is little of lower labour costs. According to Chalamwong confidence amongst the migrants that this is feasible (2004), the Thai government’s creation of a formal or even possible. In fact the procedure is so compli- category of “registered irregular migrant workers”, cated that workers are having to rely on so-called who are granted legal permission to work for a set ‘agents’ to obtain temporary passports on their be- and limited period of time, gives the utmost flexibility. half, and this involves considerable expenditure, dou- Because they retain their illegal status, registration bling the officially quoted fee for obtaining nationality represents only a stay of execution of their expulsion verification of 1,050 baht.11 Some migrant workers and allows the government to deport them when who opt to manage the process without the em- their period of registration expires. This formula pro- ployer’s help have hired agents to go through the vides an opportunity for Thai industries to access process for them and have reported paying up to cheap immigrant labour and offers government a seven to ten times more than the official rate. source of revenue from migrant registration fees while Meanwhile the flow of migrant workers to Thai- at the same time enabling it to maintain a policy of land continues, though an increasing proportion re- controlling immigration and denying Thai citizenship mains outside any regulatory framework. There are to a range of foreign workers. The creation of this cat- no reliable estimates for the total number of migrant egory of ‘irregular’ migrants reflects what Sparke, Sid- workers in Thailand. Martin (2007: 4), citing Rattana- away, Bunnell, and Grundy-Warr (2004) have de- vut (2006) and Huguet (2007), estimated that in scribed as a “a clever remedy”, whereby the state cre- 2006, there were 1.8 million foreign workers in Thai- ates a regulatory framework which allows it9 to mete land, of which twenty-six per cent were registered. out different treatment to different segments of its Other estimates have put the number much higher population, allowing the market to benefit from such and figures of between 2 and 2.5 million are fre- an arrangement. quently cited (FTUB/Robertson Jr. 2006), with over As noted above, potential migrant workers are of- sixty per cent from Burma. Of the registered Burmese ficially required to go through a verification of nation- migrants, 46.1 per cent are women12. As of March ality in their country of origin and then apply for tem- 2011, there were 350,915 migrant workers who went porary passports and obtain a permit to work in Thai- through the nationality verification process (of which land. The permit is given for two years with the 159,662, or 45.5 per cent, were women), while a total possibility of a single extension of two years. But this kind of official state-to-state agreement does not nec- 10 MAP Foundation website “The regulation of migrant essarily make the lives of migrants from Burma to workers following the MOUs”; at: (accessed 3 April 2009). 11 Bangkok Post, 13 April 2012. 9 See MAP Foundation website on: “The regulation of 12 See MAP Foundation – No migrant worker is illegal migrant workers following the MOUs”; at: 1996–2008”,at: (accessed 3 April 2009). Burmese Female Migrant Workers in Thailand: Managing Productive and Reproductive Responsibilities 75 of 394,903 workers were still in the registration proc- In recent years the Thai government has main- ess (including 179,779 women).13 However, in Tak tained that the objectives of Thai development initia- province, where Mae Sot is located, only 889 workers tives were to close the economic gap between Thai- completed the nationality verification process (441 land and its poorer neighbours and to stem the inflow women), with a further 22,538 (14,917 women) who of foreign workers into Thailand. But if this was the were registered.14 There is less incentive for employers case, these measures have demonstrably failed, and to go through the cumbersome nationality verification nowhere more so than in the area around Mae Sot. process in a border town like Mae Sot, where the em- Although a plan to establish a Special Economic Zone ployers think it is easy to get away with not following in Mae Sot16 has never materialized, the employment the verification process, despite inspections—the of migrant workers has expanded in the area. Of the workers can cross the border and wait on the Bur- total of 921,482 registered migrant Burmese workers mese side whenever necessary. So after the temporary in Thailand in 2004, 124,618 or 13.5 per cent were reg- passport was introduced, in Mae Sot the number of istered in Tak Province (FTUB/Robertson Jr. 2006), workers who have legal status in Thailand decreased. making it the largest concentration of registered Bur- The increased employment of migrant workers in mese migrants outside Bangkok,17 and various sources the textiles and garments sector reflects the declining suggest that this figure should be multiplied by a fac- fortunes of in the industry particularly since the 1997– tor of two to three to account for the large number of 8 financial crisis in Thailand. From being the largest unregistered workers. Such a high number of migrant export item for many decades, textiles’ share of ex- workers in a relatively small border province reflects ports had fallen to fifth place by 2003, and had disap- the success of the Thai government’s policy of con- peared from the top ten export items by 2006 (EXIM centrating migrant workers in border areas. The 2006). The decline in export importance since the cri- number of manufacturing establishments in the area sis paralleled a fall in employment share, though tex- has also grown rapidly. According to FTUB and Rob- tiles still accounted for twenty per cent of the 5.4 mil- ertson Jr. (2006), there were 124 officially registered lion industrial workers (Barimbun 2006). Up to eighty factories in 2004 in Mae Sot; approximately two- per cent of the sector’s employees are women, a pro- thirds (eighty factories) were apparel factories, and portion that has remained remarkably stable in the these employed over 14,000 workers.18 If informal face of changes in overall employment in this sector and unregistered factories were included, the total (Chalamwong/Amornthum 2002). And since the number was estimated to be greater than 200, again 1997 crisis, production of garments and textiles has reflecting the real situation in the town whereby the shifted significantly to the border areas in the north, registered factories represent less than half the total north-west, and north-east of Thailand, which have number of establishments that rely on a cheap mi- seen both a fall in real wages and an increase in the grant workforce. employment of migrant workers. The growth in the Together with new industrial development poli- number of factories and in total employment in this cies which emphasize advantages for Thailand from sector has been especially dramatic in Tak province, cooperation with neighbouring regimes in the Me- where Mae Sot is located.15 kong subregion, Mae Sot offers a site for Thai indus- trialists to seek maximum benefit from access to 13 See MAP Foundation website at: (accessed 28 July 2012). 14 See MAP Foundation website at: cities such as Mae Sai and Mae Sot, which are along the (accessed 28 July 2012). economic corridors. 15 According to an interview with the Labour Office of the 17 According to the Ministry of Labour, the number of reg- Tak province, the 1997–8 economic crisis in Thailand istered Burmese migrant workers in Tak province in provided particular opportunities for the province. 2007 was 26,911, of which 18,115 were women (Sciort- Since it borders Burma, it has access to a large quantity ino/Punpuing 2009: 64). They estimated that in 2007, of cheap labour making it attractive for labour-intensive only twenty-seven per cent of migrants from Laos, Cam- industries to consider relocation, a view which is rein- bodia, and Burma were registered. forced by the dramatic increase in the number of work- 18 Ministry of Industry: “Accumulative number of the reg- ers and number of factories after the recovery from the istered factories by province by type at the end of the from the shock of the economic crisis of 1997 (see fig- year” data on 2006; at: (accessed 27 June 2007). 76 Kyoko Kusakabe and Ruth Pearson few constraints on how that labour is recruited, de- survey indicates that male workers have had to pay off ployed, respected, or remunerated. It is to these con- the police slightly more frequently than women (1.82 ditions of work and of life that we turn below. times per head, compared to women’s rate of 1.45) and are also forced to pay a slightly higher amount 4.3.2 Restricting Women Migrant Workers’ than women (men pay 134.2 baht a time, while Mobility women pay 129.4 baht). Explanations for this gender difference are that The high concentration of Burmese women workers men tend to be out in the street at night and that they in Mae Sot, and industry’s need for cheap and ‘dispos- are viewed by the population at large, as well as the able’ labour, has led to practices which govern and re- police, as a security threat. This leads to arrest and of- strict the movement of migrants in Mae Sot. The ways ten violence not just from the police and immigration in which women migrant workers experience restric- authorities, but also from groups of youths who are tions on their mobility comprise an aspect of the gen- reported to roam the town harassing and threatening dered nature of “graduated sovereignty” described by migrant workers.20 Women too are the objects of Ong (2000), whereby the state operates a system of both physical and sexual harassment and violence from differentiated regulation according to specific aspects both police and local gangs. This makes women reluc- – race, ethnicity, and nationality – of different sectors tant to take risks in the town. Indeed, we heard several of the population. Many women interviewed for our reports of aggression from officials and local youths. research reported that they are, or perceived that they Moreover, as is the case elsewhere, women, particularly are, restricted to the factory compound and its imme- recent migrants, tended to avoid risking such aggres- diate environs, unable to venture out into the town sion and preferred to remain within the confines of the and beyond. The restrictions reflect different forms of factory compound (see also Valentine 1989). constraint on workers’ mobility. Firstly, many workers Many women and men get accustomed to being are expressly forbidden by the factory managers to arrested and even deported, especially those who are leave the compound, except for specified occasions. involved in workers’ organizations and can access One manager reported to us that the workers were training and advice from others.21 Moreover, some of like family and everything was provided for them; they the Burmese migrant workers, particularly those who had no need to leave the compound except for an af- had had several years’ experience of living and work- ternoon once or twice a month. ing in Mae Sot, expressed some ambivalence about Police spot checks and the regulation requiring whether they felt they were worse off than they had work permits are further problems for workers mov- been in their home country. Although they faced con- ing about outside the factory. Registration documents straints on their mobility, those who had managed to indicate that a migrant is only permitted to remain negotiate some degree of freedom within the town within the province of registration; the authorities use valued the relative autonomy they had as workers in this as a reason to check the papers of Burmese indi- Thailand, in contrast to the strict nature of family and viduals, and this serves as a deterrent to workers’ mo- community vigilance and control which was particu- bility. Even those who have registration papers are larly constraining for young women. However, this rarely able to keep the original; many of our interview- view was only expressed by those individuals who had ees reported that they were given only a photocopy of the document, which police usually rejected, and workers could be fined, imprisoned, or deported 19 Interview, in: Mae Sot, 25 August 2007. without the relevant papers. The restrictions apply to 20 Ling (2007) noted such harassment by youth groups in all workers, but they are experienced in a gendered Samut Sakorn, and our interviews in Mae Sot with manner. Figures from the Immigration Office in Mae migrant workers indicated that they are frequently tar- Sot indicate that more men than women are deported geted by groups of Thai youths.21 This was reported by those participating in the NGO back to Burma by the authorities, even though and Union workshop held in Mae Sot on 6 July 2007 women comprise the vast majority of workers in the (Kusakabe/Pearson/Naw Eh Mwee/Phadungkiati 2008). factories. In 2006, women comprised forty-two per According to our informants from these organizations, cent of the 69,998 people deported from Mae Sot to this involved paying bribes to the police, alerting col- Burma because of illegal entry. One male migrant leagues and employers to pay the authorities or produce worker reported that he had been arrested thirteen appropriate documentation or both, and in some cases times by police in nine months.19 Our questionnaire submitting to deportation and then re-crossing the bor-der. Burmese Female Migrant Workers in Thailand: Managing Productive and Reproductive Responsibilities 77 gained confidence over a number of years, and who fied rates. This is because deductions were routinely were involved in worker organizations or NGOs.22 made to cover the cost of accommodation, food, and registration25 (see also: Arnold 2004; FTUB/Robert- son Jr. 2006). The cost of accommodation, which is 4.4 Gender and the Daily frequently a mattress in a shared room of a dormitory Reproduction of Labour Power in the factory compound, can range from 50 to 300 baht per month. Alternately, it can take the form of Low wages and late payment of wages, long working working in lieu of payment, which often means having hours, deduction of living costs from wages, restric- to work without pay on the evening shift between 5 tions on mobility, poor sanitary conditions in the p.m. and 9 p.m. to cover the cost of accommodation. workplace and in living quarters, and the confiscation The cost of obtaining a work permit is shouldered of identity documents are all commonly cited as prob- by the workers through deductions from their salary lems faced by workers. According to Punpuing over several months. Those who are not eligible for a (2006), migrant workers in Tak province earned only permit for whatever reason still have money deducted 50–80 baht23 per day, 38–69 per cent of the minimum from their earnings for the ‘immigration fee’. This can wage in Tak province of 130 baht. The wage rate is also cover a fund to bail (or bribe) the workers out much lower in Tak province compared with Bangkok when they are arrested, but many employers levy this where migrant wage rates are 100–120 baht a day, rep- charge simply to cover the fact that they (the employ- resenting 55–66 per cent of the minimum wage of 180 ers) are taking a risk by employing illegal migrants, baht. These figures reflect the higher proportion of though there is little evidence that there are real risks migrant workers in the agricultural sector as well as of penalties in doing so. Some workers report that the relative freedom of Tak factories to undercut min- there is a further deduction of between two and three imum wages. Our questionnaire survey showed that per cent of their earnings, and that they are not aware the average daily wage for migrant workers in Mae of the reasons for deduction, or that it is to cover Sot in 2008–9 was 97.8 baht compared with the offi- something called a ‘landing fee’.26 cial minimum wage of 157 baht during that period.24 The working hours are very long in the border fac- Labour inspection officers said that it is difficult tories, which leaves the women hardly any time for to detect the underpayment of wages, because on the themselves. A typical working day is 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. books, workers are paid minimum wages, while the and then 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., with two thirty-minute actual payment received by the workers is far lower, as breaks, although if there is a lot of work, shifts can ex- we explore below. Many workers in Mae Sot work at tend late into the night. In theory, there is a six-day piece rates, so that when orders are low this directly week, with a free day on Sunday, but many workers re- affects their level of earnings. Many workers reported ported that they only get one or two days holiday per that some factory owners gave workers twenty baht a month. Usually these fall just after payday, and most day for food if there was no work, but the notion of of the time is spent arranging to send money and any contractual obligation to pay workers was com- goods to their families back home. pletely absent. Most women workers we spoke to organized their The calculation of migrant wages is invariably an own shopping and cooking. During their breaks, they overestimation. According to previous research, as were able to buy vegetables from informal sellers in well as our own interviews, the wages actually re- front of the factory, and then cook food using the ru- ceived by factory workers were well below the noti- dimentary facilities in their dormitories. They had to 22 The women who talked about their relative autonomy 25 According to many of our informants, deductions were were those who attended the workshop in July 2006 made for registration fees, whether or not the worker (see footnote 21); interestingly, only a third of the dele- was officially registered and incurred costs for this. gates from these organizations who came to this event 26 This is a term used by a number of migrant workers we were women, reversing their representation in the Mae interviewed but does not appear to correspond to any Sot factory labour force as a whole. recognised category. The workers said it was a fee that 23 1 baht = US$ 0.03. they had to pay to be allowed to work in the factories 24 This does not include the earnings of workers who are that was above the charges they paid to agents who paid at piece rate, who constitute around thirty per cent arranged their transportation and introduction to the of the total respondents. There was a no significant gen- factories, though it is not clear to whom they paid this der difference in terms of earnings. fee. 78 Kyoko Kusakabe and Ruth Pearson fit in other tasks including cleaning, laundry, and to restrict migrant women’s reproductive choices. The bathing within their break periods. Women com- women migrant workers we had contact with re- plained that their working day was too long, and mar- ported that even though they are aware that Thai law ried women and those with children27 especially com- allows a period of paid maternity leave among other plained of having extensive extra, gendered rights for legally registered workers, this is rarely responsibilities in addition to their work in the facto- granted by the factory management. Some make lim- ries, and of being unable to take sufficient rest, let ited adjustments for pregnant women by shifting alone have any free time for leisure activities. them to a workplace with lighter work or allowing It is clear that women experience stress from the them to come five minutes later than other workers. pressure to ensure family survival with low wages and But in practice there are real problems for women long working hours. According to a recent inter- workers who become pregnant. Some women work- viewee in Mae Sot: ers did talk about the possibility of maternity leave, Last week I could not sleep at night and I lost my mem- but this usually meant only that they could return to ory. I could not remember where I put my things. I put work after the baby is delivered. Since they are paid money in front of me and I was searching for that daily wages, this means a loss of all income whilst money. Then, I told my problem to an Indian-Burmese they are absent. A number of women reported that woman who came to our compound and she gave me their economic situation made it very difficult for two tablets of medicines to sleep well. Oh, that it was them to take leave to have children. very good for me and I slept very well for two nights Organizations working with migrant workers in and I became normal from that day. The woman said not to take these kinds of sleeping tablets every day Mae Sot also reported that many migrant women (Interviewed on 23 April 2009). who became pregnant were forced into the difficult decision of seeking a termination, a situation that is The accounts by these women indicate that the supported by other research (Maung/Belton 2004). A responsibility for their well-being often rests solely on significant proportion of women respondents in our their own shoulders; but added to this is the burden study feared that pregnancy would make it more diffi- of care and family support for family members. It cult to find or retain work in the factories, which they would seem that their ability to reproduce their own needed to earn remittances for family back home.28 labour power on a daily basis is compromised not just But abortion among migrant women workers in Mae by the exploitative conditions of their employment, Sot is a dangerous undertaking. Dr Cynthia Maung but also by the gendered restrictions on their mobility, reported that the rate of abortion amongst the Bur- as well as their responsibilities for their family’s well- mese women attending the Mae Tao Clinic29 had being. increased over the previous four to five years, and by 2007 some fifty-five per cent of maternal mortality 4.5 Gender and Generational was caused by post-abortion complications. 30 A fur- Reproduction of Labour Power ther deterrent to pregnancy is that many employersdo not allow babies or children to stay in the workers’ According to Mushakoji (2003: 152), “victims of ex- dormitory. Although some are able to find accommo- ploitative migration have insecurity built into their bi- dation in the town, the demands of shift work and ological reproduction as well as in provisioning for the lack of childcare facilities, as well as the other fac- their caring needs”. Although Mushakoji's research tors restricting women’s mobility discussed above, all concerns migrant sex workers in Japan, the point ap- make it difficult for women to combine pregnancy plies well to migrant women in our study, who strug- and infant care with continuing employment in Mae gle with the demands of both biological and genera- Sot’s factories. tional reproduction. The factors that restrict both migrant women’s 28 Other reasons for abortion included abuse and aban- and men’s mobility conspire with employer practices donment by their partners, contraceptive failure, and pressure from relatives, friends, and husbands (Maung/ Belton 2004). 27 Among the semi-structured questionnaire survey 29 This clinic was founded and is directed by Dr Cynthia respondents in Mae Sot (who were all ever married), Maung, and provides free health care for refugees, 64% of them had some of their children living in Thai- migrant workers, and other individuals crossing the bor- land while a similar number of respondents had some of der from Burma to Thailand. See at: . Burmese Female Migrant Workers in Thailand: Managing Productive and Reproductive Responsibilities 79 For those who continue with their pregnancy, an- women workers include the responsibility to remit other difficult decision concerns whether to have the money to their families in Burma. child in Thailand or in Burma. According to Dr Cyn- Our research, together with other studies (see Kit- thia Maung, compared to the previous five years, in tisuksathit 2009), indicates that single women univer- 2007 more migrant women were delivering their ba- sally send money to their parental homes. Most bies in Mae Sot rather than choosing to return home women migrants report that the obligation to support to Burma for their confinement.31 This is not because birth families financially continues after marriage; in they perceive any improvement in the relative attrac- contrast, men are more likely to discontinue remit- tions of staying in Thailand in the long term. It is tances after marriage. The single women respondents rather because the insecurity of their employment and we interviewed for our research reported remitting the irregularity of the wages from their factory em- quite large sums to their families in Burma, despite ployment mean that they can no longer commit the earning very low wages, which as we have seen are resources of time and money to returning home. This then further depleted by a range of deductions. One view was also supported by the testimonies of our in- respondent who said she earned between 2000 and terviewees who reported that the cost of delivering in 4000 baht per month reported remitting between the Mae Tao Clinic is cheaper even for non-registered 2000 and 3000 baht per month, leaving almost noth- migrant workers than returning to give birth in ing to cover her own living expenses in Mae Sot, a pat- Burma, and others who said that the equipment in tern common among women we spoke to. The semi- Thailand is better because of the general deterioration structured questionnaire also shows that women do in the health services in Burma. not always reduce remittances even when their in- As we have indicated above, women migrant work- come decreases or they become unemployed. Forty ers incur hardship with pregnancy and childbirth; per cent of women respondents in Mae Sot said that these hardships in fact go well beyond immediate they would reduce remittances when their income de- birth and infancy. Mothers are responsible for a creased, while more than forty-eight per cent of men child’s welfare until the child is of working age or be- respondents said the same. During the global eco- yond, and older women frequently take responsibility nomic crisis in 2008–9, both women and men de- for parents and other relatives who are beyond work- creased their remittances from the level of previous ing age. For many Burmese migrant women workers years (when they remitted nearly 10,000 baht per in Thailand, the generational reproductive responsibil- year), but women respondents still maintained their ity extends beyond bearing and rearing their own chil- remittances at an average of 8,702 baht per year, while dren. The very limited employment and income-gener- remittances from men dropped to 7,510 baht. ating opportunities faced by many households in Another ongoing responsibility that women who Burma (Fink 2009) mean that the decision to migrate have children have to deal with is decisions about how to Thailand is frequently a family strategy involving and where to care for these children. Whilst some immediate and continual responsibility for the family women decided to withdraw from their jobs if keep- back home. So the generational responsibilities of ing the child was not compatible with work, others re- ported changing their employment to a workplace where they were allowed to have their infant with them in the dormitory, if not in the factory. Some 30 This figure was provided by Dr Cynthia Maung during women are able to find older Burmese women in Mae an interview on 9 July 2007. Maung/Belton (2004) Sot to care for their children in Thailand, but as the reported that of the fourteen pregnant women who cost of paying caregivers to look after their children is died in the Tak hospital in 2001/02, none were Thais expensive for low-waged women, this is normally the and three of the deaths (twenty-two per cent) were due last resort or only a temporary arrangement. Many of to unsafe abortions. Available statistics indicate that our informants instead sent or took their children there is a much higher maternal and peri-maternal mor- tality rate for migrant workers than for the general Thai back home to Burma to be cared for by grandparents population. Thailand’s maternal mortality rate was rela- or other female relatives. Another common strategy is tively low in international terms: 44 per 100,000 live to support other relatives – usually parents or older births in 2000 (WHO 2006). Around five thousand siblings – to come to Mae Sot from Burma to care for pregnant Burmese women register at Mae Tao clinic infants. However, childcare by parents and other rela- each year. The cost of an illegal abortion is 1000–4000 tives coming to Thailand is an available option only baht (Buschmann 2011). for those who are relatively settled in Thailand, espe- 31 Interview, 9 July 2007. 80 Kyoko Kusakabe and Ruth Pearson cially those who are registered, or have access to bet- back my elder son, eight years old during his school hol- ter housing, or both. Table 4.2 summarizes the re- iday to look after my last baby. After three months, as sponses of our interviewees concerning arrangements my eldest son needed to attend the school, I sent him made by Burmese migrant workers in Mae Sot to pro- back to Burma, went with my little baby again and brought back my mother with me to look after my little vide for the care of their children. baby. I moved the job to home factory, where I can stay with my baby. I kept my baby near me in the cradle Table 4.2: Childcare patterns for children under six years while I was working. I can give breast feeding to her old for respondents in Mae Sot who had had a while I was working (Interviewed 22 March 2008). child after coming to Thailand. Source: Questionnaire survey. Decisions about childcare are always complicated, and the costs fall on the shoulders of the women mi- Number of grants themselves. Some women are lucky to have bet- respondents ter-off parents or siblings back home, who will be able Childcare by oneself in Thailand 19 (9.2%) to give good care to their children, but in some cases Childcare in Thailand with paid caretaker 18 (8.7%) this arrangement breaks down. One of the migrant workers interviewed reported that her mother was re- Childcare by oneself in Thailand then send 78 (37.7%) child to Burma sponsible for the care of five grandchildren including this worker’s own daughter. She remitted 40,000 ky- Childcare by oneself in Thailand then invite 96 (46.4%) ats32 per month, which covers less than half of the parents to come to Thailand minimum estimated cost of such a household, al- Childcare in Burma 31 (15.0%) though other siblings probably made a contribution. Total number of respondents 207 (100%) But her ageing mother was unable to manage all five children, and this worker had to bring the child back Note: This analysis is only for the 207 respondents who had their first child after they came to Thailand. It to Mae Sot where she boarded her with a non-related includes all the children of these migrant workers. Thirty- Burmese women. Another migrant woman reported one of the respondents had two children and two had that she had to leave her baby with her mother, in three children. spite of her mother’s health problems. Another mi- grant woman who had left her baby in the care of her As table 4.2 indicates, arrangements for the care of mother-in-law reported that when her mother-in-law migrant workers’ infants and children reflect the rela- passed away, she had to make an arrangement with a tive economic security and family situation of the neighbouring woman in her home village to take care migrant workers, and are frequently amended in of her child. response to changing circumstances. Depending on A further aspect of generational reproduction is their situation, which itself is subject to change, the education of children. Most of the women inter- arrangements for childcare reflect the available viewed had high expectations for the education of resources. For example, one informant’s parents came their children. Even when infants are sent to Burma to Myawaddy (on the Burmese side of the border) for care, many of them are brought back to Thailand when her child was two months old. But the inform- once they reach school age. The Thai education sys- ant found travelling across the border to visit them on tem is, in theory, generous to migrant residents and a her day off was expensive, and the parents also government decision in 2000 indicated that all chil- incurred the costs of obtaining residence permits dren within the country regardless of nationality and since they were not residents of Myawaddy. After a status are permitted to attend Thai schools. However, few months she brought the child back to Mae Sot to in practice few do; attending school requires a house- be cared for by a neighbour, and when it was eight hold registration, which is rarely available to migrant months old, she arranged for her parents to come to children except when their parents have good connec- Mae Sot to provide ongoing care. tions to some Thai citizens. Another woman’s account illustrates the complex- In practice the majority of Burmese families in ities involved in making appropriate arrangements for Mae Sot send their children to the numerous migrant infants: schools in the town, which are supported by the over- seas diasporic communities and by international I got pregnant while I was working there. … I worked till eight months of pregnancy. When I cannot work they gave me leaves but no payment. … When my baby got 4 months old, I went back to Burma with her to bring 32 1 USD= 950 kyat. Burmese Female Migrant Workers in Thailand: Managing Productive and Reproductive Responsibilities 81 organizations.33 Some Burmese parents consider the per report (Ekachai 2007), a police officer expresses quality of the migrant schools in Thailand to be better an attitude that is widespread in the country: than the alternatives; many schools recruit from non- Having migrant children studying in the town centre is migrant families in the bordering provinces. They also not appropriate, due to potential security problems. hope that the trilingual system of education – Bur- For safety, the migrant population should be in a mese, English, and Thai – will be advantageous to restricted zone under state control. Also, if they want to their children’s futures wherever that may be. One of study, their older peers should do the teaching, not our the women migrant workers remarked: people…. I cannot see how educating these children can benefit our country in any way. We have to think about I will keep my children in the school here until they get the burden society must shoulder if these children some level of education for their life to work here. At decide to stay on.34 least if they can write and speak Thai and Burmese well, they can get good jobs here (Interviewed on 8 May A further aspect of women’s responsibility for genera- 2008). tional reproduction concerns access to health care for family members as well as themselves. Health services Where to raise the children is always a difficult deci- especially in the border areas are also in theory rela- sion and one that causes a great deal of anguish for tively generous to registered migrant workers, since women who are not just concerned about their chil- they, like other low-paid workers in Thailand, can use dren’s access to education, but who also have the the universal health care scheme to access health responsibility of maintaining their kin networks, even care,35 although government officials fear the burden from across the border: this places on Thai public services and finances (Ar- After giving birth, I left the children with my parents, chavanitkul 2002). However, the non-registered mi- but since my mother came to Mae Sot, I left my children grants or family dependents of registered migrant with my parents-in-law. Now I am thinking of bringing workers have difficulties accessing this service, which my children to Mae Sot. My mother is already looking after three grandchildren [her sister’s children]. I do not requires its own identity documents. In practice, mi- want to burden my mother. But I want to be with my grant workers rarely attend public hospitals or health children and give children good education. But my work facilities; instead they tend to purchase medication di- is unstable, and I am afraid that if I do not have job, I rectly, or attend NGO- or diaspora-funded clinics such cannot afford children’s education in Mae Sot. Then, I as the Mae Tao clinic wherever available. Migrant have to send the children back to Burma, and that will workers are rarely aware of their entitlements to pub- affect their education. I also have to convince my lic health services in Thailand, and their restricted mother-in-law who is now attached to the grandchildren (Interviewed on 23 March 2008). mobility and lack of knowledge of the Thai language further limits their possibility of using such services But whatever decision is made, it is unlikely to be per- (Ling 2007). Many workers report returning to their manent, sustainable, or satisfactory. And as we discuss home country if they or their family members have se- below, the situation is becoming more problematic rious or chronic illnesses, and women’s earnings are for migrant workers and their children. Moreover, the frequently central to the family’s ability to access opinions of Thai officials and the public are often health care in Burma. hostile to facilitating the education of migrant chil- dren in Thai schools. In this excerpt from a newspa- 33 Except for the migrant schools and nurseries organized by NGOs and Buddhist monks, care of the children of migrant workers depends directly on the individual 34 Recent research by this project indicated there was ide- agency of the workers, especially of the women workers ological resistance by teachers to accepting the children and their female relatives. In general the more collective of migrant workers in their schools, as well as bureau- actions undertaken by NGOs and trade unions are con- cratic and financial obstacles, despite clear government cerned with the migrant workers’ working conditions policy for integration. and legal status. More recently there have been calls 35 The scheme was launched in 2001, and was called a 30 from Thai unions and human rights organizations for Baht Universal Health-care Coverage Policy. Those who more attention to be given to the issue of the childcare were not covered by any other health insurance scheme of migrant children, but the limited resources and con- were given a card that would allow them to use health strained situation of the migrant workers themselves services with a payment of 30 baht per visit. In 2007, it make it difficult for these workers to organize collective was changed to be free of charge. However, migrant childcare in Mae Sot. workers were still required to pay the 30 baht. 82 Kyoko Kusakabe and Ruth Pearson 4.6 Women Migrant Workers in Mae 2007, his response to the presence of pregnant Sot’s Export Factories: migrant women and migrant children was that Negotiating Political, Economic, migrants should be prohibited from giving birth in Thailand.36 and Gendered Constraints Such statements reflect the ongoing ambivalence of the Thai government towards the conflicting objec- As the economic situation in Thailand worsens as the tives of meeting demand for migrant labour, which result of the current global credit crunch and the fall may well increase during the current recession37, and in export demand for garments and textiles, the situa- addressing popular fears of migrants as threats to tion of migrant workers is uncertain, increasing the national employment and security. This ambivalence difficulties faced by women migrants seeking to reflects the tensions resulting from the ongoing har- secure the well-being of their children and other fam- assment of migrant workers and the policy of confin- ily members. ing migrant workers to the border zone areas (FTUB/ Changes in the registration of irregular migrant Robertson Jr. 2006). workers in Thailand referred to above indicate that However, as we pointed out in the introduction, it the Thai state is unlikely to take on additional costs is important to understand how migrants negotiate associated with the supply and employment of mi- the structural constraints they face, not least in secur- grant workers. If for any reason the situation of a mi- ing the care and well-being of their children whilst grant worker were to change – for instance, if she they continue to engage in waged work to support were to lose her job or become unable to work due to their families. Our research has indicated that there health or other reasons, or if she became pregnant – are many ways that migrant women navigate the con- under the terms of this agreement the worker would trols and exploitative conditions imposed by the state be repatriated. Under the previous registration and employers and mobilize resources to meet their scheme as well as the current temporary passport and reproductive obligations in a hostile and changing work permit scheme, documentation and entitlement environment. In spite of the attractions of bearing applies only to individual “workers” with no provision and raising their children in their home country, for families or dependents, which would include both which would in most cases make it more possible to existing children and adult relatives. Strict enforcement obtain Burmese nationality for their children and to of these terms would disallow the strategies currently utilize family support and networks, as well as the dif- employed by many migrant workers to meet their re- ficulties discussed above in accessing health services productive responsibilities by bringing in older relatives and childcare in Mae Sot, women migrant workers are to provide childcare for children, or bringing elderly de- increasingly disinclined to send their children back to pendants to Thailand to support them there. Burma. Ongoing economic difficulties in Thailand also Migrant women, especially mothers, juggle their raise the fear that hostility against migrants will be care responsibilities across the border, and between boosted for reasons of political expediency. A study different women (usually kin) in order to manage by the Institute of Asian Studies (ISA), the Thailand their childcare responsibilities. Their approach to the Development Research Institute (TDRI) and Institute education of their children is equally pragmatic, for Population and Social Research (IPSR) (2003) weighing the pros and cons of the different locations reported that hostility from the business community is and opportunities for education in the two countries. well established. Opposition focused not only on the Constrained by their irregular status, their exploitative potential for migrants to displace Thai citizens in the work experiences, and the institutional constraints on economy, but also on the claim that migrants ‘pollute’ their mobility and entitlement, women are demon- local society. Sizeable proportions of those inter- strating remarkable resilience and making decisions viewed considered that migrants were a threat to that reflect their own aspirations for the future of national security, life, and property, and that they carry transmittable diseases. As we have seen above, male migrants have long been seen as a security threat and blamed for social and political unrest. Women 36 “Sonthi orders that foreign workers need to deliver chil- migrants are currently being constructed as the cause dren outside the country”, in: Komchat Luk, 15 Novem-ber 2007. of a ‘population explosion’. When the former Deputy 37 According to, for example, a report in The Economist Prime Minister Sonthi Boonyaratkalin visited a Bur- on 19 March 2009: “Burmese migrant workers in Thai- mese migrant community near Bangkok in November land – Myanmar’s overflow”. Burmese Female Migrant Workers in Thailand: Managing Productive and Reproductive Responsibilities 83 themselves and their children. They acquire familiarity contexts. But their situation illustrates the ways in with the local area, and in time are less constrained by which the globalization of the market is linked with the restrictions of employers, authorities, or peer the international division of productive as well as re- groups. They make difficult and complicated deci- productive labour, which takes place across the bor- sions about their own health issues and the care and ders between poor countries in the global South, as well-being of their children and other family mem- well as between countries of the richer North and the bers. For these women, the border increasingly poorer global South. Importantly, as this case study il- becomes less a division between absolutes – opportu- lustrates, this international division of labour does not nities in Thailand and oppression in Burma – and just concern women who migrate to take up jobs as more a porous contour across which they constantly domestic servants and other care workers; it also con- strategize, moving themselves, their money, and their cerns the way in which women factory workers man- families to the location which would seem to offer the age and support the reproduction of their own labour best short- or long-term advantages. power and that of their families across the borders be- tween often hostile and inhospitable states. Women migrant workers, without support from 4.7 Conclusion the receiving state and even with the harsh treatment that they experience in childbirth and childcare, have This case study has argued that even in increasingly tried to negotiate the spaces offered by the (limited) unstable circumstances women migrant workers have state’s provision of health and maternity care as well to continue to balance their reproductive responsibili- as the lax border controls between Mae Sot and Mya- ties as mothers and daughters with their ongoing role waddy to manage their reproductive responsibilities as wage workers and economic providers, often man- whilst continuing to do their paid work in garment aging complex transborder care arrangements. Indus- and textile factories. This often involves the continu- trial strategy meanwhile is made on the basis of geo- ous shifting of children and caretakers back and forth political interests or immediate economic crises with across the border to manage childcare. This might not little or no concern about the process that delivers be a positive reproductive bargain over division of re- cheap and productive workers in the bodies of mi- sponsibility with the state, but it does necessitate a grant workers crossing the river from Burma. As certain level of negotiation with the state by circum- women continue to shoulder responsibilities for or- venting the obstacles that they face in terms of their ganizing the place and manner in which babies are reproductive activities. And whilst the current interna- born and cared for, for the economic and emotional tional celebration of political changes within Burma support of families, and for the daily and future health might offer improvements in the rights and services and education of their children and other family available to Burmese workers, it is unlikely that the members, women’s agency and creativity will be conditions and prospects of migrant workers in Thai- tested. Whilst all women’s agency is operated within land will be improved in the foreseeable future. constraints, in the case of Burmese migrant workers the constraints are more restrictive than in most other References Arnold, Dennis, 2006: Capital Expansion and Migrant Workers: Flexible Labor in the Thai-Burma Border ACMECS, 2004: “Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong eco- Economy (MA Dissertation, Salaya, Thailand: Mahidol nomic cooperation strategy”, in: ACEMECS Ministerial University, Faculty of Graduate Studies). 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This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. 5 Transnational Marriage Migration and the East Asian Family-Based Welfare Model: Social Reproduction in Vietnam, Taiwan, and South Korea Duong Bach Le1, Thanh-Dam Truong2, and Thu Hong Khuat3 Abstract Since the late 1990s there has been a rising trend of Vietnamese women migrating to neighbouring countries (Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and China) for marriage. Previous studies of such cross-border marriages have emphasized either issues of choice and agency for women, or their poverty and victimhood. This chapter anal- yses this trend along the lines of the debate on the East Asian model of welfare and family policy, with case studies in Taiwan and South Korea. It views commercially arranged transnational marriages (CATM) as an institution that connects changing gendered regimes of social reproduction at the sending and receiving ends. Mediated by a combination of asymmetrical relations – gender, class, age, ethnicity, and national belonging— this institution operates in a transnational space through which material and symbolic resources are circulated. These in turn construct subjectivities and identities for participating actors. There is a dimension of trans-mas- culinity embodied in the practices of CATM and this requires further exploration regarding informed consent and the rights of its users. Beyond this, CATM should be further analysed in the context of changing family welfare and intergenerational care as gendered regimes, and such an analysis should also address how house- holds adapt and devise new strategies to sustain and reproduce themselves economically, socially, and culturally. Such an understanding can help open the research agenda on social policy and rights and provide a regional perspective. Keywords: Transnational marriages, East Asian family welfare model, gender, social reproduction, care, social policy, ethnicity, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam. 5.1 Introduction41234 (Stiglitz/Yusuf 2001; Wade 2003). More recently, two emerging independent debates have opened a new Economic and political transformation under the East line of enquiry on its reproductive side. One debate Asian model of development and its South-East Asian concerns the East Asian welfare model based on Con- followers has historically received much attention fucian family ideology, which operates simultaneously as a welfare regime and a main source of hegemony and legitimacy in the model of the ‘developmental 1 Dr Duong Bach Le is Director of the Institute for Social Development Studies (ISDS) in Hanoi (Vietnam). state’ (Jones 1990; Goodman/Peng 1996). The other 2 Dr Thanh-Dam Truong is Associate Professor in debate concerns the patterns of women moving from Women/Gender and Development Studies at the Insti- South-East Asian countries to East Asian countries for tute of Social Studies in The Hague (The Netherlands). marriage. Enquiries into these marriages, formally la- 3 Dr Thu Hong Khuat is Founder and Co-Director of the belled as ‘international marriage’, have so far followed Institute for Social Development Studies (ISDS) in two main tracks. One track emphasizes issues of cul- Hanoi (Vietnam). tural identity, desire for mobility, and women’s agency 4 This chapter is based on a project entitled “Transna- tional Migration of Vietnamese Women in Asia: Experi- in ‘global hypergamy’, notably where women marry to ences, Rights and Citizenship”, funded by the move up to a higher socio-economic location in the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of global hierarchy (Piper 2003; Constable 2005). The Canada, project number: 104093-001. main issue here concerns the politics of inclusion/ex- T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 87 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_5, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 88 Duong Bach Le, Thanh-Dam Truong, and Thu Hong Khuat clusion regarding their citizenship and their individual ment can be subject to change due to broader changes rights. The other track takes a socio-demographic per- in the economy and state policy, which in turn can af- spective, arguing that changing gender relations in the fect family relations. household and labour market, as well as an imbalance While emerging practices of transnational mar- in sex ratios that favours male births, are factors that riage may signify a transition of the Confucian norma- have led to a ‘marriage squeeze’ for men among cer- tive regimes of family and inter-generational care, tain groups (Lee 2005). Suzuki (2003) refers to the their meanings may differ for the actors involved ow- vernacular expression ‘bride famine’, common in ing to very different development trajectories that some rural areas in Japan, while Kojima (2001) uses generate a different understanding of gender equality the term ‘patriarchy’s coping strategy’ to explain the and the family. To discern commonality and gendered involvement of local governments in finding eligible difference in perceptions of transnational marriage, foreign women for marriage with their citizens—in an we adopted a multi-sited research methodology. An attempt to circumvent the effects of a structural prob- extensive review of the literature on marriage and the lem of gender inequality. Political and ethnic factors family in a transnational context was conducted in behind the choice of the community of origin of the conjunction with an analysis of debates on gender re- foreign brides have also been noted (Jones/Shen gimes in migration in South-East Asia. In 2008, field- 2008; Lan 2008; Yang/Lu 2010). The role of commer- work was conducted in several rural communities in cial agents in matching men’s preferences with eligible Vietnam known for sending women as brides to East women across borders has also been emphasized Asia, where interviews with potential brides, return- (Wang/Chang 2002). Recent research findings in the ees, and their parents were held. In 2009 we visited case of Vietnam by Bélanger and Tran (2011: 61) sug- several cities in Taiwan and Korea where women who gest that that by ‘marrying up’, or simply marrying have used commercially arranged marriage as a vehi- across borders, Vietnamese women may be creating a cle to find husbands have found new homes. Snow- domino effect in the formation of a ‘global marital ball techniques were employed to identify and select and reproductive chain’ that echoes the notion of a respondents, which included local officials, the hus- ‘care chain’ (Yeates 2012). bands, wives, and in-laws.6 The aim of in-depth inter- This chapter examines the formation of commer- views was to obtain information on the procedures of cially arranged transnational marriage (CATM) as a CATM as they have experienced it, and the adjust- vehicle used among certain social groups in Taiwan, ments required in a new country as a mother, wife, South Korea, and Vietnam in the context of the tran- daughter-in-law, and member of the local community. sition of the Confucian family within the East Asian welfare regime and its structural gendered features. 5 Hukou refers to a system of household registration dat- After four decades as the backbone of welfare provi- ing back to China’s ancient history. Originally, the sys- sion in support of the goals of the developmental tem was designed to serve the purpose of administrative state in countries classified as part of the East Asian regulation of the population and representation of fam- Miracle (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore), this ily authority under the male line of inheritance. welfare regime now shows signs of instability in terms Through direct and indirect influence, the system is also of human reproduction and intergenerational care. found in Vietnam (Ho khau), Korea (Hoju), Japan, and Taiwan (Koseki). In South Korea the system was abol- The three countries of this study – Taiwan, South Ko- ished on 1 January 2005. In Japan and Taiwan the sys- rea, and Vietnam – share a common legacy of Confu- tem still exists, but only as a tool for administration that cian values, particularly visible in the domain of the has no impact on a resident’s movement. In the People’s family. Historically specific to this part of the world is Republic of China (PRC) and the Socialist Republic of the concept of the family as kinship ties, often con- Vietnam (SRVN) the system functions as a means to flated in practice with the household registration sys- establish land use rights, the right of residence, and tem as an administrative device for bio-control (births, access to social entitlements. 6 In Vietnam, fieldwork covered 16 returnees as former deaths, marriages, divorces, migration, and social en- wives through CATM from Taiwan (7) and South Korea titlements).5 The family and household are deeply in- (9); 2 mothers of the returnees and 3 officials from local terrelated but should be kept analytically distinct in authorities of the sending communes. In Taiwan, in- order to discern: (a) how historically formed family depth interviews were held with 19 Vietnamese wives practices of bio-control based on gender lines are ar- through CATM, 6 husbands, and 5 mothers-in-law. In ticulated in relation to specific duties; and (b) how the South Korea, interviews were held with 25 Vietnamese household as a unit for resource allocation/manage- wives through CATM, 4 husbands, and 4 mothers-in- law. Transnational Marriage Migration and the East Asian Family-Based Welfare Model 89 Section 5.2 clarifies the meaning of the terms ‘tran- the ‘Others’, allowing for a selective and contextual snational marriages’, ‘social reproduction’ and ‘the re- understanding of the sense of belonging to a family, productive bargain’– the latter being considered a use- community, and nation state. Legal borders express ful analytical tool to explore how interactions the normative principles of marriage as an institution between institutions and people reproduce gender re- and embody the collective values of a nation state. lations in the household and family and their struc- Borders drawn up at inter-group level are more dy- tures. Section 5.3 discusses different manifestations of namic and fluid and express the collective memories the crisis of social reproduction in Taiwan and South of a social group. Korea, with a focus on: (1) a bio-crisis (human repro- In states ruled by strong nationalist sentiment, as duction and inter-generational care) and a crisis of cul- in the case of East Asia, the foreign wives are com- tural reproduction vis-à-vis the Confucian family- monly classified as cultural outsiders, particularly if based welfare system, and (2) a livelihood crisis vis-à-vis they come from countries with a colonial legacy. They the position of the rural household after two decades are called Ajia no hanayome (brides from Asia) in Ja- of Vietnam’s market reform. Section 5.4 discusses the pan; Chosnjok brides (brides from ethnic Korean com- emergence of the marriage business as a system of net- munities living in China), later changed into the neutral works formed in both sending and receiving countries, term of damunwha or ‘multicultural’ marriages in as well as discursive constructs and practices of identity. South Korea; Waiji/dalu Xinniang (foreign/mainland Section 5.5 demonstrates the diversity in the social po- brides) in Taiwan (Yang/Lu 2010). Their status as for- sitioning of Vietnamese women as daughters-in-law and eign is specified in geo-political terms, with South Ko- how within a transnational context the meanings of rea moving towards a more open position. ‘tradition’ and ‘modernity’ can be made and remade. The concept of ‘transnational marriage’ borrows Some women are also able to negotiate their female from Faist (2000: 199–200) the idea of a transna- gender-based duties and entitlements in their new tional social space, which refers to the combination of homes while maintaining their distinctive identity as sustained social and symbolic ties and their contents members of their birth families. The conclusion sug- and positions in networks and organizations that can gests the need for a more holistic analysis of transna- be found in more than one nation state. Transnational tional marriage as a formation through which a transfer marriages may be considered as unions formed within of values and resources takes place and gender rela- such a space, simultaneously sustaining it through bi- tions are reproduced in terms of trans-masculinity, with directional practices of financial, social, and cultural implications for social policy and rights. remittances (Suksomboon 2008). Linked to this con- cept is the notion of the “transnational family” de- fined as those “families that live some or most of the 5.2 Viewing Commercially Arranged time separated from each other, yet hold together and Transnational Marriages from the create something that can be seen as a feeling of col- Perspective of Social lective welfare and unity” (Bryceson/Vuorela, 2002: Reproduction 3). Due to diverse kinship traditions and individual so- cial histories brought into the marriage by the spouses,7 empirically the family in a transnational 5.2.1 Defining Transnational Marriages marriage may involve multi-layered flows of emotions, Marriage between people of different nationalities is values, and resources between separate places. As per- commonly defined as international marriage, reflect- ceptions about ties and positions may differ between ing the nation state as the key actor in formalizing a spouses, families formed through transnational mar- union. The body of literature on marriage migration riage should be considered in the context of more within and between different regions of the world has than one regime of family welfare and intergenera- introduced two new key terms to indicate different conceptual emphases: cross-border and transnational marriage (Lu 2007; Constable 2005, 2009). The em- 7 For example, in a patrifocal kinship relationships are phasis on borders distinguishes between those de- centred around, or focused on, the father; in a matrifo- fined by the nation state (immigration and citizen- cal kinship they are centred around the mother, and in bilateral kinship both father and mother lines count. ship) and those operating at the inter-group level Bifocal practices allow a married woman to pay atten- (race, ethnicity, class, gender). Both types of borders tion to the husband’s household as well as her own are often based on a binary construct of ‘We’ versus birth household (Dube 1997). 90 Duong Bach Le, Thanh-Dam Truong, and Thu Hong Khuat tional care. Limiting the analysis of the family and of of institutions, ideologies, and identities around social a gendered regime of care and welfare to a particular provisioning and care for human beings. According to society, nation, or its culture is increasingly problem- her the reproductive bargain: atic in view of trans-border flows and conflicting per- [...] constitutes a hegemonic framework within which spectives on family duties. actors negotiate rules. Bargain implies a bounded agree- ment (structure) proscribing and prescribing conduct, 5.2.2 Social Reproduction and the but it also injects a dynamic notion of boundaries being Reproductive Bargain: A Perspective on made (agency). Actors negotiate from different struc- tural positions of power with different resources (mate- Transnational Marriages rial, symbolic and organizational). As a social process, agents interpret rules and influence rule making that Informed by, but critical of, the Marxist intellectual can call into question and alter the boundaries of the tradition which limits the concept of social reproduc- bargain. tion to the renewal of social relations and material The reproductive bargain as a concept is a useful tool bases of the society and economy, feminist theoriza- for carrying out an inductive gender analysis of the tions try to bridge the conceptual and theoretical sep- contextually formed ensemble of institutions and the aration between the production of things and the cre- discursive practices that affect the family as a site of ation and maintenance of human lives (Katz 2011). social reproduction (biological reproduction, inter- Social reproduction in feminist terms encapsulates generational care). Within a given social structure that many layers of power relations that are historically affords different resources (material, symbolic, organ- shaped: sexuality and biological reproduction; repro- izational) to people, the boundaries of the bargain are duction of labour power inclusive of an intergenera- redefined and altered as actors in different positions tional process of care provision; reproduction of so- interpret, negotiate, and perform rules in a social cial relations and institutions, of which the family and process. Underlying the whole concept of the repro- its relationship with the state is one of the most signif- ductive bargain is the primary question of how power icant (Whitehead 2002). Social reproduction simulta- relationships are negotiated and played out among ac- neously is a material and a discursive system through tors, leading to specific outcomes regarding which as- which a society recreates itself biologically, emotion- pects of reproduction are subject to commodification ally, culturally, institutionally, and economically. As and market dynamics, and which are socialized (Clem- Kabeer (2004: 10) points out, this process involves an ent/Prus 2004: 5). array of institutional structures and activities that em- Contextual discourses on gender, ethnicity, and body gendered values and knowledge, therefore re- identity also affect and interact with political and eco- gimes of social reproduction are essentially gendered nomic forces to structure a social environment in regimes, particularly as regards the significance at- which the reproductive bargain takes place. In East tached to reproductive activities and the recognition and South-East Asia, there have been strong links be- given to those who carry them out. tween the institutionalization of marriage and ideolo- It is here that the concept of ‘reproductive bar- gies of family in the process of nation-building (Toy- gain’ introduced by Pearson (1997) is particularly valu- ota 2008). Biological reproduction in this context is able. The concept originally referred to the division of also related to what Yuval-Davis (1997) refers to as the responsibility for different aspects of daily, genera- cultural reproduction of the nation, which involves tional, and social reproduction between the state, the the transfer of an essentialized notion of the ‘national household, and individuals in terms of resources that culture’ and its values, at times conditional on mem- are collectively provided, and those that are accessed bership of the nation. Premised on a vision of the na- through wages and other money incomes. By studying tion as a discrete self-contained entity, coterminous the changing institutional arrangements in Cuba, with the nation state and a national society, the no- which underwent a rapid transition in the 1990s, Pear- tion of ‘national culture’ homogenizes diverse ethnic son demonstrates how households adapt and devise identities and bypasses trans-border cultural flows, co- new strategies to sustain and reproduce themselves, influencing beliefs, habits, and practices of gender. strategies that are patterned by an existing gender di- Ideal forms of masculinity and femininity are con- vision of labour, and in some aspects, reinforced tra- structed in accordance with their relationship to the ditional gender roles. ‘nation’. The reproductive bargain in this context con- Building on this insight, Gottfried (2009: 77) pro- cerns not only material resources but also subjectivi- poses a more general model to analyse an ensemble ties and practices of identity. Transnational Marriage Migration and the East Asian Family-Based Welfare Model 91 Hearn (2010: 178) points out that, when analysing national and a foreign woman.8 These may be signifi- trans-border phenomena such as viewing the sex trade ers of a social reproduction crisis vis-à-vis the Confu- and its virtualization through information and com- cian family, and perhaps also the relative weakness of munications technology (ICT) and media advertising, women’s organizations in bargaining with the state there is a clear construct of trans-masculinity that lim- for support in intergenerational care, currently de- its the possibility of moving towards gender equality fined as a female domain. where some social and legal foundations already exist. As the two countries which receive Vietnamese In this vein, commercially arranged transnational mar- women as brides, South Korea and Taiwan have dif- riages that rely on a transnational space through virtu- ferent welfare arrangements, largely influenced by the alizations and inscription of masculine values may be landscape of their industrialization. While large cor- considered as a manifestation of trans-masculinity that porations have dominated South Korean industrializa- enables the cultural reproduction of a male-centred tion and are governed by relatively patriarchal and au- family. This process cannot be grasped by looking at thoritarian regimes, family-owned small companies a single site and at one period of time; it requires at- have characterized Taiwan’s path. These aspects have tention to signifiers of gender transformation over a bearing on the configurations of family welfare and long periods. care regimes and the forces behind democratization and policy reforms (Aspalter 2005: 9; 2006). The post-war welfare regime in Korea was charac- 5.3 Different Places, Different Social terized as a family-based welfare regime built on a Reproduction Crisis rigid gender division of labour. Corporations adopted the construct of the family wage paid to the male em- 5.3.1 The East Asian Family-Based Welfare ployee, who relies on the non-working wife to provide Regime and Transnational Marriages: care for family members, while the state provided re- Deterioration of the Confucian Family? sidual support (Aspalter 2006). As Truong (1999) has shown, the massive participation of women in the la- The debate on the East Asian family-based welfare re- bour force—supporting the initial stage of rapid indus- gime (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan) is divided between trialization—was managed through the intervention of those who endorse a cultural perspective and those the state and firms into the cycle of their reproductive who emphasize political and economic determinants. life: recruited for paid work at pre-marriage age and The cultural argument emphasizes as the key norms encouraged to leave employment to raise a family Confucian values such as filial piety, inter-generational (most likely in a three-generation household) after reciprocity, and self-reliance of the family vis-à-vis the marriage, women return to part-time employment af- state. These values play a primary role in shaping the ter childbearing age. arrangement of welfare provisions around the family In the post-Beijing period, policies to build a as a key institution enforced by strong social control. strong and competitive labour force have invested in State assistance remains minimal and available only women’s education (Mark 2007), and recently social when other sources of support can no longer be found (Jones 1990; Goodman/Peng 1996). The politi- 8 Yang and Lu (2010) note the following: in Japan the cal economy argument points to different trajectories number of international marriages has grown from 0.43 of East Asian welfare regimes that should be ex- per cent in 1965 to 0.93 per cent in 1980, and then to plained in terms of the corresponding development 5.77 per cent in 2005, with Chinese and Filipina female trajectories, political democratization, and the role of spouses at the top of the list. In Taiwan, cross-border pressure groups in civil society (Aspalter 2006). marriages involving brides from Indonesia, Vietnam, Notwithstanding variations in family and welfare and the People’s Republic of China gained numerical policy among these four countries, there are some significance from the mid-1980s onwards, and by 2002they comprised 27.4 per cent of all Taiwanese marriages common socio-demographic changes after four dec- in that year. In Hong Kong, the number of cross-border ades of high economic growth. These include ageing marriages between Hong Kong residents and mainland population, declining or low fertility rate, delayed Chinese has increased tenfold from 1995 to 2005, marriage, singlehood, and rising female labour partic- accounting for more than one-third of registered mar- ipation (Chiu/Wong 2009). These features corre- riages involving Hong Kong residents in 2005. In South spond to an increased number of registered interna- Korea, the number of international marriages multiplied tional marriages, many of which involve a male 9.2 times between 1990 and 2005, constituting 13.6 percent of newly-weds in 2005. 92 Duong Bach Le, Thanh-Dam Truong, and Thu Hong Khuat policies designed to promote equal opportunity be- rea in launching major family policy reforms, even tween men and women have emerged.9 The defini- though the pace of its democratization was not far be- tion of gender equality is limited to equal opportuni- hind that of Korea (Aspalter 2006). ties in employment in order to fuel growth based on According to Lan (2008), the Taiwanese govern- upgrading technology, allowing for a move into new ment has deliberately praised and encouraged three- areas of export (the knowledge economy and ‘creative generation households as a time-honoured solution to industries’ such as media and communications tech- childcare and care of the elderly (Lan 2008). Lan nology) (Henry 2008; Marginson/Kaur/Sawir 2011). (2008) also points out that for middle-class families, While women may have benefited from the opening the solution to the shortage of care is to hire migrant of these new sectors, the structures of gender inequal- domestic workers, whereas for working-class families ity that underpin the combination of the ‘familialism’ who cannot afford this option, a foreign bride is the and ‘developmentalism’ model of economy remain solution to the shortage of reproductive care labour unbroken (Peng 2008). As the society is facing a rap- through a marriage contract. The ‘care deficit’ can idly ageing population, and the fertility rate is below thus be seen as a narrative to rationalize the recruit- the replacement level (Rallu 2006), the state took an ment of cheap and disposable migrant labour for mid- interventionist approach in 2004, based on the fam- dle-class families, while the ‘bride deficit’ is a narrative ily/work balance model that offers cash allowances, used to justify working-class men’s needs not only for child care provision, after-school care, parental leave, brides but also for unpaid reproductive labour (Lan and arrangements for care of the elderly. It recognizes 2008; Wang 2010). In 2008, Taiwan launched a Family the significant percentage of the elderly living with Policy White Paper that includes cash allowances for grown-up children.10 Yet inter-generational reciprocity child support, paid maternity leave (no paternity leave in the Confucian family as an ethical principle re- or childcare leave are mentioned), childcare provisions mains strong while workplace practices remain family- at the community level, and provisions for care of the unfriendly. Working women wanting to find a balance elderly. The vision of the policy is far more modest between work and family life must draw on the sup- than South Korea’s (Chiu/Wong 2009: 117–119). port of family members or in-laws living nearby, given In both countries, despite these reforms it would that intergenerational care remains primarily the duty seem that traditional patterns are pervasive for a rela- of women (Sung 2003). tively large segment of society. Where gender norms Turning to Taiwan, though demographic changes in the family remain unchanged, and options within na- are similar to South Korea, the family remains a signif- tional borders are not available, searching for solutions icant force in enforcing obligations for intergenera- overseas becomes inevitable. Because practices of care tional care. Women still provide a large proportion of itself are culturally embedded, searching for partners unpaid care work, and both children and the elderly with some cultural proximity appears necessary. are still commonly taken care of by family members.11 This resilience of the traditional family is the main 5.3.2 Social Reproduction Crisis in Vietnam: A reason why Taiwan lags almost a decade behind Ko- Focus on the Rural Sector 9 In South Korea, the Equal Employment Act was enacted While the Vietnamese culture is a part of the East with the purpose of increasing equality in the labour Asian legal traditions influenced by Confucian ethics, market between the sexes in 1985. In the wake of the its gender order remains an exception owing to the 1995 Beijing Platform of Action, the Korean National principle of gender equality in the Hong Duc Codes Assembly passed the Women’s Development Act, stipu- (fifteenth to eighteenth centuries). The Civil Codes lating the duties of public bodies to eliminate discrimi- preserved Confucian ethics by assigning the wife a nation, to promote the advancement of women in lesser status than the husband in a patriarchal family, public life, and to enhance their welfare and living con- ditions within the family. The Ministry of Gender Equal- but forbade domestic violence and granted divorce on12 ity was established in 2001 and expanded in 2005 and several grounds unknown to the Chinese Codes. renamed the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family The Codes not only retained a lasting influence up to (Won 2007). the mid-twentieth century among the population, but 10 This percentage has fallen from over 65 per cent in 1988 also among the French colonial courts in Vietnam, to 44 per cent in 2004 (Chiu/Wong 2009: 104). particularly on the recognition of inheritance rights 11 In Taiwan the percentage of the elderly living with for women (Ta 1982). This can be seen in the 1959 grown-up children had fallen from over 70 per cent in 1986 to 63 per cent in 2002 (Chiu/Wong 2009: 115). Family Law of the Republic of Vietnam, which upheld Transnational Marriage Migration and the East Asian Family-Based Welfare Model 93 equality of powers between husband and wife, as well tributed many more hours of work. The rural house- as in two succeeding statutes, the 1964 Family Law hold became a site of tension regarding the demands and the 1972 Civil Code. The recognition of women’s for both productive and reproductive labour that re- right to own land and their personal rights in mar- strict women’s ability to bargain for more time and re- riage are considered by Vietnamese historians to be sources for self-employment. the formal recognition of women’s active contribu- This withdrawal of the government from its role tion to agricultural production, trades, and other eco- as the sole provider of employment and social services nomic activities over centuries, above and beyond was a clear indicator of a major shift in the organiza- their contributions to family well-being (Mai/Le tion of social reproduction: from a state-led welfare 1978). Since the founding of the Democratic Republic regime to the East Asian Confucian family-based wel- of Vietnam in 1945, and in the now unified Socialist fare regime, although in Vietnam there is no residual Republic of Vietnam, full legal capacity and equality state support, except micro-credit in poverty allevia- has been granted to women in successive legislation. tion programmes. Rural families now alter their strat- Since the late 1980s Vietnam has been undergoing egy, placing considerable burdens on women. Both a major process of reforms, known as Doi Moi or a time and effort spent by women to meet daily and gradual movement towards a market economy. Agri- generational reproduction requirements in the family cultural Decision No. 10 in 1988 aimed at liberalizing have significantly increased (Khuat/Bui/Le 2009). As the agricultural sector in Vietnam and provided land market reforms deepened in rural areas, the need for use rights for ten to fifteen years of secure tenure. women to engage in livelihood generation is also in- Output markets were privatized and investment deci- creasingly felt, particularly the need for a cash income sions were decentralized and left to the household. to cover rising expenses in production and reproduc- This system, known as the household contract-based tion. Ironically, the more women engage in income- system (khoan ho), was supplemented by the Land generating activities, the less they are able or willing to Law of 1993 which gave households the right to inherit, take on social reproductive roles as fully as expected transfer, exchange, lease, and mortgage their land use by the revitalized gender norms in the family. rights. Equal rights for men and women in land use In particular, the pro-growth policies geared to rights are ensured. Land ownership remains entirely turn Vietnam into a new ‘tiger’ economy have created within state purview; land use rights can be withdrawn many crises in the countryside, particularly around by the state for a specified purpose of national interest. land use rights. One of the indications of this crisis is In practice, under the household contract-based the increase of independent migration by women, system, the rural household became at once a unit of both rural-to-urban and to neighbouring countries production and of social reproduction. The promo- (Truong/Scott 2004; Nguyen/Truong/Resurreccion tion of the household economy was also accompa- 2008). This trend may in part be a response to the nied by the dismantling of local arrangements for so- risk of being landless, which is increasing as the state cial rights (childcare, care of the elderly, food grants more favours to a few powerful actors, includ- entitlements when in need, primary health services, ing foreign investors, state-owned companies, and and education) that had been crafted into a network state-backed private enterprises, and initiates the proc- of cooperation between different local institutions ess of land reacquisition from farmers. One area (Truong 1997; 2006). Vijverberg and Haughton where these land-related risks are high is the Mekong (2004) noted that as the household economy reached Delta; this is also where the migration of women to its first stage of saturation, surviving households be- East Asian countries as brides is most common. came male-led. There was a tendency for men to ‘take Among the 635 households interviewed there in 2004 over’ successful household enterprises and to play a by Nguyen and Tran (2010: 165–168), over eighty-one more prominent role, despite women’s having con- per cent of the parents hoped to escape poverty through their daughters’ marriages overseas. Rather than paying attention to the specific micro- 12 For example, a husband who neglected his wife and, forces that generate new forms of rural poverty and unless on a public mission, did not personally visit her its gendered dimensions, the state is using a new rhet- for five months (one year if they had children), would oric of the family as a domain ‘naturally’ fit for be deprived of his rights over his wife; she might then women, reflecting a return to idealized Confucian report the fact to the authority and remarry. The Crim- norms. Similarly, state policies use the social percep- inal Codes also acknowledged the personal rights of tion of feminine virtues that underlies women’s chief women (Ta 1982: 548). 94 Duong Bach Le, Thanh-Dam Truong, and Thu Hong Khuat role in child-rearing and care for elderly or sick mem- matchmaking agencies in Taiwan and South Korea, bers of the family to encourage women to be “good and the virtual absence of regulation in Vietnam, both doers of both state and domestic works” (Khuat/Bui/ brides and grooms become vulnerable to the conduct Le 2011). This emphasis on traditional gender roles by of these agencies, which in many cases are deceptive the government appears to be critically linked with and essentially exploitative. the social and political stability of the nation (Gam- To create a demand by Korean and Taiwanese meltoft 1998; Le 2004; Schuler/Anh/Ha/Minh/Mai/ men for cross-border marriage, matchmaking agencies Thien 2006). in the two countries construct a favourable image of The rural reproductive crisis in Vietnam after brides from less developed nations like Indonesia, the three decades of market reform appears to be linked Philippines, and Vietnam. They are depicted as a tra- to the short-lived success of the household economy, ditional ‘gift’ that will meet the needs for traditional which has proved to be too weak to absorb emerging social provisioning and care not only for their hus- structural risks and vulnerabilities derived from land bands but also for their husbands’ parents. Lower- leased from the state and the penetration of industry class men’s access to matchmaking services is made into rural areas. Yet it is expected to function also as easy, with attractive advertisements for ‘purchasable a family-based welfare system in line with other East traditional’ spouses on television, in newspapers, and Asian countries. The initial reproductive bargain be- on street posters visible everywhere in these countries. tween the state and rural households under the house- Typically, a Taiwanese or Korean man deciding to hold-contract system has outlived its relevance, yet so marry a Vietnamese woman would rely on a local far the law remains unchanged. The burden of repro- agency or sub-agency in their own country, paying a ducing the household falls heavily on middle-aged fee for the service. The fee, which may be as high as women and old people, as young men, single women, US$10,000, includes service fees paid by the Taiwan- and married women out-migrate in search of an in- ese or Korean agencies to their Vietnamese counter- come to protect the land that had been leased to the parts; the cost of return travel to Vietnam and accom- family. modation; viewing of potential brides; and the cost of organizing a wedding once a selection is made. Be- cause Vietnam’s revised Family Law in 2000 forbids 5.4 Market Response: Arranging international marriages for commercial purposes, Ko- Marriages, Earning Profits, and rean and Taiwanese agencies locate potential local Constructing ‘Modernity’ brides through nationwide networks of Vietnamese agencies, sub-agencies, collaborators, and various in- Transnational marriage migration in Vietnam on to- formers, ranging from local authorities to people in day’s scale is unprecedented and rapidly increasing to the community, relatives, or family members. It is not the countries in the region—South Korea, Taiwan, and uncommon to find recruiters living in the same com- China (IOM 2008: 170). In 2001, some 60,000 Viet- munity as the brides, as in most cases the brides are namese women had married men from Taiwan, and approached at home. by the end of 2008 the estimated number rose to over In Taiwan and Korea, agencies portray Vietnamese 100,000 (Tang/Belanger/Wang 2011). In South Ko- brides as ‘traditional’, ‘virgins’, and ‘virtuous’ (see also rea, marriages between Korean men and Vietnamese Wang 2010), while in Vietnam recruiters construct women increased from an insignificant number (95 in Taiwanese and Korean men as being ‘modern’ and 2000) to a total of 10,131 in 2006, or a 73 per cent in- this makes them most desirable as marriage partners. crease in this period and representing 33.5 per cent of They are frequently depicted as urban men with jobs total cases for that year (Kim/Shin 2008). Private or running their own business, apparently at least mid- agencies involved in commercially arranged transna- dle-class if not wealthy, decent-looking, and owing a tional marriages between Taiwan and Vietnam initially home that is not shared with parents or other rela- emerged in the late mid-1990s, and they are now also tives. In Vietnam, the most common scenario involves active in South Korea. the potential brides being taken from the Mekong As our interviews with Vietnamese spouses and Delta by the recruiters (or travelling by themselves) to their husbands show, the agencies and sub-agencies Ho Chi Minh City. There, they stay for a period rang- through which their marriages were arranged form a ing from a few days to several months just to attend complex web of activities interlinked across national shows, often held by the agencies in small hotels, borders. Given the poorly enforced regulation of where they are introduced to men who seek a wife. Transnational Marriage Migration and the East Asian Family-Based Welfare Model 95 The women are provided with food and accommoda- After the health check comes the wedding. In most tion and are rounded up whenever there are men who cases, the wedding is held before the official registra- want to see them. According to the experience of one tion for marriage takes place at the office of the Peo- woman who had married a Taiwanese man: ple's Committee of the commune or sub-district Almost every day I was taken to see foreign men from where the bride holds permanent household registra- Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia. In three tion; official registration takes time, since most months…. many men, usually in groups of ten, but brides’ communes are in the countryside. For the sometimes there were only one or two men…. The proc- grooms, the wedding in Vietnam is just a small part of ess is something like: the boss (recruiter) rents a room the ‘business’, an event to close the deal with the local in a hotel; then men came in—five to six girls are shown agency, and to be introduced to the bride’s family. For for them to see; if they like someone, she can stay but them, the actual wedding is organized in their home she has to wait until they see all the girls, then they make the final decision. (A CATM wife from Can Tho, country, when their wives join them, though we found interviewed in Taoyuan, Taiwan.) no instance of the bride’s family being invited to attend the wedding celebrations in Taiwan or South Korea. When the man has chosen a woman as a bride he has For the brides, the wedding is much more impor- to pay for the costs of food and accommodation in- tant than the marriage licence. It is a cultural seal curred prior to the selection; if the woman decides to marking a rite of passage in their life, from single to leave, she will have to cover these costs. The woman married status. Yet in a typical wedding commercially from Can Tho quoted above said that in the begin- arranged by the agency, the conjugal rite is often ning she often walked out of the room when she did downgraded from what in other circumstances would not feel like being seen by potential grooms but she be a three-day celebration to a night at a hotel. While was then threatened by the ‘boss’ that if she contin- a feast is organized with the presence of the bride’s ued to act in this way he would send her home, and family members, because the wedding cost is included she would have to pay the costs. She corrected her be- in the package paid by the bridegrooms, the agencies haviour and finally found a Taiwanese husband after always try to minimize expenses by limiting the num- four months in Ho Chi Minh City. bers of guests to about ten people, including the bride Health checks, including blood tests (clearly with and the groom, in order to maximize their profits. a fear of HIV), and mental health checks are always arranged in advance by the agencies with local health They [the agency] arranged a table for ten people, care centres or a hospital, public or private. These including me and my husband. When my parents, sisters take place on the same day of the show, or the follow- and brothers, nephews and nieces arrived at the hotel,it turned out that there are eleven people. So, one per- ing day, to ensure that the chosen women are physi- son could not sit at the table. They did not even ask the cally fit for marriage. A particularly degrading part of hotel manager to add an extra seat for her… (A CATM the health check is the so-called ‘virginity check’, wife from Hau Giang, interviewed in Taichung, Tai- though the brides are told it is a ‘gynaecological wan.) check’, for which most of the women are already psy- Some women reported that no wedding was held for chologically prepared.13 These health checks are often them and a few others said that they were not allowed conducted carelessly, and, at least in our research, no to invite any family members to the wedding, which one had been disqualified, since the physicians are was just a dinner with their husbands. For still others, bribed by the agencies. the agencies organized one joint wedding event for For blood test, we went to private doctors. For mental several couples, all in one place and at the same time. check, they took me to the hospital. But they know the For the brides, clearly these weddings are sad memo- doctors, they bribed them already so the test is very sim- ries as they are culturally improper and personally de- ple. The doctor just asked me a few questions and let valued. me go, like they give me some questions on plus, minus, Mass media in Vietnam sometimes describe tran- multiply… then let me go. (A CATM wife from Can Tho, interviewed in Taoyuan, Taiwan.) snational marriage as a sort of daughter sale by par- ents. In this research, there is not a single case in which parents have a voice in the price of the bride. At the wedding, the brides are provided with jewel- 13 A CATM wife revealed that her several friends have lery by the agency, such as a wedding ring, a necklace, passed this ‘moral’ test with a fake hymen, subverting and earrings, befitting Vietnamese wedding customs. the required ‘proof’ of virtue that the prospective Their earrings, brought by the agencies, were always grooms demand. 96 Duong Bach Le, Thanh-Dam Truong, and Thu Hong Khuat the cheapest possible. Several women said that the widespread interests in products with Korean and Tai- weight of all the jewellery combined was less than one wanese brands, including Korean television movies ‘Chi’,14slightly above US$100 at the time of the inter- and soap operas, fashion, cosmetics, and cuisine. views. The wedding is also the time for the grooms to It should be stressed, however, that for the majority give their parents-in-law some money, called bride of the Vietnamese women interviewed, the economic price – which can be kept by the bride’s family. considerations of a married life abroad is the major Interviews with the brides show the level of bride drive in their marriage decision. Beliefs in the prospect price ranges from US$100 to US$1,000. Often the of a better economic situation, the possibility of sup- agencies deduct a part of the bride price agreed to by porting the family left behind, and of securing a better the groom. In one extreme case, the agency did not future for their possible children are all associated with give the bride’s family any share of the amount such marriages. These beliefs are reflected in particular (US$1,200) agreed as the bride price. In another case, in one case in our study of a woman who herself bor- the agency only handed over US$300 of the agreed rowed from relatives 35 million Dong (about US$1,000. But none of the brides dared to ask for US$2,000) to pay for the agency that introduced her to money back out of the fear that the agencies would her present Taiwanese husband. make some troubles and cancel the marriage. They In some communities, transnational border mar- were led to understand that the deductions were to riage has become a central part of people’s lives. The cover paperwork costs for the marriage licence or to media have carried reports about the so-called ‘Tai- obtain certification of marital status from the local au- wanese island’, i.e. a commune in the southern prov- thorities. The requirement for such paperwork also ince of Can Tho where most of the single women provides opportunities for the local authority to make married Taiwanese men, and researchers have con- money from the women’s families by requesting mate- firmed this (Graeme/Nguyen 2007). A similar situation rial contributions.15 Hence, it can be seen that all ac- was found during our fieldwork in the northern prov- tors through their practices have contributed to the ince of Hai Phong, where young women deliberately commodification of transnational marriage. ‘save’ themselves for foreign husbands, leaving local Finally, ICT also contributes to the socialization of men out of the marriage question, and paying no inter- practices in transnational marriage, and to the pro- est to finding employment or doing business, expecting duction of new desires for ‘modernity’. The increasing their economic future to be guaranteed by marriage to socialization among many Vietnamese women regard- a Taiwanese or Korean husband. Clearly, this creates a ing the prospects of marrying a foreigner is both the marriage squeeze in these local communities, as well as cause and the outcome of the prevalence of transna- having other social consequences. In many other com- tional marriage. This is in direct contrast with the tra- munes across the country, the visible wealth of house- dition in which marriage preference was for local part- holds having members working as migrant labourers, ners, often from the same community. Particularly for or marrying Taiwanese and Korean men, has shaped women, the power holders in the state and the family the way local people think of making a better life. used to see marriage with a foreigner as socially and The role of social networks in facilitating cross-bor- politically undesirable. der marriage has increasingly become important, as the As Vietnam becomes more integrated into the re- number of Vietnamese wives is growing quickly. Our gional and global economy, a proliferation of transna- findings suggest that currently some ten per cent of tional spaces for networking and exchange has transnational marriages are conducted not through the emerged and marriage with foreigners is becoming in- service of the agencies but though introduction by creasingly accepted, even desirable, not only on eco- other wives who live abroad, whether friends, relatives, nomic grounds but also culturally. Young people can- or from the same communities. Reliance on social net- not help but notice the proliferation of Korean and works provides some confidence and trust that the wife Taiwanese businesses, from large enterprises to small can get a good husband and receive support from peo- home-based businesses, and they have developed ple who have entered transnational marriage earlier. In sum, there is a mutual interplay between market forces and structural conditions that are driving tran- 14 One ‘Chi’ of gold is equivalent to 3.75 grams. snational marriages between Vietnamese women and 15 A father of one CATM wife in the study, for example, men from Taiwan and South Korea. Within this, the had to give up a plot of land to the commune’s People’s circulation of symbolic and material values through Committee, which was then used to build a communal ICT and social networks also contribute to producing cultural centre. Transnational Marriage Migration and the East Asian Family-Based Welfare Model 97 institutional practices that form an emergent system the meanings of reproduction arise, particularly re- of trans-patriarchy in which Vietnamese women ac- garding which aspect of reproduction is being negoti- tively participate. ated, whose family counts, and which ties should be prioritized. The reproductive bargaining process tends to be centred on the meanings of the family and the 5.5 Reproductive Bargaining in the boundaries of interpretation of the sense of belonging, Host Societies: Social Positioning, which has implications for defining the work of a Self-Consciousness, and Dignity woman and her control over her sexuality and mobility. Her failure or success in altering the boundaries of the As a hegemonic framework, the Confucian family- bargain can be expressed in three moments: exit, loy- based welfare system in the host countries proscribes alty, and voice. Exit becomes a reality when bargaining and prescribes the conduct of the foreign wives. fails. Loyalty means full or partial compliance with the Within it, family members negotiate from different expected norms required for a wife, mother, and structural positions of power, each being endowed daughter-in-law in the host country before gaining the with different resources (material, symbolic, and or- recognition of the rights of a person. This recognition ganizational) and interpret rules in certain ways. in turn enables the wife to achieve some of her own ob- Within the Confucian family welfare model, the role jectives through voice and influence. of a daughter-in-law is confined to biological repro- The initial social positioning appears favourable to duction (sustaining the in-law family lineage by having the CATM wives, given the immense competition for children, particularly sons) and care provisioning to waged employment in rural Vietnam. They imagined enhance the welfare of the entire family. The Vietnam- that transnational marriage would place them in an ese CATM wife is expected by her husband and in- environment that would change their lives. Many laws to fulfil these norms to show her ‘quality’ as a turned away from their own families in crisis but re- daughter-in-law, wife, and mother. As Wang (2007) main loyal to some members, because of what they re- has shown, this cultural hegemony has never been fer to as their ‘moral debt’. All the women who partic- achieved fully but remains negotiated and contested.16 ipated in this study wanted to ‘graduate’ from a life of Though nominally a married woman in Vietnam is subsistence peasantry to become urban women with considered ‘the daughter of the other family’, in prac- successful, non-agricultural jobs. tice for many Vietnamese communities marriage does Some want to turn away from domestic violence not change the status of a woman as a member of her and men they do not respect: birth family. As such, and within her own means, the Many [Vietnamese] men now are using drugs, gambling, married woman is expected to share some responsi- drinking, so I will not be happy to marry them. They bilities with her siblings in providing care for her par- look down on their wives, called them with bad words. ents, however limited. In Taiwan and South Korea, a (A CATM wife from Ho Chi Minh City, interviewed in daughter-in-law is considered by a husband’s family as Taipei, Taiwan.) its own and will object to her sending remittances to My father often got drunk. He never cared about us. My her birth family (Tang/Belanger/Wang 2011). In the mother would not dare to do anything against his will, process of bargaining over the long-term provision of as he would beat her… So I thought I did not want to reproductive services, successful wives draw on cul- have my own family like that. Getting married with a tural commonalities to facilitate consensus and ac- foreign husband is ten times better. (A CATM wife from ceptance, easing adaptation and eventual mutual trust Can Tho, interviewed in Dangjin, South Korea.) and tolerance. Others see marrying overseas as an opportunity to Our research findings reveal different moments in make a living in a better environment: which issues of contestation and compromise over I know that it is not easy at all to have a happy marriage. Men in Vietnam and here [Taiwan] can be the same. But 16 Wang shows that wives can use various strategies to coming here I can make more money. At home we do resist or evade control by the family of their husbands. not have enough to eat. (A CATM wife from Long An, These may include the threat to return home and never interviewed in Taipei, Taiwan.) come back, or frequenting public spaces such as Viet- I came here because I wanted to help my family. My par- namese restaurants, shops, and venues where they take ents are very poor, so the neighbours look down on us… Mandarin language courses to meet and share informa- Even our relatives do not want us to visit them because tion. Some use a more expensive pre-paid card for their they are afraid that we will borrow money from them. mobile phones to evade the surveillance of the family. 98 Duong Bach Le, Thanh-Dam Truong, and Thu Hong Khuat (A CATM wife from Can Tho, interviewed in Taichung, work and care for parents-in-law like that. Here staying Taiwan.) home to do domestic work is important to Korean peo- Some express the desire for mobility ple. (A CATM wife from Hau Giang, interviewed inDangjin, South Korea.) I got married with my husband not because I need his A clash of perspective about ‘work’ was also noted: money. I want to get out of Vietnam to see the world. At home I had to do farming all the time. (A CATM In Vietnam people will say a wife staying at home is lazy wife from Ho Chi Minh City, interviewed in Hong- [emphasis added]. But here even if wives have college seong, South Korea.) education or employment, they will stay home if they In their image of ‘modernity’ a husband means some- have children. Some [wives] work, but most stay home.(A CATM wife from Ho Chi Minh City, interviewed in one with an urban background and a stable job, re- Hongseong, South Korea.) specting his wife, loving his children, and affording the family a comfortable life. Because “South Korea is In a few cases, the wives were physically locked inside a ‘modern’ country, its people must be ‘modern’ too”, the home, or had their passport confiscated by their opined one woman who decided to return home. In in-law family. As narratives from all sides indicated, her words: this confinement stems mainly from fear on the part of the husbands’ families of a loss of ‘investment’, I returned home because my life with him brought no since large amounts of money had been paid to ob- happiness, I had no future. I stayed at home all the tain the wives. There was also a fear of ‘losing face’ time… having no one around, no friend. My husband only came home late at night, drinking. (A CATM wife with neighbours, when the wives would frequent their returnee from South Korea, interviewed in Hai Phong, ‘ethnic’ networks, acquiring ‘bad attitudes and con- Thuy Nguyen district.) duct’ from other CATM wives, or being suspected of In most cases, the image of the ‘modern husband’ having love affairs with other men, especially Vietnam- comes into direct conflict with reality. This conflict is ese men who were migrant workers. Domestic vio- particularly acute when it relates to their desire to sup- lence was reported by women with alcoholic hus- port their birth families by engaging in paid work. bands, or husbands who lost employment. Domestic This, in the communities where their husbands be- violence also arose through difficulties in communica- long, goes against the expected norms for a married tion due to insufficient knowledge of the local lan- woman. guage, over-insistence on having their own income, or spending time with friends and compromising domes- We [the husband and his parents] want Thuy to stay tic duties and care provision. Expressing discontent home and take care of our family and our children… I with their triple role as wife, mother, and daughter-in- make enough money for the family so there is no need law can lead to exit from the marriage through di- for her to work…. Taking care of our children is more important. (A Taiwanese husband interviewed in Taic- vorce or escape, and sometimes to a return forced by hung, Taiwan.) their husbands. In the meantime, all the wives learn to prepare My parents are very old. My mother could not walk and needs help in moving. I am very busy at the factory and family meals as the members prefer them; they cannot cannot return home early to take care of my parents. follow their own dietary habits, except in isolation. Sometimes I have to work until 10 p.m. because my boss Here they do not use fish sauce in cooking. They said it wants me to work late. (A Taiwanese husband inter- is stinky. Instead they use soy sauce. (A CATM wife viewed in Taipei, Taiwan.) from Hai Phong, interviewed in Taoyuan, Taiwan.) All CATM wives in our study, whether in Taiwan or This dietary alienation enhances feelings of isolation South Korea, are responsible for domestic work in and homesickness, further compounded by the inabil- their new families. For many wives, this situation can ity to communicate in the local language, which in even be worse than what they themselves experienced turn prevents them from finding paid work outside or observed in Vietnam, particularly for those who the home and thus sending remittances to their birth came from the north, where society encourages families. daughters-in-law to work outside the home, and where husbands share some of the burden of domes- No matter which country you are in, life gets compli- cated if you do not have a job. We must work. Without tic work. a job, people will look down on us, no matter how good Generally, of the ten [wives] come here seven of them the material conditions we are enjoying are. (A CATM stay at home, taking care of children, cooking. Very few wife from Bac Lieu, interviewed in Taichung, Taiwan.) of them work. ... In Vietnam, both husbands and wives Transnational Marriage Migration and the East Asian Family-Based Welfare Model 99 This perspective can come into conflict with the mothers-in-law did occur. Yet in most cases, the expectations of in-laws. women try to avoid unnecessary conflict. Those who The reason why many wives are having difficulties is have learnt how to perform the expected triple roles mostly because they too often think of work to earn of being wife, daughter-in-law, and mother to the sat- money and send to their families…. The parents-in-law isfaction of in-laws can gain some respect and space think that their daughter-in-law should care for their for their agency. family and their son, but she only cares about making money to send to her parents. (A CATM wife from Hau I learnt how to cook good food the way my in-law Giang, interviewed in Taipei.) mother likes. In Vietnam, I used fish sauce to cook. Now when I fry vegetables, I put soy sauce instead. I did For all the wives the first year was the most difficult, what I observed from her. She likes it and complains as they became aware of their social positioning as less about many things I did when first coming here. (A foreign wives brought into the family through com- CATM wife from Long Xuyen interviewed in Taoyuan, mercially arranged transnational marriage. Placed in a Taiwan.) hierarchy of social relations defined by local cultural Adjusting to the dietary habits of in-laws appears to be norms as well as their emotional, social, and physical a primary condition of gaining trust and stabilizing the isolation and linguistic constraints, their bargaining domestic front, and a significant aspect of a bio-cultural position depends on their awareness of the new con- aspect of reproduction. Gaining linguistic skills is nec- text and ability to reposition themselves. Cases of suc- essary to influence the views of in-laws on the signifi- cessful bargaining show a common strategy that in- cance of paid work, as well as to establish positive so- volves a step-by-step approach to ‘winning the hearts cial ties with neighbours and beyond. Gaining trust and minds’ of the husband and parents-in-law, partic- within the family also meant demonstrating that social ularly the mother-in-law. networking with other foreign wives from the same eth- A three-stage bargaining process was discerned. In nic groups could be positive in terms of providing mu- the first stage, there is hardly any negotiation on tasks tual support mentally, socially, and economically. In related to daily housework, sexual demands, and die- several cases, paid work demonstrates to in-laws and tary habits. Differences in role expectations and inter- neighbours their ability to use their own income to sup- pretation of duties and obligation need to be over- port their birth families, thus improving their status in come in order to demonstrate loyalty. In the second the husband’s family and in the neighbourhood. stage, usually after a few months of residence, the They [the neighbours] asked ‘how many times a year do wives, having acquired sufficient experience, begin to you go home? How much money do you bring home understand their complex relationship in their in-law each time?’ I then replied ‘this is my family’s own busi- family, the rules and power relationships among mem- ness. It does not involve you.’ (A CATM wife from Ho bers, and the expected roles that each family member Chi Minh City, interviewed in Taichung, Taiwan.) should perform. All the women have tried to learn the Knowledge of, and access to, legal services provided language, with varying levels of success. While some for foreigners, especially for foreign spouses, in South still face difficulties, the wives’ achievement in master- Korea and Taiwan helps the wives learn about immi- ing language can be impressive: gration legislation and citizenship rights, as well as serv- At the beginning, I just knew how to say hello. I did not ices available in the area of their residence (language understand whatever my husband said. I cried a lot. and cultural education, shelters for victims of domestic Then I tried to learn the language myself. I have pro- violence, legal counselling). Although few actually used gressed fast. After six months, I understood everything these services, knowledge of their availability enhances people said. (A CATM wife from Vinh Long inter- the confidence of the women in critical situations. Be- viewed in Hongseong, South Korea.) coming a citizen in the husband’s country is a shared This process of learning the language and family rules aspiration for better protection of rights. helps them to adapt their behaviour to meet certain A few of the women interviewed have become suc- degrees of satisfaction from members of their in-law cessful businesswomen in the host society. The most families. Once a sense of stability and confidence is impressive case that emerged in our research was a established, the wives start to build up voice and sta- woman who started her life in Taiwan as an isolated tus within their families. From here onwards, they CATM bride but became the owner of a large shop could take certain stands, and began to argue about selling various merchandise and food to the local what was right or wrong regarding their conduct. In a community in Taipei. She now runs an import busi- number of extreme cases, quarrels with husbands and ness handling foods, clothes, and other items from Vi- 100 Duong Bach Le, Thanh-Dam Truong, and Thu Hong Khuat etnam, catering for the Vietnamese community living measure to help some families to preserve the three- nearby. Gains from this business enable her to make generation family structure and the Confucian gender social and financial remittances to her siblings so that order. While this may help address some dimensions they can open businesses in Vietnam, as well as to en- of the reproductive crisis (human reproduction and sure that her parents are well taken care of by a hired intergenerational care), it postpones the question of domestic worker. the future viability of the family-based welfare model Despite the contextual nature of the reproductive of East Asian capitalism. Responses from civil society bargaining process at the household level, it can be to transnational marriages differ, depending on na- observed that fair outcomes hinge on the ability of tional political tendencies. South Korea is more in- the CATM wives to recalibrate their imaginations in clined towards the model of multiculturalism as part order to face the real structures of power into which of the nation-building effort (Lee 2008). There, tran- they are placed and to find means and sources of lo- snational marriages involve partners from a wide cal support to re-position themselves. A change in so- range of countries beyond those sharing Confucian cial positioning is central for them to find their own ethical features (Kim 2011). Taiwan adheres to the source of dignity as a person beyond and above the lo- Confucian model but diversifies source countries to cal cultural framing of ‘womanhood’. maintain its independence from China, linking tran- snational marriages with international relations. At the third level, transnational masculinity 5.6 Conclusion through such marriages has to resolve the subtle dif- A unique feature of East Asian states is the inclination ference between a patrifocal type of marriage under towards centralizing masculine power and idealizing strict Confucian rules and a bifocal type prevalent in society for the purpose of political and social stability. South-East Asian countries, including Vietnam. Main- The rise of transnational marriages in conjunction taining family unity necessitates intra-family negotia- with a demographic crisis has challenged such ideals, tion over rules and the conduct of wives towards the and reflects emerging contradictions in the transfor- husband’s family and their own. Yet the construction mation of social reproduction that raise new ques- of their moral character at the inter-group level in the tions about gender and efficiency in this model of the communities of the receiving countries as ‘opportun- economic miracle. From the perspective of Vietnam ist’, and at the level of formal institutions in their na- as a sending country, CATM reflects many changes in tive country as ‘immoral’ at worst and naive at best, gender relations in production and reproduction, par- displaces the real crisis of social reproduction. Tran- ticularly in rural areas, which have spurred female out- snational masculinity expressed through CATMs has migration in the last two decades, of which CATM is many implications for social policy above and beyond one form among many. the rights of women as wives, be they native or for- Transnational commercially arranged marriages eign. It calls for a renewal of feminist innovations in between Taiwanese and South Korean men and Viet- theorizing about social reproduction to capture its namese women seem to manifest a triple complexity transnational implications. As transnational marriage of masculinity embedded in the East Asian welfare re- migration concerns essentially the question of how gime, yet foiled by dominant discourses on the family sexuality and biological reproduction is valued and ne- and nation. At the first level, the prevalence of son gotiated, and how the maintenance of daily life in one preference and related practices manifest the histori- location is tied to the maintenance of relationships cal dimension of masculine hegemonic power. The si- with members of the birth family left behind, analyti- lent resistance by the new generations of more edu- cal treatment of the relationship between structure cated women, who no longer adhere fully to and agency requires an approach capable of address- Confucian values, demonstrates the incompleteness ing the formation of multiple social borders (racial/ of hegemonic power and how marriage and childbear- cultural, economic, and political) as structural con- ing and -rearing remains an important arena of female straints within which interaction based on subjective resistance. 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This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. 6 Masculinity at Work: Intersectionality and Identity Constructions of Migrant Domestic Workers in the Netherlands Aster Georgo Haile1 and Karin Astrid Siegmann2 Abstract3 This chapter contributes to the emerging literature on men who do ‘women’s work’. It focuses on the ‘feminine’ occupation of domestic worker and on how male and female migrant workers balance their gender identities at the intersection of class, race, and immigration status. It addresses the related research gap in the Nether- lands by focusing on the situation of migrant domestic workers from the Philippines with irregular status. From the perspective of hegemonic gender identities, male migrant domestic workers, too, are subjected to gender injustices. These injustices are rooted in the devaluation of everything coded as ‘feminine’, including their occu- pation. The resulting ‘male femininities’ are threatening male domestic workers’ sense of self-worth and their societal recognition. This misrecognition adds to the exploitative economic circumstances that both female and male migrant domestic workers experience and has negative repercussions on male migrants’ access to employ- ment. Ironically, workers themselves contribute to reproducing these symbolic and material injustices and, hence, consolidate them. Redressing these injustices requires changes both in the economic structure and in society’s ordering of status. When the demands for respect for domestic workers and for their labour rights are combined, this necessity is reflected in workers’ national and international campaigns. They need to be com- plemented by national regulation that will protect all workers effectively, independent of the location of their work, their gender, their race, or their immigration status. Last but not least, given their crucial role in societal reproduction, domestic workers should be included in the categories of migrant workers who are welcome in European labour markets in redefined and relaxed transnational migration regimes. Keywords: domestic work, gender hegemony, gender identity, gender justice, intersectionality, the Netherlands, the Philippines, migrants with irregular status. 6.1 Introduction123 modernization (King 2007: 48; Bartolomei, 2010: 88). Yet even in the industrialized societies of Europe and During the twentieth century, domestic work4 was North America, domestic work still has a significant seen as an anachronism in an industrial society. This role to play and is even increasing (ILO 2010: 6). This occupation was assumed to vanish in the course of 3 The authors are indebted to the women and men who 1 Aster Georgo Haile, graduate student at the Africana shared their stories. Thoughtful comments and sugges- Studies Department, University at Albany, State Univer- tions by two anonymous referees are gratefully acknowl- sity of New York. She conducted the empirical research edged. They helped to significantly improve the chapter. for this chapter in the context of her MA thesis at the All remaining errors are solely ours. International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Eras- 4 In spite of the heterogeneity of tasks performed by mus University Rotterdam, see Haile (2011). domestic workers – cleaning, looking after elderly peo- 2 Karin Astrid Siegmann, Senior Lecturer in Labour and ple or children, guarding the house, driving children to Gender Economics, International Institute of Social school, gardening, cooking –, a feature common to all Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam (corre- workers is that they work for a private household sponding author). (Simonovsky/Luebker 2011: 2). T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 105 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_6, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 106 Aster Georgo Haile and Karin Astrid Siegmann growth in paid domestic labour has been debated as ation of migrant domestic workers in other European part of the commoditization and internationalization countries has been addressed in detailed studies (e.g. of social reproduction. The debate has raised ques- León 2010; Lutz 2008; Sarti 2010), little research has tions regarding domestic workers’ position in the la- covered the situation in the Netherlands. The few ex- bour market as well as the forms of injustice they face isting studies largely take the perspective of employers individually and collectively, particularly their effective (de Ruijter 2004; de Ruijter/van der Lippe 2009) or access to social rights. The growth in paid domestic focus on the situation of female domestic workers labour has also been shown to pose challenges to the (van Dijken 2002; Koo 2011; Marchetti 2005, 2010).7 gender identities of migrant domestic workers who The present chapter addresses two questions, are over-represented amongst those who fill the gap in namely: How do Filipino domestic workers in the reproductive work (e.g. Kilkey 2010: 132–133; Moya Netherlands balance their sense of masculinity with 2007; Sarti 2006: 231). The literature on ‘global care doing work that is widely perceived as ‘feminine’? chains’ has highlighted that, for many female migrant And how do male and female migrant domestic work- domestic workers, leaving behind their children un- ers with irregular status from the Philippines express dermines their ability to fulfil their idealized role as their gender identity at the intersection of different re- carers (Hochschild 2000; Lan 2003; Yeates 2004). lations of power, such as class, race, and immigration This debate has ignored the situation of male mi- status? The chapter contrasts the construction of, and grants employed in domestic service (Kilkey 2010: challenges for, male Filipino migrant domestic work- 128). An emerging strand of literature points out that ers’ gender identity with those of their female col- men, too, struggle to combine their work in a femi- leagues, while acknowledging the refraction of the re- nized occupation with hegemonic masculinities (e.g. sulting gender injustices through the prism of other Bartolomei 2010; Datta/McIlwaine/Herbert/Evans/ social divisions. The chapter adopts Fraser’s (2007) May/Wills 2009; Donaldson/Howson 2009; Herbert approach to gender justice that sees the gendered 2008). Yet the asymmetrical relationship of hegem- character of the political economy as inextricably in- onic masculinity and femininity has often dropped terwoven with the cultural order. A full understanding out of focus in studies on gender identity (Connell/ of gender justice hence becomes available only if ma- Messerschmidt 2005: 848), including those concen- terial reward and social recognition are considered si- trating on domestic workers. By and large, they have multaneously (Fraser 2007: 25). focused either on female or – rarely – male gender Section 6.2 outlines the concept of hegemonic identities. This relationship is crucial, though, for an- gender identities and their intersection with other so- alysing the reproduction of gender inequalities as a cial divisions. The specific contours of this hegemony process that intersects with other systems of discrimi- for migrant workers from the Philippines are then nation. sketched out. Section 6.3 reviews previous research This chapter explores the related experience of Fil- that has applied the concept of gender as intersection- ipino men and Filipina women5 with irregular immi- ality to the study of domestic workers’ identity con- gration status6 who engage in domestic work in the structions. Section 6.4 presents the sociopolitical con- Netherlands. Research on migrant domestic workers text of the Netherlands that forms the stage for the from the Philippines has focused on women (e.g. present investigation, while section 6.5 describes its Asis/Huang/Yeoh 2004; Chang/Ling 2000; Hoch- research methodology. Findings related to gender schild 2000; Parreñas 2005). Far less work has been identity constructions of Filipina/o migrant domestic done on the experiences of their male colleagues, de- workers in the Netherlands and their intersections spite the fact that they form a significant group with class, race, and (irregular) immigration status are amongst migrant domestic workers in various Euro- presented and discussed in sections 6.6 and 6.7. They pean countries (e.g. Sarti 2010: 29–30). While the situ- are placed in the context of gender justice in the con- cluding section. 5 In the following, the adjective ‘Filipina’ is employed to refer to women from the Philippines, while ‘Filipino’ denotes men from the same country of origin. 6 Following UNESCO (2008: 15), “persons with irregular immigration status” refers to persons “entering, travel- ling through or residing in a country without the neces- 7 Botman (2011) and van Walsum (2011) are exceptions sary documents or permits”. here. Masculinity at Work: Intersectionality and Identity Constructions of Migrant Domestic Workers 107 6.2 Hegemonic Gender Identities – ers in the gender division of labour (Connell/Messer- Concept and Context schmidt 2005: 848). In the contemporary Philippines, from which this Femininity and masculinity are cultural ideal types of study’s respondents originate, hegemonic masculinity how women and men ought to be. Yet idealized fea- of urban middle-class men refers to a breadwinner fa- tures of masculinity and femininity as complementary ther, while the ideal femininity relates to a caring, nur- and hierarchical gender identities also provide a ra- turing mother. Women can have jobs, but not careers, tionale for social relations at all levels, from the self to because of the constraint of domestic responsibilities global relations of domination. It is through social (Medina 2001, quoted in Parreñas 2005: 331). Gender practice, including both behaviour and discourse, that identities are closely related to the ideal of the nu- this hierarchical relationship organizes the material re- clear, heterosexual family as the social institution in lations of social life and (re-)produces gender inequal- the Philippines commanding the most loyalty, sacri- ities (Schippers 2007: 91–92, 100). Hegemonic mascu- fice, and affection (Asis/Huang/Yeoh 2004: 202). Ex- linity is hierarchical and complementary in that it plained as one of the consequences of Spanish and legitimates men’s dominance over women as a group US colonization of the Philippines, these ideals form (Schippers 2007: 87). While not necessarily normal in the background for the emergence of the ‘woman a statistical sense, it is normative, embodying the most family hero’. She is a construct that depicts the female honoured way of being a man (Connell/Messer- migrant who makes sacrifices and dramatic choices in schmidt 2005: 832). The concept of hegemonic mas- order to take responsibility for maintaining and im- culinity intersects with class and race in its conflation proving her family’s lifestyle as well as contributing to with middle-class status and whiteness, turning gen- her country’s economy (Marchetti 2005: 35). der practices of subordinated classes and/or racial- ethnic8 men into ‘male femininities’ as “the character- istics and practices that are culturally ascribed to 6.3 Domestic Work and the women” (Schippers 2007: 96). They threaten the hier- Production of Migrant Identities archical relationship between masculinity and feminin- ity. As a result, “they are both feminising and stigma- Historically, a high proportion of migrant workers has tising to the men who embody them” (Schippers characterized domestic service (Moya 2007). During 2007: 96). Yet their intersection with class also implies the last three decades, paid domestic work has that features of hegemonic masculinities may be ad- emerged as an often unique employment opportunity justed to economic necessities. Gutmann (1996, for transnational migrant women in most industrial- quoted in Schippers 2007: 97) demonstrates the inter- ized countries (Marchetti 2010: 122; Sarti 2010: 25). section of gender identity with class for notions of fa- The emergence of such ‘global care chains’ has been thering in Mexico. There, for lower-class families, eco- attributed, amongst other reasons, to the lack of at- nomic changes have necessitated men’s participation tention paid to care policy in industrialized countries, in childcare, leading to ideological changes in the which catalyses the demand for private solutions (ILO meanings of fatherhood and its centrality for defining 2010: 9). Sarti (2010: 25) summarizes crucial demand manliness. Rather than being self-reproducing, Con- factors when she writes that: “[t]hanks to immigrants, nell and Messerschmidt (2005: 844) stress that hege- the supply of staff has become cheap and abundant”. monic masculinity requires the policing of men as well Despite the economic significance of the occupa- as the exclusion or discrediting of women. Yet tion, domestic work has often not been recognized as women’s practices that comply with and hence repro- real work and hence has been undervalued and poorly duce patriarchy, enacting the qualities bundled in the regulated (ILO 2010; Luebker/Simonovsky/Oelz 2011; concept of hegemonic femininity (Schippers 2007: Oelz 2011). This lack of recognition and reward has 94), are central to many of the processes that con- been explained by reference to gender constructions struct masculinities, for instance as wives and as work- of the occupation. It has frequently been perceived as an extension of unpaid female domestic responsibili- ties in the home (King 2007: 47; Ray 2000: 693). For Italy, Sarti (2010: 24) shows that the popularity of 8 Following Nakano Glenn (1992: 41), Duffy (2007: 333) women as servants par excellence during the first half employs this term to refer to “groups that have been of the twentieth century proceeded more or less in socially constructed and constituted as racially as well as step with the emergence of the models of the house- culturally distinct from European Americans”. 108 Aster Georgo Haile and Karin Astrid Siegmann wife and the breadwinner as idealized female and ally degrading for a black man”. This challenge is ab- male gender identities. This gender-typing made it dif- sent when working for white people from whom he is ficult for male domestic workers to live up to ideals of culturally distant. The advantages of the invisibility of hegemonic masculinity, but also made it difficult for one’s identity, in that it helps to avoid humiliation, is them to access employment. Similarly, male migrant expressed by a male domestic worker who comes from domestic workers in the Netherlands interviewed by a very respected family: “I prefer to work for white peo- van Walsum (2011: 153) all experienced difficulties ple who know neither my past nor my family”. finding employment, unless they had been brought The push towards racialized occupational niches into the business as their wives’ assistants. Acceptance in the host country’s labour market, such as domestic of their job is facilitated by their lack of alternatives in work, for many migrant workers, male as well as fe- the labour market. For male migrants in Australia, male, entails the experience of deskilling when they Donaldson and Howson (2009: 210) point out that take up work below their professional qualification the assumption that their new job is “for the better- and previous experience. Notions of work and occu- ment of their families” is one way to justify and accept pation are critically important in the construction of the change in their lives. The choosing of indignities gender identities and, given men’s dominant percep- and difficulties for the sake of the family gives mean- tion as breadwinners, especially of hegemonic mascu- ing to the paid work that men undertake: “There is linities (Datta/McIlwaine/Herbert/Evans/May/Wills honour in self-sacrifice for the family” (Donaldson/ 2009: 865; Lupton 2000: S34). Donaldson/Howson Howson 2009: 212). This is also reflected in findings (2009: 211) point out that, as a result, performing on male domestic workers in Calcutta (Ray 2000: work beneath their skill levels has a significant effect 713). Besides relating their work to the masculine qual- on migrants’ sense of manhood. In addition, deskill- ity of breadwinning, other ideal constructions of mas- ing has negative material consequences, given the pre- culinity that male domestic workers associate with carious and badly paid nature of the jobs open to mi- their work include responsible fatherhood and physi- grants in rich countries. For these reasons, their cal strength. This enables them to reduce the tensions ability to effectively perform their role as their fami- they experience in doing ‘women’s work’ and that are lies’ breadwinner is often deeply compromised. caused by their work in the private sphere. In addition to the gender connotations of the oc- cupation itself, its location in the private sphere is 6.4 Contextualising Migrant gendered, too. Professional work and politics are as- Domestic Workers’ Experiences cribed to the public sphere and they become a male in the Netherlands domain, while reproductive labour in the private sphere is classified as female (Lutz 2002: 96). Men in- Migrant domestic workers to the Netherlands enter a volved in migrant domestic work challenge this gen- country with a long history of immigration (van den dered divide. It is also the location of their workplace Bergh 2006: 5). The first-generation foreign popula- in the private sphere that raises the issue of masculin- tion of the Netherlands totals about 1.7 million, about ity for domestic workers, rather than their work a tenth of the Dutch population (Statistics Nether- alone. lands 2011). In 2010, the total population of migrants Race is another social division that has been from the Philippines was 19,658, of whom an esti- shown to be an important aspect of the production of mated 1,200 had irregular status (Commission on Fil- domestic workers’ identity. Nakano Glenn (1992) ipino Overseas 2010). In recent years, the country has demonstrates for several regions of the United States transformed its migration regime from generous to that, “despite the large-scale historical transformation more restrictive policies (van den Bergh 2006: 5). The of paid reproductive labour from a model of ‘servi- question of migrants’ integration into Dutch society tude’ to one of ‘service work’, the relegation of the had been for a long time easily dismissed, based on dirty work to racial-ethnic women has remained re- the belief that the Netherlands offered a successful markably consistent” (Duffy 2007: 316). Bartolomei model of ‘multiculturalism’ and ‘tolerance’, where rac- (2010: 99) describes the complex intersections be- ism and ethnic discrimination did not exist. Today, tween gender and race in the employer-employee rela- however, the tolerance that Dutch people considered tionship. A Burkinabé male domestic worker she in- a positive quality inherited from their past seems to terviewed found it very challenging to work for a stand on shaky ground (Marchetti 2010: 55). Based female black employer as “to obey a woman can be re- on, amongst other reasons, European Union direc- Masculinity at Work: Intersectionality and Identity Constructions of Migrant Domestic Workers 109 tives (Merlino/Parkin 2011: 7), the 2010–12 Rutte cab- workers with irregular immigration status in the Neth- inet intended to make irregular stay in the country a erlands balance their gender identity with their occu- criminal offence, an initiative that has polarized the pation at the intersection of other, often marginalis- Dutch society. ing, social divisions. Many people who participate in the paid labour market in the Netherlands employ domestic workers in their houses. The comparatively high labour market 6.5 Research Methodology participation of Dutch women since the early 1970s is an important determining factor here, even if it has In order to answer this question, empirical data were been accompanied by a high ratio of part-time work- generated through semi-structured interviews and ing (de Ruijter/van der Lippe 2009: 10–11). In 2004, (participant) observation. The interviews focused on this resulted in 1.2 million9 Dutch households hiring respondents’ work experience, gender roles, and ex- domestic workers (Nes/van Gravesteijn-Ligthelm/van periences as migrants with irregular status. All inter-10 den Boom 2004: v). Especially in the larger Dutch cit- viewees were domestic workers with irregular immi-11 ies, workers providing domestic services are almost all gration status from the Philippines. Seven men and migrants, many of them with irregular immigration five women, aged between 38 and 58 years, were inter- status (van Walsum 2011: 143). Despite the sizeable de- viewed during the period of July to September 2011. mand, domestic work has not provided a valid entry All respondents entered the Netherlands legally, i.e. route to the Netherlands for international migrants equipped with valid work permits and/or tourist vi- (Botman 2011: 55; Lutz 2002: 93). For migrants with ir- sas. Their employers included people of various na- regular status, the location of the occupation in the tionalities who worked in different sectors of the private sphere may offer a distinct advantage in terms Dutch economy, but mainly in government or diplo- of avoiding state surveillance (Kilkey 2010: 133), a matic services. Snowball sampling was employed due logic that has been supported for the Netherlands to the respondents’ irregular immigration status. It (van der Leun/Kloosterman 2006: 66–67; van Walsum prevented them from easily disclosing their identity 2011: 155). Yet the private location of their work does and from confidently trusting outsiders. Potential in- not only offer refuge, but also presents risks. Live-in terviewees were therefore first approached through a migrants in the Netherlands – even when their status gatekeeper. Another reason for snowballing was that is regular – have been identified as the category of do- there was no legal documentation which could serve mestic workers most likely to be exploited (van Wal- as a sampling frame. Selecting respondents this way sum 2011: 158). had as a drawback that the homogeneity of interview- For 2009, the number of migrants with irregular ees’ backgrounds increased. As a result, interviewees status residing in the Netherlands was estimated at a were likely to be Catholic, married, recent migrants, little less than 100,000 (van der Heijden/Cruyff/van from Manila, and relatively of the same age. Respond- Gils 2011: 16). They cannot contribute to the social se- ents’ names were changed to ensure that they cannot curity system because of their lack of a ‘citizen service be identified. number’ and their lack of a work permit. As a result, The following two sections are organized around they are unable to legally access unemployment bene- the narratives of seven of the twelve informants who fits, pensions, or health insurance (Abvakabo FNV agreed for their interviews to be recorded. They in- 2008). Access to other basic necessities, such as de- cluded five men (Angelo, Marco, Micki, Rido, and Sil- cent housing and fair pay, are also affected. Moreover, vianos) and two women (Marie and Sifora). While not trivial actions like boarding a tram or sending money referred to directly, the five unrecorded interviews home are associated with a high degree of anxiety giv- contributed significantly to our understanding. ing that contact with the police or other controlling authorities can result in detention and deportation (van Walsum 2011: 154). In this context of great vulnerability, this study in- vestigates the question of how Filipina/o domestic 10 Some respondents occasionally work in other types of 9 This figure excludes the demand for domestic services jobs, such as construction, catering, or as an electrician. related to childcare. It represented another 683,000 11 One respondent, Rido, obtained a work permit shortly households. before the interview. 110 Aster Georgo Haile and Karin Astrid Siegmann Table 6.1: Profiles of selected respondents. Source: Compiled by the authors. Namea) Age Sex Marital status Year of entry Type of visa Previous occupation to the NL Angelo 54 male married 2006 contract business Marco 43 male married 2008 tourist security guard Marie 39 female single 2004 tourist unemployed Micki 38 male married 2004 contract electrician Rido 46 male separated 2008 contract cook Sifora 46 female married 2008 tourist business Silvianos 46 male married 2009 tourist college instructor a) Names are changed in order to protect the respondents’ identities. 6.6 Balancing Migrant Domestic the final decision in the family. The rigidity of these Work with Gender Identity social expectations became clear when he noted that some unemployed men who stay back in the Philip- This section focuses on how Filipino male domestic pines and take care of their own households while workers in the Netherlands reconcile their sense of their wives work abroad were perceived “as isolated masculinity with doing work that is widely perceived pieces” and as “something not good to people’s opin- as feminine. It contrasts this balancing act with the ion”. He viewed the resulting financial incapability experience of female colleagues. and unemployment as ‘unmanly’. This mirrors find- Silvianos works six to twelve hours a day as a part- ings from other studies of male migrants’ gender iden- time domestic worker. He visits the households of his tities (e.g. Donaldson/Howson 2009: 211), in which employers in The Hague, earning ten euros per hour, incapability to fulfil the role of the provider in addi- including five euros transport costs. His brother, who tion to doing a woman’s work inside the household also works as a domestic worker, motivated him to were considered aspects of failed masculinities. come to the Netherlands. Silvianos explained that his Silvianos explained that he sends money to the brother’s income as a domestic worker in the Nether- Philippines every weekend in order to manage the lands was three times higher than his former salary as family’s budget and to live up to his family’s expecta- a college instructor in the Philippines. For him, this tions of him as a man. Fulfilling the role of the pro- was a convincing reason to decide to overstay the du- vider also legitimizes his role in taking relevant deci- ration of his tourist visa and to assume irregular immi- sions. Information and communication technologies gration status after he had entered the Netherlands in aid migrants like Silvianos to bridge the distance be- November 2009. He thought that it was a good op- tween them and their families in order to be involved portunity to earn more money so that he could invest in day-to-day family decisions. Taken together, being in his family’s future: provider for and decision-maker in his family form crucial aspects of his masculine identity. However, it I could not save money with what I have been receiving in the Philippines, my brother bought a house [in the is his work in other people’s households—something Philippines] in five years’ time by doing domestic work he earlier referred to as ‘women’s work’ and as some- here in the Netherlands (Silvianos). thing that might diminish his manhood—that enables him to satisfy these expectations. Hence, paradoxi- According to him, in the community he had lived in cally, he fulfils his masculine role of breadwinner by and in Philippine society more generally, a man is re- accepting jobs below the social status he used to have sponsible for generating income and covering the in his home country and that are associated with de- family’s expenses, mirroring the features of hegem- meaning male femininities. onic masculinity sketched above. The wife, in con- Angelo, a 54-year-old father of four children, came trast, is responsible for the domestic chores and takes to the Netherlands with his wife to work as a butler. care of the children. The husband works outside, His sister-in-law who worked in a diplomat’s resi- while the wife works in the private sphere. Silvianos dence recommended him. When their third employer saw the man as the one who steers the boat and takes treated them very unfairly, demanding long working Masculinity at Work: Intersectionality and Identity Constructions of Migrant Domestic Workers 111 hours for low pay, this affected the couple’s physical other expenses of her household in the Philippines. and mental health. They decided to leave the em- While, in actual terms, she is the family’s provider, in ployer’s residence and assumed irregular immigration the narration of her role, she carefully avoided defin- status. Asked whether he liked his job, Angelo re- ing herself as breadwinner. Her image of her role in sponded: the family that she narrated during the interview is I like it because I do not have choice. This is the only merely supportive. It appears that this depiction as way I can have money to send to my children (Angelo). secondary income-earner and primary carer is congru- ent with hegemonic femininity in the Philippines. She For the same reason, he accepted unpaid overtime: expressed the responsibility for the care of her chil- I do things for the sake of my children to keep my job, dren by pointing out that she sacrifices her whole day so, I do not mind or it does not matter how long I work off Skyping with her family as one way of bridging the (Angelo). spatial distance. In line with the feminine caring ideal, In the Philippines, he explained, even though he had Sifora relates to her children as ‘my’ rather than ‘our’ a restaurant, he was not generating much income. children, even when talking about her husband’s care Referring to that time, he noted: for them. The societal belittling of housework re- You can buy food, dress. If you want to buy something flected in Angelo’s views is echoed in her way of de- else, it is hard. […] If you have two sons in college, you scribing her husband. Specifically, she relates to him cannot afford it, if I were in the Philippines (Angelo). as ‘helpful’, while he is actually running the household and taking care of their children. Her narration exem- While his irregular immigration status limited his plifies women’s co-responsibility in reproducing gen- opportunities in the Dutch labour market to domestic der hierarchies amongst men (Connell/Messer- work, this job enabled Angelo to send remittances schmidt 2005: 848), in a similar way to the Filipina and, in this way, play his manly role as a father. migrants who mock their ‘domesticated’ husbands as In line with hegemonic femininities in the Philip- ‘houseband’ or ‘huswife’ in Margold (1995, quoted in pines, the female domestic workers interviewed em- Lan 2003: 193). At the same time, Sifora seemed to phasized their roles as mothers and the related ideal protect her husband’s image from being damaged by of care-taking. They discursively reproduced this ideal his (un)employment status. By acknowledging him as by explaining that they are not happy about leaving at being ‘helpful’ and a ‘good person’, she defended his home their husbands, who are now responsible for masculinity, countering prevailing social perceptions taking care of their children. Forty-six-year-old Sifora about ‘domesticated’ husbands. The fact that she was one of the women interviewed. Invited by a points out the lack of a domestic worker in their friend, she came to the Netherlands for the second home is probably intended to signal economic neces- time in 2008. After her one-month tourist visa ex- sity. It implies a reference to intersections between pired, she became a resident with irregular immigra- gender and class, similar to the class-specific masculin- tion status and started to work in domestic service. ity ideals described in Gutmann (1996, quoted in She now works eight to ten hours a day with different Schippers 2007: 97) that may reduce the damage employers. Sifora justified her decision to migrate as housework does to her husband’s conformity with he- follows: gemonic masculinity: because Sifora and her family’s I came here for work and this does not mean I want to economic situation does not allow them to hire a do- leave my family. It is because I need to help my unem- mestic worker, her husband’s involvement in house- ployed husband. And at this time in the Philippines, we work and care is less degrading. cannot handle life, everything is becoming expensive. So, I work here all days of the week except Sunday and The way Sifora sees herself and her husband re- I send my family money every month. Sunday is my day flects ambiguity. On the one hand, the emphasis she off and I spend the whole day talking with my children puts on her husband’s support in her household back and the husband through Skype. My husband is a good in the Philippines helps to justify her own decision to person; he takes care of my children very well (Sifora). migrate for work, hence leaving behind her responsi- As Angelo and Silvianos, Sifora migrated for eco- bilities as homemaker and primary carer for him to nomic reasons. As if to justify her husband’s resulting take over. On the other hand, by praising his loyalty, involvement in housework, she made it explicit that, she apparently attempts to compensate for the de- in their own household, they do not have a live-in do- grading effect of housework on her husband’s mascu- mestic worker except someone who does the laundry linity. The stigma of the male femininity he has as- and irons it. Sifora pays the bills, school fees, and all sumed may indirectly affect her social status due to 112 Aster Georgo Haile and Karin Astrid Siegmann the relational nature of hegemonic gender identities. Similar to the experiences described by Ray (2000), Yet his work in their household makes him a ‘good he described his migration as a sacrifice for the sake person’, not a ‘good man’, possibly reflecting Sifora’s of his family. Endurance of the difficulties associated internalization of masculine ideals and her implicit ac- with his situation as a migrant domestic worker with knowledgement of the symbolic emasculation he ex- irregular status, such as the degrading entry into a periences. These observations indicate that when feminized occupation, were depicted as part of that lived experiences deviate from societal scripts, re- sacrifice and hence made acceptable. The heroism of spondents seem uneasy to accept these incongru- this sacrifice probably enabled him to recover some of ences. The discursive portrayal of her own, and her the masculinity threatened by the shift to a feminine husband’s, performance of gender is a way to bring a occupation and the humiliation of serving a female reality that deviates from accepted standards closer to employer. societal ideals. In sum, this section has investigated how Filipina/ Another male respondent, Micki, a 38-year-old fa- o migrants with irregular status in the Netherlands ther of four, initially worked as a contract worker in a balance their gender identities with doing domestic diplomat’s residence. He lost his work permit when work in an occupation widely perceived as ‘feminine’. he left that employer because of the exploitative con- Based on earlier studies, it was assumed that this ditions he experienced in live-in domestic service. poses a challenge to male migrant workers’ sense of Micki explained that working as an electrician or masculinity in particular. The results reported and dis- cook, occupations that he refers to as ‘good jobs’ in cussed above have shown that migrant domestic contrast to domestic work, is what he likes to do. workers’ constructions of their gender identity oscil- However, his irregular status prevented him from late between their occupation threatening the expec- finding such work. He works nine to ten hours a day tations associated with their gender roles and contrib- as a domestic worker. He found domestic service uting to fulfilling these expectations. Male and female with a female employer a very difficult situation. respondents’ respective ideals of masculinity and fem- When his boss was present he felt shy about cleaning ininity are surprisingly homogeneous, enabling us to the house: speak of hegemonic masculinities centring on hetero- You see, the woman is sitting there and I clean the normative practices of breadwinning and fatherhood house [laughs]. I was shy! How can a man clean? as provisioning and hegemonic femininities rooted in (Micki). caring. He added that, in that situation, he was hardly able to The associated normative expectations are chal- move, and, as a result, unable to clean during the lenging both for men and women. While women per- given time. According to his own standards, by per- ceive their decision to leave their children as a possi- forming the feminine occupation of a domestic ble betrayal of their role of care-taker, without seeing worker, he had ventured into what Schippers (2007: domestic work as a challenge to their feminine iden- 96) denoted by male femininities, a stigmatising gen- tity, men perceive the female-typed occupation as a der identity. The visibility of his work in the private threat to their sense of masculinity. Hence, for sphere to his female employer augmented the humili- women it is their migratory status which is endanger- ation as, paralleling the incident narrated in Bartolo- ing the fulfilment of localized reproductive responsi- mei (2010: 99), obeying a female employer turns con- bilities. For men, in contrast, it is their employment in ventional gender hierarchies upside down. Last but female-typed domestic work and, thus, the stigmatis- not least, the paralysis he experienced as a result also ing male femininity that characterizes it that is experi- had financial implications as he could not finish his enced as a threat. work on time. This possibly threatened the main justi- Filipina/o migrant domestic workers in the Neth- fication for accepting the degrading occupation erlands have developed different strategies, actual and abroad, namely, to play his breadwinning role in a discursive, to balance these risks. Sending remittances more financially successful manner. He expressed this to their families in the Philippines is the main actual justification, centring on his role as provider for his strategy for successful performance of their gender children, very clearly: roles. While materially identical, in an effort to discur- sively bridge the gap between their lived lives and I do not want them to leave their country for work like ideal gender identities, the money transfer is pre- me. I am sacrificing for them, I do not want my son or sented as breadwinning by migrant men and con- daughter to work in another family, I am doing it for structed as mere support by women, enabling them to them (Micki). Masculinity at Work: Intersectionality and Identity Constructions of Migrant Domestic Workers 113 care for their children. Intensive communication with low-status jobs. Therefore, the experience of deskill- the children via modern technology is another way of ing that resulted from taking up domestic work as an bridging the space. This enables Filipina migrants to occupation is a matter of shame for him: fulfil their motherly role, while their male colleagues I ask myself: Do I deserve this? (Silvianos). underline their significance for their involvement in family decision-making. For female and male respond- As in Bartolomei (2010: 99), making his background ents, speaking about their livelihood as a sacrifice for and, hence, the loss of social status invisible is a way their children’s/family’s sake is another way of com- of reducing the associated sense of humiliation: pensating a threatened sense of gender identity. While Here, I am working domestic work around people who studies on Filipinas’ labour migration have underlined do not know my background, and this makes it a little the offering aspect of their mobility as “martyr moth- easier. But, of course, in the Philippines, people know ers, dutiful daughters or sacrificial sisters” (Asis/ you well; you live and work around relatives and friends. Huang/Yeoh 2004: 200; see also Chang/Ling 2000: And at this time I avoid telling my family, relatives and friends about my current work, as they could say some- 39; Lan 2003: 196; Parreñas 2005: 332), Filipino mi- thing nasty comparing to my level of education, and my grant domestic workers’ voices illustrate that “con- previous work as college instructor (Silvianos). trary to discourses of spousal/family abandonment, men often migrate in order to support their families, By moving to the Netherlands and taking up domestic and particularly to afford their children more oppor- work, Silvianos changed his class position from a sal- tunities than they themselves had” (Datta/McIlwaine/ aried employee to an informal worker. The low social Herbert/Evans/May/Wills 2009: 856). While also in- status of domestic work carries the connotation of volving emotional attachment, fatherhood is largely poor levels of education. Silvianos’ painful experience understood in terms of material provisioning. This of deskilling contrasts with his simultaneous discovery justifies men’s migration and the sacrifice of entering that domestic work actually requires more skills than a feminized occupation. anticipated. He had thought domestic work was easy The narrations of Filipina/o domestic workers in work, but realized its difficulty later: the Netherlands highlight the ways in which gender … you need to know the techniques and master which hierarchies are reproduced in discourse. Rooted in place to start first in the household (Silvianos). their notions of valued gender identities, the lack of Rido moved from the skilled occupation of cook to recognition of feminine-typed domestic work is exem- domestic work. His comments further underline that plified and corroborated in their statements regarding this experience of declassing is difficult to accept. He what can be considered ‘good’ work (not domestic told his family and friends that he is not a cook any work, in Micki’s opinion) and regarding who is a more. Like Angelo, he justified this by explaining that, ‘good’ person (Sifora’s husband’s, despite his engage- as a migrant with irregular status, he could not find ment in domestic work). Paradoxically, this way the any other job apart from domestic work: respondents themselves contribute to reproduction of They said it is okay, as long as you earn money [laughs] the symbolic and material injustices that migrant do- (Rido). mestic workers suffer from. But he is disappointed with himself: Yeah, I am angry at myself, I am domestic worker, I 6.7 Domestic Work at the clean someone’s house. Before, for twenty-five years, I Intersection of Class, Race, and have been a respected cook, cooking in big hotels and Gender restaurants, I was a cook (Rido). Besides the divergent skill and class connotations of While interactions between the construction of his previous and current job, the location of his work domestic workers’ gender identities and other social has a role to play in how he perceived himself through divisions have been identified in passing in the previ- the eyes of generalized others. The esteem associated ous section, this section focuses on them. with public places, such as hotels and restaurants, fur- Respondents pointed out that, in the Philippines, ther contrasts with the invisibility and gender conno- domestic work is performed by the poor, who are of- tations of his current workplace in the private sphere. ten rural migrants (see also Lan 2003: 194). Silvianos, He occasionally works in the construction sector, tak- a former college instructor himself, specified that peo- ing on tasks like painting. This is work more in line ple with little or no formal education take up such with his notion of a masculine identity: 114 Aster Georgo Haile and Karin Astrid Siegmann I feel easy doing painting, because painting is men work. migrant domestic workers’ gendered role expecta- You see, I do it for the money in domestic work, I do tions. not know how to do it (Rido). The discussion of the respondents’ narrations More drastically, he stated: above has indicated already that the workplace of mi- … if I could be able to survive, I better choose to be grant domestic workers in the private home plays a unemployed than shifting from a cook to a domestic significant yet ambiguous role. In contrast to their fe- helper (Rido). male colleagues, the classification of the private sphere as feminine poses a challenge to male domes- Keeping Silvianos’ evaluation of unemployment as tic workers’ gender identity. Besides this, the exploit- unmanly in mind, this statement is surprising. Possibly ative circumstances of live-in arrangements, in particu- more than an actual preference, it was used as a rhet- lar, threaten all domestic workers’ material and oric device emphasising – once again – the threat of physical security – so much so that some of them pre- male femininities that work in domestic service holds ferred the vulnerability of irregular immigration status for Filipino men’s sense of dignity. They are probably to it. Yet at the same time the invisibility of these pri- rooted in the perception that unemployment would vate places of work appears to offer protection from preserve the higher class position – alongside the con- state surveillance, especially for workers with irregular formity with hegemonic masculinity – of his previous immigration status, and makes their misrecognized occupation. work less visible. Interestingly, Angelo and Micki mention that, in Marco’s experience sheds more light on the dy- the Philippines, both women and men work as do- namics operating between migrant domestic workers’ mestic workers, which contrasts with Micki’s earlier gender and their immigration status, as well as on the exclamation: “How can a man clean?” Possibly, in Fil- role of employers in reproducing these dynamics. ipino society, their ranking above poor workers in do- Marco is a 43-year-old married father of three. Enter- mestic service explains this contradiction. Domestic ing on a tourist visa and invited by his sister, he has work would be considered unmanly for middle-class stayed in the Netherlands as a domestic worker with males, but acceptable – or, at least, common – for irregular immigration status since 2008. For six days a working-class men. Such intersections between gender week, he works a minimum of six hours a day, gener- identity and class have also been identified in Sarti’s ating daily earnings of around seventy euros. This en- (2010) study on migrant domestic work in Italy. De- ables him to remit 400–500 euros per month to his spite the fact that the father of one of her respond- family in the Philippines. Like all male respondents, ents was a domestic worker back in the Philippines, Marco explained that domestic work is something the respondent thought that domestic work is “really that he learned in the Netherlands. He, too, under- a female’s job” (Sarti 2010: 30). She points out that: lined the compulsion that brought him to this occupa- “By ignoring or denying the existence of male domes- tion. He felt he was obliged to learn any kind of job tics, they reveal that they share the idea that male do- in order to earn money. The association of domestic mestic workers are not really men and support a con- work with the female gender not only poses a chal- ception of masculinity which backfires on them” lenge to his masculinity, it also leads to gender-based (Sarti 2010: 31). discrimination in access to jobs in domestic service. In contrast to the men interviewed, female re- Once, a Filipina friend who is likewise a domestic spondents did not complain about their occupation worker recommended him to a potential employer. or emphasized the compulsion to do domestic work When calling him, due to their immigration status. This is despite the fact that, for example, for Sifora, too, entry into do- … the employer was a bit surprised and asked me mestic work involved a process of deskilling and a loss whether I am documented or not and I lied that I am of the societal prestige associated with her earlier job documented (Marco). as a businesswoman. This acceptance is probably The employer told him that he had to discuss the rooted in the perception of domestic work as an ex- issue with his wife and would respond later. After a tension of ‘natural’ female skills and associated with couple of days, the employer told him that his wife the female-typed sphere of the private home, some- was looking for a girl. Marco was disappointed. He thing that both female and male respondents had in- noted that: ternalized. It led to a perceived challenge to male re- Some employers like to hire female domestic workers. spondents’ gender identities, but is in line with female Because, they take domestic work as a kind of work that Masculinity at Work: Intersectionality and Identity Constructions of Migrant Domestic Workers 115 belongs to female only. And they think women only can generally. Angelo realized that Europe is not the do much better than men (Marco). champion of non-discrimination: Apparently, because of the gender connotations of … they look at us as nobody and as if we are nothing domestic work, being a male domestic worker sig- (Angelo). nalled irregular immigration status to this potential He did not feel respected by his white employers: employer. Only the compulsion of scarce labour mar- ket opportunities typical for workers with irregular Especially in the [diplomatic] residence, I do not think status would bring a male migrant to apply for em- they have respect, because you are there and you are ployment in domestic service. Through this process of helping them (Angelo). screening based on normative assumptions regarding While he saw domestic work as the only way to find the gender and immigration status interactions in do- work as a migrant with irregular status, he concedes mestic work, employers, as actors in a more powerful that even with a regular work permit, racial discrimi- position in the arena of domestic work, play their part nation in the labour market persists: in reproducing these very assumptions (Ray 2000: They may give us lower jobs. Even the professionals, I 695) and entrenching the notion that valued masculin- don’t think they are professionals here (Angelo). ities are associated with whiteness and the middle Rido preferred to work with English speakers rather class. than with Dutch employers, as it was hard for him to Marie is a 39-year-old domestic worker who works communicate in Dutch. At the same time, he did not for ten families in The Hague. She placed employers’ want to work with employers from the Philippines, negative attitude vis-à-vis male domestic workers in despite the common language. They pay low wages the context of sexuality: and: I have heard from one of my employers that her friends recommended her a male domestic worker and she … I am not comfortable if my employer is Filipino refused to hire. She [employer] said that she wants her (Rido). daughter to wear freely at home and she does not want Similarly to Bartolomei’s findings (2010: 99), his pref- her daughter feel an outsider’s man attention in her own erence indicates that the same racial background may house (Marie). also represent a disadvantage. This has both material Marie heard similar concerns from other employers, and symbolic dimensions. Normative expectations especially in families with teenage daughters. High- and benchmarks may be shared, too, implying that lighting the intersection of gender with sexuality in the invisibility of his degrading work is made impossi- the social construction of domestic work, hiring male ble. Not unimportantly, Filipina/o employers are able domestic workers is seen as a potential sexual threat to consider the lower living costs and wage levels in to women in a family. Marie added that she knows their home country in comparison with the Nether- many male domestic workers who work as the assist- lands, explaining the poor pay. Emotionally, the dis- ants of female domestic workers and who split the crimination and marginalization that respondents ex- money between them as a strategic reaction to em- perience on the basis of their race is counterbalanced ployers’ gender preferences (see also van Walsum by positive ascriptions. Micki pointed out that Fili- 2011: 153). Particularly when women workers have pina/o domestic workers are well paid compared to long working hours, they ‘subcontract’ work to male other nationals (see also ILO 2010: 7; van Walsum domestic workers. They describe this collaboration as 2011: 152–153). He relates the better pay to perceptions giving assistance to their Filipino menfolk in increas- of diligence in and commitment to their work: ing their employment opportunities. By emphasizing And one employer said I like Filipino, they are hard their own supportive role and their male colleagues’ workers, I was happy and my heart was beating fast. breadwinning role, this practice might be placed in Because Filipino work hard they do not focus on hours, the context of women affirming both their own and they only care about their work. And Filipinos are good their male colleagues’ congruence with hegemonic workers, and trusted by their employers, trust me gender identities. (Micki). Other than assumed in the images of the ‘tolerant’ Van Walsum (2011: 152) comes to the more sobering Netherlands, migrant domestic workers’ racial back- conclusion that Filipina/o domestic workers’ compar- ground as well as racialized ascriptions also influence atively higher payment is related to their reputation as their position in the labour market and their life more “ideal providers of care and household services”, 116 Aster Georgo Haile and Karin Astrid Siegmann actively promoted by the Filipino government and by taking over the housework back in the Philippines. commercial brokers (see Rodriguez 2010). Rido referred to himself as a ‘domestic helper’, some- This section has shown how the (re-)construction thing that he experienced as a downgrading from sal- of domestic workers’ gender identities is intersected aried professional to wage worker. While Marie con- with class, race, and immigration status. Overall, for firmed female and male gender identities by declaring the respondents, domestic work has the connotation the subcontracting of domestic work to male col- of working-class status. This is difficult to separate leagues as ‘assistance’, Angelo described the position from gender features of the occupation, though. The in the racial hierarchy in which migrant domestic fact that it is largely women who perform domestic workers in the Netherlands are placed as ‘helpers’. work implies a social construction of low skill content The ways in which these notions were used with ref- resulting in the perception that this work does not de- erence to domestic work imply subordinated agency serve high wages. All three factors together generate (see Lan 2003: 205, footnote 6) as well as gender, the class connotation that the male respondents, in class, and racial hierarchies in which migrant domes- particular, refer to and which they experience as a tic workers are located at the lowest rank. painful loss of social status compared to with their earlier occupations. To deal with this experience of declassing and the stigma of male femininities, male 6.8 Conclusion migrant domestic workers point to the actual, de- manding skill requirements of their occupation, some- The bulk of scholarly work on migrant domestic work thing that resonates with other research findings concentrates on women. Our research, in contrast, (Datta/McIlwaine/Herbert/Evans/May/Wills 2009: has taken the finding that a significant and growing 865–866). number of migrant men are taking on domestic work Furthermore, their irregular status sets limitations as its point of departure. From the perspective of he- to their agency, especially their “fear to be caught one gemonic gender identities, we have shown that male day” (Angelo) and the limited opportunities for ac- migrant domestic workers, too, are subjected to gen- cessing the legal labour market. Male respondents in der injustice. The injustices they experience are particular saw their inability to obtain a work permit rooted in the devaluation of everything coded as ‘fem- as the main cause for taking up domestic work as one inine’ (Fraser 2007: 26), including their occupation. of the lowest threshold occupations in the Dutch la- The resulting male femininities are threatening male bour market, characterized by a lack of employment, domestic workers’ sense of self-worth and their soci- income, and social security. Yet the irregularity of etal recognition. This misrecognition adds to the ex- their immigration status intersects with the location ploitative economic circumstances that both female of their work in an ambiguous manner. While their and male migrant domestic workers experience and work in the private sphere can be seen as protective has negative repercussions on male migrants’ access against threatening surveillance by public authorities, to employment. Ironically, migrant domestic workers this invisibility also increases employers’ power over themselves contribute to reproducing these symbolic domestic workers and makes them vulnerable to eco- and material injustices and hence consolidate them. nomic and physical exploitation. By adopting hegemonic gender identities as their nor- With regard to the intersection between race, gen- mative point of reference, both female and male mi- der, and domestic work, migrants’ Filipina/o back- grants implicitly support domestic work’s low societal ground channels them into a narrow set of labour status through their belittling of their ‘feminine’ and market options, with domestic work being dominant declassing occupation. amongst these. Within this racialized niche, their na- Migrant domestic workers’ individual struggles to tionality is associated with a very good reputation. deal with these experiences of injustice are embedded Van Walsum (2011: 153) highlights possible pitfalls of in contestations over the role of reproduction in this branding as ‘ideal domestic workers’, as it could wider Dutch society. Women’s improved access to also work against them if they acquire legal status. paid employment, which has gone unmatched by The emerging theme of domestic work as ‘help’ men’s involvement in housework, has been achieved and ‘assistance’ can be considered a focal point of re- at the expense of respect and reward for migrant do- spondents’ constructions of their work. Sifora de- mestic workers. Their vital role for Dutch society, fill- fended her decision to migrate by her obligation to ing the reproductive gap that has opened as a result of ‘help’ her unemployed husband, who again is ‘helpful’ greater gender justice in the paid labour market, con- Masculinity at Work: Intersectionality and Identity Constructions of Migrant Domestic Workers 117 trasts starkly with the invisibility of their work in pri- their subordinate gender identities, race, and immigra- vate homes, as well as with their marginal social and tion status, and how these interact to mute demands economic status. The forms of injustices that female for respect and adequate reward. In order to redress and male migrant domestic workers face in a variety this situation and to achieve parity of participation in of ways entrench the symbolic and material divides the labour market, national governments have to between migrants and employers, as well as between abandon the androcentric assumption that industrial migrants’ home and host societies. While this has workplaces are the benchmark for labour regulation. been pointed out in earlier studies, we bring to the Rather, they should strive to effectively cover all work- fore how migrant domestic workers’ efforts to adhere ers, independent of the location of their work, their to hegemonic gender identities not only reproduce gender, their race, or their immigration status, with patriarchal gender relations amongst themselves, but the protection they deserve. also corroborate white privileges in productive and re- The transnational nature of the social and eco- productive work. nomic relations that this chapter has investigated is a Given the ‘two faces’ of gender justice that Fraser reminder that the nation state is no longer the sole (2007: 26) identifies, redressing these injustices re- territorial unit within which justice is applied (see Fra- quires changes both in the economic structure and in ser 2009). As the social movement for respect and the status order of contemporary society. In combin- rights for domestic workers has become transna- ing the demands for respect and for labour rights for tional, adequate regulation to prevent abuses and domestic workers, this necessity is reflected in domes- fraudulent practices in recruitment, placement, and tic workers’ national (see for example FNV Bondgen- employment of migrant workers should be based on oten 2011) and international campaigns (see for exam- bilateral, regional, or multilateral agreements (see Ar- ple IRENE/IUF 2008; IDWN no date) that have ticle 15d in the International Convention Concerning culminated in the ratification of the International Decent Work for Domestic Workers, ILC 2011). Convention Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Hence, policymakers at the level of the European Workers by the International Labour Conference Union and the World Trade Organization, for exam- (ILC 2011) as an intermediate success. These labour ple, should reconsider whether they want to submit movements have taken on a new terrain of struggle. tasks that are as crucial to societal reproduction as do- Beyond the traditional focus on the material aspects mestic work to restrictive migration management of labour conditions, the new approach has taken based on the arbitrary definition that domestic work workers’ social status into account and has also led to does not require skills. A redefinition and relaxation a campaign for greater respect. Its emergence is prob- here is likely to lead to both greater societal recogni- ably related to an increasing awareness of the rise of tion for domestic work and a subsequent improve- precarious employment relations amongst trade un- ment of their material conditions of work. This would ions. Precariousness, in turn, is often related to the be in line with Fraser’s conclusion (2007: 34) that: low social status of the respective work.12 Impor- “Only an approach that redresses the cultural devalu- tantly, these struggles have included changes in do- ation of the ‘feminine’ precisely within the economy mestic workers’ own mindsets, from seeing them- (and elsewhere) can deliver serious redistribution and selves as ‘helpers’ to emphasizing their dignity as genuine recognition.” workers. While national and transnational labour move- References ments for greater social justice for migrant domestic workers have been effective, they are probably not the Abvakabo FNV (Algemene Bond van Ambtenaren, Katho- most powerful actors in this arena. 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Part III The State and Female Internal Migration: Rights and Livelihood Security Chapter 7 Traversing Myriad Trails: Tracking Gender and Labour Migration across India Indrani Mazumdar and Indu Agnihotri Chapter 8 From ‘Integration into Cities’ to ‘An Integrated Society’: Women Migrants’ Needs and Rights in Fujian Province, China Yu Zhu and Liyue Lin Chapter 9 Migration, Woodcarving, and Engendered Identities in San Martín Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico Serena Eréndira Serrano Oswald Chapter 10 Strategic Invisibility as Everyday Politics for a Life with Dignity: Guatemalan Women Migrants’ Experiences of Insecurity at Mexico’s Southern Border Martha Luz Rojas-Wiesner and Maria DeVargas 7 Traversing Myriad Trails: Tracking Gender and Labour Migration across India Indrani Mazumdar1 and Indu Agnihotri2 Abstract3 This chapter argues that the effacement of gender in macro-analyses of internal migration in India is based on the collective inability to delineate the contours of female labour migration from the official databases. While critiquing the monocausal approach to migration which overwhelmingly privileges social over economic reasons in female migration, the chapter essays a gendered macro-view of labour migration in India, for which new methods of approaching the data of the most recent macro-survey on migration in India (2007–08) are applied. The authors argue that the migration pattern is enhancing structural gender inequalities in the labour market. While the domination of services and industry in male migrant employment has contributed to a degree of diversification in the structure of the male workforce away from agriculture, the same is not the case for the female workforce. Drawing on primary surveys conducted across 2009–2011, the chapter argues that a meso-level view shows a predominantly long- and medium-term migratory pattern among upper-caste women to have brought hitherto home-bound women into diversified employment in more white-collar services. On the other hand, short-term and circulatory migration involving hard manual labour with limited scope for social advancement predomi- nates among women from traditionally disadvantaged castes/tribes. A distinctively gendered process of concen- tration among migrant women in paid domestic work, however, cuts across caste hierarchies. While women workers’ involvement in family decisions to migrate and ‘autonomous’ migration by women is not insignificant, a broad tendency towards their concentration in a narrow range of occupations is identified. It is argued that the temporary nature of much of employment leads to a pullback to villages, despite agrarian crisis. In foregrounding the intersections between caste, class, and gender inequalities, and arguing that such inequal- ities are being reconfigured through migration, the chapter draws on the perspective of the women’s movement in India. It is argued that the absolute reduction in employment for women during the most distinctive phase of high GDP growth in India posits the need for more redistributive and equalizing growth as the path forward for social justice. Keywords: India, labour migration, gender, typology of migration, circulatory migration, medium-term migra- tion, occupational diversification, caste, tribe, women’s movement. 7.1 Introduction 123 that some 327.7 million people in the country were internal migrants. Eighty per cent of them were The most recent macro-survey of migration in India female, and migrants accounted for nearly 29 per cent (National Sample Survey [NSS], 2007-08), estimated of the country’s population. Defined as those who have changed their usual place of residence (UPR) any 1 Indrani Mazumdar is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for time in the past, migrants encompassed 48 per cent of Women’s Development Studies, New Delhi, India. the country’s rural female population and 46 per cent 2 Indu Agnihotri is the Director of the Centre for of urban females. A decade and a half before, in 1993, Women’s Development Studies, New Delhi, India. the rates of female migration were much less, at 40 3 This paper is based on the findings of an IDRC-funded per cent of the rural and 38 per cent of urban female project entitled "Gender and Migration: Negotiating populations. In contrast to such substantial increases Rights - A Women's Movement Perspective", project in female migration rates in both rural and urban number 103978-001. T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 123 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_7, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 124 Indrani Mazumdar and Indu Agnihotri areas, migrants in the rural male population of India contributed to making available fairly detailed descrip- declined from six per cent to five per cent between tions of some relatively long-standing migration pat- 1993 and 2007-08, and increased by only two percent- terns that could not be extracted from the macro- age points from 24 per cent to 26 per cent in urban data. However, they rarely connected with the policy India.4 frameworks or the macro-context except in over-spe- Despite such overwhelming numerical preponder- cific or over-general terms, and the impact of post-lib- ance, the female migration data have hitherto been eralization developments remained outside their dismissed as irrelevant to development-oriented analy- frame.6 The countrywide breadth and scope of con- sis of migration in India because the proportions of temporary labour migration by women in both rural women identified as moving for employment-related and urban areas thus remained invisible and eluded reasons is exceedingly small. The majority of women broader analysis. Consequently, there was a sharp dis- are shown as migrating for marriage, unlike men, who connect between the experiences and conditions are shown as moving predominantly for employment- highlighted by the women’s movement in India and related reasons. Several decades of data on migration the information and database on migration drawn on have thus presented a largely unchanging picture of by policymakers or even concerned academics. women migrating for mainly social reasons and men To meet the demand of the women’s movement for economic reasons. The net result has been an for better documentation of labour migration by established tendency among policymakers and ana- women, the Centre for Women’s Development Stud- lysts towards using male migration as the prime socio- ies (CWDS) undertook a major research project on economic indicator for trends in migration in India, at gender and migration in India, involving a critical en- the cost of gendered analysis and a complete statisti- gagement with the macro-data as well as extensive pri- cal silence on the scale, dimensions, and patterns of mary fieldwork, including a series of questionnaire- female labour migration. This chapter attempts to based surveys in villages, towns, and cities across break such a silence, to lay out some of the key gen- twenty of India’s twenty-eight states between 2008 dered features of labour migration in India, and to and 2011.7 Drawing on the CWDS’s research, this examine their social trajectories from a women’s chapter essays a gendered macro-view of labour mi- movement perspective. gration in contemporary India. It outlines some of the From the end of the 1990s, in the midst of the un- methodological issues and questions that emerged precedented agrarian crisis that had unfolded within from probing the official data on migration, including a decade of the structural shift in India’s policy regime additional information made available in the latest mi- towards liberalization, mass-based women’s organiza- gration survey of the National Sample Survey (NSS). tions began reporting new forms of distress-driven mi- This is then juxtaposed with some of the insights and gration by rural women in search of work –largely findings from the fieldwork and the surveys that have short-term, involving greater distances and different been consolidated as a meso-level approach to the from traditional migration routes, sometimes without types and modes of female labour migration in con- family members, and in conditions of heightened vul- temporary India.8 nerability (CWDS 2005; Ghosh 2005).5 By 2005, lead- ers and activists of the women’s movement in India were chafing against the lack of official record of the 6 There were several excellent micro-studies on women’s “armies of women migrating in search of work” (Ka- migration in the 1980s, not all of which were published. rat 2005). A few micro-studies from an earlier period Most of these studies have been referred to in: Schenk- had indeed drawn attention to the significant propor- Sandbergen (1995). tion of women in seasonal short-term labour migra- 7 The CWDS research team for this project comprised tion, particularly in rural areas (Rao 1986; Banerjee/ the authors of this chapter and Dr N. Neetha, assisted Ray 1991; Karlekar 1995; Teerink 1995). Mostly region- by Shruti Chaudhry and Taneesha Mohan. The support of the International Development Research Centre of or even community-specific, these studies had also Canada (IDRC) which made this project possible is gratefully acknowledged. 8 Over a period of 24 months commencing January 2009, 4 Government of India, National Sample Survey Office, surveys with the pair of detailed and structured ques- Reports nos. 430 and 533. tionnaires were conducted across twenty states, cover- 5 See CWDS (2005): “Report of Seminar on Globalization ing 5,007 individual migrants and 5,558 households. and the Women’s Movement in India”; at: . based surveys. Traversing Myriad Trails: Tracking Gender and Labour Migration across India 125 As mentioned, the study approaches the subject of crossing between the two categories” (Agnihotri migration from a women’s movement perspective. 2001). It is out of such an accumulating habit of prac- Many eyebrows may be raised at such an assertion, tice of unities within differences and debates, com- ranging from those who would question such de- bined with mass engagement, that the women’s move- clared partisanship to those who query the notion of ment in India has continued to grow, not only in the a women’s movement, given the diversity of ideolo- public arena but also at the level of analysis. gies and sectional interests that lay claim to the move- That the programme of the women’s movement is ment (or movements as they may say). A few words of at one level multi-class and geared towards equality clarification are therefore in order. From our point of for women as women is axiomatic and does not per- view, what defines a movement perspective is its haps require much elaboration. Less self-evident, but premise of the mobilization of women – in their inde- equally compelling, is the Indian movement’s instinc- pendent but not necessarily individualistic capacities – tive alignment with women as members of social as a social movement. Such a perspective is thus dis- classes who can broadly be termed peasants and tinguished from those of general development admin- workers, including a range of petty producers/sellers/ istration or even the many non-governmental institu- service providers in artisanal as well as modern tech- tions engaged in ‘beneficiary’-oriented scheme deliv- nology-based industry and services. In a country ery that inherently involves some form of patron- mired and fissured by extreme levels of mass poverty client relationships. That such a social movement and wealth, where women’s confinement, purdah, would contain several strands of opinion is inevitable, and gross inequalities – jostling with the violences of but while a variety of opinion leaders and ideological superimposed capitalist modernity – define much of emissaries have initiated processes of mass mobiliza- our social context and render constitutional mandates tion, the social movement that has been so generated of equality and social justice as yet insubstantial, it is in India since the late 1970s has an aggregated force women from these social classes who have provided that is compellingly greater than its individual strands. the anchor to the countrywide women’s movement There is an accumulating reservoir of experience of and a durable social base to the popular female-led both plurality and commonality in the history of the surge on issues related to women’s rights and condi- women’s movement in India, which is a major re- tions from the late 1970s to the present. One can link source for the grounding of our perspective on gen- the quite remarkable expansion of the contemporary der and migration.9 Analytical assumptions of a divi- women’s movement in India to the inextricably en- sion into autonomous vs. party-led women’s organiza- twined phenomena of a spreading tide of organic fe- tions have underwritten much of the academic male ferment across classes and community catego- discourse on the contemporary women’s movement ries on the one hand, and on the other, the more con- in India. However, our understanding is in line with scious and sustained attempts to extend the the argument that “in fact the history of the move- representative base of women’s organizations. In the ment shows that no such clear dichotomy ever existed process, discrimination based on caste or social group at the level of issue-based understanding…neither the and the differentiated/specific conditions of women ‘autonomous’ nor the mass organizations had a fully as dalits and tribals10 and even as members of reli- unified understanding, either amongst or between gious minorities have emerged as focal issues for the themselves” and on most issues “there was a criss- movement more than ever before. Not accidentally, but in fact driven by its expanding social base and per- spective, the women’s movement emerged in the fore- 9 There are of course several groups and organizations front of the struggle against neo-liberal doctrine and active in the women’s movement in India, not all of its adverse effect on food security and the labouring whom organize on a mass scale. Yet alliances and unities on several common issues have become standard prac- tice. The most prominent and sustained national level 10 ‘Dalit’ refers to historically disadvantaged caste commu- joint front, consisting of organizations with different nities stigmatized as ‘untouchables*. They are officially political affiliations that evolved out of the movements designated as ‘Scheduled Castes’ in the Indian Consti- of the early 1980s, was initially called the seven sisters, tution. Similarly ‘Tribes’ refer to communities whose although the number of components has varied across social organisation falls outside the mainstream caste time. Many differences have cropped up in the course based social order and whose livelihood and location of the movement since then, and the organizational was traditionally forest based. They are designated as compositions of the various alliances have continuously ‘Scheduled Tribes’ in the Indian Constitution. Muslims been refashioned on an issue-to-issue basis. constitute the largest religious minority in India. 126 Indrani Mazumdar and Indu Agnihotri poor in India. It was the first to oppose the divisive In the following sections, a perspective discussion practice and restrictive principle of narrow ‘targeting’ on gender, migration, and development paradigms is of subsidized food at only those officially declared be- initiated, along with a critical engagement with the low the poverty line (as distinct from the general gender-insensitive orientation of the official macro- poor). Its early arguments for adherence to the univer- surveys of migration in India. This is followed by a sal principle of food security were later taken up by gendered macro-view of internal labour migration various other rights-based groups. As such, as distinct drawing from the 2007–08 migration survey by the from mere singularity of individual female identity, a National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). In approach- contemporary women’s movement perspective in In- ing labour migration, a specific focus on paid workers dia brings to the field of migration studies a perspec- has been maintained with the objective of highlighting tive that is for women as women, as peasants and the labour market outcomes of migration and embed- workers, as members of particularly oppressed com- ded inequalities. The chapter then moves on to dis- munities, and as citizens, invoking general concepts cussing some of the consolidated findings of the mi- of gender equality, redistributive justice, and freedom cro-surveys conducted by the CWDS. The scope of from poverty and subordination, but especially the CWDS surveys and methodology are first out- grounded in the cumulative experience of resurgent lined. This is followed by description and analysis of mass engagement.11 various types of migration based on a typology devel- At the same time, in relation to both the debates oped by the study. Correlations are then drawn be- and actualities of women’s rights in India, it is well to tween types of migration, occupations, and caste hier- remember that they have been shaped through multi- archies. The findings of the primary surveys cover oc- ple inequalities and through social and economic pol- cupational changes effected through migration and icies and developments on which the women’s move- modes and manner of migration. The conclusion ment has had, as yet, only peripheral impact. To our summarizes some of the key findings and questions minds, empirical research that draws its perspective laid out in the chapter. from the women’s movement must thus interweave into its enquiry questions based on the immediate is- sues and experiences of the movement while main- 7.2 Gender, Migration, and taining an overarching framework of strategic ques- Development Paradigms: tions. For us, combining and referencing short-term is- Interrogating the Database sues with long-term strategic perspectives is supremely important. One reason is an awareness of the broad Approaches to migration in development discourses historical tendency in structurally unequal societies and theories have been, in the main, preoccupied for every relative advance in women’s status/condi- with transition from an agrarian to an industrial or tions to simultaneously contain elements of relative even post-industrial capitalist social and economic or- regression, a point that has emerged sharply in the der, a transition for which rural-to-urban migration is course of this study. Secondly, we believe that only often seen as a rough proxy. A common underlying through comparing our enquiry results against both thread running through otherwise divergent eco- short-term gains and longer-term strategic objectives nomic policy paradigms in India, (i.e., the earlier state can a more adequate and purposive understanding of directed development policy [1953 to 1985] and the gendered social processes in relation to migration be later market supremacist approach [1991 to the developed. The linking of the concrete or immediate present]) is the broad understanding that the migra- issues to strategic objectives has enduring value as a tion process leads to some form of settlement at a guiding method and perspective for the women’s particular destination (probably urban), usually ac- movement and its researchers. Such an understanding companied by occupational/sectoral change (from informs and frames the issues and questions in rela- the low productivity ‘traditional’ agricultural sector to tion to gender and migration in India that are dis- the high productivity ‘modern’ industrial sector), en- cussed in this chapter. hanced incomes, and perhaps some degree of social mobility. In actuality, the experience has been of a rel- atively slow rate of urbanization (Kundu 1999), the 11 The women’s movement in India has a history stretch- continuance of agriculture as the majority employ- ing back to the pre-independence era. Nevertheless, its ment, and the expansion of more circular forms of resurgent and clearly female-led mode from the late migration in, to, and around rural as well as urban ar- 1970s marked the opening of a qualitatively new phase. Traversing Myriad Trails: Tracking Gender and Labour Migration across India 127 eas.12 Temporary and circular migration appear to that has been a major factor in camouflaging, under have further gained ground in the face of the increas- apparently non-economic social reasons, at least some ing rather than decreasing weight of unorganized/in- economic/labour-based decisions in women’s migra- formal and intermittent forms of employment in rural tion. For example, some implicit or actual labour and urban areas, and by the unsettling and shrinking of migration by women may appear in the data as mar- more durable organized sector employment (NCEUS riage migration or as other forms of associational 2007). As such, the assumptions and prognostications movement by women simply because the two may of early development theory’s approaches to migration coincide, but the social reason is presumed to be all- have long ceased to be really tenable in India. important. Even where women of a migrant family Circular movements of labour were brought into enter the paid or income-earning workforce in their the debates on migration not from analysis of the individual capacity at any given destination, it is still macro-data, but through a body of work drawing pri- possible that marriage or family movement would be marily on qualitatively inclined anthropological given as the reason for migration. An underestimation research and micro-surveys. This body of work drew of female migrant workers thus appears to be inbuilt attention to the significant proportions of women in into the data. short-term labour migration, particularly in rural areas A hidebound separation of economic reasons and (Banerjee/Ray 1991; Karlekar 1995; Teerink 1995). social reasons for migration, implicit in the mono- National data sets have, however, been slow to causal framework, is questionable on several counts. respond to research on circular, seasonal, and short- A preliminary question arises as to how such a separa- term migration and have largely remained anchored tion could ever work in India, which is characterized in what has been called a ‘permanent settlement para- by diverse levels of social organization; where petty digm’. The welcome recent addition of a separate cat- production or ‘self-employment’ still accounts for the egory of short-term migrants in the 2007-08 migra- major part of the workforce, where several elements tion survey by NSSO, as also the inclusion of an of socially reciprocal as well as production relations additional question on temporary migration for the based on a feudal hierarchy and exchanges of a sub- UPR-defined migrants, is still dogged by definitional economic nature persist, and where all the above are weaknesses that persist in excluding a large propor- linked to the concentration of a large part of the fe- tion of circular migrants, particularly those whose male workforce in various forms of family production annual or perhaps more than annual migratory cycles or family labour without any individual incomes or exceed six months. It is also true that the official control over family income (unpaid labour). This migration data based on change of residence relate question is relevant for all neo-classical development primarily to population movements, in contradistinc- theory and its models, which tend to view a range of tion to development or economic theories of migra- discrete social classes and categories only as labour in tion which are primarily based on labour migration relation to capital, in either actual or potential terms (Srivastava 2005), and there are genuine difficulties (with gender at best as a subset of or associated with encountered in trying to distinguish between the two. such labour). This blindness is notwithstanding a Nevertheless, the data on migration for employ- whole series of public policy devices in India that rec- ment (as the reason for migration) have long been ognize and respond explicitly and implicitly to differ- thought to approximate the levels of economic/ ent social classes and categories such as peasants (or labour migration. We believe that it is the mono- farmers to use the non-class term that has gained cur- causal approach (i.e., the attribution of a single reason rency), landless and predominantly dalit labour in an for migration) followed by the national macro-surveys agrarian social setting, artisans, forest dwellers/trib- als, and nomadic communities, among all of whom only some have made a transition to a direct relation- 12 The micro-studies on circular migration are too numer- ship with capital as labour. Even women have been ous to be cited here. It may be noted however, that in 1991, the National Commission on Rural Labour brought in by policies and programmes, as a specific (NCRL) estimated the number of circular migrants in constituency for individual or group-based income rural areas alone as around 10 million including roughly generation activities. We would argue that multiple 4.5 million inter-state migrants and 6 million intra-state and variegated reasoning and decision-making are in- migrants. Prominent in this research on circular migra- volved in the migration process, straddling both social tion or ‘labour circulation’ is the work of Jan Breman and economic motivations or compulsions, regardless (1996), focused on the state of Gujarat and covering both rural and urban areas. 128 Indrani Mazumdar and Indu Agnihotri of whether migration is undertaken by individuals, movement instinctively perceive as central to under- families, households, or communities. standing women’s migration in India today. Further, circulation between sectors is widespread, Finally, there is the question of the presumption of since the wages of many of those employed in ‘mod- individual units of labour in the wage economy. An- ern’ (usually urban) industry or services do not cover thropological research has long drawn attention to the cost of social reproduction of the workers and the circulation of family units or male/female pairs their offspring/families, which then continues to be for wage labour in some industries/activities that are borne in part by rural peasant-based subsistence activ- virtually completely reliant on migrants. For example, ities. In such cases, a difficulty exists in placing social millions of migrant workers are recruited in pairs (jo- categories and indeed even individuals as economic dis) or family units by contractors for brickmaking agents into an analytical frame based only on eco- across the country and for harvesting sugar cane nomic theories and categories that are derived from across large areas in western and southern India.15 developed capitalism. These problems are not of In- Where direct piece rates are paid for the output of dia alone, but resonate through the developing world. collective units of labour, whether of pairs, families, Some of these difficulties have found expression in or ad hoc gangs, conceptual difficulties regarding the the evolution of the idea of an informal sector/econ- basis for the calculation of individual wages are inevi- omy, broadly characterized by a large number of self- table, although disputes often remain hidden by social employed including family help, low income returns conventions. The point is that individual units of la- to labour, and the absence of formal social security bour are not always clearly measured or as universal as and legally enforceable contracts.13 Despite several is assumed by the employment and migration data definitional disputes, the expanding size of the infor- and indeed even by the laws related to labour. mal sector/economy rapidly acquired universal ac- In sum, Indian government data and much associ- ceptance. It could no longer be conceived of as a ‘re- ated work on migration in India reflect a permanent sidual category’ in developing countries, as was settlement paradigm, a monocausal approach to mi- initially argued by many economists.14 The delinea- gration that tends to a rigid distinction between eco- tion of informality was however dogged by questions nomic and social reasons for migration, a lack of fo- as to whether the informal nature of the enterprise cus on circular modes of labour migration, and a and self-employment should be taken as its defining flattened-out conception/definition of work/employ- feature or whether insecurity and lack of social protec- ment that is purely based on the individual labour tion in employment relations should be used for iden- unit. Such a perspective makes the macro-data conceal tifying an informal sector/labour. In India, such de- many important features and trends in relation to la- bate has moved towards decisive settlement by bour, gender, and migration that operate in reality in including both (NCEUS 2007). Nevertheless, to us, it India. appears that the complete jettisoning of the much At the same time, many questions that the macro- criticized agriculture/industry/service sector-based data raises have not received due attention. We may frame of early development theories in favour of just begin by flagging the most striking feature of the data a formal/informal divide poses additional problems on enhanced female migration: the phenomenal in- rather than resolves them, and leads to an evasion of crease in marriage migration rates in rural India. Ac- the agrarian question in India. Consequently, al- cording to the NSS figures, the proportions of women though the informal sector debates have indeed made migrating for marriage increased from 25 per cent of a signal contribution to highlighting the poor condi- the rural female population in 1993 to 38 per cent in tions of work and the absence and need for social se- 1999–2000 and then to 44 per cent in 2007–08. In- curity provisions for the numerically extremely large, creased rates of rural marriage migration is confirmed heterogeneous but essentially unorganized workforce, by census data for the 1990s, foregrounding an imme- they have added little insight into the contemporary diate question as to what processes have led to a sub- agrarian crisis, a crisis that activists in the women’s stantial rise in migration for marriage in rural areas.16 13 Three decades of debates and issues of conception related to the informal sector are discussed in Bangasser 15 For such migration in Maharashtra, see Teerink (1995); (2000). and for Gujarat, Breman (1996) and Mosse, Gupta, 14 See Kundu (1999) for a discussion on the difficulties of Mehta, Shah, Rees (2002). For Tamilnadu and Karna- treating the informal sector as a residual category. taka, we have drawn on our own field observations. Traversing Myriad Trails: Tracking Gender and Labour Migration across India 129 Running parallel to the remarkable increase in ru- zation of labour). Rather, it points to the unfolding of ral female marriage migration is an equally remarka- a major employment crisis, whose effects have been ble decline in rural female work participation rates most sharply felt by rural women. Although a political from 33 per cent in 1993-94 to 29 per cent in 2007-08 response to the rural employment crisis indeed came and further to 26 per cent in 2009-10.17 While rural in the form of the enactment of the National Rural employment for women is showing signs of acute con- Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, the social implica- striction, urban female work participation rates too tions of its gendered features and multi-sector nature have declined from 15.5 per cent in 1993–94 to 13.8 per have yet to be adequately explored or incorporated in cent in 2007–08 and remained the same in 2009–10. approaches to migration. Obviously the narrow base of urban female employ- Given the focus on labour migration in this chap- ment has not been offering much relief from constric- ter, detailed discussion of increased marriage migra- tion in rural areas. The most recent employment sur- tion rates is not possible. Nevertheless, we should vey has revealed the shocking reality that not merely briefly touch upon findings that point to the need to have the rates of women’s work participation de- recognize that developments in the sphere of clined, but between 2004–05 and 2009-10, some 21 women’s work and employment crisis are indeed million women were actually eliminated from the closely interlinked with social processes including en- country’s workforce. During this quinquennium, agri- hanced marriage migration. An important issue culture saw an absolute reduction by more than 20 through which the two become linked is dowry. His- million women workers, manufacturing by more than torical explorations of the spread of dowry indicate 3.5 million, and services by more than 1.1 million, with that the marginalization of women’s traditional work only construction showing some increases in employ- in subsistence agriculture induced by colonial com- ment for women (Mazumdar/Neetha 2011). mercialization of agriculture had been a factor in the The experience in India has thus been conclusively replacement of bride price by dowry in many commu- contrary to the expectations of expanding employ- nities in the lower echelons of the social order, where ment opportunities and demand for women workers dowry was not earlier a traditional practice (Sheel under a liberalized policy regime (the so-called femini- 1997). Contemporary movement experiences and other studies of women’s work indicate similar proc- esses during the period of policy emphasis on market- 16 A similar increase in urban marriage migration rates in driven growth. Detailed micro-studies have shown the NSS surveys is not confirmed by the census of 2001. that the shift from more female labour-intensive food Currently census data for 2011 is still awaited. Till then and subsistence activities to more market-oriented we would have to go along with the census evidence for increased marriage migration in rural areas alone. Given and indeed more mechanized agriculture in the 1990s the historical basis of settlement, community, and social had been accompanied by a reduction of work availa- and land relations in the villages of India, the camou- bility for rural women (Rawal 2006). Women’s move- flaging of labour migration under marriage seems less ment documents point to a surge in the expansion of likely in rural areas in comparison to urban, although dowry into communities where bride price was more unsettled questions remain as to whether women who common, even some years ago (AIDWA 2003). enter the casual wage economy in the village into which Further, a decline in the availability of common they marry or women who marry peasants who have set- tled in a new village should be considered labour property resources for subsistence, particularly in min- migrants. eral-rich areas of tribal concentration – where corpo- 17 Work participation rates given here are all on the basis rate-driven privatization has been particularly pro- of usual status principal+subsidiary workers (UPSS), as moted – has had implications for many social arrange- defined in NSS Employment Unemployment Surveys. ments, inducing a search for dowry-based We may note that for female work participation, the accumulation through marriages outside local bound- NSS is better able to capture women’s work than the aries.18 Qualitative case studies of cross-regional mar- census and so generally shows higher levels of female work participation. Generally, the large quinquennial riages in various parts of the country show inability to rounds of the NSS, such as for 1993–94, 1999–2000, raise dowry to be a prominent reason for parents to 2004–05, and 2009–10, provide the more authoritative arrange or accept dowry-less marriages for their figures for employment in comparison to the thinner daughters outside traditional community/language/ rounds in between. We have referred also to the medium large mid-quinquennial round of 2007–08, since it ran in tandem with the migration survey, which 18 See Menon and Vadivelu (2006) for the status of com- was not conducted in either 2004–05 or 2009–10. mon property resources. 130 Indrani Mazumdar and Indu Agnihotri culture/regional marriage boundaries, often in distant omy’. And further, although unpaid care work may be and culturally alien territory (Chaudhry/Mohan 2011). outside the production boundary, its operation has The expansion of dowry has generated criss-crossing implications both for human well-being and for what responses all feeding into widening the search for goes on inside the production boundary. It affects the marriage partners and increasing migration for mar- quantity and quality of labour supplied to production riage. In our view, the key issue propelling such inter- and the quantity and quality of goods demanded from linked processes is greater marginalization of production (Elson 2001). There is thus a strong case women’s work including marginalization of economic for special attention to the role of unpaid labour in returns from their unpaid work for families, which has migration, particularly for public policy in relation to been further aggravated by the gendered nature of the social reproduction activities. It has indeed found ex- employment crisis in India. It all, in a sense, fore- pression in the Indian women’s movement’s long- grounds the centrality of the demand for independent standing activism and demand for public provisioning paid work/employment and equality in the labour of basic civic amenities – water, toilets, ration cards, market as the way forward for women. It is such a per- access to health, shelter/housing conditions, etc. – for spective that underlies our approach to labour migra- migrant worker families, particularly in urban areas; tion in contemporary India. for such purposes, the distinction between unpaid work that falls within or outside the production boundary would actually be immaterial. 7.3 Gendering the Macro-view on On the other hand, it cannot be forgotten that the Labour Migration in India patriarchal family context necessarily makes the un- paid labour of women both cause and consequence of Deriving a macro-view on labour migration in India their economic dependence, related unfreedom, and from statistics based on population movement inevita- a constraint on employment/income and economic bly requires a series of exercises that are tedious for independence. The need for such independence, in both researchers and readers. For a gendered view, turn, is recognized by the women’s movement, as an derivation is even more complicated because of the important precondition for opening up greater possi- inclusion of unpaid labour in the workforce data, bilities for social independence and freedom for which in the case of women is particularly large. As women. Yet the evidence of conditions in paid or mentioned earlier, a vast reservoir of women’s work ‘commercial employment’ themselves promoting gen- or economic activities, particularly in an unpaid form, der inequality has also mounted. Whether in the form is still largely contained within the family. Where and of unequal wages, concentration of a relatively larger how such forms of work/labour fit into an under- proportion of the female workforce in particularly standing of what historians, development economists, low income/productive informal/unorganized forms and even anthropologists call labour migration is a of employment, gendered hierarchies within produc- question that necessarily troubles any gendered ap- tion units, or outright discrimination against employ- proach to labour migration. We have already argued ing women, etc., gender-based inequalities in the la- that unpaid work by women (whether in the sphere of bour market are standard. This is apart from the dou- production or of social reproduction), needs recogni- ble burden of unpaid domestic work alongside work tion as a reason for migration. Nevertheless, a ques- for income from outside. Further, and particularly for tion remains as to whether the concept of labour mi- women struggling against poverty, paid employment gration per se could or should include such types of has also extended the boundaries of their subordina- unpaid labour-based migration within its ambit. tion, and vulnerability, from within the patriarchal From a women’s movement perspective, a degree family to their situation as workers. Rarely and only of ambiguity on this question is perhaps inevitable in tangentially are such employer interests driven by the the present social and economic context. At one level, needs and demands of women workers/employees as feminist economists pressing for rethinking ‘the themselves for decent wages/incomes/hours of work Economy’ have argued, the unpaid ‘care economy’ in and conditions of life. Income-earning mass self-em- which people “produce services for their families, ployment (thought by some to be a form of ‘being friends and neighbours on the basis of social obliga- your own boss’) does not appear to have provided any tion, altruism and reciprocity” (which encompasses a better alternative to such wage employment in a world substantial part of women’s work) also needs to be of sinking incomes from petty production and the in- taken into account along with the ‘commodity econ- exorable march of integrated markets. With larger Traversing Myriad Trails: Tracking Gender and Labour Migration across India 131 markets in an unregulated environment inevitably fa- The second point relates to our counting of all mi- vouring larger entities, the incomes from petty self- grants who are workers from among migrants defined employment, already compressed by a crowd of small by change of usual place of residence (UPR) and who producer/seller competitors, are known to often fall have given reasons other than marriage for migration below subsistence level (Ghosh 2006). as labour migrants.20 Our reasoning is as follows: Ambiguity towards paid/income-earning labour firstly, the majority of women workers who give mar- and employment outside the purely family setting and riage as their reason for migrating are workers, only in related migration is subjectively perceived by women their immobile and local capacity as wives and daugh- workers themselves, particularly from among the large ters-in-law of the village they have married into. As majority of the labouring poor, who often associate such, when such marriage migrants are counted as mi- their need for paid work and related migration with grant workers, the industrial distribution of all female family poverty and other distress conditions, rather workers after migration appears as virtually the same than as an avenue of emancipation from patriarchy. as the overall industrial distribution of the female Nevertheless, despite such ambiguities, for an workforce in the country. By including marriage mi- approach to labour migration as feeding the develop- grants, it is neither possible to understand the relative ment and characteristics of labour markets, there is a importance of the sectors/industries driving/absorb- clear case for focusing on paid work. However, from ing labour migrants, nor is it possible to distinguish a women’s movement perspective, a particular focus migrant workers from immobile local workers in the has to be maintained on the conditions in which case of women. In order to overcome such problems, women are being drawn into such paid work and its we have reluctantly accepted that the present nature links with the broader economic growth processes, of the NSS data offer us little option but to exclude fe- and it is the terms of employment that must hold cen- male marriage migrants from the frame, as a prelimi- tre stage in an approach to labour migration, rather nary step towards identifying patterns of female la- than just celebration of the fact of employment and bour migration. Elimination of some degree of labour related migration/mobility. migration camouflaged by marriage is to our minds a In constructing our macro-view of the gender di- lesser error when compared with the immensely in- mensions of labour migration based on the National flated picture of female labour mobility if all marriage Sample Survey on Migration in India 2007–08, we migrants who are workers were counted as labour mi- have therefore focused on paid labour. Two prelimi- grants. nary methodological points must be made. First, as Secondly, while those who gave ‘employment’ as has been only recently pointed out, the workforce their reason for migration may, of course, ab initio be data in the published reports of NSS can be mislead- identified as employment/labour migrants, to our ing in terms of the extent of women’s paid or income- minds a better estimation could be made if all usual earning employment because of the inclusion of un- status paid/income-earning workers from among mi- paid workers (albeit within the production boundary). grants by UPR, giving ‘family movement’, ‘education’, The gross workforce figures that subsume unpaid and and ‘other reasons’ for migration, were also counted paid work into a common category are therefore inad- as labour migrants, since the nature of their employ- equate for the purposes of assessing actual employ- ment may be presumed to be premised on their hav- ment among women (Mazumdar/Neetha 2011). Unit- ing moved from some other area of origin. The cate- level data from NSS do provide for some subcatego- gory of short-term migrants should also eo ipso be ries by employment/activity status, thus allowing for counted as labour migrants, since they are defined as the separation of unpaid helpers from other workers (at least from among the self-employed). Such a sepa- ration makes it possible to focus on paid/income- 19 Broad activity status categories followed by the NSS are earning workers alone by excluding unpaid helpers 1) self-employed, 2) regular salaried workers, 3) casual 19 labour. Among the self-employed, there are three sub-from the calculation of the employed. We do this categories – namely, ‘own account worker’, ‘employer’, and have counted only paid/income-earning workers and ‘unpaid helper’. In order to arrive at paid/income- in the category of labour migrants/migrant workers. earning workers, we have excluded the ‘unpaid helpers’ Our emphasis on paid/income-earning workers is for from the count. eliciting the gender structure of the labour market 20 Attempts to locate work-based migration by women that is absorbing migrants and not a negation of the have hitherto concentrated on the evidence of higher importance of the unpaid labour of women. work participation rates after migration in the gross UPR based migration data (Shanthi 2006). 132 Indrani Mazumdar and Indu Agnihotri Table 7.1: Estimated numbers of labour migrants in sectors/industries (All India, 2007-08). Source: Calculated from NSS Report No. 533 (64/10.2/2). Paid/income-earning Female migrant workers share of excluding migrants for Short-term migrants Total labour migrants total Industry marriage (UPR) [000s] [000s] [000s] [%] Male Female Male Female Male Female Agriculture, hunting, 6,430 2,399 2,449 922 8,879 3,321 27.22 forestry, fishing (14.53) (31.74) (19.32) (43.47) (15.60) (34.31) Construction 4,257 402 5,289 700 9,546 1,102 10.35 (9.62) (5.32) (41.73) (33.00) (16.77) (11.39) Mining, manufacturing, 11,258 1,575 2,412 306 13,670 1,881 12.09 electricity (25.44) (20.84) (19.03) (14.43) (24.01) (19.44) Trade, hotels, restaurants 8,027 474 1,190 32 9,217 506 5.20 (18.14) (6.27) (9.39) (1.51) (16.19) (5.23) All services other than 14,280 2,698 1,338 161 15,618 2,859 15.47 trade, hotels, restaurants* (32.27) (35.70) (10.56) (7.59) (27.44) (29.54) Total 44,252 7,556 12,675 2,121 56,927 9,677 14.53 (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) * All services other than trade, etc. covers community, social and personal services, finance, real estate, and business services, as well as transport, storage, and communication. Table 7.2: Share of migrants in India’s paid/income-earning workforce (2007-08). Source: Calculated from NSS Reports Nos. 533 (64/10.2/2) and 531 (64/10.2/1). Share of female Share of migrant Paid/income-earning workers in paid/ workers in paid/income- workforce income- earning earning workforce [000s] workforce by sex [%] Male Female [%] Male Female Agriculture, hunting, forestry, fishing 132,467 53,266 28.68 6.70 6.23 (46.62) (65.05) Construction 26,529 3,145 10.60 35.98 35.05 (9.34) (3.84) Mining, manufacturing, electricity 37,725 10,452 21.69 36.24 18.00 (13.28) (12.76) Trade, hotels, restaurants 36,748 2,838 7.17 25.08 17.83 (12.93) (3.47) All services other than trade, etc. 49,494 12,141 19.70 31.56 23.55 (17.42) (14.83) Total 284,112 81,881 22.37 20.04 11.82 (100.00) (100.00) those who did not change their UPR but undertook as their reason for migration), we believe that the pic- short-term movements and stayed away from their vil- ture of the structure of labour migration that has been lage/town for a period of one month or more but less so constructed would broadly reflect the actual pattern. than six months for employment or in search of em- From the 2007–08 NSS survey, the estimated total ployment. Despite the fact that that some underesti- numbers of so-identified labour migrants in India mation of labour migration by women would still oc- were 66.6 million, of whom fifteen per cent were cur (because of the exclusion of those giving marriage female (9.6 million). A little over eighteen per cent of Traversing Myriad Trails: Tracking Gender and Labour Migration across India 133 the paid/income-earning workforce in the country industry, and services. In fact, the gender biases in the were migrants. Table 7.1 presents our estimations of migratory pattern appear to be aggravating the biases the numbers of migrant workers of both categories against women in non-agricultural employment. A (UPR and short-term) by sector/industry while table corollary to such aggravated bias is that while migra- 7.2 gives the percentage of migrants in each sector/ tion does seem to be having some impact on the industry. structure and composition of the male workforce in As is obvious from table 7.1, agriculture is the sin- the country, more specifically in raising the share of gle largest employer of female migrants, despite the employment in other sectors relative to agriculture, its fact that table 7.2 makes it apparent that the country’s impact on the structure of the female workforce is of agricultural workforce (both male and female) is over- a far more limited nature – one of the reasons why, de- whelmingly non-migrant or local. Nevertheless, the spite a fall in the numbers of women in agriculture, it greater significance of agriculture in the composition still accounts for over sixty-five per cent of the female of female migration marks out one of the major struc- workforce in India. Given that the pattern of gross do- tural differences between the pattern of female and mestic product (GDP) growth has been towards a re- male labour migration, further reflected in the higher duction in the share of agriculture to a mere fourteen share of women in migrant agricultural labour (27 per per cent and an increase in the share of services to cent) than in any other industry/sector. fifty-eight per cent and of industry to twenty-eight per At the same time, the broad sector composition of cent, an aggravation of gender inequality in employ- female migration gives the impression of a fairly even ment incomes is indeed indicated. distribution between agriculture at 34.3 per cent, in- Apart from the sectoral structure of migration, an dustry (manufacturing, mining, and construction) at important question that has come from a range of 30.8 per cent, and services (trade, etc., and all other field observations concerns the temporary nature of services) at 34.8 per cent. Among male migrants, serv- much of the migratory movement of labour. The ices at 43.6 per cent and industry at 40.8 per cent are 2007–08 NSS data suggest that the movement of far more dominant, leaving agriculture accounting for roughly one-third of all labour migration in India was only 15.6 per cent of the male migrant workforce. In definitely temporary. Short-term migrants constituted other words, non-agricultural employment was the some 21 per cent of male labour migration and 22 per destination of some 84.4 per cent of male migration cent of female labour migration, and some 10 per cent and 65.6 per cent of female migration, within which of all UPR-based female migrants and 7 per cent of services also appear to have become very significant male migrants reported that their migration was tem- among both male and female migrants. porary. Further, an acceleration in return migration is The remarkably even distribution of female mi- observable between 1993 and 2007–08 from 12.2 to grants across sectors ought not, however, to deflect 16.1 per cent in the case of male migrants and from attention from what we would consider to be the 4.4 to 10.6 per cent in the case of female migrants.21 most salient gendered feature of the migratory pat- However, as evidenced in the CWDS field surveys, tern, namely the strong and relatively greater male- when a more worked-out typology of migration is centric bias of migrant employment in both services applied, the actual proportions of temporary labour and industry. Ninety-five per cent of all migrant work- migrants among both men and women appear as far ers in trade and eight-five per cent of those in other greater than the official macro-data suggest. services were male. Men commanded eight-eight per Although the NSS’s 2007–08 migration survey has cent of migrant jobs in manufacturing/mining and indeed proved somewhat amenable to providing a ninety per cent of the jobs in construction. Further, gendered picture of the sector composition of female only in agriculture and construction is the share of labour migration, even apart from the persisting diffi- women in migrant jobs roughly the same as their culty in arriving at more complete numbers of female share of general employment. In all other major cate- labour migrants, there are several other issues and gories of industries/services, women’s share of mi- grant jobs is less than their share of general employ- ment. It thus appears that the impact of 21 The UPR figures here include not just labour migrants— diversification of female employment through migra- they include all workers and non-workers and paid and tion is of a far more limited nature than is initially sug- unpaid workers, but the somewhat common trend gested by the even distribution of female migrant between men and women in temporary and return workers across the three broad sectors of agriculture, migration does indicate a link to the employment pat- tern. 134 Indrani Mazumdar and Indu Agnihotri questions that have remained outside the pale of selection process involved a major bias towards house- macro-surveys. Among them are the different types of holds with migrants (seventy per cent), and a mini- migration, their characteristic features, the modes and mum one-third quota for the specially marginalized manner of migration, the gender differentials, and the castes/social groups, i.e., Scheduled Castes and links between all of these and labour processes. The Tribes.23 From these selected households, individual following sections of this chapter draw upon some of migrant workers were then selected, with a minimum the findings of the CWDS primary surveys that focus quota of one-third of women. on these questions, but first a few words of explana- In urban areas, broadly considered to be destina- tion of the method, rationale, and scope of the sur- tion sites, only sector-based surveys were conducted veys. based on a more flexible search for and purposive selection of only women migrants (opportunistic sam- pling). Thus, while several male migrants were cov- 7.4 CWDS Gender and Migration ered by the questionnaire addressed to individual Surveys: Constructing a Meso- workers at village sites, in general they were excluded level View from the sector-based surveys. The same questionnaires were used for village sites The primary questions taken up by the CWDS surveys and sector sites, although differentiated methods of related to paid labour migration, and a key methodo- respondent selection were adopted. At the village logical issue that had to be addressed was whether the sites, details of male and female members of all se- surveys should be directed at households or individu- lected households were gathered, and individual mi- als. After an initial pilot round, it was decided to use grants were drawn from the stratified household sam- two sets of questionnaires in tandem, one for collect- ple. However, where the entry was effected at the ing household characteristics, including some migra- sector level, the household details followed from the tion details of household members, and one for col- selection of individual migrant worker respondents. lecting more in-depth information on individual Selection of both village and sector sites was done experiences of migration, including conditions of with an eye to dispersion among several states and an work. emphasis on prominent catchment areas of migrant A second question related to how the survey could labour recruitment or prominent destinations. be pitched at both the source and destination of mi- While such a method could not generate statisti- grants. Both were deemed necessary for a better un- cally validated macro-information, the utility of this derstanding or comprehension of migration proc- meso-level view lies precisely in compensating for esses, including its compulsions, trajectories, and opacities or gaps in the available macro-statistics by outcomes. As such, two categories of sites were taken adopting a more purposive site selection, as well as in for the questionnaire-based surveys: one comprising upscaling micro-observations by introducing an inter- ‘village sites’, broadly representing source areas of mi- mediary level that incorporates greater spatial diversi- gration (with room for including in-migrants to the ties and empirical breadth than do more localized village), and the second comprising a range of ‘sector micro-surveys. sites’. The latter targeted industries/occupations in Over a period of twenty-four months commencing primarily urban but also rural areas, where prior infor- in January 2009, surveys with the pair of common de- mation indicated a concentration of women migrant tailed and structured questionnaires were conducted workers.22 across twenty of the country’s twenty-eight states cov- In the village sites, a village census preceded selec- ering 5,007 individual migrants and 5,558 households. tion of a stratified sample of households, with social These were drawn from village surveys as well as sec- groups/caste categories as the primary axis, and per- tor-based surveys. ceived economic status as a secondary factor for sam- ple selection. Since the focus was on migration, the 23 The quota for SC/ST was put in place because of our observation that women of these communities had a higher compulsion/propensity to be involved in labour 22 Two kinds of information guided the selection of sec- migration. The minimum quota for individual women tors. The first was the employment patterns in urban migrant workers could not however be filled every- areas based on NSS employment surveys, and the sec- where, particularly in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which in ond was field-based information as to the sectors where a sense confirms the picture of male bias in labour women migrants were concentrated. migration observable in the macro-data. Traversing Myriad Trails: Tracking Gender and Labour Migration across India 135 Figure 7.1: States where surveys were conducted named and coloured darker grey—rest of India lighter grey. Black dots indicate survey actual site locations. Source: The authors. Comprehensive village surveys were conducted in the individual migrants covered by the village surveys, thirty-five districts across seventeen states. Preliminary 1,903 were males and 661 were females. censuses covered 16,010 households in forty-three vil- Sector-based surveys directed at women migrant lage sites, eliciting information on caste, relative eco- workers were conducted in twenty of the twenty-eight nomic status, and the number of economic migrants. states, within which the urban areas covered consisted These were followed by detailed questionnaires cover- of seven large cities and ten medium-sized and smaller ing a total of 673 households without migrants and towns. Sector-based surveys covered 2,412 individual 2,564 individual migrants and their households. Of migrants and their households. 136 Indrani Mazumdar and Indu Agnihotri In all, 3,073 female migrant workers and 1,934 male 4. the arid inland western parts as well as the coastal migrant workers and their households were covered regions of Orissa state [east coast]; the newly- by the survey. Of the 3,073 women migrants, 1,594 formed mineral rich states of Jharkhand and were surveyed in rural areas and 1,479 in urban areas. Chhattisgarh with large forest cover and tribal In combination, the village- and sector-based migrant populations; the arid plains of Bundelkhand, the workers were accessed across more than seventy-five underdeveloped parts of the Malwa plateau area, districts, apart from the seven large cities (including and the agriculturally developed upper plains of the three mega-cities of Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolk- the Narmada river basin in the country’s second ata).24 largest state of Madhya Pradesh [central high- Whether regions/terrains should be classified into lands]; socio-cultural/historical, ecological, or agro-climatic 5. the semi-arid south-western reaches of the Aravalli zones for surveys on migration in India, a country Hills and sandy eastern plains in the physically with multiple scales of diversity, is still an open ques- largest state, Rajasthan [north-west India]; tion for us.25 But for an idea of the mix that character- 6. the significantly industrialized southern and the ized the areas where this series of micro-surveys were more backward north-eastern parts of the state of located, we list the areas where the surveys were con- Gujarat; and in the otherwise most industrialized ducted and indicate them on the map. state of Maharashtra: Marathwada (west-central They included Deccan Plateau), Khandesh (north-western corner of the Deccan plateau with a significant tribal pop- 1. the agriculturally developed heartland of Malwa ulation) and the sugar cane belt in the southwest and Doaba regions of the state of Punjab; the [western India]; developed but semi-arid western zone and eastern 7. the three cultural zones of the state of Andhra trans-Gangetic plains of Haryana; the upper Doab, Pradesh – i.e., the semi-arid regions of Telengana Rohilkhand, and Purvanchal regions of the coun- and Rayalseema (eastern parts of the Deccan pla- try’s most populated state of Uttar Pradesh26 [all teau) and the irrigated fertile coastal region of the part of the landlocked north to north-west of the state; the dry northern, torrid southern, and country]; highly industrialized central parts of Tamilnadu; 2. the north-western, north-eastern as well as south- the Malabar coast in Kerala; and the fertile plains ern alluvial plains of the predominantly agricul- and slopes in the south as well as the northern tural state of Bihar; the lateritic, red, and gravelly arid regions of Karnataka [southern peninsula]. undulating region in the western part of West Ben- gal (eastern reaches of middle India’s Chotanag- As it turned out, the survey sites were found to be lo- pur plateau with a sizable tribal population), as cated in thirteen of the fifteen agro-climatic zones in well as the deltaic alluvial plains in the south of India, i.e., in the four zones of the Upper-Gangetic, the state [north central and the coast of east Trans-Gangetic, Lower-Gangetic, and Middle- India]; Gangetic Plains, the four zones of the Eastern, Cen- 3. the ethnically highly diverse humid subtropical tral, Western, and Southern Plateaus and Hills, the hills and valleys of the three states of Assam, Meg- three zones of the East-Coast, West-Coast, and Gu- halaya, and Mizoram, [the north-east]; jarat Plains and Hills, the Western Dry Region, and the Eastern Himalayan Region. As such, the general- ized findings are indeed of relevance in arriving at the 24 The other large cities were Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, big picture of gender and labour migration in India. and Ahmedabad. 25 The NSS divides each state into various regions, which are largely based on topographical/agro-climatic fea- tures. 7.5 Of Temporary and Permanent 26 Malwa in Punjab lies between the Sutlej and Yamuna riv- Migration: Developing a ers; its regional cultural history includes early mass con- Typology version to Sikhism. Doaba is the tract of land between the confluence of the rivers Sutlej and Beas. In Uttar The CWDS surveys applied a typology of migration Pradesh, the Upper Doab refers to the western alluvial tracts between the rivers Ganga and Yamuna; that gave particular space to circularity, seasonality, Rohilkhand is on the upper plains of the Ganga; Purvan- contingency, and duration. Building on the range of chal in eastern Uttar Pradesh is largely Bhojpuri-speak- observations garnered from earlier micro-studies and ing. reports from the women’s organizations, the typology Traversing Myriad Trails: Tracking Gender and Labour Migration across India 137 evolved largely from pilot field observations. Based the proportion of short-term migrants is roughly on such a typology, the household questionnaire gen- around one-third of male and female labour migra- erated data on types of migration for a total of 16,156 tion, significantly greater than the NSS estimates. It is household members who were labour migrants, of the undercounting of short-term labour migration whom 7,398 were female and 8,758 were male when that, to our minds, is the key to the invisibilization of the two categories of sites, sector-based and village- the ‘armies of women’ migrating for work. based, were taken together. At a preliminary level, the Taking only the village sites, i.e., excluding the most striking finding was the predominance of tem- members of the households of women migrant work- porary migration among both men and women. Only ers in pre-selected sectors, the proportions of short- forty-two per cent of women and thirty-six per cent of term migrants actually increased, to 41 per cent the men who were labour migrants in all the house- among the women migrant workers and to 53 per cent holds covered by the surveys were long-term mi- among the male migrant workers. Circulatory migra- grants, i.e., those who migrated for settlement at des- tion increased to 24 per cent of labour migrants in the tination or who otherwise settled there. All others case of women and to 35 per cent in the case of men; were various types of temporary migrants. The types short-term seasonal migrants increased to 14 per cent of temporary migration became an area of special in- for women and 12 per cent for men; and irregular terest in this study. The large proportions of tempo- short-term movements rose to three per cent among rary migrants highlight the unsettled nature of the em- women and five per cent among men. While this ployment regime that is driving migration in draws attention to the agrarian push as well as pull- contemporary India. back involved in much short-term migration, several Circulatory migrants, i.e., those who migrate other processes are involved, including the absorption without any long-term workplace/residence at any of semi-feudal patriarchal relations into the wage particular destination and return to base for more economy. than a month per year, appeared as the most signifi- The second major type of temporary migration cant type of temporary migration, comprising twenty was medium-term, i.e., migration for employment/ per cent of the migrating women and twenty-three per work in any predetermined occupation/industry for a cent of the male migrants in the households surveyed. broadly fixed period of up to a few years. Among the These percentages include circulatory migrants of women migrants of all households surveyed (village + shorter duration (spells of less than four months) as sector), sixteen per cent were involved in medium- well as of longer duration (more than four months).27 term migration; among the men it was eighteen per Around nine per cent of both male and female mi- cent. For the village sites alone, it is interesting that grants were short-term seasonal migrants, i.e., those the proportions of medium-term migrants dropped who migrate for work of a seasonal nature for a pe- sharply to nine per cent for women, but increased to riod ranging from a few days to around three months, twenty-one per cent for men. It appears that the and distinguished from circulatory in that they do not points of origin among women migrant workers of keep circulating back and forth, but spend most of medium term, particularly in urban areas, are more the year at their base area. Two per cent of the female thinly dispersed across both rural and urban areas, and three per cent of the male migrants were irregu- and/or they are drawn/recruited from particular lar short-term migrants, i.e., those migrating outside catchment pockets rather than by the more general- any established pattern or occupation, driven by ab- ized kind of medium-term movement from village In- normal contingencies/desperation rather than for any dia that appears to be so significant in the pattern of particular form or type of employment or seasonal de- male migration. Our sense was that the significance of mand for labour. Circulatory, short-term seasonal, medium-term migration is increasing, more so among and irregular short-term migration are all forms of male migrants, but also among female migrant work- short-term migration. The CWDS surveys suggest that ers in urban areas. We turn next to the two other categories of mi- grants that are not normally included in labour migra- 27 In the typology followed, a distinction was made tion, but were specially included in our typology between longer and shorter duration for circulatory thanks to discussions in the women’s movement. One migrants on the grounds that the experience of migra- was long-distance commuters, i.e, those who com- tion and related issues is somewhat different. From a mute across long distances (at least 50 km) either broader perspective, however, both could be considered daily or weekly, normally travelling to another district relatively short-term. 138 Indrani Mazumdar and Indu Agnihotri – from villages to towns/cities, from cities to rural ar- tors and village sites were combined, and five per cent eas, from one town to another town, etc. – all outside in village sites alone. Given that the survey was prima- the perimeter of normal day-to-day movement for rily geared towards paid labour migration, the facets work within or around any village/town/city. The in- and patterns of migration for unpaid care work could clusion of commuting as a type of migration was not be elicited. There is need for further research in based on early discussions within women’s organiza- this area, which to our minds is significant for devel- tions about the phenomenon of the massing of oping a greater understanding of how women’s un- women domestic workers in the trains coming from paid labour fits into circuits of migration. Some two the rural interiors of districts in West Bengal to the per cent of the male migrants of the households in vil- city of Kolkata, leaving their homes as early as 3 or 4 lage sites also reported migrating for family care, per- a.m and returning late in the evening. Later, other re- haps because of responsibilities in relation to ageing ports also came in about women living in the towns of parents, or even possibly wives and children. How- Maharashtra who undertake a reverse movement to ever, since the individual migrant questionnaires were rural areas for daily agricultural labour, although, not served on family care migrants, the surveys did compared to the Kolkata domestic workers, their not generate information on the question of the gen- commuting was for even less regular forms of employ- dered features of such care and its implications. ment (Sainath 2007).28 The same was observed dur- ing the pilot round in West Bengal, where women from the urbanized families of jute mill workers (an 7.6 Types of Migration and Caste industry in endemic crisis) were seen commuting by Hierarchies trains till late at night for potato harvesting in rural ar- eas more than 100 km from their residence, and that Types of migration are very closely correlated with too for payment only in kind. Unable to afford the particular sectors and occupations. Diversified service fare, many of the women commuters tend to travel occupations, for example, are linked more with long- without tickets, and are vulnerable to various types of term and medium-term migration. Occupations based harassment. Such commuting accounted for some six on hard manual labour, generally attached to de- per cent of the women migrants when sector and vil- graded conditions of work, on the other hand, are lage site households were combined, increasing by more closely correlated with short-term and circular only one per cent from the universe of only village migration. At the same time, hierarchies of occupa- sites. Among men, it was significantly more from the tions in India also have a history of being correlated village end at ten per cent, dropping to seven per cent with caste hierarchies and other forms of marginaliza- in the combined universe. Of course, given the em- tion of social groups such as adivasis (autochthonous phasis on households of only women migrant workers tribal communities). At the time of adoption of the in the sector surveys, the male–female patterns are not Indian constitution in 1950, special provisions, includ- strictly comparable when the sectors are included. ing quota-based reservations in the legislatures, educa- Nevertheless, there is a suggestion that urban-to-rural tion, and government employment, were made for the commuting is perhaps of relatively greater propor- members of castes that had for centuries been op- tions among women, a possibility that is supported by pressed with the stigma of untouchability (dalits), rec- the evidence from NSS employment surveys of signif- ognized in the constitution as Scheduled Castes (SC), icantly higher proportions of urban women working and similar provisions were made for marginalized in agriculture (Neetha/Mazumdar 2005). tribal communities recognized as Scheduled Tribes 29 The other specially included category was mi- (ST). Nevertheless, discrimination and marginaliza- grants for family care, i.e, those who migrate under tion based on their historical disadvantage has contin- the expectation (implicitly or explicitly) that they will ued to resonate and even evolve to new levels. perform various forms of unpaid care work for those who have migrated for employment. Separated from marriage migrants with unspecified purposes, mi- 29 Ninety per cent of the tribals live in tribal minority grants for family care accounted for four per cent of states spread over a broad girdle in middle India from the women migrants when the households from sec- Gujarat and Maharashtra in the west to West Bengal and Orissa in the east. The tribal majority states are all located in the north-east region of the country. North- 28 The Hindu National Newspaper, 24 Jan 2007 – P. Sain- east tribals are, however, less than ten per cent of the ath, ‘It’s been a hard day’s night’. total tribal population of India. Traversing Myriad Trails: Tracking Gender and Labour Migration across India 139 Table 7.3: Distribution of types of migration of women workers within social groups/caste categories (%). Source: The authors. Type of Migrant Generala OBCa MBCb SCc STd (Upper Castes) Long-term migrant 44.51 41.56 21.51 25.98 20.81 Medium-term migrant 30.02 22.98 30.11 17.36 10.48 Short-term seasonal migrant 3.93 11.91 10.75 14.54 25.16 Irregular short-term migrant 6.42 1.13 1.08 1.08 1.45 Circulatory migrant of longer duration 2.90 9.93 5.38 19.52 22.10 Circulatory migrant of shorter duration 4.55 6.95 4.30 6.06 10.00 Daily/weekly commuters 4.97 3.69 25.81 14.67 8.71 Migrant for family care 2.69 1.84 1.08 0.81 1.29 All 100 100 100 100 100 All Short-term including Circulatory 17.81 29.93 21.51 41.18 58.71 a The legal category of General does not declare caste status and includes all castes/communities not listed under other categories. It however is mainly comprised of upper castes in all communities/religions. It includes many Mus- lims, for they are distributed only between the General category and other backward classes/castes (OBC). b MBC refers to a sub-category of OBC called Most backward castes. MBC is a category used only in some states. c In the Indian constitution, Scheduled Castes do not include Christian or Muslim castes/communities who by origin/ status face similar historical disadvantage and stigma as their counterparts among the Hindus. d Like all other non-general categories, Scheduled Tribes are also listed at state levels and some may be listed as ST in some states and as SC or OBC in others. There are distinct social differences between the 90 per cent of STs located in middle India and the close to 10 per cent whose tribal origins lie in the north-east, including the fact that the middle India STs are low-status minorities in all the states where they are located, while the STs of the north-east include some majority communities in their respective states with exclusive rights over the land. This table includes STs from the north-east, although the majority were from the middle India belt. Violent atrocities on dalits and tribals have been based inequalities. Discussions on women’s rights an important concern of the contemporary women’s could not therefore ignore the assertion of social movement since the 1970s. However, it was through identities. While this gave a critical edge to move- engagement with the growing agrarian crisis that the ments for equality, mass-based women’s organizations movement came to focus on the complexities of moved on to absorb the issues emerging from iden- caste, class-, and gender-based violence with a better- tity-based experience and assertion into their overall defined understanding. At the same time, the manner perspective of interrogation of social inequalities. in which politics around caste erupted on the Indian From such a reconceptualized perspective, examina- political scene in the context of implementation of tion of the distribution of the relative shares of the recommendations for reservation (in government em- various types of migration among female migrant ployment and education) for the intermediate cate- workers of the various social group/caste categories gory of other backward classes/castes (OBCs)30 and brings interesting insights. Table 7.3 above presents violent upper-caste resistance and opposition to it sub- such a distribution as it emerged from the CWDS sur- sequently ensured a place for caste and identity on the vey of individual migrants. The table follows the offi- political canvas as never before. It also ensured that cial and legal categorization and listings of castes and movements for women’s equality could not, hence- communities. forth, be immune to the entrenched basis of caste- A feature evident from the table is that among up- per-caste women migrant workers the share of long- 30 Interestingly, one of the factors taken into account for term and medium-term migration was predominant, identifying OBCs by the Mandal Commission was with close to 75 per cent of them concentrated in “castes/classes where participation of females in work is long- and medium-term migration. In contrast, short- at least 25 per cent above the state average”. term and circulatory migration accounted for around 140 Indrani Mazumdar and Indu Agnihotri 59 per cent of migrant women workers from sched- other hand, gender, rather than caste lines, is obvi- uled tribes and 41 per cent of scheduled caste women ously the primary axis that determines migration for migrants. The concentration of scheduled castes and paid domestic work. tribes in this mass of general labour that circulates at the lower end of the productive economy, in which casual labour in agriculture, construction, and brick- 7.7 Patterns of Change in Women’s making figure prominently, draws attention to the Occupations through Migration: present limitations of current migration, as condi- Diversification or Concentration? tioned by the prevailing economic and social system, in effecting the transformation of degrading feudal hi- Four occupations dominated the profile of the erarchies. women migrant workers who responded to the indi- When examining the more detailed occupational vidual questionnaire—agriculture (17.5 per cent), paid profiles of individual migrant workers, we found that domestic work (15.9 per cent), brickmaking (11.8 per sixty-six per cent of upper-caste female migrant work- cent), and construction (14.3 per cent). The remaining ers were in the fairly diversified service sectors, as pro- forty per cent included vendors or petty traders, tex- fessional, technical, and related workers, call centre tile (spinning/tailoring/stitching) and other factory employees, sales workers in the more developed parts workers, home workers, sales workers in large malls of the retail industry, nurses, office workers, and in as well as other shops, nurses in hospitals and other other white-collar services. Further down the caste hi- medical establishments, security guards and sanitation erarchy there was progressively more concentration in workers, beauticians, teachers in formal and informal hard manual-labour-based bhattas (brick kilns), sea- educational institutions, call centre employees, a sonal agriculture, and paid domestic work. Migrant range of office workers, and professionals such as law- women workers from other backward castes/classes yers, doctors, journalists, and engineers. To get an (OBC) were also relatively more concentrated in paid idea of the pattern of occupational shifts and changes domestic and agricultural seasonal work although effected through migration, figures 7.2 and 7.3 present well over a third of them were distributed across vari- the occupations before and after their last or present ous other services. Scheduled Caste (SC) women ap- round of migration for migrants with rural destina- peared to be more concentrated in brickmaking, tions, and figures 7.4 and 7.5 do the same for urban while Scheduled Tribe (ST) migrant women were destinations. more concentrated in construction.31 The corollary of In rural areas, the big story is the shift from a such concentrations of SC and ST women in manual number of occupations (including in agriculture) to occupations of a casual nature based on hard labour brickmaking. The share of brick kiln workers more was their low proportion in white-collar services. than doubled from around nine per cent in the pre- White-collar services accounted for just nineteen per migration profile of the workers to over twenty-one cent of SC and eighteen per cent of ST women mi- per cent post-migration.32 Such a concentration has grant workers. several negative implications, particularly in relation In contrast to these extremes separating workers to gender. Brickmaking in India is one of the most across caste categories, paid domestic work occupied arduous manual occupations – involving softening of a significant place in the occupational profiles of the soil/mud with water, digging out of the softened women migrants of all caste categories, while textile- mud with a spade (generally done by males), packing based manufacturing employment was fairly evenly the clay into moulds with hands, emptying them on present in all the categories, other than the ST cate- the ground in rows (done by men and women), then gory. As such, the indications are that concentration stacking them for further drying in the sun (done by in migrant manual labour in agriculture, construction, women and children). These workers (patheras) who and brickmaking at one end and access to diversified, relatively more settled, and white-collar forms of em- ployment for migrants at the other are more deter- 32 Estimates of the number of brick kilns in India vary mined by initial location in caste hierarchies. On the from 50,000 to 100,000. According to World Bank sources, in 2010 brick production was estimated to be 140 billion per year, with production increasing 5–10 per 31 More than 22 per cent of SC women migrants were in cent a year. Estimates of the number of workers vary brickmaking while 28 per cent of ST women migrants widely from 5–10 million to 25 million, of whom roughly were construction workers. 45 per cent are women. Traversing Myriad Trails: Tracking Gender and Labour Migration across India 141 Figure 7.2: Occupations of women workers before migratiom. Rural destinations. Source: CWDS survey, Individual migrant questionnaire (village sites and sector sites combined). Figure 7.3: Occupations of women workers after migratiom. Rural destinations. Source: CWDS survey, Individual migrant questionnaire (village sites and sector sites combined) mould the raw bricks are recruited in male/female or other residential settlement, in rough temporary pairs (jodis). Specialized firers of the kilns, on the shacks, although some of the more long-standing and other hand, are always male and generally different larger kilns have built single-room tenement lines. from all other categories of brick workers in commu- Significant catchment areas for migrants in brick- nity and areas of origin. Other categories of workers making are the drought-prone inland western parts of include (with some permutations and combinations) Orissa with high tribal concentrations, from where those who manually carry and arrange the green workers migrate to the southern states of Andhra bricks at the kiln (beldars) and those who manually Pradesh, Karnataka, and even Tamilnadu, though sev- carry the fully baked and cooled bricks to storage eral districts in Tamilnadu are themselves recruiting points (nikasis) – mostly women, recruited in male/ grounds for Karnataka kilns. Kilns in West Bengal and female groups, but not necessarily in pairs. All func- Bihar draw workers from Jharkhand even as workers tions involve hard toil out in the open all day. Payment from Bihar travel eastwards and westwards to kilns in rates are fixed per 1,000 bricks for all categories other states. From Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and now except the firers who have time-rated wages. The Uttar Pradesh, workers are taken to the kilns of Gu- workers stay on site, at some distance from any village jarat. Often it is assumed that the catchment areas are 142 Indrani Mazumdar and Indu Agnihotri only economically backward and arid areas. Yet the given its higher share in the pre-migration profile of green revolution belt of western Uttar Pradesh is per- the workers (48 per cent) it appears that although ag- haps one of the biggest suppliers of workers to the riculture remains the most significant destination and kilns across Punjab, Haryana, and other parts of Uttar in fact the share of women migrants in agriculture Pradesh. Along with uneven regional development, it may be increasing (Venkateswarlu 2007), there is also is inequities and iniquities within village India, the loss a significant move away from agriculture in the rural of artisanal occupations and the absence of other em- migratory pattern.34 Agricultural migration is gener- ployment opportunities that has condemned large ally directed at pockets or regions of more developed proportions particularly of dalits to conditions of dire or irrigated agriculture, but the streams of migration poverty, even in developed regions, which in turn by women are more driven by other social factors. For makes them amenable to migrating year after year to example, women have not been a significant propor- the brick kilns. The brickmaking season across the tion of the large-scale migration streams from Bihar country generally falls within September/October to for agricultural labour in Punjab. On the other hand, June, and with few exceptions it has become a com- prominent routes for women are from the rain-fed pletely migrant occupation. The predominant mode tribal pockets in the eastern parts of Jharkhand and of recruitment is by labour contractors through the southeast Bengal to the irrigated agriculturally devel- payment of advances to workers at the villages of ori- oped paddy and potato areas of West Bengal, and gin, often well before the season begins. At the begin- from the upland Rajasthan/Gujarat/Madhya Pradesh ning and close of the season, railway stations close to border, which again has concentrations of tribal com- the catchment areas in Orissa and districts on the munities, to the cotton and groundnut fields in vari- Madhya Pradesh/Gujarat border can be seen packed ous parts of Gujarat. Young adolescent girls are partic- with workers carrying their pots and pans and other ularly in demand for hybridized cottonseed farms daily necessities. If at the time of transportation to the (Bacillus thuringiensis, BT) that are linked through kilns contractors’ agents may be seen dealing with the contracts to the major multinational corporation seed police and facilitating passage, the worst situations monopolies.35 arise during return journeys, when workers are aban- Perhaps the most concentrated form of migration doned to their own resources. Jam-packed into the by women in agriculture is for sugar cane harvesting trains as they are, there have even been cases of in western and southern India, for a much longer pe- deaths through suffocation. riod than is commonly seen in seasonal agricultural The hard labour involved in the circular migratory work. Unlike in the other areas mentioned above, occupation of brickmaking, the fact that it virtually farmers themselves are not so involved in recruitment condemns women and men to a lifetime of six to of migrants.36 It is the sugar mills (cooperatives as eight months away from their homes every year, the well as other private mills), rather than the farmers of fact that their children’s education suffers, and the Maharashtra, south Gujarat, and Karnataka, that use fact that it offers little potential for autonomy because labour contractors to recruit workers for harvesting the unit of labour is a family and wage payment is on the farms from which sugar cane is supplied. For piece-rated – all indicate that although some survival these sugar cane cutters, the pattern of migratory life may be ensured from this form of labour migration, it and work is of a longer duration than is otherwise offers virtually no opportunity for social advancement seen in agricultural migration. It involves a significant or economic independence for women. Since brick- making is included under manufacturing in the Na- tional Industrial Classification (NIC), the shift from 33 A striking instance of the scale of immobility observed agriculture to brickmaking would appear in the in the field was the case of a young woman from macro-data as a shift to manufacturing and may be Jharkhand in an advanced stage of pregnancy whom we seen as diversification. The reality, is, however that la- met in a kiln located in north-east Bihar, and who had herself been born in a kiln where her mother had been bour migration to brick kilns and fields presages so- working. cial immobility even as it involves permanent migra- 34 In figure 7.2 workers in agriculture before migration tory circulation (Agnihotri/Mazumdar 2009).33 include seasonal agricultural labour, cultivating peas- Agriculture including for plantations remains the ants, full-time agricultural workers, and other farm largest occupational destination for rural women mi- workers. grants and accounted for 33.4 per cent of rural female 35 Gujarat has become a major centre for such cottonseed migrant workers in the CWDS surveys. However farms, although they are also found in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka (Venkataswarlu). Traversing Myriad Trails: Tracking Gender and Labour Migration across India 143 part of the year (generally October to May), and as in tra, even as their low wages for this backbreaking the case of brick kiln workers, there is little scope for labour have become a regular source of agitation, social mobility, despite the use of modern factory pro- sugar cane cutters recently waged a strike struggle duction and accumulation systems.37 However, unlike against attempts to introduce the mechanical harvest- brick workers, who generally work around one kiln in ers that would displace them from even such de- a season, cane cutters move from site to site within a graded conditions of employment.40 single season, as a form of nomad labour. They are re- Two occupations that were absent in the pre-mi- cruited in gangs, but again composed of male/female gration profile of any of these rural female migrants pairs, and wages are piece-rated (per tonne). The are noticeable. They are paid domestic work and tex- male/female pairs are referred to as koytas, which tile spinning workers. The presence of migrants also refers to the sickle-like implement used for cut- among rural domestic workers is a new phenomenon, ting the cane, and while the men cut the cane, the and it is possible that they initially migrated for other women bundle and carry it on their backs to whatever occupations or in association with other migrant mode of transport is used by the mills. Without any workers. The spinning mill workers, on the other fixed place to stay, these workers and their families hand, are recruited migrants, generally young and un- are protected from the elements only by small tents married girls; for example in Tamilnadu girls have that are pitched near wherever they may be working. been recruited from the southern districts of the state They have even greater difficulties in accessing water for production work in spinning mills in the state’s and sanitation facilities than brick workers. north central districts of Erode, Dindigul, Tirupur, High-density routes that have been established for and Coimbatore. For some years such labour recruit- this male/female pair-based migration for sugar cane ment operated under the guise of an apprenticeship- harvesting are 1) from districts in Marathwada and Vi- cum-marriage-assistance scheme, known as the darbha, Maharashtra to the southern districts in the ‘Sumangali Marriage Scheme’, whereby girls worked same state that are home to the largest concentration on a two-to-three-year contract with a spinning mill, at of sugar mills in the country, 2) from the contiguous the end of which a lump sum was given to them pur- tribal belt along the borders of Maharashtra, Gujarat, portedly for use in their marriage (read dowry). Since and Madhya Pradesh to the sugar mills of Gujarat, the girls were confined to residential camps run by and 3) from the north-eastern parts of Karnataka to the mill managements, it became known as a ‘camp the state’s Belgaon Dharwad corridor adjacent to the coolie system’ and following a court order in 2007, sugar belt of Maharashtra, as well as to the agricultur- decreeing it as ‘bonded labour’ and therefore illegal, ally developed southern parts of the state (Mysore the scheme as such has gone underground, although area) and even into Tamilnadu.38 Major communities the pattern of migration it initiated does not appear involved in such migration include large concentra- to have changed. At the same time government dis- tions of dalits, adivasis, and other backward castes, in- trict rural development agencies (DRDAs) seem to cluding some denotified tribes (DNT).39 In Maharash- have become recruiters of young girls from districts such as Anantapur and Vizianagram in Andhra Pradesh and Ganjam, Orissa for spinning mills in ru- 36 Second only to Brazil in cane sugar production, India is also the world’s largest consumer of sugar. A total area of 1.8 million hectares is under cane sugar in Maharash- 39 Many of India’s nomadic communities were notified as tra, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Tamilanadu. Of the 566 ‘criminal tribes’ by the British colonial regime through sugar mills, 56 per cent are in the cooperative sector, 34 the infamous Criminal Tribes Act, 1871. After independ- per cent in private hands, and the remainder in public ence, they were denotified and are still referred to as ownership. Sugar cane is the third major crop after Denotified Tribes (DNT), although they may be other- paddy and wheat and the second largest agro-processing wise differentially classified as scheduled caste/tribe industry after cotton and textiles. (SC/ST) or other backward class/caste (OBC) in vari- 37 Estimates of the number of such sugar cane cutters ous states of the country. See Government of India, based on output and required labour inputs place the National Advisory Council, Working Group on Denoti- number of workers at one million in Maharashtra alone, fied and Nomadic Tribes. of whom 70 per cent work in Maharashtra and 30 per 40 In 2008, demanding higher wages, the union of cane cent in Gujarat. cutters stopped the lorries coming to pick up workers at 38 In the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, the state that the beginning of the cane cutting season from entering otherwise produces the largest share of the country’s Beed district. At the same time, a statewide agitation sugar cane, women are not, however, a part of migra- against the introduction of imported mechanized har- tion for sugar cane harvesting. vesters had been able to stop their use in most areas. 144 Indrani Mazumdar and Indu Agnihotri ral parts of southern India. Some of these mills are Three of the service occupations of these urban state of the art in terms of technology, but located in migrants were singularly absent in the pre-migration rural isolation. profiles of the workers, namely sales workers in retail In urban areas, the patterns of employment are vis- outlets, beauticians/hairdressers, and call centre work- ibly more diversified. Rural-to-urban movement ac- ers. Further, the share of manufacturing/production counted for eighty per cent of the surveyed urban mi- more than doubled from 5 per cent pre-migration to grants. The pre-migration profile of the urban 12 per cent post-migration. The share of vendors/ migrants indicated that around thirty per cent of the petty traders also doubled from 2.6 per cent pre-mi- workers had been unemployed or engaged in only gration to 6 per cent post-migration, and the share of cooking, cleaning, and care activities for their families, nurses rose from 2.6 to 4.24 per cent. Apart from the and around one-third had been in agriculture, con- above, the urban sample had some 36 per cent in struction, and domestic work taken together. Thirty- more diverse services (including sales workers, beauti- seven per cent were in various diversified occupations cians, call centre workers, and professional/technical- even prior to their latest round of migration including related workers), whereas the pre-migration profile some manufacturing workers, but mostly in a range of showed less than 27 per cent in diversified services. services.41 What is, however, the most striking feature Interestingly, among urban women migrants in con- of the transformation of occupations in rural-to-urban struction, it appears that independent and petty-con- migration is the visible process of concentration in tractor-based construction (both in roughly equal paid domestic work. The pre-migration profile of the measures) and large-scale companies are all involved urban women migrants shows that only around ten in drawing women into urban construction activity. per cent were domestic workers. This share practically From around ten per cent before migration, the num- trebled to twenty-seven per cent in the post-migration bers in the post-migration urban sample had risen to profile. Arguably, the intensity of the process of con- fifteen per cent. The greater presence of independent centration is part of an ongoing structuring of gender construction workers indicates that the migration of and class-based social hierarchies in urban India, in these workers to urban areas was perhaps less con- which the concentration of women workers in paid tractor-driven in comparison to rural areas and more domestic work is emerging as a key element, a process based on independent expectations of finding that is to some extent being driven by migration from employment. rural areas. But the most significant change effected by migra- Domestic workers who ‘live out’, i.e., not with tion to urban areas that needs to be highlighted is that their employers, constitute the majority of such mi- thirty-one per cent of the surveyed women workers grant domestic workers who generally migrate along who were unemployed or involved in only family- with some family members. Among ‘live in’ domestic based domestic duties (in a sense housewives) before workers, who generally migrate singly, patterns of mi- migration were able to effect entry into paid employ- gration are being driven by contractor/agents (place- ment in urban areas. At the same time, it is noticeable ment agencies) who have targeted tribal girls from that only around fourteen per cent of the urban work- Jharkhand and even plantation areas of West Bengal ers had actually made a transition from agricultural to and Assam as their prime recruiting grounds. The av- non-agricultural employment. This reinforces the erage monthly wage for the live-out domestic workers point that emerged from the NSS data that female la- was around three-quarters of the national floor for ru- bour migration is not leading to a large-scale struc- ral wages that has been established by the Mahatma tural shift of the female workforce out of agriculture. Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee However, the reasons for the fact that only a small Scheme (MGNREGS) (the national floor being Rs proportion of urban migrant women workers are be- 100, equivalent to slightly less than two dollars per ing drawn from the agricultural workforce, and a day), while the live-in workers earned just about equiv- much larger proportion are being drawn from unem- alent to the floor. ployed or hitherto housebound women, perhaps need to be located in the different attitudes that control or direct women’s involvement in relation to paid em- ployment according to feudal caste and status hierar- 41 In the figures, the category of ‘others’, includes all occu- chies. It is well known that upper-caste women were pations that were less than 1.5 per cent of the sample, traditionally restricted from working outside the but actually covered a range of services in both rural and home, and certainly less involved in the manual la- urban areas. Traversing Myriad Trails: Tracking Gender and Labour Migration across India 145 Figure 7.4: Occupation pattern of female migrant workers before migratiom (Urban) [%]. Source: CWDS survey, individual migrant questionnaire (village sites and sector sites combined). Figure 7.5: Occupation pattern of female migrant workers after migratiom (Urban) [%]. Source: CWDS survey, individual migrant questionnaire (village sites and sector sites combined). bour associated with agriculture. Conversely, lower 7.8 Of Contractors and social and caste status compels greater involvement of Independence: Modes and women in paid work in agriculture. The more diversi- Manner of Migration. fied and less stigmatized service occupations that have developed in urban areas have clearly opened up Interestingly, information gathered on the mode of more opportunities for hitherto more restricted up- migration, given in figure 7.6 indicates the prevalence per-caste women than for traditional female workers of strong independent motivation in labour migration in agriculture, who are more drawn more from SC, by women in both rural and urban migration streams. ST, and even OBC backgrounds. Such independence is substantially greater among ur- 146 Indrani Mazumdar and Indu Agnihotri ban women migrant workers (80.7 per cent). Of a little over six per cent were mobilized by contractor, course, this independent mode of migration also in- but even here the outside contractor is slightly more cludes decisions taken by couples/nuclear families of a factor than the local. Among such workers mobi- and not necessarily in a purely individual capacity. lized by contractors were women who had migrated This becomes clear from the manner of their migra- alone or in all-female groups, raising questions as to tion given in figure figure 7.7 which shows that the how appropriate it would be to assume that they are largest category is of women who migrated with only all autonomous migrants. The greater role of non-lo- family members (43.2 per cent) in contrast to men cal contractors in the mobilization of women workers among whom the largest category is of those who also runs counter to the common assumption that the have migrated alone (42.7 per cent).42 relationship between women and contractors is based Nevertheless, it is significant that a great majority on kin or local/social associations. It remains true of the female migrant workers in both rural and urban that the nature of contractor-driven migration, which areas felt a degree of involvement in decisions related is often based on advances given well before actual to their migration. The CWDS field surveys indicate migration, often leads to forms of debt bondage that the overwhelming majority of the women work- The Inter-state Migrant Workmen’s Act, 1979 (the ers migrated with clear intentions of finding employ- only labour law that specifically addresses migrant ment, including perhaps even some of those who oth- workers) was designed to provide for some worker en- erwise moved for associational reasons. Further, the titlements in precisely such contractor-driven modes fact that almost a quarter (close to twenty-three per of migration (although only for those who cross state cent) of female migrant workers reported that they boundaries). It has remained the most ineffectual of have migrated alone indicates that ‘autonomous’ mi- all the labour laws, as has repeatedly been pointed out gration by women is on the rise. With another seven (2nd Labour Commission 2002; NCEUS 2007). It per cent of female migrants indicating that they mi- stipulates that transportation and related costs have to grated in all-female groups, autonomous migration by be borne by contractors, and that wages should be women for employment, particularly in urban areas, is paid for even the journey time. It also has provisions a phenomenon that can no longer be ignored. for a displacement allowance, apart from other provi- At the same time, employer or contractor mobili- sions for ensuring decent conditions of work. But this zation of workers is significant in rural female labour law is known more for its violation than its implemen- migration.43 Some twenty-five per cent of rural tation and does not even apply to intra-state migra- women migrant workers were mobilized by contrac- tion. In practice the advance from employers for tors (figure 7.6). Here some separation has been made movement costs is treated as a loan, so that workers between local and outside contractors, although given have to pay it off through their labour; our fieldwork the prevalence of tiers among contractors, it is proba- showed that indeed the amount advanced to them ble that at least some of the local contractors were was generally deducted from their wages at the end of themselves mobilized by outside agents. the migration round. Within mobilization by contractors, the domi- nance of the outside contractor/agent/employer is clear, particularly in migration for brick kilns (bhattas) 7.9 Concluding Remarks and agriculture and in some cases for construction. Among urban women migrant workers, however, only This chapter has attempted to highlight some of the most neglected and hitherto poorly delineated dimen- sions of internal labour migration in India from a per- 42 Among women migrant workers, even among the over spective drawn from the experiences of the contem- 24 per cent who migrated in mixed male and female porary women’s movement in the country. The groups, there were many who had migrated with hus- CWDS research project on which it is based has been bands. distinctive in trying to cover not just one or a few cor- 43 The lineages of the contractor regime for recruiting/ ners of India; it attempted to reflect as far as possible mobilizing/controlling workers for manual labour in the entire current picture. As such, the chapter’s main India go back to forced labour in colonial times—its con- tinuing exploitative nature long recognized by labour arguments and findings – summarized below – con- law in the country, which is why the abolition of con- cern tens of millions of diverse women moving within tract labour (defined in Indian law as employment a billion-plus country of sub-continental proportions. through a contractor) has been a long-standing demand of the labour movement. Traversing Myriad Trails: Tracking Gender and Labour Migration across India 147 Figure 7.6: Mode of last migration by women migrant workers (% distribution). Source: CWDS survey, individual migrant questionnaire (village sites and sector sites combined). Figure 7.7: Manner of last migration (% distribution). Source: CWDS survey, individual migrant questionnaire (village sites and sector sites combined). At a general level, the findings of primary surveys con- Regarding the social direction of the patterns of ducted by the CWDS from 2009 to 2011 using a women’s labour migration in India, the meso-level socially grounded typology of migration provide a view from this research project provides the following meso-level view of the predominance of the tempo- major findings. rary in contemporary labour migration, including • There is strong evidence that migration has led to medium-term and circular labour migration. Tempo- only limited diversification of women’s employ- rary migration is shown to be a more significant phe- ment, in precisely the period when the country’s nomenon than is indicated in the available macro-data higher levels of particularly service-driven growth for both men and women. As such, the primary had become the most celebrated topic of Indian research findings posit the need for reorientation development discourse. away from the present conceptual dominance of a • The empirical evidence indicates occupational permanent settlement paradigm in the official macro- shifts through migration leading to greater con- surveys, and greater recognition of different types of centration of women in a relatively narrow band temporary migration in the concepts and definitions of occupations, often with limited scope for social adopted. We argue that the macro-level underestima- advancement, generally differentiated however tion of short-term and circular labour migration is a along the fault lines of entrenched social hierar- most significant factor in invisibilizing much of chies based on caste and community. women’s labour migration in India. 148 Indrani Mazumdar and Indu Agnihotri • It shows more medium-term and long-term migra- • Overall, female labour migration has had less of an tion among women workers from upper-caste impact on the structure of the female workforce in communities accompanying relatively greater lev- comparison to men, reflected in the continuing els of diversification of their employment into var- and relatively greater concentration of women in ious types of services in urban areas. agriculture and in low employment rates among • At the other extreme is the concentration of urban women, evident in the macro-statistics. migrant women workers from the historically dis- • It appears that such a continuing weight of agricul- advantaged and stigmatized communities of ture in the structure of the female workforce is scheduled castes and tribes in short-term and par- also partly maintained because relatively smaller ticularly circular migration for hard manual labour proportions of women migrant workers in urban with little scope for social advancement. areas have been drawn from the agricultural work- • At the same time, while a distinctive movement force; instead more of them (particularly from the towards concentration of women in paid domestic higher castes) have made a transition from non- work, particularly through rural-to-urban migra- employment to employment. tion, cuts across all castes/tribes/communities, • Both the macro-data and the village sites compo- textile-based factory production also appears rela- nent in the CWDS meso-level study indicate an ex- tively less characterized by caste features, having treme degree of male bias in migration-based em- drawn migrant women from all communities ployment in industry and services (less so in other than scheduled tribes. agriculture) at levels even greater than in non-mi- • Further, in some circular migration-based employ- grant employment. It is argued that the pattern of ment regimes with high levels of female density, migration in India is actually enhancing structural such as brickmaking across the country and sugar gender inequalities in the labour market, and cane cutting in western and southern India, needs to be correlated to the massive reduction in women’s wage work in the capital-accumulation- the absolute numbers and employment share of oriented modern sector is itself subsumed in la- the female workforce, evident in the official work- bouring units comprised of male/female pairs or force statistics for 2007–08 and 2009–10. family units. When such subsumption is combined The fact that the above findings are for a period of with piece rates, not only is there no scope for in- high growth in India raises several additional ques- dependent work/activity and income, but indeed tions. Obviously such growth, characterized by a rap- legal quantification of the value of individual idly declining share of agriculture in the country’s women’s work becomes an insurmountable prob- GDP and accelerated growth primarily in services and lem. This is compounded by a cycle of advances to a lesser extent also in industry, has not generated and debt-based tying of such labouring units that commensurate demand in terms of employment, for means that while survival may be ensured by such which women have paid the main price of reduced modes of migration, the possibilities of social ad- employment. Despite the push towards migration vancement are severely limited. from distress induced by the agrarian crisis, a pullback The macro- and meso-level findings as laid out in this also appears to be operating, linked to the predomi- chapter challenge some assumptions that have nantly temporary nature of the developing employ- become commonplace in approaches to women’s ment regime, and the widespread inability of the mi- work and work-based migration. grant workforce (male and female) circulating at the lower ends of the economy to sustain social reproduc- • On the one hand, the low shares of women in la- tion without periodic retreat to the village economy, bour migration for industry and diversified serv- even as the village economy is not providing sufficient ices run counter to the assumption that liberaliza- employment. As such, the overall analysis implicitly tion and globalization leads to feminization of draws attention to the need to bring into the debate labour and to related migration. In fact, the esca- questions related to structural limitations to the migra- lated devaluation of women’s traditional work ap- tion enterprise under the current growth path: limita- pears to be confronted with employment constric- tions in effecting a) durable or structural occupational tion and a narrow range of options, rather than shifts away from agriculture for women workers, b) es- compensation for loss of earlier employment cape from or transformation of degrading semi-feudal through adequate expansion and diversification in social relations based on caste hierarchies and patriar- paid employment opportunities for women. chy, and c) escape from the massive employment crisis Traversing Myriad Trails: Tracking Gender and Labour Migration across India 149 that women are now facing in India. While focusing on the empirical features of female Nevertheless, the urge to change the conditions of labour migration in India, the chapter’s emphasis on their life and work is evident in the high proportion a gendering of the issues and questions from a of women migrant workers declaring that they them- women’s movement perspective has foregrounded the selves decided to migrate, whether in families or inde- intersections between gender, caste, and class differ- pendently. This, combined with a significant presence entials and inequalities that are reflected in migration of autonomous migration by women, does indeed patterns in contemporary India. The social outcome indicate a wave of social assertion and aspirational of much of female labour migration does not appear motivation, so important for the advance of the to be moving towards the lessening of such differen- women’s movement. Yet the overall findings of the tials; and even demand-driven migration patterns ap- CWDS study show that structural constraints shaped pear to be reconfiguring and providing new founda- by macro-processes under neo-liberal-driven economic tions for inequalities. Our study thus highlights the growth have narrowed the field of opportunity for need for a redistributive and equalizing growth women’s work-based migration and indeed some- agenda for the country, a demand for which the times reinforced entrenched patriarchies. women’s movement in India has been among the most active advocates. Annex Table 7.4: Location of CWDS survey sites. Source: The authors. Geographic region in States – subregions Districts/ metropolitan cities India North to north-west Punjab – Malwa lies between the Sutlej and Yamuna Districts: Bathinda, Sangrur , Patiala, rivers; its regional cultural history includes early mass Jalandhar, Ludhiana conversion to Sikhism, and Doaba, the tract of land between the confluence of the rivers Sutlej and Beas Haryana – semi-arid western zone and eastern trans- Districts: Hisar, Rewari, Panipat Gangetic plains North-central to east Uttar Pradesh – Upper Doab, western alluvial tracts Districts: Baghpat, Badayun, Varanasi, coast between the rivers Ganga and Yamuna, Rohilkhand, Azamgarh on the upper plains of the Ganga so named because of the rule of Rohilla Pathans established in Mughal times. Purvanchal, eastern Uttar Pradesh, largely Bhoj- puri-speaking Bihar – north-western and southern alluvial plains of Districts: Siwan, Begusarai, Nawada this predominantly agricultural state West Bengal – the lateritic, red, and gravelly undulating Districts: West Medinipur, North 24 region in the west (eastern reaches of middle India’s Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Bardha- Chotanagpur plateau with a sizeable tribal population) man and deltaic alluvial plains in the south of the state Orissa – the arid inland western parts as well as the Districts: Balangir, Khorda, Bhadrak, coastal regions Ganjam North-east Assam – warm, humid, lower and upper Brahmaputra Districts: Kamrup, Nalbari, Dibrugarh valleys Meghalaya and Mizoram—humid subtropical hills Districts: East Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills, Aizawl 150 Indrani Mazumdar and Indu Agnihotri Geographic region in States – subregions Districts/ metropolitan cities India Central Highlands to Jharkhand – Chotanagpur plateau south of the Indo- Districts: Ranchi, Lohardagga, Gumla, north-west Gangetic plan with a large tribal population. Dry, sub- Dumka, Jamtara tropical climate Chhattisgarh – Plains region between the ‘Northern Districts: Korba, Janjgir-Champa, Rajn- hilly region’ in the north and the ‘Bastar plateau’ in the andgaon, Raipur, Mahasamund south of the state Madhya Pradesh – arid plains of Bundelkhand (Uttar Districts: Tikamgarh, Jhabua , Indore, Pradesh border), the Malwa plateau area, and agricul- Bhopal, Raisen turally developed upper plains of the Narmada river basin Rajasthan – semi-arid southwestern reaches of the Districts: Udaipur, Dungarpur, Nagaur, Aravalli Hills and sandy eastern plains Sikar, Jaipur Western Region Gujarat – the significantly industrialized southern and Districts: Surat, Ahmedabad, Gand- the more backward north eastern parts hinagar, Mehsana, Dahod, Panchmahal Maharashtra – rain shadow region of Marathwada, the Districts: Parbhani, Chandrapur, coal belt of Vidarbha, Khandesh (south of the Satpura Nandurbar, Satara, range with a significant tribal population), and the concentrated sugar cane belt in the south-west of the state Southern Peninsula Karnataka – the fertile plains and slopes in the south Districts: Mysore, Kodagu, Kolar, as well as the northern arid regions Koppal Andhra Pradesh – semi-arid regions of Telengana and Mehboobnagar, Anantapur, Guntur, Rayalseema (southern plateau) and the irrigated fertile Prakasam coastal region that constitute three cultural zones of the state Tamilnadu – the dry northern, torrid southern, and Districts: Villupuram, Dindigul, Tirunel- highly industrialized central parts veli, Kanya Kumari, Tirupur Kerala – the Malabar coast in the north of the state as Districts: Mallapuram, Ernakulam, Kot- well as southern and central parts of the erstwhile tayam, Trivandrum state of Travancore-Cochin Metropolitan cities NCT of Delhi (city state), Maharashtra, West Bengal, Cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Banga- Karnataka, Tamilnadu lore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Breman, Jan, 1996: Footloose Labour: Working in India's References Informal Sector (Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress). 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This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. 8 From ‘Integration into Cities’ to ‘An Integrated Society’: Women Migrants’ Needs and Rights in Fujian Province, China Yu Zhu and Liyue Lin1 Abstract2 This chapter addresses the rights issues of women migrants in China in the context of their complex, lengthy, unstable, and diverse migration processes, and from a gender perspective. It first documents recent efforts by governments and relevant institutions in China to address the rights issues of women migrants. It then presents results from two recent surveys of rural-urban migrants and from subsequent in-depth interviews in Fujian Prov- ince, a major destination of rural-urban migrants in China. Although great efforts have been made and signifi- cant progress has been achieved, major rights issues still exist for women migrants. The chapter suggests that the common conceptualization of rural-urban migration as a one-way transition is oversimplified. It proposes a non-urban-centred and non-residence-based approach to migrants’ rights. Migrants require inclusion in a system of rights that extends wider than the municipality or locality level, probably to a nationally integrated system, to be adequate to their real, complex patterns of movement, instead of integration into a locality-specific system of social rights only. In addition, the chapter illustrates other policy implications that flow from a more gender- sensitive analysis of key issues affecting the achievement of women migrants’ rights and social entitlements, including education and access to work after the age of forty. Keywords: China, Fujian Province, women migrants, needs, rights, social integration, urban integration, urban- and residence-based approach. 8.1 Introduction: Studying Migrants’ posed of women. Women migrants both benefit from Differentiated Needs12 and make important contributions to society through migration, as do their male counterparts. A large China has perhaps the largest internal migrant popu- body of literature has emerged both in China and in- lation in the world, and nearly half of this flow is com- ternationally on the social rights of migrants, some of which has shown that women are still placed in a dis- advantaged position, especially in society and in the 1 Professor Yu Zhu is Professor in the School of Geogra- phy and Director of the Centre for Population and Devel- communities of destination (e.g., Chan 1996; Solinger opment Research, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, 1999; Cai 2000; Yang and Chen 2000; Yang 2001; Fan China. Dr. Liyue Lin is a Lecturer at the School of Geog- 2003; Xu 2006). Addressing women migrants’ rights raphy, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, China. is of great significance not only to migration research, 2 This chapter is based on the results of the research but also to relevant social policy-making. project on ‘The differentiation of women migrants in While some of the academic work is more refined, the migration process and their rights issues: Case stud- policy debates on and practices to promote the rights ies from Fujian Province of China’, funded by the Interna- tional Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada of internal migrants in China are by and large prem- (IDRC Grant number: 105447-001). It has also benefited ised on an urban-centred and/or residence-based ap- 3 from the authors' research supported by the Social Pro- proach, and on the principle of the hukou. The ur- tection in Asia (SPA) policy research and network-build- ban-centred approach is linked to the debate on ing programme funded by the Ford Foundation and ‘urban citizenship’, and seeks to establish migrants’ IDRC. The authors would like to thank the Fujian Provin- full rights in the destination cities by granting them an cial Population and Family Planning Commission for urban status (e.g., Chan 1996; Solinger 1999; Wang/ facilitating this research, and Des Gasper, Thanh-Dam Truong, and two anonymous referees for their invaluable Zhang 2006). The popular tendency is to treat mi- help in the preparation and revision of this chapter. grants as a homogeneous group, without paying atten- T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 153 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_8, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 154 Yu Zhu and Liyue Lin tion to the complexity of ‘difference’, in terms of gen- Bringing the understanding of mobility patterns of mi- der, age, and ethnicity. In cases where particular grants closer to rapidly changing realities and emerg- attention has been paid to women migrants and their ing needs will have implications for policy-making for specific rights issues, a gender perspective is often China as a whole. lacking. In the following section (8.2) we highlight recent This chapter contributes to the policy debates on efforts by governments and relevant institutions to women migrants’ rights issues in China by moving be- protect the rights and interests of both women and yond the debate surrounding only the hukou to bring men migrants. This provides the context against into focus issues of rights arising from, and embedded which our findings are discussed. As many rights is- in, the migration process itself. The chapter shows sues of women migrants in China have been exam- how the migrants’ unsettled position may be related ined in the literature without distinguishing between to other factors besides the hukou system, such as men and women, as is also the case when govern- their household strategies and the intrinsic demand of ments and relevant institutions address these issues, the destination cities for temporary migrant labour. we will assess such efforts without singling out Diversification in the migration process in terms of women migrants. The later sections, specifically on the final destinations has been noted, such that cities Fujian, will advance these discussions by focusing on where migrants work and live cannot be necessarily women migrants and making explicit gender distinc- assumed to be the location where they will finally set- tions and comparisons. In section 8.3 we will docu- tle down (Zhu 2003, 2007; Zhu/Chen 2010). While ment women migrants’ rights issues as reflected in paying special attention to women migrants, the chap- their socio-economic characteristics and working and ter also includes men migrants in the analysis, and living conditions. Section 8.4 examines the current makes explicit gender comparisons, which show both dominant approach in addressing these issues in rela- differences and similarities between women and men tion to women migrants’ complex and diversified mi- in terms of the migration process and rights issues. gration flows. Section 8.5 puts forward some policy Using data from a survey in Fujian Province, a re- recommendations for improving rights protection for lated survey of the five districts of its capital city women migrants. Fuzhou, and subsequent in-depth interviews, the chap- ter highlights the complexity and diversity in migra- tion processes and outcomes and argues for treating 8.2 Progress in Migrants’ Rights women migrants as a socially differentiated category Protection in China within the which spans different patterns of migration flows and Current Urban-Centred and corresponding needs for rights protection. Located in Residence-Based Approach the coastal area of south-east China, Fujian Province is one of the major destination areas for internal migra- The needs of migrants and their families for rights tion, along with other coastal provinces4 (Zhu 2007; protection manifest themselves in many aspects of Zhu/Chen 2010), and so we expect that the research their work and life, especially unequal access to and findings in Fujian may have a wider reference value. insecurity of employment (Wang/Zhang 2006; Cook 2008; Du et al. 2008), low income level (Zhu 2007), 3 China’s hukou system dates back to the Northern and low social insurance coverage (NBS 2006; Zhu 2007), Southern Dynasties some 1,500 years ago. Its recent form was shaped through the promulgation of the ‘reg- ulation on household registration’ in 1958. This stipu- 4 According to the latest 2010 census, the total popula- lates that all citizens must register with the relevant tion of the Province was 36,894,216, and the size of the authorities at the places of their permanent residence, Province’s ‘floating population’, namely those who had with the household as the basic registration unit; all left their town (township, sub-district) administrative births, deaths, and migrations are required to be regis- boundaries for more than half a year at the time of 2010 tered by the same authorities; the transfer of one’s census (excluding those moving between the sub-dis- household registration from a rural to an urban place tricts of the same municipality) amounted to 10,244,081 needs to be approved; and all people are assigned a reg- persons, with 4,313,602 of them from outside Fujian istration status as either ‘agricultural’ or ‘non-agricul- Province. The population of Fuzhou city, the five dis- tural’ in the registration system (Zhu 2004). However, tricts directly under the administration of Fuzhou since the reform era, there have been various reforms in Municipality, was 2,921,700 at the 2010 census, and the the hukou system, causing various changes to this regu- city is one of the major migrant destinations in Fujian lation in different places. Province. From ‘Integration into Cities’ to ‘An Integrated Society’: Women Migrants’ Needs and Rights 155 exclusion from housing security (Wu 2002; Lin/Zhu women and men migrants are now increasingly enjoy- 2008), and unequal access to educational opportuni- ing improved conditions of employment and income. ties for children (Liang/Chen 2007), as well as the A second area of progress concerns measures to great difficulties that migrants’ children face in mi- ensure equal access to education and equal treatment grants’ places of origin (Xiang 2007; Duan/Yang in the destination cities for migrants’ children, a ma- 2008). In recent years, the need for rights protection jor concern for women migrants who are mothers or for migrants and their families has been increasingly future mothers (The State Council 2006; Duan et al. recognized in China, and various efforts in the form 2008). China’s educational resources are allocated ac- of policies, insurance programmes, and other prac- cording to the size of the schooling population with tices have been made to meet such needs, especially local hukou status. As most migrant children do not since 2000. So far, extending the coverage of the con- have such hukou status, this used to be one of the big- ventional urban-hukou-based and residence-based so- gest obstacles to migrant children’s attending school. cial welfare system or its post-reform variations to in- Public schools that accommodate migrant children of- clude migrants has been the dominant approach (Zhu ten charged an extra fee called ‘jiedufei’ (guest stu- et al. 2009). In a way, migrants are regarded as newly dent fees), thus limiting their access. In recent years, added members of urban society, and various efforts the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Public have been made to integrate them so that they can en- Security have released various documents with new joy the same rights and benefits as local urban resi- policies and measures aimed at ensuring migrant chil- dents. We refer to this as the urban- and residence- dren’s equal access to educational opportunities. based approach. These policies and measures are collectively reflected The most significant progress has been achieved in “Opinions of the State Council about solving the in addressing the rights issues of migrants in terms of problems of rural-urban migrant workers”, which stip- their employment and income (Zhu et al. 2009; Zhu/ ulates that, in principle, children of rural-urban mi- Lin 2011). Once seriously compromised by policies re- grant workers should have equal access to compulsory stricting and controlling rural-urban migration and mi- education, and governments of the destination areas grant employment in the cities, migrants’ access to should take the main responsibility for this (The State employment opportunities in many destination cities Council 2006).7 has been significantly improved through a number of Following the above guidelines, governments at lo- new policies (Ministry of Labour 1994). Government cal level have made many efforts to meet the needs of at various levels has released and implemented various migrant children for education, and to give them documents to reduce the institutional basis for the equal treatment in schools. At the turn of the new discriminatory treatment of migrants in urban em- century the enrolment rate of school-age migrant chil- ployment (General Office of the State Council 2003; dren, including those able to attend public schools, The State Council 2006; Song/Hou 2007).5 In short, has increased significantly compared with the 1990s all the regulations treating migrants differently in (Duan et al. 2008), though much remains to be im- terms of employment, even those regarding employ- proved, both in public schools in the destination cities ment in government departments and public institu- and for the children of migrants who are left behind tions, have now been abolished.6 As a result, both (Duan/Yang 2008). A third policy area is the extension of the coverage of existing urban social insurance to migrants, so that they can be directly included in the system (Peng/ 5 The promulgation of the minimum wage standards, and Qiao 2005). Social insurance programmes of this kind the promulgation at the beginning of 2008 of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Employment Con- tracts, provide further protection for migrants in terms 6 Our interviews with officials from the Fujian Province of minimum wages, overtime work, working contracts, Department of Labour and Department of Social Insur- etc. (Liu 2007; Standing Committee of the People Con- ance suggest that while there may still be some discrim- gress of PRC 2007). Governments at various levels have ination against migrants at the local level, there is now taken measures to abolish unreasonable fees imposed no institutional and legal basis for such discrimination on migrants and to solve the problems of delayed wage (Interview record of the Fujian project, May 2009). payment and payment in arrears; in some cases they 7 The State Council of the People's Republic of China, have even directly intervened (General Office of the that is, the Central People’s Government, is the highest State Council, 2003; National Development and executive organ of state power, as well as the highest Reform Commission et al. 2004; Liu/Zhou 2007). organ of state administration. 156 Yu Zhu and Liyue Lin mainly cover old-age insurance, insurance against it was stipulated that rural-urban migrant workers work-related injuries, medical insurance, and unem- could join the public reserve fund for housing if cer- ployment insurance, with the priority placed on the tain conditions were met (Ministry of Construction et first two areas and on insurance against major dis- al. 2005). In the important “Opinions of the State eases. The system of migrants’ old-age insurance is Council about solving the problems of the rural-urban made up of two components, the overall pooling of migrant worker” released in 2006, the State Council social funds (Shehui Tongchou) and individual ac- gave the instruction “to improve the housing condi- counts (Geren Zhanghu), and both migrants and their tions of the floating population” (The State Council employers contribute to the system. Because the issue 2006). The State Council asked relevant government of the portability of rights has not been taken up, departments to enhance monitoring and administra- these programmes have not been effective in reaching tion to ensure that the living places of migrants met the migrant population. For example, as has been basic sanitation and safety standards. At the end of pointed out (Gao 2006; Li/Yang 2007), when mi- 2007, the Ministry of Construction and four other grants withdrew from such programmes, they could ministries jointly issued a document entitled “Guiding only take away their own contribution to the insur- opinions on improving migrant workers’ housing con- ance funds. Their employers’ contributions would re- ditions”, in which, for the first time, it is stipulated main in the funds of the cities where they used to that work units or enterprises are the main institu- work. At the time of the Fujian survey at the end of tions responsible for improving the housing condi- 2009, migrants still could not take insurance benefits tions of rural-urban migrant workers, and that govern- with them when they moved from one place to an- ments at various levels should incorporate the issue of other, making the insurance invalid in their later life. rural-urban migrant workers who will live and work in This problem had significant negative effects on mi- the cities on a long-term basis into housing planning grants’ participation in various social insurance pro- (Ministry of Construction et al. 2007). grammes. In fact, many migrants who joined the pro- These recent documents at national level have laid grammes subsequently withdrew from them, and it is down the principles for the measures to be taken by widely reported that the non-portable nature of social governments at local level to meet the housing needs insurance programmes was the main reason (Song of rural-urban migrants. Attempts have been made in 2007). In recent years, the first steps in dealing with some migrant destination cities, including Fuzhou and the portability issue have been taken but many practi- Xiamen in Fujian Province, to include some migrants cal issues remain to be resolved (Zhu/Lin 2010).8 In who meet certain strict conditions into the existing general, the proportion of migrants joining various ur- urban housing security system, so that they can enjoy ban-based social insurance programmes is still very various housing benefits provided to local residents, low. such as low-rent housing, affordable owner-occupier A fourth policy area which has started to attract at- housing, and the public reserve fund for housing (e.g. tention is migrants’ housing needs. In 2005, migrant Lai 2007). In the major migrant destination cities of housing was listed as a key priority by the Ministry of Fujian Province, local governments have also adopted Construction. This was the first time that the issue of the practice of developing low-rent or free housing in migrant housing had become part of the agenda of the industrial parks for rural-urban migrants, in coop- the Ministry (Liang 2005). In the same year, in a doc- eration with migrants’ employers, with funds allo- ument issued by the Ministry of Construction, the cated for such projects (Du 2008). However, these ef- Ministry of Finance, and the People's Bank of China, forts are sporadic and only cover a very limited group of migrants; in general, housing is still a little-ad- dressed rights issue for migrants in China, including 8 At the beginning of 2010, the “Provisional measures for in Fujian Province. the transfer and continuation of the basic old-age insur- Summing up, despite major efforts to address the ance for the employees of urban enterprises”, enacted jointly by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social rights of internal migrant workers in China in recent Security and the Ministry of Finance, began to be imple- years, limitations must be recorded in areas such as mented. The “Provisional measures for the transfer and the low coverage of migrants by various social insur- continuation of the basic medical insurance for mobile ance and housing benefits, and barriers to migrants’ employees”, enacted jointly by the Ministry of Human children in public schools. Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Finance, were promulgated and took effect from 1 July 2010. From ‘Integration into Cities’ to ‘An Integrated Society’: Women Migrants’ Needs and Rights 157 8.3 Women Migrants’ Rights and crisis, and covered 600 migrants who met the same 13 Aspects of Gender Differences criteria as those of the Fujian survey, half of whom worked in industrial, trade, and service enterprises in The following section discusses the findings of the Fu- Fuzhou’s major industrial zones and commercial ar- jian and Fuzhou surveys on the socio-economic char- eas, and half of whom were engaged in informal em- acteristics of women respondents and the working ployment as street vendors, motorbike-taxi drivers, and living conditions they face, in order to shed light porters, day labourers, and informal employees in on the existing rights issues of women migrants and small enterprises. The quota-sampling method was their gender differences. used in the Fuzhou survey to select respondents for both formal and informal employment, and a sam- 8.3.1 Fujian and Fuzhou Surveys and pling framework with stratification across major occu- Subsequent In-depth Interviews: pational categories was developed. We obtained 194 Research Design responses from women migrants and 406 responses from men migrants.14 The survey in Fujian Province9 was supported by The in-depth interviews were conducted during IDRC and jointly conducted by the Centre for Popu- the above two surveys, and covered six government lation and Development Research at Fujian Normal officials in relevant government departments, includ- University and the Fujian Provincial Population and ing the Departments for Labour and Social Insurance Family Planning Commission in December 2009, of Fujian Province, the Department of Education of when China was recovering from the financial crisis Fuzhou Municipality, the Department of Construc- of the late 2000s. As the emphasis of the research was tion and Housing of Fujian Province, three employers on women migrants, the sample sizes of women and of migrants, and thirty-eight migrants in both formal men migrants were determined as 2,000 and 1,000 re- and informal employment. The analyses in the follow- spectively, with the latter serving as the comparison ing sections are mainly based on the above two sur- group for gender analysis. We then used a four-stage veys and subsequent in-depth interviews. probability proportional to size (PPS)10 sampling pro- cedure to randomly select the county-level, township- level, and village-level administrative units, and then to randomly select ten women migrants and five men mi- grants in each selected village.11 Using the above pro- 12 As the proportions of women and men migrants in the cedure and after data cleaning, we obtained a data set total migrant population were both close to 50 per cent with 2,977 valid responses, 1,963 from women mi- in the sample frame, we randomly selected half of the grants and 1,014 from men migrants.12 responses (1,016) of women respondents and combined The survey in Fuzhou city was conducted in Febru- them with those of the 1,017 men respondents to form ary 2009 during the height of the late 2000s financial another data set, excluded 22 invalid responses from it, and obtained a data set with 2,011 valid responses, including 997 responses from women migrants and 1,014 responses from men migrants. Analyses of this 9 The database for all members of the floating popula- data set demonstrate some basic features of migrants in tion, which was established and managed by Fujian Pro- Fujian: the average age of the respondents was 31.3 vincial Population and Family Planning Commission years, and 66.06 per cent of them had educational and considered to be the most complete migrant data attainment at or higher than junior high school. Some base in the Province, was used as the sampling frame, 68.52 per cent of them were married, and 85.93 per cent and the potential respondents were both women and of the married respondents lived together with their men migrants in the database who were 15 to 64 years spouse. old, employed as labourers or in business, who had 13 See footnote 8. This survey was conducted as part of migrated out of the boundaries of their original county- the Social Protection in Asia (SPA) policy research and level administrative units, and had lived in their current network-building programme funded by the Ford Foun- places of destination for more than one month. dation and the International Development Research 10 Probability proportional to size (PPS) is a sampling tech- Centre (IDRC). nique in which the probability of selecting a sampling 14 The average age of these respondents was 30.59 years, unit (e.g. village, township, county) is proportional to and 76.67 per cent of them had educational attainment the size of its population. at or higher than junior high school. Some 49.67 per 11 In some villages more than ten women migrants and cent of them were married, and 80.87 per cent of the more than five men migrants were selected. married respondents lived together with their spouse. 158 Yu Zhu and Liyue Lin 8.3.2 Low Educational Attainment and Fuzhou survey, the proportion of respondents who Unequal Access to Educational thought that their non-local hukou status did not af- Opportunities fect their employment opportunities was 81.2 per cent. This shows that discrimination against migrants The results of the Fujian survey demonstrate two ma- in terms of employment is no longer a major issue.16 jor issues related to the educational attainment of Furthermore, 87.3 per cent of male respondents and women migrants. First, compared to the local resi- 90.2 per cent of female respondents in the Fujian sur- dents in their destination cities, women migrants’ ed- vey reported that their wages were paid in full and on ucational attainment is lower. This is an important time, suggesting that significant progress has been factor affecting their competitiveness in the labour made in solving the issues of delayed payment and market, and delays their upward socio-economic mo- payment in arrears to migrant workers, once a serious bility in both their destination cities and their places problem in China. However, despite these significant of origin if they return home. The typical educational achievements, female migrants are still vulnerable to attainment of most women migrants in the Fujian sur- employment instability and other problems related to vey was junior high school or below, and the propor- their social inclusion or exclusion at the destination. tion of women migrants who had completed senior high school stood at only 17.7 per cent. This is much 8.3.3.1 Insecurity and Instability in Employment lower than the proportion of employees in the sec- The results of the Fujian survey show that some 59.1 ondary and tertiary industries of Fujian Province who per cent of women respondents had the experience of had completed senior high school, which stood at 51.5 changing their jobs, and 29.0 per cent of them had per cent according to the second national economic 15 changed their jobs twice or more since they enteredcensus of 31 December 2008. the migration process. On average, female respond- Second, compared to their male counterparts, ents in our sample had been engaged in 2.11 jobs be- women migrants are further disadvantaged. This is re- fore the survey.17 The job instability of female re- flected in several aspects of our survey results: the av- spondents is also reflected in the status of their erage length of women respondents’ education was working contract: only 40.8 per cent had signed em- 7.53 years, 1.03 years shorter than that of men re- ployment contracts; this proportion was slightly lower spondents; the proportion of women respondents than that of their male counterparts (44.0 per cent). who had received no education beyond the level of Furthermore, among those women migrant workers junior high school was 82.3 per cent, 7.2 percentage who had signed a contract, only a very small propor- points higher than that of their male counterparts; the tion of them (around one per cent) had a long-term proportion of female respondents who had received contract, indicating the temporary nature of their jobs education at or above the level of junior high school (see also table 8.1). The unstable and temporary na- was 59.4 per cent, 15 percentage points lower; and ture of women migrants’ employment often puts 26.1 per cent of women respondents had dropped out them at a disadvantage in the labour market; with no of school, 8.5 per centage points higher. employment contract, their ability to protect their rights in labour disputes would be compromised. 8.3.3 Vulnerability in Employment and Income 8.3.3.2 Segmented Nature of Employment, Little Upward Occupational Mobility, The results of the Fujian survey show that in terms of and Age Discrimination income and employment, corresponding to the in- creasingly equal treatment of female and male mi- The Fujian survey results show that women migrants grants in their employment in the destination areas were concentrated in the manufacturing and service mentioned above in section 8.2, more than seventy per cent of both women and men respondents in the 16 The Fujian survey results show that the average monthly Fujian survey did not feel discrimination against their income of women respondents was 1,534.3Yuan migrant and gender status in their employment. In the (US$243.9) at the end of 2009, much higher than the overall average level of below 1,000 Yuan (US$159.0) only five years ago (Zhu/Chen 2010), although a signif- 15 Migrant workers were included in the above-mentioned icant gender gap still exists. employees. If they were excluded, the educational 17 The average migration duration of female respondents attainment of local employees would be even higher. was seven years. From ‘Integration into Cities’ to ‘An Integrated Society’: Women Migrants’ Needs and Rights 159 Table 8.1: Distribution of lengths of respondents’ Table 8.2: Occupational structure of female respondents working contracts (%). Source: The authors, (%). Source: The authors, based on the 2009 based on the 2009 Fujian survey prepared for Fujian survey prepared for the IDRC project. the IDRC project. Occupation Proportion Occupation Proportion Length of Female Male All respond- of women of women working con- respondents respondents ents respond- respond- tracts (N=808) (N=446) (N=1254) ents ents Less than 3 0.7 0.4 0.6 Administra- 4.2 Transport 0.5 months tive workers workers 3-6 months 1.4 0.4 1.0 Clerical 4.5 Individual busi- 16.6 workers ness owners 6-12 months 43.8 38.1 41.8 Technical 2.9 Petty traders 2.1 1-3 years 46.3 49.1 47.3 workers 3-5 years 3.8 4.3 4.0 Sales and ser- 16.6 Casual workers 1.8 vice workers More than 1.1 1.6 1.3 5 years Production 47.2 Others 1.2 workers Casual 2.8 6.1 4.0 contracts Construc- 2.4 Total 100 tion workers Total 100 100 100 depth interviews, although more evidence is required industries. As table 8.2 shows, production workers, for more conclusive findings. sales and service workers, and workers in individual Furthermore, age discrimination is a major issue businesses were the most common occupations of the for women migrants, as only young women migrants female respondents, with 80.2 per cent of them en- are regarded as skilful and deft and welcomed in the gaged in these three types of occupation. This is a labour market. 48.0 per cent of the female respond- much higher proportion than that in the general fe- ents reported that there was an age limit in their em- male population employed in the urban areas of Fu- ployment; the average upper age limit reported for fe- jian Province, which stood at 62.7 per cent in 2009.18 male migrant employment was 41.1 years, compared In contrast, professional and technical workers, admin- to 54.9 years for male migrants. This is a dramatic dif- istrative and managerial workers, and clerical workers ference. So while women are preferred over men as only accounted for 11.6 per cent of women respond- young factory workers, they are not wanted when they ents, and this proportion was much lower than that of are over forty. men respondents, which stood at 20.4 per cent. Furthermore, figure 8.1 shows that the occupa- 8.3.3.3 Insignificant Roles of Governments and tional structure of the female respondents’ most cur- Intermediaries in Providing Employment rent jobs was remarkably similar to that of their first Information and Training jobs since migration, suggesting little upward occupa- tional mobility. The only noticeable occupational mo- The Fujian survey results show that, as with their male bility identifiable from figure 8.1 was the shift from be- counterparts, most women respondents found their ing production and transport workers to running jobs on their own (30.2 per cent), through their family individual businesses, and this does not represent a members, relatives, townsmen, colleagues, friends, fundamental change of employment structure, since and classmates (56.2 per cent), or through advertise- the majority of individual businesses require low skills ments in newspapers and on TV and the Internet (8.8 and are labour-intensive and small-scale. Nor could per cent), and only 4.8 per cent of them through em- any significant upward mobility be identified in our in- ployers’ recruitment, introduction by intermediaries, job asignments or recommendation upon graduation, or government-organized labour export programmes. This suggests that the role of governments and inter- 18 Calculated based on the data provided by the Statistical mediaries in providing employment information for Bureau of Fujian Province in: Fujian Statistical Year migrants is rather weak. Furthermore, most women Book (2010); available at: (tables 3-15 and 3-17). migrants have not received training for their employ- 160 Yu Zhu and Liyue Lin Figure 8.1: The first and current occupations of women respondents. Source: The 2009 Fujian survey in the IDRC project. ment, and the relevant government departments have 8.3.3.4 Employers’ Domination in Determining played an insignificant role in this regard. Only 8.7 per the Migrant Pay and Gender Gap in cent of female respondents had received training be- Income fore their migration, and the government accounted According to the Fujian survey, 60.2 per cent of for only 4.7 per cent of such training. In the process women respondents and 52.4 per cent of men re- of their migration, the proportion of female respond- ported that their pay was determined unilaterally by ents who had received training increased to 32.7 per their employers, and only 18.4 per cent of women and cent, thanks to on-the-job training; however, the role 23.3 per cent of men reported that it was determined of relevant government departments decreased, ac- through negotiation with employers, trade unions, counting for only 2.9 per cent of on-the-job training and relevant government departments. Besides this, reported by the female respondents. Our in-depth in- collective bargaining played an insignificant role, and terviews with officials of relevant government depart- women migrants were clearly more disadvantaged ments in Fujian Province in early 2009 revealed that than their male counterparts, one possible factor be- employment training programmes were usually only hind the gender gap in income. We mentioned earlier provided to local residents and migrants from within that the average monthly income of women respond- the province, and therefore migrants from outside Fu- ents was 1,534.3 Yuan (US$243.9); while this repre- jian Province were excluded (interview conducted in sents a significant increase in the income level of fe- May 2009 during the IDRC project). male migrants, it was much lower than that of their male counterparts, which was 2,012.7 Yuan (US$320.0). Even in the same job category of produc- tion workers, in which the largest proportion of both female and male respondents were engaged, the aver- age monthly income of female respondents was From ‘Integration into Cities’ to ‘An Integrated Society’: Women Migrants’ Needs and Rights 161 1,456.3 Yuan (US$231.5), still much lower than that of of female respondents joined the New Rural Cooper- their male counterparts, which stood at 1,871.1 Yuan ative Medical Scheme before or during migration. It (US$297.5). Such gender gaps in income reflect the can be expected that with the implementation of the fact that there is still gender discrimination against fe- New Rural Social Pension Scheme in the future, more male migrants in the labour market; but they also female and male migrants will also join this kind of ru- partly result from the gap in human capital between ral-based old-age social insurance programme. migrating women and men. 8.3.4.2 Migrants’ Unequal Access to Urban 8.3.3.5 Excessive Overtime Public Services: Housing and Children’s Education The Fujian survey results suggest that the average length of working time for female respondents was Migrants’ unequal access to urban public services is 10.03 hours per day, similar to that of male respond- particularly evident in the status of their housing secu- ents (9.97 hours), and female respondents took only rity in their destination cities. According to the results 2.22 days off in a month, even less than their male of the Fujian survey, 54.8 per cent of women respond- counterparts (2.32 days). Furthermore, 29.5 per cent ents lived in rental housing, followed by 35.9 per cent of women respondents reported that they were not in dormitories provided by their employers. This is in compensated for overtime work, and for those who strong contrast to the housing situation of the local were, the compensation (on average 6.03 Yuan or residents in Fujian Province, 64 per cent of whom US$0.96 for women respondents and 7.25 Yuan or owned their housing (Lin/Zhu 2008). Furthermore, US$1.15 for men) was below even the wage standard only 6.1 per cent of female respondents received hous- stipulated for normal working hours. ing benefits from their employers, and an even smaller proportion (1.8 per cent) from the government. The 8.3.4 Low Social Insurance Coverage and disadvantaged housing situation of migrants is also re- Unequal Access to Urban Public flected in the size of their dwellings. In the Fujian sur- Services vey, the per capita usable area of women respondents’ housing was 9.8 square metres, less than one-third of Another major concern identified in the Fujian survey the per capita usable area of Fuzhou local residents’ is the very low social insurance coverage of both fe- housing, which stood at 34.2 square metres in 2005 male and male migrants, and their unequal access to (Fujian Statistical Bureau 2006). urban public services. This is consistent with our ear- Besides this, children’s education remains a major lier assessment that national efforts to address these concern for female migrants. Data from the Fujian issues have not been satisfactory so far. survey show that while 53.3 per cent of female re- spondents brought some of their children to their 8.3.4.1 Very Low Proportion of Female Migrants places of destination to receive education, only 64.9 Covered by Various Social Insurance per cent of these children were admitted to the public Programmes schools, and respectively 30.6 per cent and 4.5 per Data from the Fujian survey show that the propor- cent of them had to go to private schools or schools tions of women respondents covered by old-age insur- for children of migrants operated by NGOs and/or ance for urban employees, medical insurance for ur- the migrant population themselves. At the same time, ban employees, unemployment insurance, and insur- 52.1 per cent of female respondents had left children ance against work-related injuries were only 13.3 per behind to be cared for by grandparents or other rela- cent, 16.5 per cent, 10.2 per cent, and 17.7 per cent re- tives and to receive education in the places of origin. spectively, and that the situation for migrant men was Children of migrants face problems of educational ne- similar. This suggests that despite the great efforts de- glect in different ways. Those who accompany their voted in recent years to extending urban-based social parents, or are born in the destination cities, often go insurance system to migrants, only limited progress to schools privately set up for them by NGOs or the has been achieved, and the majority of both female parents themselves, despite the formal commitment and male migrants have not benefited. Interestingly, of the government to their education. High tuition rural-based social insurance programmes have played fees, the poor conditions of the schools, and lack of an unexpectedly important role in recent years, as ev- supervision mean that the teaching quality of these idenced by the Fujian survey result that 43.50 per cent schools cannot be guaranteed. Those children who do not move with their parents are deprived of parental 162 Yu Zhu and Liyue Lin supervision in their daily lives, and this negatively af- ments, legal institutions, trade unions, and women’s fects both their school performance and psychologi- federations to play a bigger role in the protection of cal development, and even causes much deviant be- rights and interests for both female and male mi- haviour (Research team on issues of left-behind grants, especially the former. children 2004). 8.3.4.3 Lack of Awareness and Channels for 8.4 Female Migrants’ Complex and Rights Protection Diverse Migration Flows: Limits In the Fujian survey, more than half (54.0 per cent) of of the Urban-Centred and female respondents and 48.7 per cent of male re- Residence-Based Approach spondents said that they were not aware of relevant information concerning their own rights and inter- Above we showed that although great efforts have ests, such as wage standards, social insurance policies, been made to protect the rights and interests of fe- policies concerning their children’s education, and male and male migrants, they have not been univer- employment contract policies, at their working and sally effective. While such a situation can be attributed living places. Only 9.3 per cent and 1.5 per cent respec- to many reasons, including the neglect of the chang- tively of female respondents joined local trade unions ing nature of female migrants’ rights issues, the inade- and local women’s federations, the two most relevant quate roles of the governments and relevant institu- organizations for the protection of their rights and in- tions, and the barriers caused by the hukou system, terests; the proportion of male respondents who all of which will be addressed below, one particularly joined local trade unions was 11.2 per cent. In addi- important factor is the current urban- and residence- tion, their high mobility marginalizes them in the po- based approach, which is inadequate as a way of un- litical life of both their places of origin and destina- derstanding the rights issues of women migrants and tion, reflected in the facts that only 24.9 per cent of of underpinning relevant policy-making. We examine female respondents and 29.2 per cent of male re- next this inadequacy in the context of the mobility spondents had ever participated in the village commit- patterns of female migrants, hoping that more sophis- tee election of their home areas, and that only 1.1 per ticated and diverse approaches can be developed. cent of female respondents and 1.2 per cent of male respondents had done so in the election of urban 8.4.1 The Mobility Patterns of Women neighbourhood committees in their places of destina- Migrants: Beyond the Conceptualization tion. These survey results indicate the lack of well-or- of a Rural-Urban One-Way Transition ganized channels for both female and male migrants, particularly for women to obtain information con- The underlying rationale of the current urban-centred cerning the protection of their rights, to express their and residence-based approach on the protection of interests, and to seek support to protect their rights. rights for migrants seems to match a common under- Data from the Fujian survey show further that standing that conceptualizes rural-urban migration as when their rights and interests were violated, the most ultimately a one-way transition (Zhu/Chen 2010). Al- common reaction of female respondents was to turn though there has long been recognition in China of to family members, relatives, and friends to seek help the circular nature of much contemporary rural-urban (30.9 per cent), followed by arguing directly with their migration, this circular nature is often attributed to employers (21.3 per cent). The corresponding figures the barriers caused by the hukou system, which has for male respondents were 24.39 per cent and 19.12 made it difficult for migrants to settle permanently in per cent. Only 13.1 per cent of female respondents and cities and to enjoy the same rights as local residents 19.08 per cent of male respondents would turn to rel- (see e.g. Chan/Zhang 1999; Solinger 1999; Liang evant government departments for help; those who 2001). It is assumed that without the hurdles caused would take legal action only accounted for 7.4 per by the hukou system, most migrants would settle per- cent of female and 8.98 per cent of male respondents; manently in cities, and that granting migrants the hu- and those who would seek the help of trade unions kou status of their destination cities and thus integrat- and women’s federations only accounted for 2.1 per ing them into the destination urban society would be cent of female and 1.6 per cent of male respondents. the best way to protect their rights and interests These figures suggest that there is much room for of- (Zhu/Lin 2011). ficial channels such as relevant government depart- From ‘Integration into Cities’ to ‘An Integrated Society’: Women Migrants’ Needs and Rights 163 Figure 8.2: The settlement intentions of the respondents from the Fujian survey (%): Source: Prepared by the authors. However, the Fujian survey indicates that such a sim- transfer the hukou of the whole family to the destina- plistic conceptualization of rural-urban migration is tion city, those who chose to keep the hukou at the not valid, and that the mobility patterns of migrants place of origin, and those who could not make a de- are much more complicated. First, as can be seen cision each accounted for around 30 per cent, so only from figure 8.2, the diversity of migration flows was a few chose to transfer the hukou solely to the desti- an important feature among both female and male mi- nation city. Again no significant gender differences ex- grants. Answers to the question ‘If you had a free ist. Since hukou is widely regarded as the biggest hur- choice, what would be your long-term plan?’ indicate dle for rural-urban migrants to settle down in their the diversity of the respondents’ choices of the final destination cities, the reluctance of our respondents direction of their migration movements, and it is no- to transfer their registration from rural places of ori- ticeable that instead of settling down in the current or gin to urban places of destination suggests that the future destination cities, going back to their home ar- their decision to remain mobile or return to home ar- eas remained their most common choice. It is also no- eas reflects their own priorities and conditions. In ticeable that a large proportion of respondents, both fact, it is understandable that the majority of the re- women and men, had not made up their mind, as this spondents were reluctant to transfer their hukou and is no easy decision to make. Thus, there was a three- move permanently to the cities, since transferring hu- way division (settling down in cities, returning to kou from places of origin to places of destination, es- home areas, and keeping in circulation) in their migra- pecially when this is conditional on giving up land at tion patterns, with little gender difference. the places of origin, implies a complete abandonment It is uncertain whether the above low intention of (often irreversibly) of the bi-local status that has ena- the respondents to settle permanently in their current bled them to benefit from both the rural and the ur- or future destination cities is caused by the hukou sys- ban worlds (Zhu/Chen 2010). In the Fuzhou survey tem or by related institutional constraints. Based on the respondents’ answers were similar and again with- the Fujian survey, figure 8.3 documents the responses out important gender difference (Zhu/Lin 2011), ex- to the question ‘If you were qualified (allowed) to cept that higher proportions of both women and men transfer the hukou of your family to the destination, migrants wanted to go back to their home areas and what would be your choice?’: those who chose to keep their hukou at the places of origin, because the 164 Yu Zhu and Liyue Lin Figure 8.3: The choices on hukou transfer of the respondents from the Fujian survey (%). Source: The authors. Fuzhou survey was conducted during the financial cri- China are more complicated than commonly per- sis (Zhu/Lin 2011). ceived, and that their multi-local status combining Job instability is another important factor affect- both rural and urban areas, the different patterns of ing mobility patterns. Among the respondents, 59.1 their migration flows, and job instability feature per cent had experienced changing jobs, and 28.9 per strongly in their migration process. The current cent had changed jobs more than twice. This job in- urban-centred and residence-based approach in the stability is also reflected in the status of their working protection of rights for both female and male contracts, as discussed above. Furthermore, among migrants is based on the conceptualization of rural- those who had signed a contract, particularly among urban migration as a preferred fairly rapid and com- women, only a very small proportion had a long-term plete transfer of residence to urban areas, but this is contract, indicating the temporary nature of their jobs incompatible with the actual mobility patterns, and (table 8.1). As argued elsewhere (Zhu 2007), although needs to be reassessed. the fact that most migrants do not have local hukou status in their destination cities may contribute to the 8.4.2 Reassessing the Needs of Female unstable and temporary nature of their employment, Migrants for Rights Protection: Current the instability of the labour market per se is the major Inadequacies factor, and this cannot be changed easily. Such job and income instability makes it necessary for migrants The first limitation of the current urban-centred and to move frequently, and this makes it even more diffi- residence-based approach to the rights issues of fe- cult for them to get settled in their destination cities. male and male migrants is that it is incompatible with The evidence from the Fujian and Fuzhou surveys the highly mobile and prolonged migration process. and in-depth interviews demonstrates that the mobil- This is particularly evident in the status of the social ity patterns of both female and male migrants in insurance of female migrants. As we have seen above, From ‘Integration into Cities’ to ‘An Integrated Society’: Women Migrants’ Needs and Rights 165 according to the Fujian survey only a few women were tional urban-based housing security system, only low- covered by social insurance programmes at their ur- rent housing is what most women migrants are inter- ban destination. This may be attributed to many factors ested in, and they have their own priorities regarding (Zhu/Lin 2011), but a key factor is that these pro- housing security, different from those of local resi- grammes cannot be transferred. These social insurance dents. Some differences between women and men ap- programmes should have the same level of mobility as peared, but the general patterns of their selections the women migrants themselves, and the urban-centred were similar. and residence-based approach cannot meet this require- As we have demonstrated elsewhere (Lin/Zhu ment. Fortunately China has moved in the right direc- 2008), the housing needs of migrants differ from tion by beginning to address the issues of transfer and those of the local urban residents. Most migrants, be- continuation of old-age and medical insurance pro- cause of their unsettled nature and multi-local status, grammes, though much more remains to be done. view reducing the costs of housing as the top priority. The second limitation of the urban-centred and Unlike local urban residents, most have little incentive residence-based approach to the rights issues of fe- to invest in stable, high quality housing in the destina- male migrants is the neglect of the distinctive needs tion cities. of migrants due to their mobile nature; these needs The third limitation of the current urban-centred are different from those of local or urban residents. and residence-based approach to the rights issues of This is particularly evident in the case of the needs of female migrants is its neglect of the various needs of migrants for housing security. China’s current urban- migrants caused by their different final destinations. based housing security system basically consists of the Table 8.4 shows the social insurance programmes pre- provision of affordable owner-occupier housing, low- ferred by women in the Fuzhou survey. Contrary to rent housing, and the public reserve fund for hous- expectation, when asked ‘What is the best type of so- ing,19 which are made available to local urban resi- cial insurance programmes you would like to choose dents who meet certain socio-economic criteria (Wu so that your future life will be secure?’, only 34.5 per 2002). In the Fujian Province survey, the housing se- cent chose the existing urban social insurance pro- curity system was entirely inaccessible to 98.2 per cent grammes. Instead, 24.2 per cent chose social insur- of female respondents, in Fuzhou city to 91.2 per cent. ance programmes designed according to the charac- This suggests a clearly disadvantaged situation for fe- teristics of migrants, and 30.4 per cent chose social male migrants in destination cities. Therefore, to ex- insurance programmes designed for rural residents at tend the existing urban housing security system to fe- their home areas. Female migrants seemed slightly male migrants is no answer. The answers of female more likely to choose an urban-based social insurance respondents (table 8.3) to the question ‘What are the programme than men migrants, but the important most important measures that the governments and/ fact is that there was a near-equal three-way split for or your employers can take to protect the housing se- the selection of social insurance programmes by curity of rural-urban migrants?’ in the Fuzhou survey20 women and men, where urban-based insurance pro- referred to a) the provision of rental subsidy, b) the grammes were only one alternative. provision of low rent housing, and c) the provision of The diverse choices of female migrants on social free accommodation by employers. This suggests that insurance programmes are closely related to their dif- among the three main components of the conven- ferent preferences with regard to their final settle- ment. In the Fuzhou survey (table 8.5), those women who wanted to settle in the cities were clearly more in- 19 The public reserve fund for housing is a way of provid- clined to choose the existing urban social insurance ing housing benefits and security in China, whereby programmes. However, those who wanted to return employees are required to contribute a certain propor- to their home areas were more likely to prefer the so- tion of their salaries to the fund, matched by a certain cial insurance programmes designed for rural resi- contribution from their work units. All contributions become the property of employees and can only be dents; and those who wanted to circulate between used for housing-related purposes. their places of origin and destination were divided be- 20 Unfortunately, no questions were asked regarding the tween these two groups. Thus, rather than assuming needs of migrants for housing security in the Fujian rural-urban migration to be a one-way transition and Province survey, and therefore we have to rely on the concentrating all efforts in migrant destination cities, results of the Fuzhou city survey in this regard. This is efforts should also be made to develop non-urban- also the case in our following analysis on the needs of based and non-residence-based social insurance pro- migrants for social insurance and so on. 166 Yu Zhu and Liyue Lin Table 8.3: Stated needs of women and men respondents for housing security (%). Source: The authors, based on the 2009 Fuzhou survey. Women Men All Measure for migrant housing security respondents respondents respondents (N=194) (N=406) (N=600) Provision of free accommodation by employers 15.0 14.0 14.3 Provision of housing for migrant couples by employers 5.0 6.3 5.9 Provision of low rent housing 16.0 17.3 16.9 Provision of rental subsidy 31.7 27.6 28.9 Entitlement to ‘affordable owner-occupier housing’ 8.2 9.7 9.1 Entitlement to the public reserve fund for housing 10.0 7.3 8.2 Provision of loans and preferential treatment in taxation 8.1 10.7 9.9 Setting up of housing standards for migrant dormitories 6.0 7.2 6.8 Total 100 100 100 Note: Each respondent could choose three answers and rank them first, second, and third. Each figure in the table is the weighted average of these responses, with respective weights of 0.5, 0.3, and 0.2. Table 8.4: Selection of the types of social insurance programmes (%). Source: The authors, based on the 2009 Fuzhou migrant survey. Women Men All Type of social insurance programmes respondents respondents respondents (N=194) (N=406) (N=600) Joining the existing urban social insurance programmes 34.5 32.5 33.2 Joining the social insurance programmes designed according 24.2 25.1 24.8 to the characteristics of migrants Joining the social insurance programmes designed for rural 30.4 36.2 34.3 residents in their home areas Going back to home areas if having great difficulties at the 10.8 6.2 7.7 places of destination Total 100 100 100 grammes, and places of origin are therefore crucial. In almost equal proportion (52.1 per cent) had children fact, this is already reflected in the significant role of left behind. It is important to note that the Fuzhou Rural Cooperative Medical Schemes in their medical survey asked why the respondents left children in insurance, as shown by the Fujian survey, and it can be their home areas, and the three most important rea- expected that the newly announced plan to gradually sons were ‘unable to afford the high tuition fees at the develop a nationwide New Rural Pension Scheme will destination city’ (40.68 per cent), ‘no economic capa- also play an important role in old-age support for mi- bility to afford the high living costs in the city’ (36.44 grant women. per cent), and ‘job instability’ (29.66 per cent).21 The importance of migrants’ places of origin in While the first reason can be attributed to the lack of their rights protection is also reflected in the educa- educational resources and the migrants’ unequal ac- tional needs of their children. As our Fujian survey re- cess to education in the destination cities, the other sults show, while 53.4 per cent of the women had chil- dren migrating with them to the destination city, an 21 This question was not asked in the Fujian survey. From ‘Integration into Cities’ to ‘An Integrated Society’: Women Migrants’ Needs and Rights 167 Table 8.5: Selection of the types of social insurance programmes by female migrants and their preferred settlement (%). Source: The authors, based on the 2009 Fuzhou migrant survey. Settle down Circulate between Return to All women in the cities places of origin home areas respondents Types of social insurance programmes N=55 and destination N=73 N=194 N=66 Joining the existing urban social insurance 60.0 22.7 26.0 34.5 programmes Joining the social insurance programmes designed 25.5 28.8 19.2 24.2 according to the characteristics of migrants Joining the social insurance programmes designed for 12.7 33.3 41.1 30.4 rural residents at their home areas Going back to home areas if having great difficulties at 1.8 15.2 13.7 10.8 their places of destination Total 100 100 100 100 two reasons are mainly related to their socio-eco- urban-centred and residence-based approach that fo- nomic characteristics, which make it necessary for cuses only on the rights issues of migrants in their des- them to rely on their resources in their home areas, tination cities and on the role of the hukou system in and they consider it desirable to leave some family hindering the integration of migrants and their rights members at the places of origin. This need is in turn (e.g. Solinger 1999; Zheng/Huang Li 2007). This ap- reflected in the fact that nearly all female respondents proach neglects the complex, lengthy, unstable, and in the Fujian survey (95.3 per cent) felt that it was nec- diversified nature of the mobility processes of mi- essary for them to keep their land in their home areas, grants; it fails to take into full consideration their although they have been away for a long time. There- needs to have their rights protected in the long transi- fore, keeping some family members and resources at tion process and at different locations (including their their places of origin is a rational choice for many mi- places of origin) before their final (re)settlement, and grants (including women) in China, and new home- it is therefore incomplete in both spatial and temporal area-based approaches to rights protection should be coverage. We therefore recommend that a non-urban- developed to meet these needs. centred and non-residence-based approach should be adopted to extend the coverage of the rights of mi- grants to all stages and locations in their migration 8.5 Policy Suggestions: Seeking New process. Under such an approach, the protection of Approaches for the Protection of the rights of migrants should not rely on ‘urban citi- the Rights of Female Migrants zenship’, and the whole society (rather than the desti- nation cities) should bear the responsibility for pro- 8.5.1 From ‘Urban Integration’ to ‘Societal tecting the rights of all citizens, including female and Integration’: Extending Temporal and male migrants, no matter where they live. Thus, in- Spatial Coverage of the Protection of the stead of advocating the ‘urban integration’ of mi- Rights of Female Migrants and grants, policies should be formulated to promote Respecting their Diverse Needs their ‘social or societal integration’, and to ensure that migrants’ rights and interests are not compromised In recent years, great efforts have been made to en- anywhere or at any time. Such an approach will inevi- sure that the rights of migrants in their destination cit- tably require the gradual equalization of the rights and ies will not be compromised by their non-local status. interests of urban and rural residents; it will benefit Great progress has indeed been made in this regard. not only permanent migrants, on whom the conven- However, some important rights of migrants have still tional urban-centred and residence-based approach is not been effectively addressed. Major reasons for this focused, but also circular and temporary migrants, unsatisfactory situation are the over-simplified con- and is therefore socially more inclusive. ceptualization of rural-urban migration as—in es- A related recommendation is to respect the differ- sence—a one-way transition, and the corresponding ent needs of female migrants to protect their rights. 168 Yu Zhu and Liyue Lin The conventional urban-centred and residence-based cent education before and employment training dur- approach may capture the situation of the limited ing the migration process, to enjoy working condi- group of migrants who intend to settle and are capa- tions that meet the standards stipulated in relevant ble of settling in the cities; it is not suitable for those laws and regulations (including those concerning migrants who need and/or prefer to circulate be- their working days and hours) and more upward occu- tween rural places of origin and urban places of desti- pational mobility, to enjoy more social security with- nation, and for those who will eventually return to out it being compromised by their migration process, their home areas. Migrants in the latter two groups to have equal access to public services, particularly have to change their migration flows and choose ur- those relating to housing and children’s education, ban places as their destination if they want to take full and to access more channels for their rights protec- advantage of efforts to protect their rights under the tion. Again, measures to address the above issues conventional approach; however, this is not necessar- should not be urban-centred; in fact, some of the is- ily in their best interests. Great efforts must also be sues cannot be fully addressed without going into made to link the policies and measures targeting dif- their root causes in migrants’ places of origin in rural ferent groups with different migration flows, so that areas (such as migrants’ education), or being linked to their protection will not lapse if they transfer from their rural components (such as migrants’ social insur- one migration flow to another. ance and the education of their children). Policies of this kind will not only improve migrants’ situation in 8.5.2 Upgrading the Efforts in Addressing the terms of equality and social inclusion, but will also en- Rights of Migrants: Shifting From a hance their human and social capital and their posi- ‘Survival-Oriented’ to a ‘Development- tion in society, and eventually promote economic Oriented’ Approach growth and the social cohesion of all of society. During the first few years of this century when mi- 8.5.3 Developing a Clear Legal and grants’ rights issues started to attract public attention Institutional Framework that Defines in China, most academic and policy discussion was fo- the Rights of Migrants and Obligations cused on their rights of a ‘survival nature’, i.e. those of Governments: Towards a Rights related to their restricted access to urban employment Approach for Citizens opportunities, very low and often delayed wage pay- ment and payment in arrears, and the low admission Achieving the two policy objectives discussed above rate of their school-age children. Although issues of requires a legal and institutional framework that de- this kind still exist and need to be further addressed, fines the rights of migrants and the obligations of gov- their priority has gradually lessened, and other legal ernments and relevant institutions. China’s conven- issues, not necessarily new but relatively neglected, tional legal and institutional framework does not suit now stand in need of attention. Among them are this purpose well because it is hukou- and residence- those relating to their educational attainment and em- based, and is ambiguous when it comes to what mi- ployment training, the segmented nature of their em- grants’ rights are and whose responsibility it is to pro- ployment and occupational mobility, their employ- tect such rights, as migrants are away from their ment, social and housing security, their access to places of origin where they have their hukou registra- social insurance and public services, and their aware- tion. Significant progress has been made towards solv- ness of and channels for legal protection that are ing this problem; though progress so far has not been more of a ‘developmental nature’. They reflect the solid and complete. Policies and measures for the pro- fact that with China’s rapid socio-economic develop- tection of the rights of migrants are often described ment, rights issues pertaining to migrants should now by the authorities at the national level as ‘opinions’ or be addressed with a view to raising standards. ‘guidelines’. They are often presented in general We suggest that while continued attention must be terms, are not legally enforceable, and can easily be paid to improving migrants’ basic working and living compromised at the local level. We suggest that poli- conditions, more comprehensive and sophisticated ef- cies concerning the rights of migrants in the form of forts should be made to facilitate migrants’ access to ‘opinions’ or ‘guidelines’ should be carefully exam- public facilities and services and to promote their up- ined and transformed into laws or regulations if pos- ward mobility. Particular attention needs to be paid to sible. At the same time, a legal and institutional frame- promoting and ensuring migrants’ rights to receive de- work should gradually be developed to implement the From ‘Integration into Cities’ to ‘An Integrated Society’: Women Migrants’ Needs and Rights 169 notion that protecting the rights of migrants is a duty and trade unions, the two institutions most con- of the whole of society rather than that of certain cerned with the rights and interests of migrants, can places where migrants are affiliated, and changes in increase efforts in these areas. relevant legislation should also be made to base this protection not only on the labour rights of migrants, 8.5.5 Increasing Attention to the Protection of but also (perhaps more importantly) on their citizen’s the Rights of Female Migrants rights. Currently, local governments at the destination cities of migrants and their employers are primarily re- Our recommendations so far largely apply to both fe- sponsible for providing migrants with social benefits male and male migrants. This suggests that the mi- and security and ensuring their rights. Such an institu- grating patterns very much determine the characteris- tional arrangement can no longer suit the situation of tics of the rights issues of female migrants and their migrants and should be changed, with the central gov- specific needs for protection of their rights. Female ernment and governments at higher levels gradually and male migrants have very much in common here. playing a bigger role. However, our survey results also show that rights is- sues related to migrants do have gender dimensions, 8.5.4 Strengthening the Roles of Relevant and we therefore recommend that particular attention Government Departments and Other should be paid to the following aspects where female Societal Institutions in Protecting the migrants are more disadvantaged. First, the relevant Rights of Migrants government departments both at places of origin and of destination (especially the former) should make A crucial issue is the establishment of a new financing more efforts to ensure that relevant laws on schooling mechanism so that the rights of migrants can be effec- are enforced, so that female migrants will receive the tively protected. Both the extension of temporal and nine years of legally compulsory education before spatial coverage and upgrading the protection of the joining the migration process. This will significantly rights of migrants can no longer rely on the conven- contribute to their labour market performance, their tional state financial sources and financing mecha- longer-term employability, and their position in the nisms. New ways of financing mechanisms that take power relations of both their family and society. into consideration the highly mobile and multi-local Second, efforts should also be made to advocate the nature of migrants need to be explored. As migration equal position of men and women in the family, so that is a cross-region phenomenon, the central govern- female migrants would not make sacrifices by dropping ment, and the governments at higher levels, should out of school and withdrawing involuntarily from the gradually bear more responsibility in this regard, and migration process when the family is in difficulties. financing mechanisms based on fiscal revenue should Third, more efforts need to be devoted to promote gradually play bigger roles; otherwise, the non-local employment security, social security, and housing secu- nature of migrants can easily put them at a disadvan- rity for female migrants, who are in a more disadvan- tage if the local budget is insufficient. To solve this taged position. In particular, we noted that female mi- problem, a new financing system and more financial grants are often not considered employable beyond the allocation from the central or higher governments are age of forty. In addition, measures should be taken to needed. Such a new financing mechanism should be address family concerns regarding the migration proc- designed along with a redefinition of the rights and ess, such as the care of elderly family members and chil- obligations of the various parties involved, and should dren. Female migrants are more affected by these issues, be well informed by knowledge of migrants and their which contribute to the interruption of their migration needs. In addition to the government role in the new process and the insecurity of their employment. financial mechanism, there are many other aspects Fourth, more efforts should be made to promote where the roles of the government and relevant insti- their equal access to employment without age- and gen- tutions can be strengthened. Particular efforts should der-related discrimination, and to promote equal pay. be made to enhance the roles of the government and Our results show that women migrants continue to be of relevant institutions in providing migrants with em- more disadvantaged in the above aspects of their work ployment information and training and housing secu- and life in their migration process, and require more rity; in supplying information about rights protection and special efforts to address their rights issues. and creating formal channels to implement this; and in determining migrants’ wages. Women’s federations 170 Yu Zhu and Liyue Lin References Liang, Zai, 2001: “The age of migration in China”, in: Pop- ulation and Development Review, 27,3: 499–524. 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Choices and Constraints”, in: Urban Affairs Review, Zhu, Yu; Lin, Liyue; Wang, Bin, 2009: “Social protection for 38,1: 90–119. rural-urban migrants in an era of increasing population Xiang Bin, 2007: “How far are the left-behind left behind? mobility and socioeconomic transformation: China’s A preliminary study in rural China”, in: Population, experience since the late 1970s”, SPA working paper Space and Place, 13,6: 179–191. 2009 issue 03; at: (29 January 2009). reform China: Gender earnings inequality in the case of Open Access. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. 9 Migration, Woodcarving, and Engendered Identities in San Martín Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico Serena Eréndira Serrano Oswald1 Are you willing to spend some time to look deeply into my eyes and ask me who I really am? [Lamberto Roque] Abstract This chapter offers a perspective on gender relations in a predominantly male migrant-sending community in Mexico. The aim is to bring to the fore the impacts of migration as lived in the sender community and their implications for social justice and human security. The case of the indigenous rural municipality of San Martín Ticlajete in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, a male migrant-sending community, is examined, drawing on methods of critical feminist ethnography and social representations theory to illustrate the changes for the women who stay behind. Parallel to migration, the community has also experienced important transformations due to the development of a woodcrafts trade and increasing tourist activity. Very gradual changes in gender representa- tions and empowerment have taken place, with women becoming de facto household heads, as well as craft makers and retailers, educators, administrators, agricultural producers, social figures, and civil servants. Never- theless, detailed narrations of women’s experiences show that their new roles and responsibilities do not nec- essarily translate into greater social, political, and economic autonomy, or recognition of the invisible material and emotional costs linked to migration. Keywords: Social justice, migration, social representations theory, critical feminist ethnography, Mexico. 9.1 Introduction1 relatively speaking, has gone to studying the lives of the stay-behinds, viewed in the round, including what The present case study crosses disciplinary bounda- happens in their hearts and minds, their identities and ries to look at the impacts of migration in an indige- relationships, and their communities and culture. nous area in Mexico, with special reference to In the traditionally indigenous locality that I exam- women’s lives. The chapter addresses the conse- ine (the municipality of San Martín Tilcajete in Oax- quences of migration for the community of origin, aca state), which is devoted to subsistence agriculture, not abroad. Most work on Mexican migration has processes of modernization and urbanization have led been preoccupied by quantitative analyses of migra- to mass migration, but these forces have come to the tion flows and remittances or by study of the net- region accompanied by an increasing presence of works that facilitate these flows. Too little attention, tourism and the development of woodcarving produc- tion as an important economic alternative making sea- sonal international migration a viable choice. As we 1 Serena Eréndira Serrano Oswald is a postdoctoral fel- shall see, these processes are not gender-neutral. In a low at the Centre of Regional Multidisciplinary Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico community setting such as San Martín Tilcajete, a cra- (CRIM-UNAM). The author is grateful for the research dle of mass migration, why do women not even have grant received from UNAM’s Postdoctoral Programme. the right to migrate and yet must always assume the Especially, she wishes to acknowledge the support and consequences and costs of others’ migration? Further- guidance from the editors of this volume and the feed- more, in a de jure male-led community, where men back from anonymous peer reviewers. Email: . T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 173 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_9, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 174 Serena Eréndira Serrano Oswald de facto, when will changes at the political, economic, ened to include economic, sociocultural and environ- social, and cultural levels reflect this empowerment mental dimensions, and have been sectorialized into and aim at greater social justice for all? Following specific domains – such as health, energy, water, food, Nancy Fraser’s approach to understanding social jus- livelihood – with distinct periodicity (short-, mid-, and tice, in which recognition and representation as well long-term). They have also been deepened in terms of as redistribution are all important and connected as- scale in order to include not only the state as referent pects, I look at the consequences of migration in this (national security) but also the individual (human se- locality, with special reference to the nature of and curity), interacting at inter-personal, community, na- any evolution of ideas, identities, norms, and conflicts tional, international, regional, and global levels. Fi- about gender. nally, they have been enriched by attention to the The chapter is organized in six sections. After this subjective and emotional aspects of security, including Introduction (9.1), which provides the general outline the content and evolution of identities. It is important of the chapter, comes a discussion of Human Secu- that discussions of social justice in migration be an- rity and Social Justice (9.2), the guiding themes of the chored in a complex, dynamic, and ample perspective book and this chapter. Later, the specific research po- of human security that looks beyond the state, with- sition I have used is presented, linking Social Repre- out neglecting it. In this chapter I consider the sentations Theory (SRT) with Critical Feminist Eth- stresses, threats and opportunities in many dimen- nography (CFE; 9.3). The municipality of San Martin sions of local people’s lives, especially in women’s Tilcajete then takes centre stage. Section 9.4 includes lives, in a small community in Mexico that has be- an introduction to the area of study (9.4.1), and a come heavily engaged in migration, especially interna- more detailed account of migration in the municipal- tional migration. ity (9.4.2), male migration (9.4.3), and woodcarving For the purposes of considering social justice and (9.4.4) as an economic alternative to migration and a migration from a human security perspective, this major interacting factor. Section 9.5, the heart of the study employs Nancy Fraser’s work. As Novak points study, is devoted to Women and Migration in San out “the trouble with ‘social justice’ begins with the Martin Tilcajete and considers female migration in very meaning of the term… books and treatises have Tilcajete (9.5.1) and case study examples of the been written about social justice without ever offering women who stay behind (9.5.2). It closes with a sum- a definition of it. It is allowed to float in the air as if marized list of the findings of the study regarding the everyone will recognize an instance of it when it ap- costs and implications of migration (9.5.3). Finally, pears” (2000: 1). One general definition of the goal of some Concluding Remarks (9.6) are presented. social justice is “the full participation and inclusion of all people in society, together with the promotion and protection of their legal, civil and human rights. The 9.2 Human Security and Social aim of social justice – to achieve a just and equitable Justice society where all share in the prosperity of that society – is pursued by individuals and groups through collab- For a world where we can be socially equal, humanly orative social action” (IRP 2008: 53). Nevertheless, different and totally free. [Rosa Luxemburg] some of the tensions surrounding its conception al- Social justice is one of the most important challenges ready become apparent; they have to do with the dif- regarding migratory processes (emigration, transmi- ficulty of balancing its individual (personal), group gration, immigration, forced migration, etc.) in the collective (social), and mass collective (societal) di- world today. Historically, the nation state has sought mensions and its level of analysis and implementation to monopolize control of movement of people across (micro-, meso- and macro-). As Habermas points out its borders in order to protect its territorial sover- (2005: 1), “if the core of the liberal constitution is the eignty, for its own security. However, the nature of guarantee of equal individual liberties for everyone”, threats and the security referents have changed under both classic and modern conceptions and edifices global capitalism. Both as a scientific and as a political have been challenged by the dynamism and complex- concept, security has been reconceptualized in the ity of contemporary social relations, where globaliza- post-Cold-War era (see Brauch/Oswald/Mesjasz/ tion undermines the State and its structures, and glo- Grin/Dunay/Behera/Chadha/Chourou/Kameri-Mbote/ bal relations in the transnational era remain marked Liotta 2008). Narrow conceptions of security focusing by profound structural and symbolic inequalities. on military and political dimensions have been wid- Migration, Woodcarving, and Engendered Identities in San Martín Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico 175 From a critical feminist standpoint, Nancy Fraser 9.3 Research Position: Social advocates a theory of social justice for the knowledge Representations Theory and society era of post-Social politics. Her approach seeks Feminist Critical Ethnography to transcend ‘either/or’ dichotomies and account for the interrelationships of the local, national, regional, The quotidian speaks quietly with the eternal. [R.M. and global beyond the Westphalian frame that has fo- Rilke] cused on national security rather than on justice. She The Theory of Social Representations3 (TSR) is useful discusses a tripartite model of social justice aiming at in order to ethnographically research economic, cul- ‘participatory parity’, with reference to the economic tural, and political processes where distribution, rec- dimension of redistribution, the cultural dimension of ognition, and representation are all intertwined and recognition, and the political dimension of represen- are important for human security (broadly under- tation (Fraser 2001, 2005, 2008). Unlike other ap- stood) and social justice.4 It is important to go be- proaches, in her view and in order to be effective in yond an individual-societal dialectic and explore the terms of social justice, all three dimensions must have interrelation between social dynamics at the heart of equal weight: identity processes at all levels and the social represen- Insofar as the stress on recognition is displacing redistri- tations that sustain these processes. The community bution, it may actually promote economic inequality. and domestic units (blood-related or legal and ritual Insofar as the cultural turn is reifying collective identi- family units in this case) are the social institutions that ties, it risks sanctioning violations of human rights and freezing the very antagonisms it purports to mediate. mediate the causes and consequences of migration at Insofar, finally, as struggles of any type are misframing the material and symbolic level. From a social psycho- transnational processes, they risk truncating the scope logical perspective, much mainstream research linked of justice and excluding relevant social actors (Fraser to justice in Mexico, Latin America, and North Amer- 2001: 13). ica (e.g. research into difference, discrimination, rac- In order to tackle the displacement of egalitarianism ism, violence, personality, identity, gender, inter-group under hegemonic neoliberalism, Fraser proposes a relations, cooperation, and competition) has been un- conception of justice which encompasses recognition dertaken from an individual and group perspective, and distribution; to counter reification, she provides leaving behind or in second place anthropological, so- an account of the politics of recognition that does not cietal, and sociological considerations. 5 This has to lead to identity politics; and against misframing she do with the influence and weight of the behaviourist offers a multi-tiered conception of sovereignty that de- perspective, which can be traced back to figures such 6 centres the national frame (Fraser 2001: 13). The eco- as G.W. Allport. Without diminishing the relevance nomic dimension of egalitarian redistribution implies overcoming class exploitation, restructuring the polit- 2 The debate surrounding the interrelation of universal- ical economy, and altering social burdens and social ism, minorities, and individualism has been at the core benefits. Recognition implies “a process of considera- of liberalism (Beck 2008). According to Habermas tion and judgment, in which the identity or attributes (2005: 1), “the idea of equal individual liberties for all of an object, person or relationship are first noticed, satisfies the moral standard of egalitarian universalism, and then acknowledged and affirmed” (Connolly/ which demands equal respect for and consideration of Leach/Walsh 2007: 1). Thus, the politics of recogni- everyone” on the one hand, while “it meets the ethical tion takes into account minorities, women, vulnerable standard of individualism, according to which each per-son must have the right to conduct her life according to groups, devalued identities, and deconstructive ten- her own preferences and convictions” on the other. dencies, rejecting essentialisms; and linked to repre- 3 At this point it is important to distinguish between [1] sentation it implies autonomy, i.e., the political means representation as part of the politics of justice (political to assert oneself and one’s group’s civil liberties and means to assert oneself and one’s groups, civil liberties, political rights. Fraser’s integrative approach,2 if and political rights) and [2] ‘social representations’ (the linked to the deepened conception of security men- category rooting Social Representations Theory, SRT), tioned earlier, can contribute to greater social justice which are how people are defined and depicted withina society. SRT is a theoretical and methodological per- in the transnational era. spective for addressing social justice, as will be explained in detail in the following section. 4 For a feminist discussion of the broad security perspec- tive, its challenges for women, and the usefulness of Social Representations Theory, see Serrano (in press). 176 Serena Eréndira Serrano Oswald of such research when considering issues of social jus- where representational activity occurs (Arruda 2002; tice and human security, the historical, societal, and Arruda 2010). cultural dimensions that root and reproduce injustice A social representation is constructed in culture must be considered. and is not an individual psychological or cognitive construct. Social representations are social products 9.3.1 Social Representations Theory derived from interaction and their nature is relational. Social subjects re-present reality, which is to say that Social Representations Theory (SRT) is multidiscipli- they do not merely reproduce it mechanically as a mir- nary in its origins; it draws directly from psychology, ror; they interpret and transform it and at the same sociology, and anthropology. It originated as part of time are transformed by it. This has direct implica- the critique of individualizing and reductionist per- tions for social scientific and feminist gender studies spectives, as well as those that advocate the collective of migratory contexts, given that representation proc- as the pinnacle of human achievement. Congruent esses are linked to the processes of conformation, with Fraser’s social justice approach, TRS accounts maintenance, and transformation of social and collec- both for social structure and the processes whereby tive identities. The multi-level identity approach con- the social subject constantly generates, interprets, and siders relations within individuals and between in- transforms knowledge inter-subjectively. Unlike the groups and out-groups, as well as historical, societal, Marxist conception of ideology as false conscious- and ideological processes, including deeply embed- ness, or the Durkheimian conception of passive social ded representations of gender such as world outlooks subjects paralyzed in the face of ‘social facts’ and so- and other constructs that are more flexible and less cial control, Moscovici explored the ways through resistant to change. which social groups are structured and act according to different yet shared social representations, enabling 9.3.2 SRT and Critical Feminist Ethnography them to perceive, give sense to, and transform them, appropriating and gestating knowledge, communicat- As Madison (2005: 4) points out, consistent with Fra- ing, and becoming active minorities created by but ser’s arguments “political representation has conse- not only determined by power structures (the social quences: how people are represented is how they are change conception). In this view, conflict and tension treated”. Critical ethnography research emphasizes in the social sphere are addressed positively as motors giving local people, women, and invisibilized groups of change and not necessarily of crises, a process of the right to express and represent themselves, estab- innovation that is normalized as well as questioned lishing a dialogue and collaboration with them and being critical of its own standpoint; engaging in seri- ous longitudinal studies that enable one to acquire an honest meta-reflexive position and deep insights with 5 For example, the Framework for Enabling Empower- regard to and in relation to the research context and ment (FrEE), which has been developed since 1985 by people, while considering silences, omissions, and the Mexican Institute of Family and Population processes of invisibility; and enabling researchers to Research (Pick/Sirkin 2011), is based on individual needs, capabilities, and behaviours, developing be an active part of the social process, collaborating resources in the face of poverty. Under the slogan “I in the transformation of society, for example through want to, I can”, workshops provide information guiding participative-action research (Delgado 2010). It “be- decisions and communication skills in order to promote gins with an ethical responsibility to address processes autonomy and control over rights (). Without denying the importance and useful- main”, and this ‘ethical responsibility’ means “a com- ness of such an approach that is said to have benefited pelling sense of duty and commitment based on nineteen million people, this chapter in contrast applies Social Representations Theory as it implies the potential moral principles of human freedom and well-being” of addressing justice, rights, identities, change, and cul- (Madison 2005: 5). ture in a much deeper sociological psychological way Gender is a “system of social regulation that ori- than would be possible under an individualistic-empow- ents a specific cognitive structure, built following a bi- erment and behaviourist frame (for a discussion regard- ological referent that makes notions of the masculine ing each socio-psychological tradition see Farr 1996). and the feminine normative” (Flores 2001: 7). Such a 6 Migration studies have also been heavily influenced by system, that has gender representations at base, con- behaviourism (see Truong/Gasper 2011, especially chap- ter 1). stitutes the cultural framework from which identities Migration, Woodcarving, and Engendered Identities in San Martín Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico 177 are elaborated, others are identified, and relations 9.4.1 Setting the scene: San Martín Tilcajete and world views are established. Researching from a critical gender perspective implies elements of partici- The state of Oaxaca in the south of Mexico, with al- patory and critical research, a democratic exercise in most four million inhabitants (INEGI 2010), is one of which the researcher together with research subjects the two poorest states in the country; those states participate in order to reclaim spaces to value their also have the most indigenous presence. 8 Administra- voices and actions in areas where hegemonies of eve- tively, the state is divided into seven regions. In the re- ryday life have silenced and devalued them. Research- gion of the Central Valleys, we find the City of Oax- ing together with women as social subjects implies aca, capital of the state and a tourist hub hosting over working together for a space of memory and re-pres- a million national (eighty-four per cent) and foreign entation, a space where they can talk, think about (sixteen per cent) tourists per annum (Boletín Estadís- 9 themselves, remember their lives and experiences, and tico 2004). share them with laughter and often with tears, reflect- The municipality 10 of San Martín Tilcajete is lo- ing about themselves, their identities, relations, and cated approximately 32 kilometres south-east of the life experiences. capital city. Allegedly, the locality was founded two centuries BCE, but the present-day community is of Zapotec origin and dates back to the year 1600 (Reyes 9.4 Migration, Gender, and 2003: 4). Although census data vary, a realistic estima- Woodcarving in San Martín tion of the population based on fieldwork data and Tilcajete the medical centre census is a total of two thousand community members, of whom fifty-five per cent are This is a trip toward the unknown; toward the deep cor- female and forty-five per cent male (Fernández/Ser- ners of loneliness, and the insides of the intestines of a rano 2004). The community covers 27 km² and con- monster that feeds itself by devouring others. [Lamberto tains private, communal, and ejido lands. In 1981 it Roque] was recognized as an autonomous community within The work presented in this chapter was all undertaken the district of Ocotlan. It is governed by a political in the municipality of San Martín Tilcajete, in the system of ‘traditional uses and customs’ rooted in a hi- state of Oaxaca. It draws from different and intercon- erarchical system of communal duties and obligations, nected research projects in the same community at organized through male-headed family units. The different times, with various individuals (both male male heads or ‘contributors’ must pay fixed annual and female), families, and groups (school groups with and temporary quotas to the local administration children and adolescents, groups of women and men, committees and provide unremunerated community artisan groups, people at the health clinic and those service in yearly periods, with a rotating active and involved in the government’s ‘Oportunidades’ pro- passive term in office every twelve months, till citizens gramme, official community committees, etc.), start- are sixty years old or they reach the highest possible ing in the year 2003; it is still ongoing. Altogether, it rank. has involved nine years of critical feminist ethnogra- In a community where 95.3 per cent of the popu- phy, with different research periods while living in the lation is Catholic and the Zapotec language has been research area (the longest lasted for two continuous years) and recurrent visits and communications during the rest of the time. It has also included a variety of 7 For the full results, access to transcript sections, coding research techniques, of which the most relevant for frames, and the direct voices of tileño women presented the purposes of the present chapter have been apply- at greater length, see Serrano (2010). ing an exploratory free association questionnaire to 8 Twenty-eight out of the sixty-eight ethnolinguistic indig- explore the community’s social representations enous groups of Mexico converge in Oaxaca (Barabas/ (n=150), two local censuses (2004–2005 and 2008– Bartolomé/Maldonado 2003). 9 Valid data for 2004 are used, because of important var- 2009), and a series of longitudinal in-depth interviews iations in estimations following the APPO crisis in 2006. with a sample of eleven women which were tran- The crisis involved a confrontation between the state of scribed in nearly five hundred pages and later ana- Oaxaca, which eventually deployed federal forces, and lysed.7 Currently, in-depth interviews with men are be- the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO). ing undertaken, transcribed, and analysed, although 10 Almost every town or community in Oaxaca is a munic- they will not be drawn on here. ipality, most governed by a traditional sociopolitical sys- tem. 178 Serena Eréndira Serrano Oswald lost three generations ago, the social and cultural or- children, and elders also partake in it.11 The families ganization responds to a very active calendar of public that only engage in agriculture are the poorest fami- and private feasts. The public festivity calendar begins lies in the community, including a few female-headed with the celebration of the Day of the Dead in the last households made up of women, children, and elders, days of October and extends until the Mother’s Day or women and elders, who live way below the poverty festival on 10 May. During these six months, there are line. at least two grand celebrations per month – each of which lasts several days and has an ‘octava’ or minor 9.4.2 Migration in San Martín Tilcajete scale replay celebrated a week after the original party. The community is well known for the frequency and The history of international migration from Oaxaca sumptuous nature of its festivities. Private feasts in- to the USA dates from the beginning of the last cen- clude baptisms, confirmations, ‘quinceañera’ or fif- tury. The Bracero Programme in the forties had the teen-year celebrations, weddings or fandangos, buri- “greatest influence to promote international migra- als, and birthdays. Most members of the community tion in Oaxaca, given that not even the devastating ef- are related in some way and everybody knows all the fects of the Mexican Revolution in many towns or the members of the community at least by name and rep- construction of the railroads in the USA at the begin- utation. Gossip and the constant vigilance of fellow ning of the century had such impact” (Reyes/Gijón/ community members ensure compliance with social Yúnez/Hinojosa 2004: 201). At national level, during canons. Breaches of the law or misconduct are han- the twenty-two years that the Bracero Scheme lasted, dled by the municipal authorities; fines are usually it “mobilized an average of 350 thousand workers be- paid for with cement bulks used for building public in- tween 1954 and 1960, hiring 4.5 million workers in to- frastructure. There is a community room designated tal” (Durand/Arias 2005: 20). San Martín Tilcajete be- as a prison for handling minor offences, although do- came part of the programme following the construc- mestic problems and violence are treated as private tion of the Pan-American Highway in the forties, and are thus seldom denounced or castigated; when when the community was directly linked with the they are, cement bulks for public use might help re- outer world. From that time, the itinerant circuit that store social ties but they hardly compensate for or al- is very common nowadays, from the community to ter intra-family relational dynamics where women are the capital city Oaxaca, was established for work, ed- the most common victims. ucation, recreation, medical care, banking, administra- Traditionally, San Martín was reliant upon subsist- tive and government services, etc. ence agriculture for domestic consumption (Perez When the Bracero Programme ended and the 1991). Nowadays, following the fall in international ag- USA closed its borders, migration in the state of Oax- ricultural prices, land erosion and global environmen- aca remained intra-national, from rural zones to urban tal change, the end of agricultural subsidies in Mex- areas, towards the regional economic centres. Given ico, and facing competition from larger-scale techno- the proximity and the routes of communication be- logically-equipped national and international farms, tween San Martín and the capital city, intra-state mi- the community has turned to woodcraft production gration was not significant. Instead, the flows towards and migration as the two main means of subsistence; the centre of the country (the Metropolitan Area of economic transformation in the past four decades has the Valley of Mexico) were significant, as well as been tremendous, as will be discussed. The practice those towards the plantations in the north of the of agriculture remains common, given the importance country for agricultural work and to the south-east for that food sovereignty, growing one’s own food, and tourist developments. These migrations were both contact with nature still have in local culture, espe- temporary and permanent, and the number of cially amongst the older generations. A risky activity because of changing weather and rainfall patterns in a 11 The political system of male authority in the commu- semi-dry area, agriculture and farming are still felt as nity, which had been ideologically reinforced by the important even though in most cases they entail lost Catholic religion, was substantially backed by the agri- investments and are significantly subsidized by entire cultural land distribution following the Revolution (1910 families working the land or hiring external labour. onwards) and the National Project of President Lázaro Resources to subsidize agriculture come from either Cárdenas (1934–1940). Twenty-five million hectares migration or woodcraft production, and agriculture is were granted under collective ownership (ejido and col- an ‘officially’ male-dominated process, though women, lective lands), organized in male-headed agricultural productive units. Migration, Woodcarving, and Engendered Identities in San Martín Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico 179 tileños12 that have family in Mexico City today or crease after the APPO crisis in 2006 and sustained once lived there is considerable. Nevertheless, follow- growth despite the international crisis in 2008. The ing the fall in international oil prices and agricultural community has established itself as a cohesive group prices in the eighties, the weakening role of the state, in Santa Cruz, California, where the extraterritorial the crisis of the welfare state and the rise of neo-liber- community of San Martin Tilcajete is located, follow- alism, extreme wealth disparities, increasing poverty, ing decades of migration, with some tileños and/or and demographic pressure, international migration to- their children already holding US citizenship. Most il- wards the USA gained an unprecedented force (see legal immigrants find support from other tileños who Ruíz 1992). are currently there or have been there before – some- According to a study undertaken by College of times several times – and have established important Economic Professionals of the state of Oaxaca, remit- networks of support, services, work contacts, and so tances as proportion of State GDP have increased rap- on. Migration has also spread to Los Angeles, San idly, from seven per cent in 2003 to ten per cent in Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Chicago, Oregon, and 2007. In 2008 the total remittances were estimated at New York. Job prospects for tileños in the USA as il- 12.5 per cent of the State’s GDP. Remittances sent by legal and semi-skilled workers remain concentrated in Oaxacan migrants living in the USA are the third big- agriculture, work in hotels, cleaning, car washes, per- gest source of revenue for the state of Oaxaca after sonal and care services, and construction and build- federal funds and tourism (Pacheco 2009). According ing. to data from the Central Bank, the state of Oaxaca re- Although some families of early migrants have ceived US$1,457 million dollar in remittances in 2008. moved permanently to the USA and settled there, mi- gration is very largely cyclical-pendular. Typically it is 9.4.3 Male Migration in San Martín Tilcajete male-led and represented by a specific age range, al- though women and members of all age groups also In the community of San Martin Tilcajete, migration participate.13 Despite the perils of migration or per- has been male-dominated. The history matches that haps exactly because of the importance of facing and for Oaxaca as a whole. The first significant period of overcoming them, it has typically become an almost international migration dates back to the Bracero Pro- inescapable rite of passage to adulthood for young gramme (1944–1964), when the USA sought cheap male adults following the end of high school and be- Mexican labour through ‘contracts’, usually for short fore considering marriage. Once they have faced their and specified periods of time. Migrants usually re- first migrant period, men return to marry and after turned to their communities after fulfilling their con- settling with their wives in their paternal parental tracts. When the programme gained increasing ap- home or having their wives pregnant, men resort to peal, the USA closed its borders and terminated it, migration in order to save and build their own room although some of the scheme’s pioneers settled in the USA permanently. The second period of migration, from the 1960s 13 Estimating migration for San Martín Tilcajete has been to the 1980s, was characterized by intra-national mi- very difficult, as migrants come and go and data varia- grant flows, as communications and transport im- bility throughout the year and across years makes it veryhard to estimate. In addition, the illegal nature of inter- proved, or followed emerging job opportunities in national migration from San Martín Tilcajete means Mexico City or in the agricultural producing states in that family members left behind in the community of the north of the country and in the south-east in tour- origin are very reluctant to respond to surveys regarding ist developments in the Caribbean. Where opportuni- migration. For example, according to the National Cen- ties were good, migrants settled permanently in those sus by INEGI, San Martín Tilcajete has had twenty-eight locations. international migrants in total since the year 2000; this In the third and current phase, international mi- figure is absurd. If we take the share of migrationamongst the economic activities in the community gration from San Martin recommenced in the 1970s, (thirty per cent in 2004) in relation to the number of though it substantially decreased during the wood- families, we would find that a very conservative estimate craft boom (1986–1994). It soared following the 1994 of migrants would be 150 people (130 men and twenty crisis and has remained constant till today, with an in- women). Considering the national proportion of migrants relative to families involved in the migratory phenomenon (1.7), the estimate would then give us a 12 The term tileño denotes a person from San Martin total of 294 migrants. This fits better with discussions Tilcajete; its plural form is tileños. held in the community. 180 Serena Eréndira Serrano Oswald or small house back in the community. For men be- been a catalyst for the development of an important tween sixteen and fifty, international migration re- arts and crafts industry. San Martin Tilcajete is one of mains a preferred economic alternative, although it al- the three main alebrije15 woodcraft-producing com- ternates with periods of residence back in San Martín, munities in Mexico. From the mid-eighties the wood- working as carvers and in agriculture. The interaction carving boom meant that most household members between migration, woodcarving, and agriculture is residing in the community, as well as migrants during important as it provides economic alternatives for periods spent in San Martín, turned to woodcraft pro- tileño families. As woodcarving has become increas- duction; this included women, children, and elders. ingly successful as a source of income and prestige There are two main types of woodcraft production: i) since the mid-eighties, it has become an important in- high-quality, unique, time- and labour-intensive special- terrelated factor that has transformed the community ized pieces, and ii) average-quality, pattern-repetitive, of origin and also migration, although not all families quickly-made, small inexpensive pieces (for a detailed combine migration with carving. Most frequently, mi- account, see Chibnik 2003; Cant 2012). From the re- gration is combined with agriculture in order to pro- sources derived from migration and those generated duce home-grown foods and preserve land tenure, al- since the carving boom, the community has been rad- though agriculture always involves an expense and ically transformed. Private and public infrastructure does not always yield favourable returns, given the and tourist services have substantially improved. mounting prices of materials and poor land condi- Despite intensive female labour, artisan house- tions in a semi-arid region with water shortages, land holds are male-led. Local men are in control of most erosion, and climate variability. of the craft’s productive process (sometimes deciding Once they have some capital and as they grow even from abroad how, when, and where pieces are older, migrant men return to the community to settle made, and the labour distribution). However, sales back with their original family; if they have children and commercialization of woodcarvings are under the (particularly, though not exclusively, males), they tend control of exogenous male regional, national, and in- at some point of their migrant trajectories to take ternational retailers and intermediaries who sell them abroad to live with them and work. Migrating woodcarvings for much higher prices. In the actual so- and overcoming the perils associated with migration cio-economic ‘glocal’ setting, with interdependent from adolescence onwards holds important social multi-level networks of exchange, individuals have au- value for men; it confirms their masculinity in the tonomy and choices, but these are limited and bound community of origin and abroad amongst peers. Most to specific contexts. As with migration, men head the domestic chores that men learn and perform whilst in processes of wood production, retailing, and com- the USA for work and for their everyday survival are merce inside and outside of the community, and this always undertaken by women back in San Martín; this brings our attention to the topic of economic distribu- applies also to families where both spouses and chil- tion and social justice, with a specific gender analysis. dren have emigrated. As will be discussed below, this Although resources have increased from both mi- often also applies to authority to run the household gration and woodcarving, and the quality of life is of and its economy, agricultural lands, the woodcarving an overall higher standard, competition linked to business, and political positions in the local hierarchy. woodcarving and envy due to migration have weak- This shows the importance of analysing gendered so- ened social cohesion, hampering any attempts to or- cial representations, and the meanings and practices ganize in large collective commercial associations or associated with them in the community of origin. productive projects.16 It is only extended families and smaller-scale groups that have organized in productive 9.4.4 Woodcarving in San Martín Tilcajete Since woodcarving has been such an important inter- 14 This is complemented by the recent declaration of thePrehistoric Caves of Yagul and Mitla as a UNESCO acting phenomenon in San Martín Tilcajete, some- World Heritage Site in August 2010 in the same region times providing resources for emigrating and some- of the Central Valleys of Oaxaca. times as part of a valued return or stay-home strategy, 15 Alebrijes are woodcrafted figures made out of copal it deserves special attention. Ethnic-cultural tourism is wood, with exotic colours, lively patterns, and creative important in the Central Valleys region, following the designs. The consolidation of this activity has placed the designation of Monte Albán and the City of Oaxaca community in global production and distribution as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987;14 it has chains, taking tileño art and artists to national and inter-national exhibitions. Migration, Woodcarving, and Engendered Identities in San Martín Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico 181 processes, in overt competition to other groups in the than their male counterparts. In a community where community. Envy, lack of cooperation, exploitation, economic, social, political, and cultural power and es- competition, piracy, and public offence have charac- teem have traditionally been monopolized by men, terized woodcarving.17 Nevertheless, the social nature domestic chores, parenting work, and other care of interpersonal relations that makes friends part of work undertaken by women have been historically in- the extended family through lifelong ties and prac- visible. This has not changed with modernization, and tices of mutual obligation, reinforced at private feasts in addition women’s labour in the woodcraft trade and public celebrations, has led to the formation of tends to be devalued. Nevertheless, two of the best bigger workshops with a specialized division of labour known paintresses of alebrijes are women: María del and cooperation. Paradoxically, higher incomes have Carmen Mendoza Mendez, leader of the Ángeles meant that reciprocal exchanges are more selective workshop together with her husband, and María but more defining; educational standards are higher Jiménez, famous for her angels. and alternatives open, allowing for stronger intra- and inter-group cohesion despite intra-community atomi- zation following carving and migration. These two 9.5 Women and Migration in San facets permeate the community, providing its mem- Martín Tilcajete bers with esteem and a common identity bridge over a deepening abyss that hinders the definition and ar- At last I wonder how many marriages and families ticulation of collective goals. have not gone through what I am going through? Cris- Lastly, woodcarving has been possible through un- tina [R, 30–35] paid family labour, especially by women and to a lesser extent by children and elders. Typically, men 9.5.1 Female Migration in Tilcajete carve wood and women prepare and paint the pieces, although most men also paint and some women Female migration has very distinct features when com- carve. Direct and regional sales are led by women, un- pared to male migration. Dominant gender social rep- less the commercial relations involve core clients, in resentations lead to different ways of organization, which case men handle business transactions. Most whereby women are often discriminated against. Fol- pieces are signed by the male household leader, who lowing Fraser’s social justice axes, let us now look at forges an individual reputation and is always in con- migration in the concrete case study, bearing in mind trol of sales revenues, even if he temporarily migrates the political, sociocultural, and economic dimensions. to the USA. In the production chain, time invested in The societal weight given to care associated to femi- carving and painting pieces is on average the same for ninity and imposed upon women at the sociocultural women and men; however, alongside woodcrafts level is tremendous. Care has been ideologically natu- women must fulfil their care, domestic, and social ob- ralized and politically justified, linked with the private- ligations. In a study conducted in San Martin in 1991, domestic vs. public realm dichotomy in the polity. women were found to work on average at least four- Nevertheless, in a traditionally male-led community teen hours more per week than men (Pérez 1991: 30– where migration has meant an important exodus of 1). With the demise of agriculture, the extra responsi- adult men who are supposed to be in charge of polit- bilities imposed on women by migration – for exam- ical, economic, and administrative activities, the con- ple, caring for children throughout the day and paint- sequences have been tremendous de facto changes in ing at night – mean that today women work on gender roles, even though female leadership and work average twenty to twenty-five hours more per week often remains unrecognized and migrant men remain the de jure authority or seek to exercise it de facto through relatives, even through their mothers. Be- 16 Examples of this are two important yet competing sides, if women migrate, it is mostly linked with the groups that organize parallel alebrije festivals and events fulfilment of these conventional care ethics. for tourists and the inability of the entire community to During the second wave of migration, in the agree on a single collective trademark, especially as 1960s–1980s, women migrated alone, especially within other communities and regions of the country (and Mexico at a young age and as maids, returning to San even internationally) have started to copy and produce alebrijes with the innovations developed in San Martín Martin after a few years to marry or take care of the Tilcajete that make the pieces unique. sick and elderly, or staying away and sending remit- 17 It also has led to many factions that seek to control tances to family members when single. Since the municipal authority. 1990s, female migration has also taken place interna- 182 Serena Eréndira Serrano Oswald tionally to the USA, normally as companions to their gration and must invisibly assume its costs directly husbands or fathers who have previously established and indirectly (see section 9.5.3) do not even have the themselves in networks there. Children are a deciding option to migrate because of the prevailing social and factor, as some families have sought to have children cultural canons, and when they do, it must be by ac- in the USA in order to obtain US citizenship, though companying husbands, parents, or other family mem- women tend to return to the community in Oaxaca to bers, in order to be controlled by them, otherwise raise them, unless a close female relative in San Mar- community and family members will impose sanctions tín stays in charge of care duties throughout infancy. on a woman for migrating. Women may migrate There is a strong bond with the community of origin, within the country, usually as housemaids, since their which is reinforced by endogenous marriage patterns, work is closely supervised and their earnings benefit investments and retirement there, close family ties, others. However, if migration is a step towards and the possibility of coming and going to the USA, women’s autonomy, education, self-affirmation, or lib- even though tightening security controls have made erty, sanctions can be as subtle as segregation and de- crossing the border more difficult and expensive. nial or escalate to overt expulsion from a marriage, Both parents typically emphasize the importance of family, or community. In such a rigid social system, raising their children in San Martín, even if that women who do not conform to socially sanctioned means leaving them in the hands of relatives. How- rules must leave their families and the community for ever, the preferred choice tends to be mothers return- good, losing every right to struggle for redistribution, ing and raising their children whilst living with their recognition, and representation in the local area. husband’s parents and siblings, with the male migrant Although studies of female migration in Mexico spouse periodically returning. This pattern is congru- have been common since the late 1990s, studies of the ent with national migration estimates of communities costs assumed by women in the community of origin of 2,500 people or fewer, where 86.8 per cent of inter- and their social, political, and economic implications national migrants are male, and only 13.2 per cent fe- are scarce and remain a challenge; much less emphasis male (INEGI 2011; see also INEGI 2010, 2005). has been given to recognition, representation, and re- Campaigns promoting human rights for citizens in distribution. Some noteworthy studies are a general developing countries in the context of migration of- two-volume compilation of the effects of remittances ten now voice the demand ‘the right not to migrate’ and migration on peasant and indigenous women in or to migrate in acceptable conditions. In contrast to various areas of the country (Suárez/Zapata 2004); a the first phase of campaigns that aimed at improving discussion on gender, migration, and social control in relations and realities in migrant destinations – ad- Veracruz (García/Ruiz/Ruiz 2011); a comparative arti- dressing the stresses, humiliations, and abuse endured cle on indigenous migrant women from Oaxaca by migrants – the more recent phase advocates a radi- (Sánchez/Barceló 2007); a study regarding the impact cal transformation in the settings in which migration of migration on marriage in a Mixtec community is generated. Returning to Fraser’s discussion we need (Martínez 2003); a study regarding women and men though to ask: Why do women in a community set- in the development and organization of a productive ting such as San Martin Tilcajete, cradle to mass mi- cooperative in a migrant-sending context in Ayo- gration, not even have the ‘right to migrate’?18 quezco, Oaxaca (Figueroa 2011); and various studies Women who are affected in their everyday lives by mi- regarding the implications of migration for public health in the community of origin, covering chronic and psychosomatic diseases up to the spread of HIV- 18 Balancing recognition, representation, and redistribu- AIDS (for one example linking this with social repre- tion in the migratory process, as will be seen, here refers sentations see Flores/Serrano 2012). to ‘choice’; it is not presented as a legal interdiction per As stated, the findings given here follow more se given that the Federal Constitution is more important than nine years of critical feminist research looking at than indigenous traditional rights or municipal or local state laws. Nevertheless, it is relevant to distinguish everyday life in Tilcajete, triangulating feminist ethno- between de jure rights guaranteed to all Mexicans, men graphic fieldwork with the free association question- and women, by the Federal Constitution and the de naires, two local censuses, and eleven longitudinal in- facto reality in the local setting. Let us remember that depth interviews.19 The next section will present two San Martín Tilcajete is a community governed by tradi- detailed illustrative examples or testimonies in order tional law which is based on traditional practices of eve- to give voice to women and contextualize the discus- ryday life that have restricted free movement of women sion. It will be followed by a list of core findings in for centuries and still do so as a social practice. Migration, Woodcarving, and Engendered Identities in San Martín Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico 183 terms of implications and costs of migration for at the time. Erika [DAE, R, 40–45] said her pride women in the migrant-sending community. helped her: “I struggled… I had nothing to be ashamed of”, although she was constantly singled out. 9.5.2 Case Study Examples: The Women Who It proved difficult and after a few years Erika found Stay Behind another partner named Luis. He was willing to accept her daughter Adriana although he also wanted “a fam- 9.5.2.1 Case of Adriana [DAD, R, 18–25] and ily of his own blood”. Unlike other women, Erika did Erika [DAE, R, 40–45] not want to get married despite significant pressures: 20 “They will always speak about others [but] no, we areThe relationship of Adriana with migration is the fine like that. Otherwise it is harder to separate. It story of coming of age in Tilcajete as the daughter of would be more difficult. It’s better just like that so if Erika, an unusually self-determined and empowered we choose to go in different directions, each can just mother (whose testimony and words will also be pre- leave as we entered [the relationship], just like that”. sented), an alcoholic stepfather, and a biological fa- Surprisingly, given commonplace patrilineal endoga- ther who has lived away in the USA and has been ab- mous marriage in Tilcajete, they settled together in sent during all her life but whose symbolic presence her house where they bore a son to consolidate their and family have been defining in her upbringing, given union.21 Nevertheless, politically and de jure he is the the community setting. She does not know him at all household head. Despite an irregular and precarious except for the contradictory stories that she has heard income (US$5–8 per day on average), Erika is and has from her mother, her biological father’s family, and been the economic pillar of the family. According to from others. Adriana, Luis used to work in construction and be re- Rodolfo (his name) left for the USA when Erika sponsible, that is, fulfil his role as provider, ‘but he has became pregnant. Erika and Rodolfo were not mar- turned into an alcoholic for many years now’: “He ried and for many years Erika thought he did not would finish working and would not come back want to settle and establish a family with her; that is home, we would have to go get him lying lost on the what she had heard from Rodolfo’s parents: “He left. ground… I think it was the pressure of the other build- He did not want to have anything with you. He is not ers because he lived with us.… I worry because of my sure your daughter is his”, “You have loose morals” brother, he suffers most… My mom is fed up, I told they would say. Erika did not decide his departure, her to leave him, and once she did, but then the next but she did not mind. According to her, unlike most day his mother came to speak for him and he is back other women she was looking for a family, which since” [DAD, R, 18–25]. meant a child and not necessarily a husband and The economic empowerment and decision-mak- much less a conflictive relationship with his parents ing of Erika as de facto household head in Tilcajete trying to control her; she had enough personal, fam- are noteworthy. She decided to establish her own ily, and economic resources to be a single mother and household, to work independently of Luis’s income, she cut all ties with them. She had planned to become to raise her daughter on her own without relating with pregnant by one of the best-looking men in town be- Rodolfo’s family, to have a second partner and son cause she wanted a “beautiful daughter” and she was and not get married. Even if the central cultural and prepared to raise her daughter on her own despite the identity premise was still that of making a family and social implications of her decision: gossip and pres- complying with motherhood as defining femininity, sure from the community. Besides, she had her own and her initial choices were reactive following Ro- home and after her father’s death she had seen her dolfo’s departure, they certainly break with traditional mother’s example of strength and work. ways. Perhaps later Luis was a useful compromise in Socially, being a fatherless single mother in a male- the light of societal pressure, and although without led and male-organized community was quite unusual 21 The practice of bearing children to consolidate unions 19 For the full results, access to transcript sections, coding is commonplace, although following migration it has frames, and the direct voices of tileño women at greater become a most important practice, almost like a ritual. length, see Serrano (2010). It is a private and public confirmation that the union is 20 Note: names and some details have been changed to still solid, and many male migrants will seek to get their protect the identity of informants. Quotations have partners pregnant during each visit to the community of been translated, while trying to respect their original origin. This has led to many women secretly resorting to meaning and style as closely as possible. contraception. 184 Serena Eréndira Serrano Oswald recognized representation or recognition she was and my mom does not have to work all the time… Some- is the de facto household head. Erika’s story is also times my friends ask me if I don’t feel curious about my notable as it was one of the first cases of the kind at dad. Well, I don’t know, maybe [nervous laughter]. I the time. Single mothers are now more common in never met him and with time I have learned not to have any feelings for him, nothing [DAD, R, 18–25]. the community although they tend to remain under the protection and vigilance of their families, espe- Although she is now a young adult, Adriana’s words cially bound to the authority of male figures such as enable us to see the impact of migration on children fathers or brothers. in the community of origin, which is a topic that has Another striking feature of this case is the later been little discussed in the Mexican literature. Of struggle of Erika with Rodolfo’s family for Adriana course the details of her case are unusual because Ro- and Adriana’s upbringing. Initially, she grew up believ- dolfo never returned whereas most migrant fathers in ing Luis, and not Rodolfo, was her father. Those were Tilcajete come and go, although the confusion and her “happy years”. Nonetheless, throughout her child- feeling of loneliness, abandonment, and neglect, the hood, the family of Rodolfo and the community pain, the fear, and the desire for a united family are would let her know and constantly remind her of her common amongst children of migrants. The same is origins and of the desirability of leaving her mother’s the case with the vigilance of the community and the side and ‘terrible example’ in order to follow her bio- extended family of the migrant. The peculiarity of this logical father abroad, regardless that he had aban- case is that after Rodolfo left, Erika resisted keeping doned her. A woman who is the economic pillar of in contact with him, residing in the house of her in- the family and makes choices, seeking recognition and laws, or giving up her daughter to them. Usually, in a representation whilst reorganizing her life and thus hegemonic culture, the migrant’s extended family defying social canons, was unacceptable, even in the keep economic control and political power over the face of a partner’s and a father’s abandonment. Adri- migrant’s spouse, his children, and remittances. Even ana states that often Rodolfo’s parents, especially his women who do not have much public authority in the mother, would try to persuade her to go shopping to community are highly empowered within the house- the capital city Oaxaca or to go and meet her father, hold with regard to the wife and children of their mi- with the hope of kidnapping her; for years she was grant sons. afraid they would. She still has not figured out if that The trans-generational power dynamics are so was to send her to the USA with her father, to take weighty that in the story of Erika and Adriana it was her to live at their household, or just to distance her the family of Rodolfo that forced him abroad. Appar- from Erika and her more autonomous example. ently, following the news of Erika’s pregnancy – and An adolescent student now, Adriana struggles since she was publicly represented as an autonomous throughout the interview to put her life and identity and liberal woman – they involved Rodolfo in a family into a different perspective, although she is aware of offence to his uncle that led him to flee the commu- her current resources. She speaks of a life story of nity or risk going to jail; and so he never returned. confusion and pain as a child, which centres in her Back then, he had to leave immediately, in the middle emotional and not her economic needs; the questions of the night. The reasons for his migration were not of the interview even serve as a means of unveiling a necessarily economic or lack of commitment to estab- past full of mixed messages that she has tried to for- lishing a family. Apparently in the following years he get. Here is an extract: was still interested in his daughter and partner. Never- theless, according to social canons, his family was the I never met him [my biological father]. There is the communication vehicle with Erika and Adriana, and story my mom told me… then the man I thought to be my father, [but] besides all those women would tell me neither of them received any direct communication or stories and ask me about my life, they would sow so economic support from his side. Later, through an- much gossip around my life that I would run home cry- other common contact, Rodolfo found out that his ing. I was a little girl. Mom would tell me ‘Don’t listen family had used the remittances he had sent for Erika to them, when you become adult and have use of reason and Adriana for many years in order to build a three- I will tell you the truth. I am your mother, trust only storey concrete house and for their own sustenance. me’. Still, every time they would tell me things like ‘Your He ceased sending money, and perhaps letters,22 al- dad is a rich man in the USA, he can buy you the things you need; you should look for him and live better’, ‘That though he could still not legally return to the commu- ugly man is not your dad’. Back then I was very lonely. I nity and establish a direct link with them. would cry a lot. Now I only want to work and study so Migration, Woodcarving, and Engendered Identities in San Martín Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico 185 9.5.2.2 Case of Cristina [all citations are from more children in the periods he spent back at the DTC, R, 30–35] community of origin. At first, when José left, Cristina lived with her in- The case of Cristina highlights other relevant features laws. Even though she had no problems with her in- of the impact of migration on women in the migrant- laws regarding the resources sent by José for their chil- sending community in relation to the economic, cul- dren, they had authority over everything. She de- tural, and political dimensions identified by Fraser. scribes the difficulties of being mother and father at Her story has two main features. The first is common- once, without having any familial, social, or political place for most women, spouses of migrants, who par- authority over her children: “They were very spoiled ent and raise children on their own. Despite the remit- because we lived with their grandparents and I could tances and advice she receives from her husband by not shout at them or show them limits… So I com- telephone, Cristina is fully in charge of three children plained to my husband, because they would use my on an everyday basis. She is also responsible for the low status. Logically my status was below theirs be- household and domestic chores and her husband’s cause they are the elder parents”. Also, her children public obligations in the community, and she pro- would get very confused in terms of their parental fig- duces and retails alebrijes. The second feature has to ures, calling their grandparents and uncles ‘fathers’: do with the tremendous dilemma posed by learning “[they] started calling both grandfathers father, saying of her husband’s parallel family in the USA. Although ‘Dad Max’ and ‘Dad Josh’… and one day asked me extramarital affairs abroad are very frequent, and ‘Mom, why do I have so many fathers?’… so I had to some develop into lasting partnerships whilst mi- act”. At the first opportunity Cristina moved to the grants are abroad, implicit social and cultural rules al- small house they were building. Her relationship with ways favour the spouse and children back in the com- her in-laws remains good, “because they can’t com- munity of origin as the legitimate family. However, plain about anything, they see that I am impeccable the presence of children abroad disrupts this fragile with my husband and children”. equilibrium. In the process, the dilemma of ending Cristina explains in detail the burdens and chal- the relationship or accepting the spouse back is not lenges of being responsible for her children on her only a private affair involving the family or couple. own during José’s migration. “I have to take care of Knowledge of behaviour, relationships, and children school, homework, domestic work, the house, the abroad is transmitted by the extra-territorial commu- woodcrafts, of paying for special courses for them, nity and it becomes known and mediated by all. So, as everything.” This reflects the multiple workloads of will be seen in the case of Cristina, whichever deci- women who nevertheless lack recognition, redistribu- sion she makes will still mark her socially and place tion, or representation. “For me it is very hard to be her and her children in a vulnerable position. mom and dad, it is really very difficult, because I have Cristina married her husband José at the age of the responsibility for everything, absolutely every- seventeen. She finished high school but could not thing… if they are healthy and if they fall ill… If there study further due to lack of resources, so she started is a problem with the house or if the children turn out working. According to her, had she been able to to be a problem.” The fear of underperforming and study, perhaps she would have married later. Never- not being “good enough” is also a recurrent source of theless, she had an urgent need to leave her family of stress for these mothers, who increasingly experience origin due to a very bad relationship with her mother anxiety-related symptoms and psychosomatic illnesses who was “very harsh and uncaring”. She married, very for which some are medicated (according to files at much in love with her husband whom she considered the local health clinic). They have to be accountable “the example of perfection”. They lived at his parents’ to their spouses, their in-laws, and the community as house and worked producing woodcrafts. The deci- a whole in every realm: “Here at home they [the chil- sion to migrate was his, although the plan was to save dren] understand, but outside they act differently. … I money and build a house of their own; she accepted cry at the parents’ meeting [at school]… I feel so bad and as expected stayed in San Martin in charge of because I think I am not doing things right. What am their son. His migration was pendular, and they had I not doing? He sees me [José], he knows. I sit and cry when I can’t cope anymore… I wonder, what am I do- 22 Although currently there are many private phone lines in ing wrong, where is the mistake? Do they want an evil tileño households today, they date from less than a mother who does not feed them, who does not wash decade ago. At the time, even public phone lines were their clothes, who hits them with a belt all the time, very scarce. 186 Serena Eréndira Serrano Oswald or what is it they want? I always speak to them but I independence and build a home. Living alone – for a don’t know why it has been so hard.” family, not for women – means access to representa- Besides, in the eyes of her children she also takes tion and recognition. Some men who migrated as all the blame for José’s stay abroad, which she lives as youngsters prefer to work in the USA; they can build an “injustice”: “They started to complain, blaming me savings there and rise socially. However, money and time and time again. They started crying and I asked the goods it can buy have become an emotional cur- them ‘Why do you blame me? Why only me? If it’s rency in inter- and intra-family relations. Sometimes about putting on blame, then it should be fair and in- money creates expectations that lead to further migra- clude mom and dad, but why only me? Why don’t you tion in a vicious circle. For example, to some of the have a go at your father?’ ‘Because he is not here and children, goods and toys become a replacement for the only one here is you’ they say. Well, if the only one the absent father. The television, mobile phones, toys, here is me, then you should understand me because clothes, videogames have an increasing role in the ed- all the responsibility of dad is mine. I have the full re- ucation of tileño children. At school and in relation- sponsibility, and if I work, I don’t work for me, it’s for ships between children, the display of imported goods you and I am so very tired… Why are you so unfair figures prominently. This leads to some rifts between with me? Complain when I don’t fulfil my duties, then the children of those who go and those who stay, be- complain”. Linked to this, in the absence of the head tween endogenous traditional values and modern ex- of the household, children frequently assume parental ogenous ones. It makes it harder for the women who responsibilities. Boys take on roles of authority (espe- stay behind to set limits: “I often wonder if we are not cially older boys) and girls assume caring duties re- spoiling our children. Where should we set the limits gardless of their age. if we give them so much?” However, migration is not José exercises his fatherhood through the phone. an economic panacea. It is highly irregular since it de- He calls three times per week, sometimes every day. pends on the job market in the USA, and it involves Cristina says that unlike many other migrants in Tilca- costs that are often displaced on to women since they jete José is an exemplary father. “He has always stay behind and face the maintenance of the house- looked after his children. He sends them so many hold on a daily basis and they face the relationships things and gifts, I even tell him to stop spoiling them with creditors (for example for the money for the ... I have no complaints with him as a father”. Tech- crossing). Most migrant wives also work and engage nology has been fundamental in enabling closer rela- in economic activities besides the household and care tions between migrants and their families in the com- of children, although they invest their earnings in the munity of origin, though unfortunately not all house- family; it is usually the men or in-laws who decide in holds have access to a telephone as there are only a what. limited number of phone lines available and these With migration, the role of institutional education date only from the year 2005. Mobile phones are has been transformed. Previously, when the commu- more common although they are much more expen- nity was devoted to agriculture, going to school was sive and have very bad reception in the valley. Since contingent upon what help was needed in the fields, 2008 computers have become an increasingly valued and it targeted literacy. Now, education is a top prior- asset and investment, linked with migrants and with ity for most families as it improves prospects for work- the importance of education. Nevertheless, internet ing as professionals, to administer the household and access is also limited and of very poor quality. There woodcarving unit, to deal with increasing tourism, or is also a generational gap in terms of technology use. even to have better skills as migrants. In the words of Youngsters are much better prepared to use technol- Cristina: “You have to study, to prepare and have a ca- ogy. Thus, phones (in homes, with relatives, or at lo- reer… I don’t want a child that is linked to vandals cal phone booths) remain the preferred option. Vid- running around insulting people or causing harm.” eos and photographs are also crucial. When children Perhaps because of the conflict between traditional do not know their fathers, they become acquainted and modern values, with elders having the authority with them through photographs, videos, and phone of experience, education currently represents a highly calls. socially esteemed asset for the younger generations: “I Money is a central topic in families with migrants told them [the other parents] ‘I will no longer be and it is usually one of the main reasons causing emi- called Cristina if my son is not a professional and I gration, although it is not the only one. Many newly- will prove it to you. Even if you laugh at me now. And weds resort to migration in order to seek economic when my son is an important professional I will laugh Migration, Woodcarving, and Engendered Identities in San Martín Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico 187 at you and it will not be an evil laughter but one of sat- her choice for her children and herself are brutal in ei- isfaction, you will see’ I said.” This also reflects the ther case. If she forgives him because she puts her parents’ own desire to study, for they invest important family first, Cristina has to cope with sharing re- resources in their children’s education including pri- sources with the other woman and their son, and in vate schools, extra-curricular activities, materials, pri- the community and in front of her children she has to vate tuition, etc. Although levels of education have in- act as if nothing has happened; to put herself last. If creased for all the younger generations, including men she does not forgive him, she has to leave and be re- and women, not all parents will accept their daugh- sponsible for the break-up of the family (even if then ters’ going to study outside the community once they she might take the children with her back to her par- finish high school, and long-distance learning is not ents’ home), and finally, if she seeks revenge she loses yet an alternative for them. everything. She concludes in relation to her unfaithful The most striking feature of Cristina’s case is husband: José’s infidelity and parallel family in the USA. Al- You know I will not be fighting you because of your though the sexual politics of migration and their con- responsibility [the other son]. He has needs and it is not sequences deserve a study in their own right, this case his fault. At the end of the day you will have to make a can provide a window. The first stage involved finding double effort to support him. Look, I am your wife, and out, knowing that others know, and locking herself in even more than your wife I am your friend. As spouse I at home with anxiety crises. The support of other am very hurt, but I have to support you because we are women was noteworthy: a couple. Of course if I had been unfaithful I know you would have kicked me out on the streets and kept my I started to lock myself in at home. I would just not go children. Why? Because you are a man and you think out. Here, here was my world and whenever I went out that ‘Oh yeah, I am a man but she is a woman and she I would just walk the streets without greeting anybody… is not allowed to be unfaithful’… I know you would not Of course they found out because here everyone knows have accepted me. But put yourself in my position, what everything. I did not say anything but they heard it from would you have done if you come back and you find me the people there [in the USA]… My close friend came to with a son of another man, what would you have talk to me: ‘Comadre what is wrong? You did not fail, done?… Listen, I am not going to do it just for revenge, you are in your same position and we are all with you… because I am a woman who does not only think about Be brave, you are worth a lot as woman, don’t feel bad, herself. I think about my children and about the exam- it’s not your fault.’ At the time I did not sleep, I was very ple that I give them. Maybe you think there will be no affected. I was always in a bad mood, shouting, I did problem with you because you did it far away and when not want to hear any noise. I was desperate, with my you come back there will be no problem, your children heart beating fast. I would tell my children to go away, will not see you doing wrong. The difference is that if I to stop bothering me, I felt so miserable. But later I said do it my children will disrespect me, they will lose all to myself ‘What am I doing to my children? I don’t want the respect they have for me, I will lose my house, my to be like that.’ marriage, everything, all that I have struggled for a life- In the second stage, realizing his marriage and family time in order to build. were at risk, José came back to Tilcajete in order to Although not all the features of Cristina’s testimony sort out the situation with Cristina. In such a situation are typical, it highlights how in the social and cultural where Cristina and the children were vulnerable vis–à- construction of motherhood and female identity the vis a stranger, his family stood on her side: “My father- economic, cultural, and political dimensions lead to a in law scolded him. ‘It is not possible that you did this fragile equilibrium in which women are socially vul- to your wife. She has respected you and behaved well. nerable. All suffering and sacrifices are justified. If She is master of her house and from now on I don’t mothers have to be for others in the first place, in a want to see you disrespecting her again.’” The same migrant-sending community where ‘a mother is the with his mother: “I have no other daughter-in-law but only hope of her child’ the boundaries of mother- her and even if you think this is painful I will not ac- hood and maternal responsibilities never end: “All cept any other grandchildren but hers, the ones that that I care about are my children and the tranquillity lived in my house… No other woman will enter my of my family. That is all I care about. Whatever else house but her with her children”, she said. people say or do I am not interested… You would not The subsequent negotiation between the couple imagine the suffering a mother is willing to endure for highlights the unequal power relations in such a con- her children.” Surely greater resilience in terms of re- text. Cristina had to choose whether to forgive him distribution, recognition, and representation in the lo- and take him back or not, but the consequences of cal area would lead to greater intra-gender social jus- 188 Serena Eréndira Serrano Oswald tice. Unfortunately, the process is very gradual and IX. Taking full responsibility for parenting often invisible, as it is women-led. without full parental decision-making control which is instead exercised by telephone and 9.5.3 Summarized Findings of the Study: List enforced through the husband’s family (Cristina, of Implications and Costs Erika); X. Taking responsibility for the woodcarving busi- Given the pattern of male-led migration in San Martin ness often without formal visibility, decision-mak- Tilcajete, with most women staying at home, women ing control, or access to profits and recognition directly assume migration costs. These costs apply as artists (Cristina); also in similar settings and are insufficiently recog- XI. Coping with transformed relations in the com- nized and discussed in migration studies. Some of the munity and increased vigilance regarding most relevant of these implications and costs are: women, without a mainstream male support fig- ure (whether it is a father, [great-] grandfather, I. Assuming the consequences of a spouse’s or fam- uncle, brother, a husband, relative-in-law, a son, ily member’s decision to migrate even if the godfather, or any other close relation of a male woman disagrees or was not asked for her opin- migrant), including neglect, harassment, abuse, ion (as in the cases of Erika and Adriana, Cris- and other forms of external control exerted by tina); all members of the community (Adriana and II. Initial economic and psychological support of Erika; Cristina)24. migrants: payment of part of or the full cost of XII. Regarding illnesses and migration, it is important the trip to the USA (Cristina); to note the appearance of HIV-AIDS in the com- III. Sustenance of the household until remittances munity as a migrant-related disease. There are are received and/or when they cease (Erika, Cris- four cases of HIV-AIDS reported in the commu- tina); nity, so far affecting men but endangering IV. Intermittent or permanent economic and psy- women. Three are of recent appearance in the chological support for migrants whilst abroad past five years and one of a male migrant who is (Cristina); already dead. The stigma of the disease has V. Provision for the migrant’s family or close rela- 23 meant keeping the disease secret and a total lacktions (Cristina); of social programmes of health prevention. VI. Financing migrants upon their return (Cristina); Unsafe unprotected sexual practices are rooted VII. Assuming a migrant’s social and political obliga- in prevailing social representations of virility and tions without any modification to women’s sta- masculinity, reinforced through the heterosexual tus: women must assume all social responsibili- control of the female spouse’s body and repro- ties for community service and obligations for duction. The demand of symbolically consolidat- migrants without gaining any official visibility in ing the marital union during the temporary male terms of recognition or representation; and fol- migrant’s visit, usually resulting in pregnancy, has lowing this women’s work and after women have climbed the social hierarchy for men, men return to fulfil important political posts in the local 24 Traditionally, women in San Martín belonged to their hierarchy and get social recognition for them households and to private spaces destined for their (Cristina); work as carers. Most people confirm that even as late as VIII. Having their body, sexuality, and reproductive the 1980s, women were not allowed to walk aroundalone in the community or to go alone to the regional and mothering capacities at the service of a com- market of Ocotlán or to Oaxaca City. Following migra- plex transnational migratory process, in the tion and perhaps also the introduction of the health community of origin, abroad, and throughout clinic and secondary school in 1994, women have the migratory process (Cristina); increasingly gained visibility in public spaces; but few of them drive even nowadays, and their movement is con- stantly monitored by all community members, including 23 In the ‘stepfamily’–‘stepdaughter’ relation, the wife of other women. If they do not act impeccably according the migrant often becomes the maid of the extended to social canons that often go against their interest, they family and in-laws, with all her chores, relations, and are seen as responsible for eliciting physical or verbal earnings being controlled. Sometimes children – espe- violence from others. The phrase ella se lo buscó (she cially girls – also suffer part of this abuse, not having asked for it) is frequently given as justification for acts of their father as male figure present to give protection. violence or discrimination against women. Migration, Woodcarving, and Engendered Identities in San Martín Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico 189 been commonplace. Thus, most women secretly While a changing context implies novel knowledge resort to contraception but they are not in a posi- and practices, these do not automatically challenge tion to demand or negotiate condom use. old and profoundly rooted social representations. Ob- serving everyday life provides a door into complex, Overall, the women in the community of origin must hidden, obscured, and invisibilized facets of exclusion cope with the bodily, economic, physical, relational, and injustice relating to migration. It is important to emotional, and social burdens of migration, including develop research into concomitant factors that are as- isolation or de facto abandonment, without this auto- sociated with economic imperatives but not solely matically leading to greater recognition, representa- based on them. For example, migration seen as a rite tion, or redistribution. Nevertheless and ironically, mi- of passage; as a conflict-mediating strategy within gration also offers a relief from dysfunctional marriages, and within and between families, genera- relations, and although unilaterally, migration is also tions, and groups; as a micro-empowerment strategy; implemented as an intra- and inter-family conflict-me- for the advancement of education or service-related diating strategy or as a mechanism of empowerment. opportunities; for seeking children born in the USA All these aspects need to be studied in greater qualita- who will have double nationality; in the face of collec- tive depth in migrant communities and circuits. tive pressure, illness, etc. The relationships between migration, security, gender, and social justice that we 9.6 Concluding Remarks have seen call for the ‘participatory parity’ envisaged by Fraser, consisting of economic equality, diversity in Here is my body. Here are my arms to embrace the group, and collective identities that receive recog- unwanted jobs. Here are my legs to carry me away, to nition and are valued as different, and a wide scope of take me to a safe place if something menaces my integ- justice in which excluded social agents find ways to rity. Here is my entire being for anything by any neces- represent themselves and to affirm their rights and sary means. Here is my declamatory voice to remind value. you that I am here. [Lamberto Roque] In a world marked by power differences, amongst Migration is a movement of human beings, a flow of the most vulnerable groups one finds indigenous identities and relationships, not just changes in the lo- women, who must not be taken for granted or invisi- cation and mobility of an uprooted working force. bilized, as has frequently occurred with migration People involved in migration processes, women and studies that do not account for identity and for rela- men, adults, children, and elders, migrants and non- tional and meta-level interconnections. In the present migrants in migrant-expelling settings, educated, low- case study, migration was explored as an everyday-life skilled, and indigenous groups from rural and urban phenomenon seen from the perspective of the mi- settings, are constantly engaging in a dialogue with grant-sending community, that is, emphasis was not their families, groups, communities, with time and hu- given to migrants or migration trajectories as such (as manity, with themselves and their liminal identities, in in, for example, Hondagneu-Sotelo’s study of Mexi- a process of self-actualization and reflexivity (Giddens can Experiences of Immigration, 1994; Ariza’s study 1991). This dialogue is multivocal by definition and regarding the transformation of women during the modernity does not automatically replace tradition in migrant process, 2000; or Oehmichen’s analysis of so- it. As has been seen, gender remains strongly defining. cial control given cultural change and indigenous San Martín Tilcajete presents an interesting case women’s identities in the transnational community, study in order to research migration from a feminist 2001), but to migration’s repercussions and the gen- critical ethnographic standpoint, seen from the com- der social representations linked to it in the place of munity of origin. It is a setting where a poverty- origin. As in the study of Mexican Women and the stricken subsistence agricultural locality has under- Other Side of Immigration, looking at the way in gone rapid economic transformation following migra- which women are transformed by the impact of mi- tion, woodcarving, and tourism in the face of a hege- gration in San Ignacio, Jalisco (Gordillo 2010), the monic patriarchal, risk-prone, unsafe, and precarious doctoral thesis on marriage and transnational conju- mode of capitalism. Modernization and globalization gal practices in San Miguel Acuexcomac, Puebla by coexist with the Zapotec world outlook, with some of D’Aubeterre (1998), or in Martínez’s study of the in- its core values still defining everyday life within the corporation of new values such as individual choice community and also abroad in the transnational mi- and romantic love coexisting with the authority of tra- gratory chain. ditional marriage patterns in San Juan Mixtepec, Oax- 190 Serena Eréndira Serrano Oswald aca (Martínez 2003), our interest lies in the symbolic, cal community, not abroad. This said, migration has representational, and discursive regimes that lead to high human costs and is not gender-neutral. specific gender identities and relations. Attention to Yet although women do not have the same right to identity and subjectivity enables us to deepen our anal- decide about migration as men, migration does imply ysis of migratory contexts, identifying the representa- changes in the community of origin, in the family, in tional elements of the sentimental and social order organization, in distribution, in power, identities, and which are implicated in unequal and unjust relations the emergence of mujeridades, etc. In San Martín, (Besserer 2004). Arredondo (2008) has spoken of woodcarving and tourism have been dynamic con- mujeridades, to refer to the experiences of women comitant factors interacting with migration. Together, on-the-move and their relation to and defiance of so- while they have given men the chance to come and cial expectations. As partner to that, the present case go, they have enabled women to empower themselves study has presented the everyday life experiences of de facto, even though economic, political, social, and womanhood in a changing community setting, that is, legal changes are only slowly catching up. Instead of of mujeridades in the home area. only resorting to migration as a survival strategy be- From the case study of San Martín Tilcajete, it is cause of the lack of opportunities locally, the specific clear that both the migrants and the people living in system of coming and going in San Martín Tilcajete migrant-sending communities are agents of transition, means tileños having a chance to enter into dialogue forging and acting within discursive social contexts with the globalizing world; and the challenge is to and adjusting representations. In a context of deepen- make these dialogues not only multilocal but multivo- ing globalization, we see that migration in its interac- cal for both women and men in such a way that tion with woodcarving has become an alternative way women may effectively claim their rights to redistribu- of social, political, and economic integration, though tion, representation, and recognition. with identity articulations culturally rooted in the lo- References Chadha; Chourou, Béchir; Kameri-Mbote, Patricia; Liotta, P.H. (Eds.), 2008: Globalization and Environ- Ariza, Marina, 2000: Ya no soy la que dejé atrás (Mexico: mental Challenges: Reconceptualizing Security in the Plaza y Valdes - IIS-UNAM). 21st Century. 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This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. 10 Strategic Invisibility as Everyday Politics for a Life with Dignity: Guatemalan Women Migrants’ Experiences of Insecurity at Mexico’s Southern Border Martha Luz Rojas-Wiesner1 and Maria DeVargas2 Abstract3 The re-scaling of border control and the conflation of migration, crime, and national security in Mexico in the last decade have generated new practices of ‘flow management’ at the southern border with a differentiated impact on migrants. This chapter draws on research findings on Guatemalan im/migrant4 women (some of whom have been living in Mexico for generations) to examine the kinds of insecurity they face in daily life as migrants of Mayan origin.5 By engaging with the contextual and specific meanings of in/securities generated by the processes of ‘othering’ experienced by these migrants, especially those with an irregular status, the chapter focuses on the significance of the politics of everyday life and how in/visibility becomes a strategic field of struggle for them, both to ensure daily well-being and to avoid the risks of being detected and the punitive responses that follow. The chapter proposes that where the concepts of citizenship and rights are unlikely to be satisfied for those who need them most, the analytical lens must shift from a normative understanding of rights to the interface between the practices of border control and migrants’ strategies. Understanding in/visibility is introduced as a strategy to help discern the power dynamics that affect their social conditions and the consequences for policy advocacy. Keywords: Re-scaling border control, Mexico’s southern border, Guatemalan women’s migration, in/visibility, everyday politics. 10.1 Introduction12345 of the measures of containment and control of migra- tory flows in specific parts of the world has created There is a consensus among migration scholars and new types of risks and vulnerabilities for migrants, human rights advocates that the recent strengthening thought the experiences of discrimination they may face takes particular contextual forms and expressions (Anguiano/López 2010; FitzGerald 2011). Scholars 1 Martha Luz Rojas-Wiesner has been a senior researcher in have generally acknowledged that women migrants6 the Department of Society, Culture, and Health of El encounter situations of exclusion and discrimination Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR) since 1998. She works specifically on female migration along the south- ern border of Mexico at her office in Tapachula, Chiapas. 4 The word ‘im/migrants’ covers the following persons 2 Maria DeVargas is a research assistant and project from Guatemala in Mexico. 1) Those who entered Mex- officer for the project promoting this book at the Inter- ico during the civil war in Guatemala in the 1980s, were national Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Erasmus Uni- granted refugee status, and became naturalized Mexican versity Rotterdam. She is a psychologist with a Master’s citizens, as well as women who arrived for other reasons in Development Studies from ISS. and have permission to stay and work. 2) Those who 3 This chapter is based on the findings of an IDRC-funded entered in the 1990s primarily in search of economic project ‘Advancing the Rights of Migrant Women in Latin opportunity and personal security but do not have the America and the Caribbean’, project number 104785- same protection, and may be classed as migrants with 003.The authors are grateful to Thanh-Dam Truong for irregular status (or persons who have entered Mexico or her key role orienting and contributing to the writing of remain in the country without authorization). 3) Those this chapter. They also want to thank Rosalba Icaza for who are seasonal or frontier workers with or without her recommendations and inspired debates. regular status. T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 193 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_10, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 194 Martha Luz Rojas-Wiesner and Maria DeVargas in distinctively different ways from men (Jolly/Reeves fluid and open to a variety of movements (trade, agri- 2005; Bastia 2009; Gregorio 2012; Petrozziello 2012). cultural workers, displaced people, families), though The multiple and overlapping forms of identity-based variations have depended on the intensity of ex- vulnerabilities found in local situations of marginaliza- changes and causes of displacements (Castillo 2003). tion have yet to be addressed adequately in their own Since the 1980s, these movements have become a terms, and in relation to specific public policies. ‘problem’ for the Mexican regional governments as a These forms are contingent on the specific character result of a combination of migratory flows – refugees of a given local sphere of migration, producing layers from Central America fleeing direct violence caused of discrimination and insecurities that cannot be by civil wars, followed by economic migrants driven reduced to gender as a single cause. by persistent socio-economic hardships in the post- The complexity of migration is clearly expressed war years in the 1990s. The porosity of this border in border areas where migratory processes are bearers also gradually made it accessible to long-distance mi- of particular features of social exchange7 and political grants (also referred to as ‘transmigrants’) who pass histories, and where new flows have become ‘global’ through this border on their journey northward to the preoccupations (Sassen 2003; Castles 2010; Papad- United States or Canada (Angeles 2010; Castillo 2010; emetriou 2011). Concerns over law and order are al- Verduzco/de Lozano 2011). Since Mexico joined the lowing states to choose specific border crossing- North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in points and their vicinity, identified as vulnerable to il- 1994, attempts to curb all forms of unauthorized mi- legal trade and migration and to organized crime, gration that may affect the whole NAFTA territory where Hobbesian measures of border policing are have generated new types of global-local interactions adopted. These are legitimized by the need to protect and scales of border control. For many migrants, national sovereignty and control crime (Bigo/Tsou- these interactions and scales of control have pro- kala 2008). In the name of national security, such prac- duced intersecting life-worlds and social fields of ac- tices of border control tend to go hand in with proc- tion for survival. esses of ‘othering’ (Pécoud/Guchteneire 2006) that This chapter deals with Guatemalan im/migrant underpin the fixing of territorial boundaries based on women, mainly in Chiapas and primarily with those identities and belonging,8 field of access, and the scale without appropriate migratory documents.10 Some of of transgressions (Van Houtum/Van Naerssen 2001). them have been living in the state for over twenty-five The southern border of Mexico is one example of years. It explores their manners of coping with the such a border area. Known historically9 as a new control measures and how emerging forms of in/ ‘convergence area’, it is generally considered to be a securities have affected their daily lives and social re- unified zone socially, culturally, and economically (Fábregas 1997; Castillo 2002). This border had been 8 From this perspective we will use also ‘othering’ to refer to discrimination, because it involves broad forms and 5 The term ‘Mayan origin’ here refers to persons who are practices of discrimination, abuse, and exclusion which descendants of Mayans. Today many of them are mixed are closely interconnected with ethnic and cultural fac- with other races but they still have some common phys- tors. Within our framework, this concept involves ical features. Many of them still follow some traditions, Bourdieu’s concept of ‘habitus’ related to the practices customs and speak a variety of indigenous languages. and ways of discriminating against ‘others’ which are Also, those who do not follow Mayan traditions are still normalized within societies. considered as indigenous and are mistreated on the 9 The region is part of the area sometimes called Mesoa- basis of their identity as socially constructed by other merica, a “convergence area, in which the story is racial groups. shared with Central American and Caribbean peoples” 6 As shown by Hania Zlotnik, during the last forty years (Fábregas 1997: 349) of the twentieth century the number of female migrants 10 By women without appropriate migratory documents, was almost equal to that of male migrants: 47 per cent we mean those women who do not have any immigra- in 1960 and 49 per cent in 2000 (Zlotnick 2003). In tion papers, as well as women who entered the country more developed countries, 51 per cent of all immigrants with an immigration document and are working even if are women (United Nations 2009). they do not have authorization to work. The latter is the 7 Even with gaps in information, it is estimated that nearly case for those women who entered with a Migratory the half of migration processes are between South– Form for Local Visitors (FMVL) and are engaged in eco- South countries, and around 80 per cent of them “take nomic activity, such as traders, vendors, and domestic place between countries with contiguous borders” workers. It also includes women whose documents have (Ratha/Shaw 2007: 3). expired. Strategic Invisibility as Everyday Politics for a Life with Dignity: Guatemalan Women Migrants’ Experiences 195 lations. Conscious invisibility may be seen as a multi- an existence with security in daily live as a basic con- purpose strategy: 1) to protect themselves against de- dition for achieving dignity11 and rights. Moreover, it tection by the authorities or denouncement by per- is necessary to find more appropriate mechanisms to sons in the communities in which they work or live; 2) support them while at the same time respecting their to prevent their being potential victims of ‘othering’ autonomy. In this regard, the adequate distribution of due to their country of origin. In this sense ‘invisibil- information becomes relevant to establishing ena- ity’ may be seen as a form of everyday politics to en- bling conditions towards individual processes of in- sure daily well-being, as well as to avoid the risks of formed decisions (Baehr 2012). In other words, it is being found out and the punitive responses that may important to promote knowledge among the im/mi- follow. Yet, paradoxically, this form of everyday poli- grants so that social boundaries and individual fears tics also denies them access to basic social services do not become restrictions in the process of accessing and to some of the protection which they are entitled legal identities and rights. to, especially the long-term immigrants. By shifting the analytical lens from a normative framework of mi- grants’ rights to the interface between the practices of 10.2 Contextualizing Migration at border control and migrants’ strategies for achieving Mexico’s Southern Border well-being in everyday life, the chapter offers some re- flections on the implications of migrants’ strategic in- Inter-regional migratory dynamics in Latin America visibility for future debates and actions. and the Caribbean are historically multi-layered. In re- Section 10.2 highlights the key aspects of migra- cent decades these have become more complex for a tion at the Mexican southern border, emphasizing variety of reasons. The most significant is the increase those aspects that are central to the understanding of in the magnitude of movements from this region into the situation of the women who are the subjects of the United States, and this has led to a re-scaling of this study. The concept of re-territorialization pro- forms of border control within the territory of the posed by Brenner (1999), defined as the re-scaling of United States itself as well as areas it considers to be forms of territorial organization such as cities and within its broader security perimeters, such as the states, is adjusted to refer to the re-configuration and Mexican southern border, with the state of Chiapas re-scaling of organizational forms of boundary control being the focal point of concern. that has been taking place in Mexico during the last According to Villafuerte/García (2006), intense in- decade and its implications for migrants in subordi- ternal migration in Chiapas began in the second half nate positions. Section 10.3 presents the stories of of the twentieth century, stimulated by colonization Guatemalan women im/migrants in Mexico, moving of the Lacandona Jungle, the demand for labour for from a general profile to the individual motivational coffee plantations, and hydroelectric construction. stories of a group of fifty-five women, and introduc- This was followed by migration to the oilfields of Ta- ing some of the effects of the new practices of ‘flow basco and to the tourist area of Cancun in the 1980s. management’ on their lives. Section 10.4, based on Since the 1990s, as a result of economic crises, migra- multi-sited research, illustrates through the women’s tory flows from this region have extended to the narratives what such insecurities mean for them and north of Mexico, the United States, and Canada. The the reasons for their conscious invisibility. In section exacerbation of poverty levels and the neglect of cer- 10.5 we examine the paradox of in/visibility in the pol- tain sectors of the population by the government led itics of everyday life, with reference to similar cases to the formation of the Zapatista movement in 1994, discussed by other authors. The chapter concludes by and consequently to an increased presence of military linking the three layers of power affecting the women: forces in the region. In parallel, from the 1980s to the the introduction of new concepts of ‘border’, the new mid-1990s Chiapas became host to many Guatemalan concept of order in migration management, and the refugees fleeing civil war in their own country, adding multiple processes of ‘othering’ the migrant popula- tion with respect to their identities. Migrants’ rights 11 Following Habermas, we use the concept of ‘dignity’ or advocates in Mexico need to work to deepen under- ‘a life with dignity’ as the essential minimum required to standing of how strategic invisibility can be an effect live, which should constantly be considered as having an of the contextual workings of multiple and interlinked entrenched relationship with personal expectations of forms of power so as to be able to translate their con- well-being (Habermas 2010). It is therefore a space cerns into actions that can help the migrants achieve where legal struggles for human rights and quality of life may be pursued. 196 Martha Luz Rojas-Wiesner and Maria DeVargas Figure 10.1: Mexico’s southern border. Source: Laboratorio de Análisis de Información Geográfica y Estadística de El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR). Permission was granted on 15 January 2013 by ECOSUR. to the historical migration of Guatemalan seasonal ag- ent (Morales/Lopez 1999; Angeles/Rojas 2000; Alba ricultural workers and daily movements of residents 2001; Rodríguez/Berumen/Ramos 2011). This reality along the Mexico–Guatemala border (Kauffer 2005; was made visible in international forums, especially Rojas 2011). Due to the geographical characteristics of around the time of the preparation of the United Na- the area and the lack of institutional attention to the tions Convention on Transnational Crime (UNCTC) borderline, there are many unclear demarcations. The and its Protocols on Human Trafficking and Human internal migratory dynamics in this area are such that Smuggling. In these forums emphasis was placed on many established immigrants move from one location the significance of the migratory flows through this to another without being aware of the border (Ange- border destined for the United States. Much less at- les/Rojas 2000; Castillo 2001). tention has been given to the transformations of the In the last two decades, this border has seen more local sphere of migration around the southern border restrictive immigration measures due to a confluence itself, and their impacts on migrants caused by the in- of migratory flows. Following persistent post-war so- appropriate construction of them as a homogeneous cio-economic decline and poverty, the flow of eco- group. nomic migrants from Guatemala into Mexico has in- As a member of the North American Free Trade tensified (Alba/Castillo 2012). In addition, Mexico’s Agreement (NAFTA),12 and subsequent to the 11 Sep- proximity to the United States has become a decisive tember 2011 terrorist attacks in New York, Mexico factor in shaping the flows of migrants from different followed the United States discourses on national se- parts of the world through its southern border, mainly curity and immigration control and revamped meas- from 2000 when a statistical increase became appar- ures implemented since the 1980s, often conflating Strategic Invisibility as Everyday Politics for a Life with Dignity: Guatemalan Women Migrants’ Experiences 197 the term ‘security’ with ‘migration control’ (Adamson with legal requirements). Immigrants with regular sta- 2006). Mexico’s commitment to NAFTA implies an tus must strictly comply with the procedures and re- intensification of control measures to contain mi- quirements to renew their residence permit. Those grants entering the United States via Mexico, legiti- who do not have regular status must apply for a resi- mized by Mexico’s national security. These measures dence permit as an immigrant. Temporary workers are along the lines of those adopted by the United and commuting workers are permitted to enter as States in its ‘war on terror’. The Mexican territory was frontier workers or local visitors and regularize their defined as part of the inner circles of the United presence through registration, the Migratory Form States’ homeland security perimeters, i.e. Mexico and for Frontier Workers (FMTF), and the Migratory its borders with Guatemala and Belize are now consid- Form for Local Visitors (FMVL) respectively.15 ered as the most southern external perimeters of the Although immigrants with irregular status (with- NAFTA trade zone (Castillo 1997, 2003; Cortés 2003; out an identity document, or one which is not valid), Alba/Leite 2004; Hernández 2008; Verduzco/de Loz- some of whom have been living for more than twenty ano 2011). The links made between terrorism and the years in the country, have always faced the risk of de- growing waves of organized crime in Mexico, espe- portation when found out, since 2008 immigration cially the measures adopted to combat the drug trade officials have become stricter in requiring immigra- and to dismantle organized crime, have also fuelled tion documents at border check-points. However, the violence surrounding these controls (Hernandez there is a tendency among immigration authorities to 2008). As there is a confluence of migrants of different apply measures to contain migration indiscriminately, types,13 the governments are confronted with different i.e. by targeting all those persons without a proper kinds of societal insecurity (drug trade, violent crime identity document (im/migrants with irregular status), gangs, and so on) as interlinked phenomena with mi- irrespective of their histories of migration. Thus trans- gration flows. This has enlarged and strengthened what migrants with irregular status as a category can be immigration authorities call ‘the administration or management of migration flows’ in Mexico. The pri- mary aim was the control and containment of crime of 14 Since the late 1990s, the following migration control various types linked to networks in the United States, programmes or actions can be cited: the “Sealing the as well as irregular migrations (human trafficking and Southern Border” plan (1998); the “Southern Plan” human smuggling) towards the United States.14 (June 2001); the pilot plan between Mexico and Guate- In Mexico, measures to contain and control trans- mala for “safe and orderly repatriation” (June 2001); the migrants bound for the United States have had differ- “Agreement for Swift, Safe and Orderly Repatriation of Salvadorian Migrants by Land” (May 2005); and the ent impacts for several categories of migrants: 1) im- “Agreement for the Safe and Orderly Repatriation of migrants (persons already living in Mexico for a long Central American Migrants on the Mexican–Guatema- period); 2) temporary workers (persons who enter lan Border” (June 2005). Furthermore, there have been only to work on a temporary (seasonal) basis; 3) com- various adjustments to the Manuals and Procedures for muters (those who live in Guatemala and enter Mexi- granting visas and migration permits in Mexico during can territory for work on a daily basis, who may or the last decade. Other actions have explicitly responded may not have an identity document in conformity to national security strategies that had contained migra- tion flows, such as the “Sentinel Director Plan” (2003), the “National Security Act” (2005), and the “Merida Ini- tiative” (2007). Furthermore, Mexico has signed some 12 NAFTA was signed by Mexico, the United States of plans and agreements with neighbouring countries that America, and Canada, and entered into force on 1 Jan- have also affected migratory flows: the “Panama Puebla uary 1994. This agreement offers the United States the Plan” (2000, today called the “Mesoamerica Project”), most favourable position with regard to power and and the high-level border security agreements between trade. Mexico and Belize (2005) and between Mexico and 13 There is a confluence of international migrants – from Guatemala (2002, 2008). Central America and from Chiapas to the United States; 15 During the mid-2000s, the requirements for applicants transitory and temporal migrants; internal migrants – for different types of visas (‘immigration forms’), either between rural and urban localities of the same state; and to enter, remain, or naturalize in Mexico, became more regional and internal displacements caused by religious, stringent. Lawyers (or ‘brokers’) who assist with immi- social, or political conflicts. In addition, natural disas- gration procedures, tourists, and immigrants informally ters and the construction of dams have also caused the interviewed in recent years have indicated that it was displacement of many people into and through this area more difficult to obtain a visa to enter Mexico than the (Castillo 2003; Villafuerte/Garcia 2006). United States. 198 Martha Luz Rojas-Wiesner and Maria DeVargas treated in the same way as long-time immigrants also At the societal level, the perception of migration with irregular status. Given the perception that trans- as a ‘threat’ to national security also generates anti-mi- migrants are a threat, possible criminals, or terrorists, grant sentiments among the local populations. For ex- long-time immigrants are also afraid of being affiliated ample, according to the National Survey on Discrim- with crime and terror, given the consequences. There- ination in Mexico conducted in 2010, which involved fore, immigrants with irregular status have no option a nationally representative sample of 13751 house- but to limit their movements for fear of being caught holds, 25 per cent of respondents consider that the by the authorities, or identified as being affiliated Mexican government should control migration; 76 with criminal gangs. The limitation of their movement per cent believe that immigration causes divisions in has also led to their social exclusion at a greater level Mexican society; 27 per cent would not allow an im- of significance than before. In some contexts these migrant to live in their house; 38 per cent said that people have to make themselves ‘invisible’, or to con- “Mexicans can build a great nation only if we have a duct their lives at such a level of discretion that they similar culture and values” (CONAPRED 2011: 84). can pass unnoticed by the public (Castillo 2003). The same source indicates that there is a general be- The institutionalization of the perceived links lief among the population surveyed that the migrants’ between migration, crime, and terror, or migration presence has led to problems of insecurity because mi- and the threat to national security, became visible in grants often attract various types of criminals who at- 2005 when the Mexican government integrated the tempt to kidnap or assault them. Long-time immi- National Migration Institute (INM) into the National grants without a regular identity are affected by these Security Council (Coria 2011).16 This had already been attitudes in the communities where they work and justified in the 1990s when the South Beta Group of live. There is a fear of denouncement that applies not Migrant Protection was affiliated with the National only to their neighbours, but also to their employers, Institute of Migration’s Regional Delegation in Chia- who want to evade responsibilities towards them. pas. This addressed gang violence against migrants in They also fear the mafias and criminals who can at- the border zone with Guatemala, specifically between tack them, in addition to the fear of the consequences Hidalgo city and the cities of Tapachula and Huixtla, of being detected by the authorities as workers with and along the train route along the coast of Chiapas – irregular status. Despite the fact that Mexico has a sig- a route frequently used for migrants’ movement. This nificant proportion of citizens who are in favour of problem worsened in the late 1990s during a time of having foreigners in the country, testimonies from mi- increasing flows of Central American migrants to the grants who are Guatemalan, economically disadvan- United States and increasing Mexican migratory con- taged, indigenous, and/or migrants working in the ag- trols (Ruiz 2001, 2004). This has caused many ricultural and service sectors (as domestic workers migrants to seek alternative routes where they face and sex workers), have shown that they are often vic- greater risks of being assaulted, in other words greater tims of ‘othering’ and exploitation (CONAPRED danger and greater risks of violation of their human 2011). This type of abuse also goes unreported due to rights. Despite the various complaints that have been fear of losing one’s job or fear of being handed over made, the concern is that official actions to combat to the immigration authorities. In conclusion, the sur- criminals who attack, abduct, and murder migrants vey emphasized that the discrimination and intoler- passing through Mexico have been rare and scarce ance towards migrants revealed by the survey “directly (Amnesty International 2010). This shows that less confronts the discourse and imaginaries of a society emphasis is placed on the protection of migrants than that calls itself multicultural, hospitable, and generous on the protection of national security. to those coming from abroad” (CONAPRED 2011: 7). Access to services and rightful treatment at work has become increasingly problematic for im/migrants 16 During this year 2005, many factors influenced this event: the great increase in the number of migrants, the in such a context. Although Mexico’s Migration Law emphasis on national security discourses linked to of 25 May 2011 states that immigrants have access to migration, and the increase of the phenomenon various services and rights regardless of their immigra- whereby transitory migrants have not only been tion status, these rights continue to be denied at the exposed to, but increasingly been victims of, more local level (Articles 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 14).17 Several extreme and inhumane forms of violence in Mexico car- provisions of the new law on verification and migra- ried out by organized criminal groups (Amnesty Interna- tion control are already being implemented by the im- tional Report 2010). Strategic Invisibility as Everyday Politics for a Life with Dignity: Guatemalan Women Migrants’ Experiences 199 migration authorities, while, as of July 2012, the rele- The national census cited above indicates that in vant regulations that grant migrants rights without Mexico’s southern border region, 43 per cent of immi- their having to prove their legal status still have not grants are of Guatemalan origin, 56 per cent are been published. In the current milieu of xenophobia women, and most of them (83 per cent) live in Chia- and ‘othering’ among different groups in the Mexican pas. An estimate of temporary migration can be made population, the gap between the law and its imple- from the data collected through the Southern Border mentation have forced migrants (including immigrant Migratory Survey18– an ongoing survey that applies to women) into self-chosen invisibility, not only towards some of the migratory flows on the border between immigration authorities but also towards people in Guatemala and Chiapas. In 2009, information was their close environment. Additionally, within Mexican gathered on 324519 border crossings by temporary society, discriminatory attitudes towards the indige- workers; 23.5 per cent had no immigration papers and nous population persists, affecting the majority of the 17.6 per cent of the total flow were women. As for Guatemalan immigrant population in Mexico, many commuters, the same EMIF-Sur survey gathered infor- of whom have indigenous facial features and still wear mation from 190904 border crossings by residents in traditional clothes and use their own languages. border regions: 15.0 per cent had no immigration pa- pers; 83.3 per cent were working, but with papers that did not authorize them to work; and 42.6 per cent of 10.3 Stories of Guatemalan Women the total flow were women (INM/CONAPO/ Migrating to Mexico COLEF/SRE/STyPS 2012). To supplement this information, in our research19 According to the latest Mexican national census, the we collected data through semi-structured personal in- Guatemalan immigrant population represents a small terviews with Guatemalan women and with some key part of the immigrant population in Mexico (INEGI institutional informants. Various strategies were em- 2010). Although their numbers have increased from ployed to contact the women from whom informa- 23967 to 35322 between 2000 and 2010, Guatemalan tion was collected and the connections were estab- immigrants only accounted for 4.9 per cent of all re- lished by key informants. Subsequently, to identify corded immigrants in 2000 and 3.7 per cent in 2010. additional respondents a snowball technique was used This population has become important in Mexico’s with women already interviewed, local organizations, southern border region (Chiapas, Campeche, Ta- and ECOSUR networks. Initially, many women were basco, and Quintana Roo), where many people from reluctant to participate in the interviews through fear Guatemala live. Small-scale studies have indicated a of deportation, but gradually as they came to know similar picture with a significant number of women the researchers better they were more willing to share immigrants and migrants (irrespective of their migra- their experiences. tion histories) exposed to a series of risks and who Given the proximity and historical interaction be- face ‘othering’, exclusion, and marginalization (Rojas tween Chiapas and Guatemala, the largest number of 2002; Rojas/Ángeles 2008). This ill-treatment can be women interviewed for this project was from Chiapas based on their migrant status (regular or irregular), and to a lesser extent from states where the census re- class membership, gender, ethnicity, and even their corded Guatemalans (Campeche, Quintana Roo, and geographical location and the length of their stay in Mexico City). The majority of these women were im- the place of arrival, or on a combination of some or all of these factors. As López Sala (2005) notes, distin- guishing between groups of im/migrants is necessary 18 In Spanish, EMIF-Sur is used for Encuesta sobre because strategies of invisibility may differ according Migración en la Frontera Sur. to migrants’ identity background and migratory his- 19 This chapter will present findings of the research con- tory. Using the formal criteria of classification, Guate- ducted in Mexico by Martha Luz Rojas Wiesner and malan women im/migrants in Mexico are distin- Hugo Ángeles, together with Cristina Robledo and José guished as: 1) immigrants, 2) temporary migrants, and Bernal (Research Assistants), which is part of the“Advancing the Rights of Female Migrants in Latin 3) commuters or residents on the frontier with Guate- America and the Caribbean” project, coordinated by mala. Tanya Basok and Nicola Piper, and financed by the International Development Research Center (IDRC). The larger project was independently carried out in five 17 See this law at: (15 October 2012). the Dominican Republic. 200 Martha Luz Rojas-Wiesner and Maria DeVargas Table 10.1: Profile of Guatemalan women interviewed. Source: Interviews with Guatemalan women in Mexico, 2009– 2010, based on data from the IDRC Project. Total women interviewed 55 Average age of women at time of interview 37 years Age range of women at time of interview 13 to 64 years Average age at time of first migration to Mexico 17.5 years Age range of women at time of first migration to Mexico 6 to 38 years Location of interview Chiapas 33 Campeche 9 Quintana Roo 8 Ciudad de México 5 Number of women according to migration status Immigrant or established women in Mexico 41 Temporary or seasonal migrant women 8 Border-resident women 6 Number of women by migratory legal status Women with appropriate immigration papers 16 Naturalized women 12 Women with irregular status 27 Number of women by region of origin in Guatemala San Marcos 22 Huehuetenango 9 Guatemala 6 El Petén 3 Quiché 3 Escuintla 3 Otros 9 Number of women by status of activity Women engaged in trade-related activities 16 Live-in domestic service workers 11 Women engaged in artisan/craft or support work 7 Women engaged in agricultural work 4 Women engaged in personal service industry (restaurants, cleaning services, etc.) 5 Professional, employed in administrative or office setting 5 Women engaged in unpaid household/domestic work 7 Principal motives for migrating to Mexico Economic motives 29 Fleeing political violence 13 Fleeing a situation of domestic violence 4 Family reunification or to raise a family 9 migrants, followed by migrants with the status of tem- huetenango, El Petén, and Quiche.20 In Chiapas, the porary workers and commuters predominantly from largest group of women came from San Marcos, while the Guatemalan border states of San Marcos, Hue- in Campeche and Quintana Roo, the women mainly Strategic Invisibility as Everyday Politics for a Life with Dignity: Guatemalan Women Migrants’ Experiences 201 came from El Petén, Huehuetenango, and Quiche did not return to Guatemala after the peace agree- (see figure 10.1). As a group, the women immigrants ments were signed in 1996. Not all women refugees came to Mexico for the first time between 1965 and were naturalized and some do not have identity or mi- 2008, and were between six and thirty-eight years old gratory documents. Women who continued to live in when they migrated (median age 17.5 years). On aver- Mexico and who did not return to Guatemala were age, these women have been living or working in Mex- given government support to settle in Mexico and ico for almost twenty years – some reported that they granted a small plot of land and naturalization, while have lived for over thirty years in some places21 in those who returned to Guatemala after the conflict Mexico, and of these, some were still without immi- and later re-entered Mexico as economic migrants gration papers. were without support. The rest of the women inter- Guatemala is one of the most unequal countries in viewed did not have identity documents or had insuf- the world and its poverty level is among the highest in ficient papers to show their legal presence. The latter the region (Menjivar 2008; World Bank 2004). The situation could refer to immigration papers expiring three provinces from which the majority of women in- and migrants not yet renewing them, or to situations terviewed are from have poverty levels of above 50 per where immigration papers had been issued but do not cent. In Mexico, the municipalities at the border are authorize the migrant to carry out remunerated activ- also extremely poor, as can be seen in the following ities. index of general and extreme poverty: Tacaná (84.5 Fleeing poverty is the principal motivation for the per cent and 32.2 per cent), Tajumulco (93.3 per cent majority of the women who migrated to Mexico. and 48.9 per cent), El Quetzal (79.5 per cent and 26 Olga,22 an immigrant without an identity document per cent), and Malacatán (71.4 per cent and 18.7 per after eight years living in Mexico, is currently earning cent) (SEGEPLAN 2006). This mestizo population of her living by washing other people’s clothes. indigenous ethnic origin and with a high percentage I came to work because we have no money over there. of illiteracy depends on informal work in agricultural Then I quit school because my father died and my and commercial activities. The combination of these mother stayed alone and so I came to work here [2001] factors contributes to their social exclusion. In this when I was thirteen years old (Olga, 21 years old). context it is not surprising that the main motivation Besides economic reasons, escaping political or do- for migrating to Mexico is economic. In Mexico, they mestic violence is of significance. The majority of were engaged in trade-related activities, as independ- Guatemalan women have been exposed to a pattern ent traders, trade employees, or peddlers. A smaller of continuous violence, and this is a key factor in their number was engaged in domestic work, in crafts or ar- choice to remain invisible. Maria Luisa came to Mex- tisan work (personally or as assistants), while some ico fleeing gender-based violence in 1991. She has no were engaged in agricultural work, and others as per- identity document and is a widow and mother of five sonal assistants in professional, clerical, or administra- children. She left the three older children in Guate- tive positions. We also interviewed a few women who mala, and her two small children, five and eleven years had no gainful employment. old, who were now with her in Mexico, were not reg- Regarding their immigration status, nearly half of istered and were not attending school at the time she the women interviewed have regular migratory status was interviewed. in Mexico, either because they have a certificate of naturalization or immigration papers. Those who had This Tuesday my father called me to enrol my children naturalization papers were mainly women who had because he was coming to collect them. I said ‘No’. ‘How come?’ (he said)… I said to my boy, ‘if you want sought refuge in Mexico during the early 1980s and to stay with my father, I leave this up to you, but my father is not going to take my girl from me.’ Because my dad raped me, I don’t want this to happen to my daugh- 20 Guatemala is divided into eight regions, and each region ter… Then the next day, it was like Tuesday night, on is made up of one or more states that have a similar Wednesday around 5.30 a.m. I threw two mudadas geography, culture, and economy; each state is divided [clothes for two days] for the girl into a bag, two for me into departments and municipalities. Currently Guate- and two for the boy. With that I came here [to Tapa- mala has twenty-two departments and 331 municipali- chula]. I had nothing… Ah! and my ID card… I left ties (Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, 2011: Administrative division of the Republic of Guatemala at: (13 May 2011)). 22 The names presented in this section in the transcript 21 The dots in figure 10.1 indicate the localities where the narratives are pseudonyms used to protect the identity women were interviewed. of the women interviewed. 202 Martha Luz Rojas-Wiesner and Maria DeVargas around ten in the morning from Guatemala. I came here right now, you see that there are seals of migration, the around five in the afternoon, and it was when I came soldiers and that ... and because of it I have not gone [to here with her [her mother was already living in Tapa- Guatemala] (Juana, 40 years old). chula] (Maria Luisa, 36 years old). Since 2000, Mexican immigration authorities have Although patterns of violence were often linked to carried out legalization programmes23 for migrants, the several years of civil war, brutal violence against one of which ended in May 2011. These programmes women was also widespread, particularly during the aimed to support migrants with immigration proce- 1980s. Sexual abuse and murder of women during the dures, principally by facilitation of the requirements civil war was common. The high levels of impunity for needed to legalize or formalize their migratory status. those crimes have contributed to the normalization of Despite being written into the Migration Law, these violence against women in Guatemala (Menjivar programmes were limited in their scope and many mi- 2008; Carey/Torres 2010). Some women mentioned grants with irregular status in particular were unaware that during the war events in the 1980s, they were of them (Guevara 2011). Many of the migrant women forced to live for long periods hidden in the forest of interviewed still have irregular migratory status be- Guatemala, near the border with Mexico, to avoid the cause they lack adequate information about the law physical abuse perpetrated by Guatemalan military for formalizing their stay, or because they lack finan- forces. Miriam, a naturalized immigrant, arrived in cial resources, or support from social networks to do Mexico in 1985 fleeing the Guatemalan conflict. Cur- so, or simply because they continue to fear deporta- rently she is married, but her husband is a migrant tion if they attempt to solicit information from the au- worker currently in the United States. They have four thorities about the process. Because the campaigns of children. information do not reach the places where these They took refuge in the mountains. Then, we got to the women live – remote localities or marginal areas –, same place and they were there, meaning we stayed they can be easily deceived, threatened, and manipu- with them because since they also were in the same lated (by husbands, employers, neighbours etc.). Not place. And the same day in the afternoon the army being informed is one reason, but also their fear of arrived, and they attacked us and it was when fourteen deportation if they turn up to begin the procedures of people died, fourteen of my relatives (...) not my broth- regularization with the immigration authorities. Only ers, but cousins, uncles, in that place, killed by the army. And my two nephews, two nieces that I had, who were few women know that there are some civil organiza- sixteen, fifteen years old ... were two cousins, my two tions that can guide or defend them. cousins whose breasts had been cut off..., had been split On the whole, migrant women without regular in two, they had been treated like that (...) at that time status have many difficulties in maintaining a life with as I say, I was very young still had ... I was not even thir- basic rights and dignity because of interlinked difficul- teen (...) And we got out secretly, we fled [for Chiapas] ties as a result being a migrant with irregular status, of (Miriam, 43 years old). ‘indigenous’ background, and of Guatemalan origin. Many women indicated how the demand for immigra- This affects the type of work they can do and also tion documents at the border controls has increased their place of residence. Their place of residence in since 2008, while a small number said that they origi- turn affects their access to adequate information. nally entered Mexico without being asked for any These factors cannot be sharply separated but are usu- documents. It is important to note that according to ally expressed jointly. They interact and change over these women the tightening of immigration controls time and within the context (Anthias 2008). As for in the state of Chiapas in 2012 has resulted in a series the perception of ‘othering’, there is a difference be- of ‘operations’, in which immigration officials have tween women who came as refugees in the 1980s and visited businesses, farms, and even a local news are now naturalized, and those who are more recent agency to search for, arrest, and deport workers with immigrants. The first group has closer ties to Guate- irregular status – actions that had not been previously malan networks already settled in Mexico, while the recorded in the region. Juana is a migrant without pa- second group is more exposed to Mexican society. pers, married and with two children. She arrived in The harsh side of ‘othering’ faced by Guatemalan Mexico in 1985 at the age of thirteen, fleeing an at- women migrants who came to Mexico as economic tempted rape by her father-in-law. She travelled with migrants affects those who lack the minimum require- her brother, who helped her to search for a job. ments for a life with dignity, i.e. economic and social Well, it was already many years ago but they didn’t ask me for papers. They asked only him [the husband]. And 23 Programas de Regularización Migratoria. Strategic Invisibility as Everyday Politics for a Life with Dignity: Guatemalan Women Migrants’ Experiences 203 rights such as access to health care and education – their current situation. Other women keep silent or for themselves and for their children. They also men- try to move in an way that means they are unnoticed tioned abuses of favour and difficulties linked to vio- as a protection strategy when facing risks such as los- lence, housing, and the preservation of their cultural ing their jobs or housing, being deported, being in- identity. volved in trouble, or being separated from their chil- Women with regularized migrant status and who dren by forced circumstances. Some women indicated are professionals were able to interact with people in their intention to avoid the establishment of friendly the mainstream of the Mexican society despite their relations with other people in order to avoid any kind feelings of discrimination. Rocio, interviewed in Tap- of problems. But this also denies them the possibility achula in 2009, was married without children. She of having supportive networks or persons around, and works as a professional. Rocio has lived in Mexico for locates them in an isolated and solitary living posi- three years because of her Guatemalan husband’s job. tion. Yolanda, who was interviewed in Quintana Roo (...) I believe that there is much discrimination for those in 2009, was working as a domestic worker. She was coming from Guatemala. But I also understand as a divorced and with one son born in Mexico. She ar- Guatemalan, meaning that it definitely bothers me. rived in Mexico in 2001 because of her marriage to a Therefore I try to understand it, because there is always young Mexican who was descended from a Guatema- a reason. There has always been a rivalry between Mex- lan family. Yolanda had already started her process of icans and Guatemalans. I do not know why, I do not regularization; however, she could not pay the fee re- know if it comes mixed from the story, due to all that quired for the process. After the interview we were in- has happened, right? But yes, even if you try to under- stand it gives you courage... and you get angry and you formed that she had been denounced to the migra- vent your spleen, then. To some extent you try to under- tory authorities by neighbours, and after that she stand why that happens, and try to talk to the person, disappeared. but (...) (Rocio, 27 years old). I am a girl who wants to avoid problems. I don’t get involved with people because I am afraid that they are going to accuse me of something. I have the fear that 10.4 Understanding Strategic In/ the police would come (...) Many people from here, the visibility ones who live around here, say to me ‘you neighbour, you just pass by always enclosed’. But like I said to you, Reacting to situations of ‘othering’ and exclusion, it is to avoid problems, I like to avoid problems many migrants prefer to face their problems alone or (Yolanda, 25 years old). with little assistance. Although male migrants also Some women are compelled to keep silent or hide face a similar situation, migrant women face a greater their anger due to their fear of the same risks, which degree of risk and hence greater vulnerabilities due to in many occasions are reinforced by external threats their gender identity.24 Depending on their resilience from people in their daily network. Further, some and their individual resources or those made available women consider visibility a pointless action, which to them by others, migrants used various forms of lacks positive outcomes for them and can affect their agency to neutralize or resist the temporary or perma- sources of income. Lupita is a temporary farm worker nent particular situations of abuse and ‘othering’. and migrant with irregular status who was interviewed Here, we will concentrate on the narratives about in- in 2009. She arrived in Mexico for the first time in visibility or passing unnoticed, a strategy used by a 2003 to work on a farm with her parents. Lupita has large percentage of the women interviewed. a child two years old who was born on the farm Some women are living in situations of invisibility where she works, but the midwife did not give her a because it is the best strategy for living or working in birth record, so she registered her child in Guatemala. She was abandoned by her partner, and currently lives with her sisters on the farm, where they have seasonal 24 Some theoretical agreements indicated that vulnerability work. At the time of the interview, she had no immi- is linked with undesired outcomes, due to being exposed to dangers that caused some damage. But vul- gration papers and she indicated that she had never nerability is also related to responsiveness as a resistance needed them. or resilience. In this last sense, the levels of responsive- He [the manager of the farm] has treated me badly, ness depend on the assets available to a person or to a nothing more, I say. I think that’s why he hasn’t given family or group to face the risks and to overcome the me vacations; because, he says that he is the boss and critical situations and their consequences (Busso 2001; that he decides who will get them [vacations]. There are Naudé/Santos-Paulino/McGillivray 2009). 204 Martha Luz Rojas-Wiesner and Maria DeVargas those for whom it has been slow to get their vacations, He gives everything for me, for his children, but when but I have never got them. I have had problems with he is drunk he changes; he becomes another person, eh? him and he has already mistreated me twice. Once he ... At the beginning, before he would hit me he would gave me a shove. I had my baby in my arms and then he say: ‘pinche cachuca,25 this is my homeland, here told me ‘I’ll send you to jail’. So I was scared, and I he nobody will defend you’ and thump, he would give me took my job away… Then, since I didn’t want to leave a slap… oh the bruises in the face. He would say that this place and because I don’t have any work over there, ‘you are a…’, ‘you’re the...’... he calls me ‘india’,26 he I went back to ask him for work. At first he didn’t want humiliates me horribly… My mother-in-law said: ‘Look, to hire me, but at the end he gave me a job. But only I don’t want problems (...) don't you go denouncing with him I have had problems. I’m ashamed [to speak] Manuel, don’t mess with my son, because look, we like and afraid if he listens to me, he can hurt me all of a you, you’re a great woman’. Then my sister-in-law said: sudden, or something (Lupita, 20 years old). ‘Look girl, if you call the police, you can be sure that Other women choose to go unnoticed leaving behind you will lose us… you will lose the case because we areMexicans and you are a foreigner’ (Matilde, 35 years the traditions that identified them as indigenous. old). They do not wear their traditional dress and do not speak their original Mayan language. Some women Some women try to pass unnoticed by not using par- also try to blend into their surroundings to circumvent ticular services or not claiming rights such as educa- the fact of being a focus of attention. Margarita is a tion or health. In the case of education, many women self-employed woman who arrived in Mexico for the prefer their children not to go to school rather than first time in 1981 when she was fleeing the Guatema- handle the procedures and the documentation proc- lan violence. She is separated and has one son. At the ess required for school enrolment. Maria Luisa, cited time of the interview she had lived in Mexico for above, said: twenty years, of which eighteen had been spent in My mother filled me with fear, she said that they will Campeche. take my kids, because she doesn’t want us to be here. So, I did not want to go to do it, because I don’t want At first I used to say that I am from Chiapas. ‘No, you that they take my children from me. But, now the are not from Chiapas, you are from Guatemala’ (they woman owner of the house said I have to put them in said)… and like that until one day that I said ‘No, even the school, I agreed and said to her that I am scared, so if I say as much that I am from Chiapas, I am not from she went to speak with Lorena and she already said that there because it is noticeable in my way of speaking, of they will help me (Maria Luisa, 36 years old), behaving, better no’. Honestly, ‘Where are you from?’, ‘I am from Guatemala’, I said, but when I said it, I said it In the case of health, the women prefer to go to Gua- with shame, or something like it. And I don’t know, temala because they will not be discriminated against until now I ask ‘Why did the father of my son leave me?’ because of their origin. Also, women often choose to Ah, maybe this is the reason. As now he sought another receive medical attention by professionals in a chain (woman), I said ‘No doubt perhaps because I am Guate- of low-cost pharmacies, where their migratory status malan’. So, so, so in my mind I had this idea (Margarita, 40 years old). is not relevant to whether they are treated. When they travel for medical attention, it is important to point Others prefer to keep quiet and to remain in secret sit- out how increased border control is affecting this pos- uations of humiliation by others, or not to report inci- sibility, particularly at the crossing-points where it is dents of abuse and violence due to their ethnic ori- necessary to use the bridges connecting Mexico and gins, because they are afraid of further damage. This Guatemala, and therefore to go through formal migra- is particular relevant in situations of domestic vio- tory procedures within official offices. lence. Matilde, an immigrant who has lived in Mexico for twenty-six years, had no document certifying her The truth, the truth is, I had not worried about asking if there is a health centre. Because, like when one goes, status as an immigrant and the length of her resi- or something like that, they ask one for papers, and I dence. When she was interviewed, she was given ad- don’t have the documents for my children, so I don’t go. vice about how to formalize her stay in Mexico. She I’d rather go to the ‘Similares’27 too (Lupita). was married and has three children. Since she was young, and after having been orphaned, she has had different problems with abuse. In order to have some extra income, Matilde works selling food she prepares herself, but she does so in secret as her husband 25 Cachuca is a degrading term used to refer to someone refuses to allow her to work. of Guatemalan origin. 26 The expression India is also used in a derogatory man- ner and has a strong discriminatory connotation. Strategic Invisibility as Everyday Politics for a Life with Dignity: Guatemalan Women Migrants’ Experiences 205 Summing up, strategic invisibility as a practice appears control, allocation, and use of tangible and intangible to be very common among many Guatemalan im/mi- resources.28 As noted by Kerkvliet (2009), even if the grant women. This strategy is sometimes chosen as a practice of invisibility is not associated with being ‘po- protection strategy, but in some cases it is a forced litical’, it is a mechanism for resisting and challenging choice or due to fear of further consequences. Also, the normative regulations within one’s environment. some women do not see any sense in making them- From this perspective, the subtle nature of the prac- selves or their situations more visible, because they tice of invisibility becomes relevant within the context will not receive positive or supportive responses from of the agency of the women im/migrants, because it their social or institutional network. is a way of resisting control by the authorities and contest the surveillance of others. As such, invisibility is a form of EDP that belongs to the typology29 of re- 10.5 Reflection on In/visibility as a sistance or defiance, as well as evasion (Kerkvliet Form of Everyday Politics 2009; Hobson/Seabrooke 2007). Understanding in- visibility from this perspective allows the recognition The study of women’s migration has revealed that mi- of agency in the Guatemalan migrant women, return- grant women encounter situations of ‘othering’ in dis- ing to them a role in the realm of politics, with some tinctive ways, whether their migration is within a possibilities for bottom-up adjustment. However, it is country or between countries, or whether it is regular important to note that the chosen strategy of invisibil- or irregular in character. As has been pointed out by a ity can also limit their opportunities for advocacy pur- number of authors, civil society organizations, and in- poses (Kihato 2007). And in many cases, invisibility is ternational agencies, situations of discrimination have not necessarily a protective measure against domestic increased the major risks to and vulnerabilities of mi- violence, nor a challenge to increasingly restrictive im- grant women as a result of the strengthening of con- migration policies, but just a form of protection tainment measures and migratory controls in specific against daily life ‘othering’ and exclusion inside their parts of the world in recent years (Anguiano/López communities. Some women revert to this type of strat- 2010; Dobrowolsky/Tastsoglou 2006; FitzGerald egy in particular situations, while for some women it 2011). Paradoxically, while researchers and advocates is a form that becomes more permanent. work to make women migrants more visible, there are This dilemma between being visible and being in- women migrants who do not want to be visible. From visible is related to what Andrea Brighenti (2007) has the perspective of rights advocates, visibility is the called the “field of visibility”. This refers to a more main condition for seeking recognition of the funda- complex phenomenon than just a single visual dimen- mental settings for life and liberties, while for the im/ sion. According to Brighenti, this field of in/visibility migrants invisibility is consciously chosen as a strategy is the intersection of two domains – “the perception to protect themselves against the authorities, or of relations” and “relations of power”, which are usu- against people in their neighbourhoods or the com- ally asymmetrical, and therefore the visibility relation- munities in which they work, especially if they foresee ships are also unequal (Brighenti 2007). In this sense, any type of risk or threat on account of being a for- according to the power locations the reciprocity of vi- eign or migrant person. In other words, invisibility for sion or inter-visibility can be imperfect and limited, be- some women im/migrants can be a mechanism for cause for example one domain can just choose not to avoiding contact that may be ‘othering’ or abusive to them, and also a way to avoid control and surveillance by others. 28 A more extensive definition is proposed by Hobson and As a chosen option, this in/visibility can be a form Seabrooke (2007), who identified Everyday Politics as of everyday life action with political and transforma- the “acts by those who are subordinated within a tive significance, as captured by Kerkvliet (2005) with broader power relationship but, whether through nego- the term Everyday Politics (EDP), which he defines as tiation, resistance or non-resistance, either incremen- the subtle or low-profile practices that influence the tally or suddenly, shape, constitute and transform thepolitical and economic environment around and beyond them” (Hobson/Seabrooke 2007: 15–16). 29 Besides ‘resistance’, other forms of everyday politics are: 27 This refers to the ‘Similares’ brand of pharmacies, which ‘support, modification and evasion’, and ‘compliance’ sell generic drugs at affordable prices and also offer (Kerkvliet 2009). This classification was re-delineated by medical attention for a cost approximately equivalent to Hobson/Seabrooke (2007) as ‘defiance, mimetic chal- US$2.50. Many migrants use their services. lenge’, and ‘axiorationality’. 206 Martha Luz Rojas-Wiesner and Maria DeVargas see the ‘other’. However, visibility can be a double- tribute to these achievements. Ghorashi (2010) has edged sword, which on one side can lead to empow- raised similar questions, noting that unless the as- erment30 when it is closely related to recognition by sumptions of the dominant discourse are also chal- others or to access to restricted resources or services. lenged, visibility does not help much in the process of But on the other, it can also facilitate control, exclu- accessing rights. In many cases visibility can even rein- sion, and discrimination by others, creating an ambiv- force ‘the boundaries’ in relation to migrants, as pre- alent situation for migrants. This is the case for mi- sented in her study of Islamic women in The Nether- grant women in irregular situations, and women lands, where the migrants are constructed as the victim-survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. ‘other’ – as not belonging to the nation, but living Recognition is a form of social visibility with implica- within it (Ghorashi 2010). This construction of other- tions for minorities and for those who are socially ex- ness implies that migrants are those who ‘do not be- cluded. long’, but this occurs not only for the first generation Often perceptions of visibility are distorted due to of migrants but also for their descendants. Floya An- the entrenched social representations of marginal sub- thias has documented this type of ‘othering’ using eth- jects, and so visibility and recognition are not related nic distinctions in the United Kingdom with second- in a linear way: there may be different ways of seeing and third-generation Greek Cypriots. According to and being seen, and the social impact of this visibility the author, the Greek Cypriot young people occupy a will depend on who is more visible and in which so- very ambivalent and contradictory position within so- cial location they are placed (Brighenti 2007). Total ciety; on the one hand, they are invisible in terms of ‘visibility’ may lead to total control, as explained in discourses about ethnicity and racialization in the Foucault’s discussion of the panopticon – a symbol of United Kingdom, and on the other, they are visible as total surveillance (Gordon 2002). In addition, visibil- a cultural group that is geographically concentrated in ity can lead to regulation, selectivity, or stratification. specific urban spaces that are considered ‘multicul- So the relationship between seeking recognition or tural’ (Anthias 2002). visibility and being controlled is a close one. This ten- However, there are many critiques of the notion sion between achieving recognition and suffering con- of everyday life as political actions. For the case of the trol or discrimination generates complexity in the re- migrants’ in/visibility it is also worthwhile questioning lationship between in/visibility and power, and the sense of agency of this strategy. It is important to therefore between migrants and their context. In examine in more depth through additional research these terms, visibility does not necessarily lead to re- the ambiguity of direct claims, the conscientious deci- lief nor does it imply better life while invisibility can- sion of these acts as political, and the limited possibil- not only be seen or considered as a lack of power ities for effective advocacy and social change (Escobar (Brighenti 2007). 2008; Gardiner 2004; Kerkvliet 2009). Here, the time Invisibility as a strategy for power is reflected in factor matters because this bottom-up process re- the cases of silence and secrecy. Secrecy is not only quires a long time to attain changes and the life of centred within power, but secrecy by others also cre- each migrant person should be worthy enough to con- ates the possibility to escape or oppose power (Brigh- sider possibilities of collective action that could en- enti 2007; Amster 2008). Silence and secrecy can be sure faster outcomes with long-term settings. In other key survival strategies, can offer protection, and in words, in/visibility may be effective as a strategy of some cases can create spaces to renegotiate harmful survival, but it may not be enough to achieve stable gender relations and practices. In this respect, it is im- settings for a better quality of life. Having a voice does portant to discuss the role of in/visibility in empower- not necessarily mean that assistance or a positive re- ment processes. If we are to consider the active partic- sponse will come in return. Also, having a ‘voice’ in ipation of migrants in processes that will allow them other situations can be a positive way to fight back to access to better conditions of life, and what that negotiate rights. On the other hand, invisibility ena- might imply in the current context of border controls bles daily mobility with fewer risks and less surveil- heightened by international requirements, we need to lance by others. Besides the fact of feeling safe, from first question in what manner in/visibility could con- this hidden position women can achieve short-term minimum conditions for survival. Hence, the exercise of agency through silence and invisibility entrenches a 30 Empowerment refers to the process by which those who complex paradox, because it allows short-term have been denied the possibility of taking strategic deci- achievements as conditions for survival. But as a long- sions in life acquire such capacity (Kabeer 1999). Strategic Invisibility as Everyday Politics for a Life with Dignity: Guatemalan Women Migrants’ Experiences 207 term strategy it could be untenable, because the mini- In the field of rights, much progress has been mal gains achieved on a daily basis do not necessarily made in Latin America from research and advocacy. become established conditions for the life of the mi- However, there are still many restrictions and biases grants and it might entrench superior circumstances involved in accessing these rights and achieving social of exploitation and abuse. justice in practice. During the last three decades of Women’s responses to situations of ‘othering’, the twentieth century many initiatives were under- such as their invisibility, cannot be considered in op- taken in Latin America to advance the rights of posite terms as positive or negative strategies. They women, and these are also linked to those for the ad- should be analysed in reference to their social loca- vancement of international migrants. In this respect, tion and the structural conditions that generate com- Molyneux (2008) pointed to three classes of crucial plex processes of migration, which turn into incen- initiatives in the campaign for the rights of women in tives for the women’s decision to exercise their own the region. Firstly, movements were launched for ‘the agency by becoming invisible (Parpart 2009). There- right to have rights’ in situations where people sought fore, invisibility and/or silence are specific strategies to restore democracy following authoritarian regimes. for survival just as much as visibility. The former is Thus, the language of rights has become a way of de- useful for protection and for achieving daily needs, manding justice and recognition. Second, ideas of cit- while recognition, and therefore visibility, can offer izenship that linked the state to passive subjects, that the possibilities of accessing better life conditions and is, citizens as receivers, were re-examined. These ideas also rights in the long term (Parpart 2009). There are were replaced with ideas of ‘active citizenship’ that links between the conscious decision to become invis- highlighted participation and agency, and favoured a ible or to pass unnoticed, and the ability to exercise more substantive form of citizenship – one that was agency and seek formal recognition of rights. The more participative and socially responsible. Third, as question of making women visible is challenged by a result of the first two initiatives, feminist movements the conditions under which they live and their strate- began to see citizenship as a way of overcoming social gies of fighting for it. Making women visible does not exclusion. During the nineties, these three initiatives mean an end to their problems. Thus we cannot just were reinforced and supported by an international de- propose the necessity of making them visible precisely velopment agenda that emphasized rights, women’s because for many women invisibility has been a ques- empowerment,31 and participation (Dagnino 1998; tion of survival. Kabeer 2007; Molyneux 2008). The in/visibility paradox has especial relevance to Considering that the achievement of social justice the terrain of accessing rights and formal protection, implies the access to rights, it is important to review because to raise awareness of rights it is necessary that how from reflecting on invisibility as a form of certain sectors speak out about their lack of substan- women’s agency it is possible to identify alternative tive rights. In the context of human security, social jus- forms of support for migrants that respect their au- tice should entail the philosophical perspective of the tonomy. If in/visibility is a question of survival, it is ‘right to have rights’ proposed by Hannah Arendt, important to offer migrants the conditions required which means guaranties for the safety conditions of to make it as an informed decision. Many women ar- vulnerable individuals regardless of their legal migra- gued that invisibility allows them to attain what they tory status (Oman 2010). Women migrants’ condi- aspire to, namely a job, housing, children; “leaving tions of life need to go beyond ‘gender’ as a dichoto- their party in peace”.32 However, their range of expec- mous variable and to examine its situational and tations could be limited by the lack of information, relational character, revealing the social meanings of which delineates a minimal spectrum of possibilities access to rights from the perspectives of the women for them. Perhaps, if they have access to more infor- migrants themselves. Given the increasingly restrictive mation on what they are entitled to get in terms of conditions limiting their mobility, the claim to rights rights, services, and protection, many of these women cannot yield positive results unless supported by other will amplify their perspectives and possibilities so that actors (social networks, civil organizations) which ini- tiate processes that would make their experiences vis- ible, and guarantee that their voices are heard by the 31 Women’s empowerment is understood as a woman’s state and other actors responsible for gender justice ability to act and create change in the world. initiatives and processes (Molyneux 2008). 32 ‘Viviendo su fiesta en paz’ is a common expression used in this region of Mexico, which means to do things without generating trouble. 208 Martha Luz Rojas-Wiesner and Maria DeVargas they can realize longer-term conditions for a life with erment, an everyday exercise of politics of resistance dignity. In other words, if women do not know what to enable access to the minimum conditions of life. they are entitled to, they will not expect it. But if they Also, the practice of invisibility is the result of their are informed about their rights as well as the proce- own search for personal locations where they can feel dures for accessing them, perhaps their exercise of in- safe and autonomous. Ironically, this strategy of invis- visibility will be more strategic in its nature. ibility can be counterproductive for them, because in a context of lack of information, it prevents them from access to the benefits of the new migration law 10.6 Conclusions that could ensure more long-term conditions for a better quality of life. Dignity for migrants has a public This chapter has shown how the re-scaling of border dimension derived initially from their legal existence control in Mexico has affected Guatemalan im/mi- in Mexican society, but many migrants remain igno- grants along Mexico’s southern frontier. The meaning rant of and out of reach of civil organizations advocat- of borders, usually confined to territorial limits, can ing their rights. So far, given the discourses and local be extended to the construction of the ‘othering’ of spheres of power, Guatemalan women migrants, social boundaries (Van Houtum/Van Naerssen 2001). mostly with irregular status, must face multiple dimen- Discourses on migration processes based on the ‘fear’ sions of insecurity derived from recent discourses and and ‘threat’ of crime and national security affect the practices that focus on the link between ‘irregularity’ horizontal relationship between migrants and people and national insecurity. As a result, there is an imped- in their social networks, generating additional dimen- iment to their achieving dignity and rights, especially sions of vulnerability for the migrants by stressing the for those living in remote rural areas and in marginal differences. The emphasis on the threat of crime urban zones where information and formal proce- linked to migration and border control policies has dures are not accessible. triggered social processes of ‘othering’ that have se- In such instances, it is important to pay attention verely impacted everyday life and the survival experi- to the interface between the normative framework of ences of Guatemalan im/migrant women, mainly im/migrants’ rights and the dynamics of the local those migrants who have irregular status. Migrants, sphere of migration that obstruct the enabling condi- particularly women, become more vulnerable to tions for women im/migrants to achieve a legal exist- abuse, violence, and insecurity in a variety of daily re- ence on their own account and which respects their lationships: employer–employee; neighbour-to-neigh- autonomy. In this sense, information is an important bour; inter-group relations; husband–wife. The re-scal- instrument for creating the conditions needed to ing of forms of border control aims to create orderly break down the dominant relationships of subordina- management of migrations, as Mexico’s new Law of tion, where women can adopt in/visible strategies Migration guarantees the socio-economic and civil through processes of informed decision. Enabling rights of immigrants even for those with irregular sta- conditions should be built through the dissemination tus. But local social dynamics of power linked with of more information about their rights as guaranteed gender, ethnicity, and economic features are such that by the new Migration Law, which can help migrant the new law remains unreachable for many Guatema- women to construct better long-term conditions for lan im/migrants. their future and that of their children. The construc- Many women im/migrants who have faced multi- tion of these enabling conditions remains a big chal- ple forms of insecurity tend to select a strategy of in- lenge for society, a challenge which should be ad- visibility to conserve their daily survival in subtle ways, dressed by the joint efforts of social institutions and which include a commitment to protecting their chil- civil organizations, the media, and even the academic dren and families by safeguarding dignified conditions world, as well as by strengthening the practices of that many of them have not achieved themselves – i.e. public officials, policymakers, and those involved in without physical, mental, or verbal abuse. 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This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. Part IV Complexity of Gender: Embodiment and Intersectionality Chapter 11 Masculinities and Intersectionality in Migration: Transnational Wolof Migrants Negotiating Manhood and Gendered Family Roles Giulia Sinatti Chapter 12 Intersectionality, Structural Vulnerability, and Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services: Filipina Domestic Workers in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Qatar Thanh-Dam Truong, Maria Lourdes S. Marin, and Amara Quesada-Bondad Chapter 13 Sub-Saharan Migrants’ Masculinities: An Intersectional Analysis of Media Representations during the Libyan War 2011 Maria DeVargas and Stefania Donzelli Chapter 14 Complexity of Gender and Age in Precarious Lives: Malian Men, Women, and Girls in Communities of Blind Beggars in Senegal Codou Bop and Thanh-Dam Truong 11 Masculinities and Intersectionality in Migration: Transnational Wolof Migrants Negotiating Manhood and Gendered Family Roles Giulia Sinatti1 Abstract Men are seldom a topic of concern in migration research as gendered subjects who experience the implications of social justice, for instance in aspects relating to lives in their families such as fairness of representation, con- sequences of material redistribution, and management of emotions. Economic migrants in particular, who are seen as matching the role of breadwinners and confirming the status of dominant patriarchal men, are a partic- ularly underrated case. Using the experiences of Wolof men who emigrate from Senegal to become the main providers for their families, this chapter questions this assumption by drawing insights from a theorization on ‘transnational families’, ‘intersectionality’ and ‘masculinity’ as developed within migration and gender studies. The chapter discusses how male gender roles become interlocked with other categories, as asymmetries (be they real or perceived) intervene between the migrant and the stay-behind, and as geographic distance forces them to revisit the propriety of arrangements that enable them to enact their gendered responsibility within families. Caught between pressures deriving from their economic and moral obligations towards family and kin on the one hand, and personal aspirations of fitting the part of successful men on the other, the ethnographic research presented in this chapter shows that migrants engage in an emotional journey that may challenge, rather than confirm, their expectations of ‘hegemonic’ masculinity. Keywords: family relations, gender relations, hegemonic masculinity, intersectionality, manhood, men, Senegal, transnational migration, Wolof. 11.1 Introduction1 culture, identity and emotional factors to the detri- ment of more structural factors that shape intra-family The study of transnational families has become an es- inequalities in a transnational sphere. Transnational tablished area within the field of migration studies. families are made up of individuals who succeed in This literature has increasingly brought to the fore a maintaining a sense of unity by upholding kinship re- concern for the gendered nature of migration and lations across geographic distances. As well as being a transnational relations and the implications for equal- source of identity, transnational families also provide ity and social justice, for instance raising questions welfare and mutual support to their members (Bryce- about the effects of migration on the empowerment son/Vuorela 2002; Chamberlain/Leydesdorff 2004). or marginalization of migrant or stay-behind women. As socially ascribed gender roles are bound to be re- Transnational families are an important socializing in- defined in transnational families, migration intro- stitution where gender roles are constructed and hier- duces new inequalities between family members, and archies of authority and power defined. Yet research these are often interwoven with gender lines and re- on transnational families suffers from two major quire both women and men to adjust to them in the shortcomings: it focuses predominantly on the experi- transnational family space. This chapter investigates ences of women, and it overemphasizes the role of how gender and other sources of social inequality in families that result from the asymmetries generated by migration mutually shape each other and the power 1 Dr. Giulia Sinatti is a Research Fellow at the Interna- dynamics that they entail. It applies the construct of tional Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University of Rotterdam, The Netherlands. ‘intersectionality’. This refers to how social inequali- T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 215 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_11, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 216 Giulia Sinatti ties are shaped by gender differences as well as by the one) and create families of their own. Successful mi- interaction between gender differences and other so- gration will allow them to establish with time a sepa- cially and culturally constructed categories such as rate household independent from their birth house- race, class, ability, and age. The focus is on men and hold. masculinities as largely under-researched issues in ex- This chapter is based on research conducted be- isting work on transnationalism and gender. Specifi- tween 2004 and 2010 with a broader concern for the cally, this chapter attempts to answer the question of mobility patterns and aspirations of Senegalese mi- how male migrants engaging in transnational migra- grants between their home country and Italy. A body tion negotiate their aspirations to fit the patriarchal of data gathered from participant observations con- norms expected from men, and how this is reflected ducted in the homes of Senegalese immigrants in It- in daily practices with family members. An intersec- aly, in addition to direct visits to their families in ur- tional approach can be beneficial to the study of tran- ban and rural areas of Senegal,3 provides new qualita- snational families. It allows the fluid and plural nature tive insights that are reflected upon separately here. of masculinities to be grasped, masculinities that are Above and beyond the initial research design, the questioned and redefined at the intersection of une- transformation of men’s gender identities through mi- qual power relations in multiple spheres. gration and the implications for understanding mas- There are various reasons why Senegalese migra- culinity as a social construct emerged throughout tion is an exemplary case study for the analysis of the fieldwork as a significant issue. Gender roles and issues outlined. Firstly, transnational migratory prac- identities are more easily observed through everyday tices and the establishment of transnational families practices than openly and profusely spoken about, are common among the Senegalese. Emigration from and extensive multi-sited observations provided the Senegal involves approximately one-tenth of the coun- most valuable insight into migrant men’s experiences try’s population,2 and most families have at least one of masculinity. Observations and informal talk with member who is living abroad. Leaving the family be- respondents about the meanings of masculinity facili- hind is, in fact, often a deliberate choice: a circum- tated the building of trust and confidence ahead of stance that is at once a reason for and cause of the supplementary in-depth qualitative interviews con- strong transnational character of Senegalese migra- ducted with selected Senegalese migrants.4 The experi- tion. Migrants from Senegal remain deeply attached ences of these migrating men add to, as well as chal- to their country of origin, where they can uphold fam- lenge, the existing body of knowledge that emphasizes ily and other social ties and make regular visits in the aspects of rational calculation in the male breadwinner hope of returning permanently one day. Secondly, the role, devoid of other aspects such as emotional gains emigration of largely unskilled labourers seeking their and losses. Criteria of reasoned choice ensured that fortune overseas most often results in unequal access the sample covers various male profiles in terms of to resources between and within families. This is par- their social positionings in Senegal.5 Rather than as- ticularly striking in the case of intercontinental migra- sessing the frequencies of given phenomena in a rep- tion, as Senegalese migrants to France, Italy, Spain, or resentative way, such a sampling strategy allows trends the United States are able to remit significant re- common to all cases within the sample despite its di- sources across borders that make a difference in the livelihoods of receivers back home. Thirdly, despite 3 Research focused on two regions of northern Italy feminization trends being on the rise, emigration re- (Lombardy and Veneto) where Senegalese immigrants mains a predominantly male affair in Senegal. Typi- are highly concentrated. In Senegal, the families of 31 cally, Senegalese emigrants are young and unmarried migrants were the object of multiple visits in the Dakar Wolof men who migrate alone and later use their trips region, as well as in smaller cities and rural villages in back home to choose a wife (sometimes more than the regions of Diourbel, Kaolack, Louga, Saint Louis, and Thiès. 4 Interviews were conducted with 79 migrant men. In 2 A policy document issued by the Government’s Ministry addition to this data, another 12 interviews with women for Senegalese of the Exterior in 2006 indicated an migrants ensured comparison on gender-sensitive issues unofficial estimate of the Senegalese diaspora of over and further interviews with nine key informants were one million people worldwide. For the same year, pro- used to validate preliminary findings during the jections based on the latest population census estimated progress of research. It should be noted that the data the total national population at 11,343,328 people (see: was collected with a deliberate exclusive focus on heter- , accessed 18/05/2012). hetero-normative context. Masculinities and Intersectionality in Migration: Transnational Wolof Migrants 217 versity to be identified, as well as focusing on how Glick-Schiller 2004). A substantial corpus of work cur- specific structural factors of inequality may interact rently exists that investigates the reproduction of cul- with gender differences in outlier cases. tures and identities in families through the transna- In order to capture the experience of masculinity tionalization of rituals (Al-Ali 2002; Gardner/Grillo among male migrants, this chapter uses a theoretical 2002) and emotions (Chamberlain/Leydesdorff 2004; framework for the understanding of transnational König/de Regt 2010; Svasek/Skrbis 2007; Svasek families that does not take gender roles as a fixed re- 2008; Yeoh/Huang/Lam 2005). ality, but maintains openness to the transformation of Literature on transnational families has been par- gendered relations of power and hierarchy and how ticularly sensitive to calls inviting the incorporation of they affect men as gendered social beings. This frame- a gender dimension to analysis (Fouron/Glick-Schiller work, outlined in the following section, is constructed 2001; Mahler/Pessar 2001, 2003, 2006; Truong/ by combining insight from theorization on transna- Gasper 2008). Suggestions for research were made on tional family relations with theories of intersectional- how “gender as it is lived across the borders of nation- ity and masculinity. The two subsequent sections states” may “sustain gender divisions, hierarchies and present an analysis of the research through this theo- inequalities” or “help build more equitable relations retical lens. The importance of inequalities in access between men and women” (Fouron/Glick-Schiller to material resources and the resulting power dispari- 2001: 540). Similarly ‘gendered geographies of power’ ties between migrant breadwinners and their families (Mahler/Pessar 2001) have been advocated in order to emerges in a strikingly uniform way across the re- grasp how, in transnational spaces, the reconfigura- search sample as a source of confirmation for their tion of gender categories can challenge or fortify re- roles as hegemonic and patriarchal men (11.3). This lated hierarchies. Much of the resulting research inves- evidence is contrasted with an illustration of other tigating changes in gender relations within transna- factors that challenge such visions of masculinity and tional families suffers, however, from a major limita- manhood (11.4) and gives an insight into some of the tion. It overwhelmingly concentrates on the effects of individual responses to this challenge adopted by mi- migration on the marginalization or empowerment of grants. Concluding remarks are offered in the final women, with research variously addressing: the effects section (11.5). of female migration on power dynamics within gen- der relations (Dannecker 2005; Marques/Santos/ Araujo 2001; Purwani/Williams 2005); transnational 11.2 Framing Migrant Men: care chains and the strains of transnational mother- Transnational Families, hood on migrating women (Aranda 2003; Hondag- Intersectionality, and Hegemonic neu-Sotelo/Avila 1997; Parreñas 2001 & 2005; Ryan/ Masculinity Sales/Tilki/Siara 2009); the influence of gender on re- mittance behaviour and development outcomes in the Kinship and its related social institutions are often at homeland (Dannecker 2009; Nyberg Sørensen 2005; the centre of studies of transnational migration. Wong 2006); and the effects of transnational migration Scholars inspired by the New Economics of Labour on women who stay behind (Buggenhagen 2001; de Migration theory, for instance, identify households as Haas/van Rooij 2010; Lo 2008; Lukasiewicz 2011). important sites of production in which migration de- The limitation outlined above may be overcome by cisions are taken as a collective strategy that allows focusing on alternative male experiences and calling the sharing of economic risks between members. The for a deeper enquiry into the relations between migra- debate about migrant transnationalism, moreover, has tion, transnational families, and changing masculini- been interested in families as sites more for cultural ties. This emerging area of research may benefit from reproduction than for material production (Levitt/ the adoption of theories of ‘intersectionality’ and ‘he- gemonic masculinity’ that can help explain how man- hood is constructed and masculinity negotiated 5 On the basis of social class and occupation prior to within transnational families and provide an analysis migration, social caste, affiliation to the main Senega- that is sensitive to interactions between different lese Islamic brotherhoods (Muridiyya, Tijaniyya, Lay- sources of social inequality. enne, Qadiriyya), as well as other dimensions that could Originally coined by legal scholar Kimberlé Cren- influence respondents’ status as males (such as rural/ shaw (1991), the concept of ‘intersectionality’ has urban origin, young/mature age, with/without inde- gained widespread success within feminist studies, pendent family, brief/long migration experience). 218 Giulia Sinatti where it is used as a conceptual tool for the analysis Intersectionality is a means of overcoming a culturalist of gender as a multi-dimensional phenomenon where bias that has placed greater emphasis on “the identity multiple axes of identity (gender, race, class, ability, orientations and the cultural traits of migrants, and age) interact on multiple and often simultaneous lev- on social interaction within transnational social els, creating a system of oppression that reflects the spaces” and has neglected the economic basis of tran- ‘intersection’ of multiple forms of discrimination. snationalism, so that “social inequality and frag- Though intersectionality has a long historical heritage mented social spaces have not received the analytical in the struggle against slavery and classism, the con- attention they deserve” (Bürkner 2012: 190). Intersec- cept was renovated by feminist scholars (more pre- tionality can help bring into being an analysis that in- cisely black feminist scholars in the United States) to corporates Mahler and Pessar’s ‘gendered geogra- investigate mechanisms of discrimination against phies of power’ in the study of transnational family re- women of colour and indigenous women as groups lations, and help the understanding of “how the social that are disadvantaged, excluded, or oppressed. Given constructs of masculinities and femininities shape mi- that in a situation of social inequality men are often gration decisions and experiences” and how “the so- implicitly assumed to be the ones holding privilege cial construction of migrants’ identities […] connects and power, research applying intersectionality to men a variety of domains in social lives – sexuality, gender, is relatively rare (Hearn 2009; Hurtado/Sinha 2008). work, home maintenance and child care, institutional Intersectionality might nonetheless be useful to study life, domination and resistance” (Truong/Gasper relationships of dominance and oppression that affect 2008: 290). Reference to hegemonic masculinity, men and women at intra- and inter-group levels. moreover, allows the repercussions of transnational- Connell’s (1995) work on hegemonic masculinity ism on gender relations to be studied from a male per- appears a useful tool for exploring male gender iden- spective, given that work analysing the relation be- tity as being intersectional. Hegemonic masculinity is tween masculinity and transnational migration is still defined as “the currently most honoured way of being relatively rare (Broughton 2008; Datta/McIlwaine/ a man, it require[s] all other men to position them- Herbert/Evans/May/Wills 2009; Elmhirst 2007; Mal- selves in relation to it, and it ideologically legitimate[s] kin 2004; Monsutti 2007; Osella/Osella 2000; Pribil- the global subordination of women to men” (Con- ski 2012). Transnationalism does nonetheless “offer nell/Messerschmidt 2005: 832). Connell conceptual- the potential for processes of extension of some izes masculinity in plural terms, as a multiple con- men’s transnational intersectional power” (Hearn struct where different notions of manhood are 2011: 99), processes which deserve to be studied and defined in relation to hegemonic masculinity. Hegem- which “may take the form of non-responsibility, of onic masculinity is therefore an essentialist normative surveillance and destruction, of loss of expected secu- ideal and socially legitimated dominant patriarchal rity/privilege” (Hearn 2011: 99). This requires the in- model, in relation to which counter-hegemonic mas- vestigation of how masculinities are negotiated as peo- culinities—including subordinate, complicit, and mar- ple move across borders while maintaining ties with ginalized masculinities—are defined. Connell recog- their families of origin in a transnational space, and nizes that hegemony is “a historically mobile relation” how essentialist understandings of hegemony and pa- (1995: 77); nonetheless, in reality not only the relation triarchy may be challenged, confirmed, and trans- between hegemonic and other masculinities but also formed. dominant models of masculinity are best conceptual- ized in fluid terms. This allows it to be recognized that alternative and even conflicting notions of man- 11.3 ‘Breadwinning’ and Other hood may be variously combined within hegemonic Markers of Manhood for masculinity itself. Senegalese Migrants within their ‘Intersectionality’ and ‘hegemonic masculinity’ are Transnational Families both based on the assumption that gender relations and hierarchies are constantly negotiated and subject Families constitute a central pillar of Senegalese soci- to change. Moreover, both concepts share an interest ety and their importance is not wavering in the face of in understanding how such change is embedded in hi- the increased geographic dispersal imposed by inter- erarchies of power arising from specific contexts and continental migration. Family values, in fact, are situations. Applied to the study of transnational mi- found to hold strong even among the Senegalese di- gration, both concepts can advance current debates. aspora (Riccio 2008). Patriarchal and matrilinear in Masculinities and Intersectionality in Migration: Transnational Wolof Migrants 219 structure, families in Senegal include not only parents and the stay-behind in terms of access to mobility, and siblings or spouses and children, but stretch to in- capital, and other resources (Bryceson/Vuorela 2002; clude other members of the extended kin such as Carling 2008). As has been suggested by Levitt and grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and nieces and Glick-Schiller, “many migrants gain more social nephews. It is common for a family living in the same power, in terms of leverage over people, property, and compound to be made up of various nuclear house- locality, with respect to their homeland than they did holds. Following the principle of patrilocality, for in- before migrating. It is this complex intersection be- stance, upon marriage the wife traditionally moves tween personal losses and gains that any analysis of into her husband’s home, which involves living with power within transnational social fields must grapple in-laws. The line that separates kin from strangers, with” (2004: 1013–1014). This imbalance is at the basis moreover, is largely a matter of self-perception: as an of an economics of exchanges that take place between enactment of the Wolof saying dëkkaale bu yàgg, family members, in which migrant men are invested mbokk la (tr.: living together for a long time turns with important responsibilities towards their relatives neighbours into relatives), the extended family may in Senegal. Remittances cover the everyday basic also include significant others who are not related needs of many Senegalese households (Diagne/Rako- through blood and kinship. As synthesized by Bass tonarivo 2010) and migrants interviewed for this re- and Sow, marriage, consanguinity, kinship ties, and search all confirmed that they regularly send money being associated with a shared surname are at the ba- home:7 sis of family affiliation; nonetheless, “extensive shared “When you have a family you’re no longer alone. You social experience may also be sufficient to provide can’t only think of yourself and your own needs, but you both kin and household membership” to outsiders have to think also of them. [...] The way I see it, when (2006: 91). you have a family you no longer live for yourself. A part This model of family operates as an economic sys- of you remains yours, but another part of you is no tem of welfare and exchange: it is along the lines of longer yours” (Bathily). extended family bonds that distribution and redistri- “It is a question of kóllëre8, there are certain people that bution of wealth is organized. The Wolof word I cannot forget” (Makhtar). mbokk, indicating those related through ties of blood In addition to their economic and instrumental func- and kinship derives from bokk, which means ‘to tion, remittances to family members also have an af- share’ or ‘to have in common’. Although Islamic fective function, as shown in research also among brotherhoods have also played a crucial role in the es- other West African transnational migrants (Åkesson tablishment of Senegalese migration in Italy and else- 2011; Carling 2008). Evidence from other regions of where, families are always indicated by respondents as the world, moreover, shows that for male migrant being at the core of male providers’ decisions to emi- breadwinners gendered aspects are also relevant, and grate as a household strategy, and as being the ful- that there is a relationship between economic support crum of transnational connections and practices up- or gift-giving and constructions of manhood (John- held throughout migration (Sinatti 2011).6 Migration son/Stoll 2008; Malkin 2004; Osella/Osella 2000; is followed by striking asymmetries between migrants Pribilsky 2012). Work and money play an important part in the practice of migrants’ male masculinity: ful- 6 A copious literature exists on the links between Senega- filling the breadwinner role allows respect and status lese transnational migration and membership in Islamic to be gained from the migrant experience. Interview- brotherhoods. The Muridiyya in particular undoubtedly ees in this research often mentioned the hardships of played a major role in the initial phases of Senegalese migration, but they also unanimously indicated the migration to Italy, where early migrants relied on the need to work and support their families as the drive brotherhood’s tight networks and were inspired to work hard as a means of achieving heavenly blessing. With the allowing them to overcome such daily difficulties: progressive affirmation of Italy as an established migrant destination, however, the centrality of Murid affiliation has been diminishing: the presence of other 7 All interviewees quoted or mentioned in this chapter brotherhoods has gained importance, and the arrival of have been given fictitious names in order to preserve young urbanites joining the ranks of earlier Murid their anonymity. migrants has contributed to a secularization of Senega- 8 Kóllëre is a Wolof word indicating loyalty in relation- lese immigration in this country and to the emergence ships. It refers to bonds that may even extend beyond of different ways of being transnational (Riccio 2001; kin, for instance between families that have been close Sinatti 2008). for various generations. 220 Giulia Sinatti “In Italy we live and work in hard conditions, but we grants, but is also a marker of manhood. Remittances have to goorgoorlu. It is for the sake of our families that are a source of virtue and prestige, a means for the mi- we do this” (Adama). grant to assert himself as a benevolent, honourable, The term goorgoorlu indicates how close the link is and respected man in his sending community. Une- between masculinity and work: as a verb it means ‘to qual transnational distribution of resources between get by’, as a noun it refers to people in the informal migrants and the stay-behind leads to relations that sector surviving on occasional jobs. Yet goor means are frequently fraught with tensions (Carling 2008; ‘man’ and by extension goorgoorlu also means ‘behav- Riccio 2008) and, regardless of the situation of need ing like a man’. of the family back home, cases were frequently ob- Alongside other key ritual moments in a man’s life served in which migrants were put under considerable (circumcision, pilgrimage to Mecca, etc.), taking re- pressure by constant demands for support beyond the sponsibility firstly for one’s family of origin and then monthly dépense10 owed to the households over for one’s independent household are seen as central which they have direct responsibility. The rewards as- steps in transition to manhood and in later progres- sociated with remittances and other transfers in terms sion towards more mature visions of masculinity. of avowing hegemonic visions of the patriarchal man There is a diachronic side to the construction of mas- nonetheless lead most migrants to speak of their ef- culinity over time that also shapes economic responsi- forts as leading to personal gratification and fulfilment. bilities towards the family in different ways through- Migration, moreover, has become a means for out migration. Upon reaching adulthood, sons are Senegalese men to access adulthood and that can expected to contribute to the well-being of their fam- shape their further opportunities to progress along ilies of origin (Antoine/Sow 2000). Fathers are seen the socially legitimized steps leading to the apex of as having to be repaid for having brought their sons mature manhood. This requires a man first to access up with solid moral values and religious principles.9 marriage (Carling and Carretero 2008), then claim in- Obligation is particularly strong towards mothers, es- dependent status for his own household while still un- pecially in polygamous households where the father’s der his father’s roof (beru), relocate the new house- responsibilities over numerous wives and children of- hold to a separate roof (sanc kërëm), and eventually ten require women to integrate family revenues. Mi- become the established head of an extended family grants therefore feel compelled to provide for the (boroom kër). Similar findings from research in Ker- well-being of their parents and siblings: ala indicate that “[m]igration may accelerate an indi- “I am responsible for the whole of my family. In Sen- vidual’s progress along a culturally idealized trajectory egal, if I have a mag bu jigéen [elder sister], I am respon- towards mature manhood” (Osella/Osella 2000: 118). sible for her because I am a man and she is a woman, The case of Yoro and Talla is an example of how mi- even if she is older than me. I am responsible for her, gration can offer a shortcut in this progression. They my brother, my wives and children, my mother … every- left Senegal when still under eighteen by forging their body, the whole family” (Makhtar). dates of birth in order to be eligible adults for the With a first wife living with his elderly parents in his tourist visas that they later overstayed. Despite being village of origin and a second wife and children set- de facto still minors, in their home families they were tled in Dakar, Makhtar brings evidence of how, al- already praised as responsible young males, whereas though all migrants have financial responsibilities to- some of their elder brothers struggling to make ends wards the family, the nature and extent of provisions meet while they pursued university education in Sen- depend on a migrant’s specific positioning in one or egal were frowned upon. more households. While Makhtar has sole responsibil- In a similar way to how Yoro and Talla succeeded ity for the well-being of the urban household, he also in overcoming signifiers of manhood with relation to feels obliged to contribute to the rural one where his age, migration can become a means to break through parents and first wife live. Dispensing monetary and material support to fam- ily members through migration is not only a response 10 The dépense is the fixed amount constituting the core to economic and moral obligations held by all mi- of remittances transferred by a migrant, to which extra transfers and gifts may be added with greater flexibility and variation. The dépense is calculated in advance on 9 Respondents often spoke of fulla ak fayda, which indi- the basis of the average costs of running the household cate firmness of character and determination, as a core for which the migrant may be fully responsible or simply inheritance that is passed from father to son. contributing to. Masculinities and Intersectionality in Migration: Transnational Wolof Migrants 221 social categories such as caste and class. Migrant 11.4 Challenges to Manhood and grooms belonging to the lower social castes of Wolof Emerging Masculinities in the society have higher chances of marrying upward, out- 11 Transnational Family Sphereside their own caste. Birame, instead, was able to marry cutting across categories of social class. A sim- The imaginations of people back home contrast ple and illiterate man of rural origin who used to sharply with migrants’ own experiences of day-to-day work in Senegal as a boroom sarret (horse and cart existence in countries of destination, where Senega- driver), he would not have stood a single chance of lese men join the ranks of immigrant minorities and meeting a woman of urban middle-class background occupy the bottom ranks of the labour market as willing to be his bride. Against these odds and after workers in low-skilled and precarious jobs. In Italy, having succeeded in building a house in a prominent they mainly engage in blue-collar employment in the neighbourhood of Dakar thanks to many years of low- industrial sector, in odd jobs in the services sector, skilled factory work as a transnational migrant, a and in agricultural labour, often with temporary or charming and educated young lady became his second seasonal contracts. While most Senegalese immigrants wife. The lure of achieving higher standing in terms of in Italy were engaged in humble jobs before leaving social class was evident as Birame declaimed the at- Senegal, their social advancement at home thanks to tributes of his new spouse. His migrant peers, how- migration makes them ill-equipped to accept that ever, heavily criticized his choice and foresaw troubled their social condition will remain low in the country relations lurking ahead with this new wife, whose of immigration. This feeling is even stronger in the ex- middle-class expectations they believed he would be ceptional cases of individuals who experience signifi- ill-equipped to anticipate and manage. cant downward social mobility upon arriving in Italy, In a country offering grim opportunities for em- after having given up socially valued clerical or teach- ployment at home, migration is seen as a valuable av- ing jobs in exchange for the lures of migration. Exclu- enue that can allow caring for parents and siblings, sion and oppression along the lines of class and eth- moving forward in an ideal progression of manhood, nicity in the new country of residence are experienced and more broadly advancing one’s social standing. by all migrant men as a challenge to their masculinity. Over the last decades Senegal has experienced a grow- Against such challenges, economic accomplishments ing erosion of patriarchal control over household de- in Senegal become surrogates allowing migrants to re- pendants in particular in rural areas, where neo-liberal store in the public eye their roles as hegemonic men, economic reforms introduced in the mid-1980s made at least at home. This is evident, for instance, in the it more difficult for rural livelihoods to rely solely on symbolic meanings associated with real-estate invest- cash-crop income and pushed women into petty ments in housing (Sinatti 2009), which are the first in- trade, thus undermining male provider status (Perry vestment priority for any migrant who is not yet a 2005). Migration has therefore become established as home-owner and which are seen as symbolizing eco- a means for men to restore their role as economic nomic success as well as migrants’ accomplishments providers and principal breadwinners, and thus reaf- as respected husbands and fathers: firm their masculinity in this sphere. Migration is nowadays central to people’s images of the ‘good life’ “In Senegal […] we are all keen on inviting each other in and migrants are celebrated in popular culture as ver- our own homes. It’s a form of competition, because we all want to show our friends how we live in our families, itable national heroes. However, as argued next, tran- how we behave with our families, our family environ- snational living may also challenge masculinity in ment, in what ways we have invested in our houses. We other spheres. want to show our investments and what we have man- aged to do” (Diadié). Through the celebration of money and economic ac- 11 Senegalese society among the Wolof (and other ethnic complishments Senegalese migrating men defend pa- groups such as the Sereer and Toucouleur) is organized triarchal roles and demonstrate a hyper-masculinity into a hierarchical caste system on the basis of the divi- that portrays them as victors over adversity and abun- sion of labour within society (Diop 1985). The géér rep- dant providers (Datta/McIlwaine/Herbert/Evans/ resent the nobles, the ñeeño are people of caste, and May/Wills 2009: 856). In their countries of immigra- the jaam are slaves and their descendants. Surnames are tion, however, additional factors combine to threaten an indicator of people’s belonging to one or the other group and such traditional societal divisions remain hegemonic roles. In the living quarters that they most influential. often share with other co-nationals they are forced to 222 Giulia Sinatti perform a number of tasks and chores that are tradi- space has emerged as an area of inquiry of considera- tionally reserved to women: taking care of the cook- ble significance for migration studies with an interest ing, laundry, and housework is demeaning. These as- for how “conventional relationships between husband pects are not publicly vented at home, but may and wife, parent and child or amongst siblings can be constitute a cause for complicity with wives or moth- subjected to substantial revision” (Bryceson/Vuorela ers: 2002: 16). Lack of day-to-day interaction means that “My wife gives me cooking tips on the quiet. When I am migrants are no longer immersed in the intricate daily in Senegal, though, I wouldn’t be seen dead inside the dealings of their extended families. Instead, they de- kitchen by other people” (Gallaye). pend on others to brief them in the hope of obtaining In the flat shared by Gallaye with other urbanite immi- sufficient information for them to formulate such ad- grants like himself, it is not uncommon to observe ap- vice. This often turns the tables, resulting in others ad- preciation from other men of his cooking skills, usu- vising the migrant on the advice he should be giving ally followed by sniggers about the contents of his and ultimately forcing the migrant to entrust others weekly phone conversations with his wife. Intimate re- with the fulfilment of his obligations. Migrants build lations are in fact a matter that is not overtly spoken trust relationships with relatives as they share or fully about, as this is seen as unmanly. Among migrant men delegate decision-making with fathers, mothers, of all backgrounds this taboo rarely falters, as was ev- wives, siblings, or children, depending on the family ident from the reactions triggered by a middle-aged structure. Although this may lead to greater complic- rural migrant with an established household of his ity and equity in such interpersonal relations, it none- own in Senegal who was observed publicly declaiming theless also results in the migrant’s own male author- the virtues of a potato peeler that he had bought as a ity being diminished. In particular, those with a short gift for his wife. Ngouda later confided that migration migration history who are still young and unmarried made him a better husband, as he had become more (and as a result more easily exposed to economic pres- understanding of the difficulties and needs that his sures from relatives back home) struggle to find ways wife faces as a woman. This gift to her testified his of affirming their own position as men in their fami- love and understanding of the strains of a woman’s lies beyond the breadwinning role. A young migrant daily chores. with a relatively affluent family in Dakar spoke of his Challenges to established gendered roles may lead own situation as being not so different from that of to greater intimacy and mutual appreciation; however, most other migrants with less fortunate backgrounds handing over to others the family roles conventionally than himself: performed by the head of household can also force “Everybody considers us a reservoir of wealth. Eco- migrating men to redefine their masculinity in new nomic support is the first thing they delegate to you. […] ways. Transnational living particularly places under The biggest frustration of the Senegalese immigrant is stress those legitimized roles of patriarchal men that this role given to him by the family back home. We arelike milk-cows. Immigration has cancelled any other role hinge on daily social interactions with others within or place for us, it has wiped out our participation and the family. In Senegal, the boroom kër is consulted re- has reduced it to a mere economic role. I hand out the garding the regulation of family affairs, ranging from dough and beyond this, I don’t exist” (Moussa). the education of children, the choice of spouses, the Many, like Moussa, feel exposed to exploitation. The resolution of family disputes, to the organization of practice of mbaraan (tr.: taking advantage of some- family ceremonies (Diop 1985: 178). Although the ad- one) used to the detriment of migrants has in fact vice dispensed is not necessarily binding for the en- become so well-known that the word has come to quirer, nonetheless respect for the virtues attributed indicate also the person who is victim (Nyamnjoh to this hegemonic patriarchal figure at the apex of his 2005: 302). ‘career’ ensures that he be consulted. Respect and In some spheres, migrating men feel that their obedience are due to the boroom kër in the name of absence simply cannot be replaced. For more mature a legitimized moral authority based on gender, age, migrants who have already formed a family of their experience, and wisdom. Among migrants, however, own, decisions regarding children and distant parent- non-presence challenges such processes and requires ing, for instance, are often a matter of great concern. manhood to be constantly renegotiated in ways that Migrant fathers take strongly to heart the education can compensate for lack of daily face-to-face interac- of younger generations: tion. How new ways of expressing loyalty, intimacy, and love restructure such processes in a transnational Masculinities and Intersectionality in Migration: Transnational Wolof Migrants 223 “My children back home are growing up. I need to go therly care. This scenario clashed strongly with the home and supervise them” (Selle). austerity and integrity associated with the discipline “As an emigrant in Italy it is too difficult to give our sons and control that characterize visions of hegemonic a basic education. We are losing ground. Without my masculinity that Aliou and those of his generation presence, my wives are too soft” (Bara). most likely experienced during their childhood with Among those who are closely affiliated to Islamic respect to their own fathers. brotherhoods and value the importance of religious In a context in which neo-liberal economic reform upbringing, this is considered the children’s essential and decline of rural livelihoods are reducing men’s heritage and in absence of the head of household it is economic hold over their households, traditional vi- feared to be inadequate, particularly for boys: sions of hegemonic masculinity have long been sub- ject to erosion in Senegal. Migration and its economic “When the father is away, an important thing is missing. returns have become viewed by men as a means of Children are brought up badly if their father is not present, because the first thing in a child’s education is reconquering their dominant position. As migrants’ religion” (Laye). multi-local lives straddle different localities in the countries of origin and of residence, however, they These interviews confirm that migrating men feel that are presented with varying power over different facets authoritative fatherhood is threatened when they are of masculinity. Whereas their role as main breadwin- far away, and that the issue of children staying behind ners and providers for their families is affirmed, mi- raises feelings of anxiety and emotional unrest in the gration makes them lose ground on other important migrating parent (Orellana/Thorne/Chee/Lam 2001). sources of respect and authority associated with hege- Against the recognized risk of losing time-honoured monic masculinity, and forces them to invent new, al- moral virtues and values, some transnational fathers ternative masculinities in different spheres. Masculin- take pride in the fact that as migrants they can offer ity, in fact, not only changes in progressive steps their children better opportunities, for instance during a man’s lifetime, but transnational migrant through access to formal education and schooling. In men are also called to perform different masculinities addition, migrants explore new ways of exercising fa- with different audiences (their families, other mi- therhood that can respond to new challenges deriving grants, their local communities) that may differ signif- from the fact that “[i]ntergenerational lifestyle con- icantly from the hegemonic ideal that originally en- flicts common to families everywhere may be more couraged them to migrate. marked in transnational families” (Bryceson/Vuorela 2002: 13). As a transnational father, Aliou offers a striking ex- 11.5 Conclusion ample of some of the creative ways adopted by a mi- grating parent in response to the broadening intergen- This chapter has challenged the notion of men as a erational gap between himself and his children. unitary category of social power. By extending the Having migrated to Dakar with his family from a concept of intersectionality to study the experience of small village in inner Senegal, and being convinced Senegalese men migrants as breadwinners, transna- that moving to the city would offer his family a life of tional families were analysed as sites where social in- higher standing, Aliou later migrated to Italy, where teractions can reproduce hegemonic and dominant he had spent twelve years in precarious employment masculinities, whilst also challenging and questioning in factory work as a welder. In between his intermit- them. An intersectional understanding of family rela- tent presences at home, his children grew up as part tions is beneficial to migration studies, as it allows re- of an urbanite generation in the city. When the author searchers to grasp how masculinities may be rede- visited his home in Senegal, his teenage elder son was fined as people move across cultural, social, and carrying a PlayStation in his hands that he presented national borders, and as they encounter and cope with pride. This touching and amusing image brought with different regimes of power at the intersection of to mind the other side of the story as told by Aliou in other social categories. The stories illustrated here Italy, who had received a specific request for this toy show how migration is clearly shaped by understand- that had to fit the make and model en vogue. It had ings of specific male and female roles and how, in taken Aliou a big effort to acquaint himself with the turn, migration is a vehicle for the transformation of market so as not to disappoint his son’s expectations hegemonic ideas about masculinity. Just as authorita- and he had taken on such attentiveness to detail tive masculinity can be threatened when relating to wholeheartedly as a new way of expressing his fa- 224 Giulia Sinatti wives, children, and other relatives at a distance, so native masculinities, incorporating them into domi- caring about loved ones staying behind can cause anx- nant patriarchal and hegemonic visions. iety and unrest among migrating men. After all, for The findings of this chapter confirm the useful- these men, migration was a strategic choice to im- ness of intersectionality as a key concept applied to prove the well-being, at present and in the future, of the study of male experiences in migration that allows the family. While they may be fulfilling this role eco- more fine-grained differences to be revealed than nomically, they remain vulnerable emotionally to the widespread interpretations of migrant men as ‘mod- implications of fully exercising their gendered roles at ern-day heroes’ who save their families and nations a distance, and thus to the possibility of losing part of from poverty and debt. Combined reference to inter- their socially learned authority. sectionality and hegemonic masculinity provides con- Transnational family formations have the potential ceptual tools that result in a more nuanced and varied to deeply challenge aspirations among migrating men account of migrant masculinities, attentive to gen- of fitting the ideal of hegemonic masculinity. An inter- dered hierarchies and power differentials. A broader sectional perspective on masculinity reveals how gen- application of intersectionality is therefore proposed der identities are fluid and multifaceted, as breadwin- here beyond the field of women’s studies, in which it ning transnational migrants experience and renegoti- is predominantly used to study men also, and more ate their role as men within their families. Work, broadly to study how gender relations are affected money, remittances, and gifts are important elements and transformed in transnational spheres. It was in the distant construction of hegemonic masculine shown above that migrating men and masculinities identities, whilst other everyday practices among mi- may be better understood through an intersectional grants show that transnational migration forces Wolof lens and it was suggested that future research agendas society to rethink social and cultural beliefs about should look comparatively at how the same intersec- males and females and the differences between them. tionalities may shape different outcomes that are spe- Understanding these processes requires a plural and cific to women and men. Feminization trends of mi- fluid notion of masculinity that is in line with Lindsay gration, for instance, may be accompanied by new and Miescher’s (2003) analysis of modern sub-Saha- transformations in gendered divisions of labour, re- ran African masculinities. These authors suggest that sponsibility, and authority that could be further inves- there may be conflicting visions of what should be tigated: while there already is research evidence of the masculine behaviour and that essentialized ideals of ways in which such transformations may be empower- hegemonic masculinity may not apply indiscriminately ing for women, much less is known about the kinds of in all spheres. The findings of this chapter confirm demands and adaptations that they may require on this observation. Rather than fitting a unitary con- the part of men. In addition, it would be useful to in- struct of masculinity, migrants develop multiple mas- vestigate how and when innovative features of mascu- culinities across (and within) time and space. As was linity adopted by transnational migrant men are re- shown above, the renegotiation of masculinities is a ceived by non-migrant men in the country of origin. constantly ongoing process that becomes even more This would not only allow the exploration of how dif- complex in transnational spheres. These, in fact, call ferent masculinities may relate to each other, but also for the redefinition of family relations and male and the investigation of the implications of migration in female roles in work, care, and authority that intersect relation to broader social transformations beyond the with gender, age, ethnicity, and class. 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A.; Huang, Shirlena; Lam, Theodora, 2005: Filipino Transnational Families”, in: Feminist Studies, “Transnationalizing the ‘Asian’ Family: Imaginaries, Inti- 27, 2: 361–390 macies and Strategic Intents”, in: Global Networks, 5, 4: Parreñas, Rhacel Salazar, 2005: “Long Distance Intimacy: 307–315. Class, Gender and Intergenerational Relations between Open Access. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. 12 Intersectionality, Structural Vulnerability, and Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services: Filipina Domestic Workers in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Qatar Thanh-Dam Truong,1 Maria Lourdes S. Marin,2 and Amara Quesada-Bondad3 Abstract In this chapter the experiences of Filipina domestic workers in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Qatar are examined in the framework of their structural vulnerability to health problems. The chapter shows how their poor state of Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) can be the outcome of a combination of forms of institutional dis- crimination that are interconnected and should be investigated in respect of: (a) the worth of their ‘identity’ (migrant, female, the work they do); (b) the distinct aspects of discourse on sexuality and normativity which specifically relate to their presence in the destination countries; and (c) ideational and material realities con- straining their own agency in finding adequate care. The chapter shows how variations in the potential for access may be explained by the types and degree of their structural vulnerability regarding labour rights, their relationship with employers and migrants’ associations, and their personal SRH awareness—together with what emerges from cooperation between those government officials and civil society organizations who work with migrant domestic workers. Attentiveness to the particular combination of forms of institutional discrimination in a given cultural and institutional context, especially the ways in which the Sexual and Reproductive Health of Filipina domestic workers are linked to the ways in which labour migration are organized, should be helpful for effective SRH advocacy. Keywords: Filipina Domestic Workers, Hong Kong, Singapore, Qatar, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Advo- cacy, Structural Vulnerability, institutional Discrimination, Sexuality. 12.1 Introduction1, 2, 3 tors involved as a risk to public health. In recent years the global campaign for the right to health as a funda- Health control in international migration has histori- mental human right has opened the way for civil soci- cally been driven by the concern of receiving states to ety organizations and scholars to develop and estab- screen newcomers for disease in the interest of pro- lish an approach to the health needs of labour tecting their citizens from health risks. This has led to migrants which enables their voices to be heard and the tendency for migrants to be portrayed by some ac- properly addressed (WHO 2010). The plight of la- bour migrants who occupy the range of occupations in the global economy defined as low-skilled or un- 1 Dr Thanh-Dam Truong is Associate Professor in skilled (often with temporary contractual arrange- Women/Gender and Development Studies at the Inter- ments, or in sectors not covered by labour protection national Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University laws in either the sending or destination countries, or Rotterdam (The Netherlands). both) has become a major concern from the stand- 2 Ms Maria Lourdes S. Marin is the Executive Director of point of social justice in health (Dwyer 2004). The Action for Health Initiatives (ACHIEVE), Inc., a Philip- fragmented understanding of sexuality in health mat- pines-based organization working on migration, gender, and health issues. ters calls for more creative cooperation between 3 Ms Amara Quesada-Bondad has been the Programme health research and migration research to steer policy Officer of ACHIEVE in Quezon City in The Philippines agendas towards providing more appropriate re- since 2001. sponses to the SRH needs of labour migrants. T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 227 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_12, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 228 Thanh-Dam Truong, Maria Lourdes S. Marin, and Amara Quesada-Bondad Uncovering the complex relationship between mi- gration researchers, so that they can promote appro- gration and health (particularly how the operation of priate responses to migrant workers’ health needs. certain migration systems these days can have a seri- ous impact on the occupational and personal health of transnational labour migrants) requires a revision 12.2 Understanding SRH from the of the ways of understanding labour migration. Most Perspective of Intersectionality policy and research concerning migration presents a and Structural Vulnerability prototype of the labour migrant as a unit in the macr- oeconomic theory of exchange, and focuses on finan- The Report of the 1994 Cairo International Confer- cial gains and losses rather than on the realities as ence on Population and Development (ICPD) lived by migrants. More attentiveness and openness to includes a definition of Reproductive Health as: how life actually is for people on the move across bor- [T]he state of complete physical, mental and social well- ders, and to the patterns of their inclusion in and ex- being and not merely the absence of disease or infir- clusion from societies, is crucial for an effective ap- mity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system proach to their right to health in line with interna- and to its functions and processes. Reproductive health tional human rights law.4 therefore implies that people are able to have a satisfy- Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) is a rela- ing and safe sex life and that they have the capability to tively new field of inquiry in migration research. Here, reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so.6 we take a holistic approach and explore how a combi- nation of forms of institutional discrimination that are Three other concepts associated with this definition interconnected can affect how SRH problems are are: (1) reproductive health care as the constellation of solved for migrant domestic workers. First, the con- methods, techniques, and services contributing to (2) cept of SRH is set out as a normative framework, and reproductive health and well-being (through preven- this is followed by a discussion on the concept of tion and remedy to reproductive health problems); (3) structural vulnerability to ill health that has been intro- sexual health as enhancement of life and personal duced in medical anthropology and applied to the sit- relations (beyond and above an understanding limited uations of marginal labour migrants. This concept is to counselling and care related to reproduction and then adjusted for the analysis of SRH situations faced sexually transmitted diseases). by domestic workers from the Philippines in Hong Glasier, Gülmezoglu, Schmid, Moreno, and Look Kong, Singapore, and Qatar. Data compiled on the (2006) point out that SRH encompasses the totality experiences of migrant women domestic workers dur- of a person’s sexual and gendered existence, and in- ing their years of employment in these destination volves multiple and overlapping domains: the body, countries are presented, and the variations discussed.5 social identity, beliefs, attitudes, expressions, behav- The conclusion proposes new avenues for SRH advo- iour, and the social relationships through which de- cates to take on board the needs of mobile popula- sires are expressed and health is ensured. Although tions in a globalized world and to cooperate with mi- the majority of sexual and reproductive health issues affect women, men are also subject to such health risks, and are party to many of the related methods, techniques, and services that ensure healthy lives. It 4 The International Covenant on Economic, Social and should be emphasized that sexual and reproductive Cultural Rights, art. 12; the 1965 International Conven- health is not only about illness and disease but also tion on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrim- ination, art. 5(e)(iv); the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 12; the 5 The data presented in this chapter were collected 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of between 2008 and 2010 in the framework of a research Discrimination against Women: arts. 11(1)(f), 12, and project funded by IDRC, project number: 105637-001, 14(2)(b); The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the and entitled: “The Health of Our Heroes: A Qualitative Child, art. 24; the 1990 International Convention on Study on Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Ser- the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and vices and Information of Women Migrant Domestic Members of Their Families: arts. 28, 43(e) and 45(c); the Workers”. Field research conducted by ACHIEVE, Inc. 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabil- has been supplemented by desk research. ities, art. 25. See at: (accessed 19 July tion and Development, Cairo, 5–13 September 1994, 0000). United Nations, New York (1995). Sales No. 95.XIII.18. Intersectionality, Structural Vulnerability, and Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services 229 about “a collection of related health and human rights fewer burdens on public services caused by the pro- issues and many people are still confused about what gressive complications of health problems (Gushulak it [SRH] consists of” [italics added] (Glasier/Gülme- 2010). zoglu/Schmid/Moreno/Look 2006: 1604). This am- A useful source of ideas about public health activ- biguity has significant implications for SRH advocates ism in the field of SRH for migrant domestic workers (in respect of migrant populations) as well as for mi- may be found in Farmer's pioneering work (2004) on grants themselves. In particular, SRH advocacy is very the pathological workings of power relations in the limited for workers on temporary contracts in coun- health sector. Using the concept of structural vio- tries where their work is not included in the labour lence, borrowed from Galtung (1990), Farmer shows law provisions, and where there is limited social con- how denial of access to health treatment is systemically sciousness of the significance of SRH generally and embedded in social structures, and how poor health within a person’s emotional life specifically. outcomes among certain population groups can be the As they are mostly of reproductive age, women mi- result of numerous processes of marginalization by gov- grant workers do not become sexually inactive once ernments, health sector officials, and industry, com- they cross a national border. Though loneliness and bined with microdynamics intersecting class, gender, homesickness are common for newly arrived and first- age, ethnicity, and other criteria of belonging. time migrant workers, for those who have had to Criticism of Farmer’s overemphasis on macro- leave their families and partners for work many times, structures calls for more nuanced understanding of periodical yearnings for intimacy and for the feeling access to health, shaped by more subtle processes of of ‘being home’ socially and sexually continue to oc- differentiation in the social distribution of well-being cur (Marin 2012). Having to manage an existence and illness. Quesada, Hart, and Bourgois (2012: 341) which stretches between different localities with mul- identify the following: 1) the formation of social hier- tiple identities—citizen, migrant, worker, wife, hus- archies buttressed by a hierarchy of symbolic mean- band, intimate partner, son, daughter—these migrant ings of worthiness (Bourdieu 2000); and 2) histori- workers also must renegotiate meanings of love, loy- cally distinctive discourses of normativity and sexual alty, and affection at a distance, while simultaneously ethics (Foucault 1979). In this way, they redefine the establishing a new set of social bonds in their new concept of ‘structural violence’ as ‘structural vulnera- place. Emotional expression in such a context re- bility’ in respect of ill health. In the light of Bourdieu’s quires the careful consideration of the specific social concept of positionality, structural vulnerability to ill boundaries defined by the time-bound nature of their health may be seen as produced by an individual’s lo- stay, the intersubjective and cultural meanings of inti- cation in a given hierarchical social order that either macy, and the consequences they must face when enables or constrains the ability to act, negotiate, and transgressing the norms of propriety related to SRH change those contextually specific power relations af- at the place of their employment (Marin 2012). fecting personal health. Quesada, Hart, and Bourgois Knowledge about the SRH of migrant domestic work- (2012) suggest that positionality—defined as the inter- ers as a social group cannot be gained from a specific play between subjective and objective—can help bridge position declared as ‘universal’. It requires the unravel- the binary distinction between structure and agency in ling of many layers of power in different places that order to give more visibility to the socially learned dis- shape migrants’ overlapping social identities and positions, skills, and ways of acting that are often sense of belonging, layers which define the right to re- taken for granted, but which are acquired primarily veal their SRH needs and entitlement to care services. through the activities and accumulated experiences of The World Health Organization’s report on the everyday life. health of migrants (2008) notes that migrants travel Research into health among particular groups of with their epidemiological profiles, their level of ex- immigrants, undocumented migrants, and transient posure to infectious agents, their susceptibility to cer- migrant workers has shown a heterogeneity in the de- tain conditions, and their genetic and lifestyle-related gree to which transnational migrant workers are vul- risk factors, along with their culture-based health be- nerable to ill health (Derose/Escarce/Lurie 2007; Lo- liefs. They also travel with their sexual histories and rant/Van Oyen/Thomas 2007). The key question is SRH notions and practices. Access to health and med- whether this heterogeneity reflects the functioning of ical services not only has a direct impact on their health care systems per se, or whether there are, in- health outcomes but also on a range of other indirect deed, barriers to health services which may well be benefits at the societal level: a healthier society with the outcome of the ways labour migration pro- 230 Thanh-Dam Truong, Maria Lourdes S. Marin, and Amara Quesada-Bondad grammes are organized – and thus shape workers’ efit from a full understanding of exclusion/inclusion agency and health-seeking behaviour as well as access processes which occur through finely-differentiated to services. This brings up the relevance of the con- modes of power embedded in different contexts and cept of intersectionality as (1) a combination of forms workplaces. of institutional discrimination (gender, age, migrant status, and ethnicity) that are interconnected and can- not be examined separately, and (2) the link between 12.3 Power, Transience, and the a labour migration system and a health care system. Structural Vulnerability of As they are on temporary contracts, migrant work- Domestic Workers to SRH ers often circulate between different places of employ- Problems ment and their home countries. Health insurance sys- tems in their countries of origin may not cover The structural vulnerability of domestic workers to expenses abroad and insurance in the host countries SRH problems may be conceptualized as an outcome may not be easily affordable, particularly for low- of a process which hinges upon the following: 1) the skilled workers. Low-cost health insurance applicable normative discourse about the body and sexuality across borders does not exist in many countries, and which frames SRH and its application to the situation where it does there are major limitations.7 of domestic workers as a group; 2) cultural, social, Even when their health status is cleared before de- and legal definitions of a domestic worker in the host parture, once on the move the employment situation country that define their social location and the cor- of migrant workers in their destination countries be- responding consciousness and sense of accountability comes what basically underlies their overall state of for their right to health care; and 3) the ways in which well-being. It defines the boundaries of their new en- individual SRH problems are connected with prac- vironment and its social connectivity, which in turn tices at the workplace, which in turn, define their in- can directly and indirectly affect many aspects of their clusion or exclusion from available and affordable health physically and psycho-emotionally. Those who health programmes and services. are undocumented, or have an ‘irregular’ status, are Advocating for the SRH rights of migrant domes- particularly disadvantaged and deprived because of tic workers faces major challenges. Given the wide their social invisibility. Lacking social and legal protec- definition of SRH, few countries can afford a compre- tion from frequent violence and abuse at the work- hensive strategy. SRH services are mainly organized place, they run the risk of arrest and deportation through a piecemeal approach, with the exception of when accessing public health systems. Seeking private education. Much depends on socio-demographic fac- health service providers with steeper costs, turning to tors and the actual SRH problems which surface, and self-medication, or experimenting with indigenous or on budgetary constraints and the level of cooperation alternative practices are basically the only options they between health departments and civil society organi- have when encountering health problems (Marin zations. Attentiveness to social groups whose identi- 2012). ties are invisible within the public realm does help There is a real and pressing need to understand influence the provision of services. structural vulnerability as produced by a combination As a labour-sending country the Philippines has of interconnected forms of institutional discrimina- one of most rigorous policies and programmes in the tion and by the link between migration systems and world for protecting the rights of its citizens who health systems. The right to health as built into inter- work overseas. It has recently identified domestic national human rights law has no meaning until mi- workers as one of the main groups to be protected grants can exercise them. Advocacy approaches to from violation of rights, along with entertainers and SRH justice for migrant domestic workers would ben- seafarers.8 Action in the SRH domain has been ham- pered by the position of the Catholic Church, which 7 For example, the Sekuye plan health insurance covers has conflated fertility management and use of contra- medical care in both the USA and Mexico, and the ception with abortion, leading to its vigorous opposi- option to have treatment in Mexico. This will probably tion to the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill in only be attractive to frequent migrants or those living the Congress of the Philippines. The church hierar- near the border. The plan does not cover emergency chy, represented by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference medical costs. See at: (accessed 10 May 2012). sure on the state regarding matters of sexuality and re- Intersectionality, Structural Vulnerability, and Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services 231 productive health. So therefore, despite formal com- varying degrees of effectiveness, because of the strong mitments made by the government to implement influence of faith-based organizations who only ac- international standards on SRH,9 programmes have cept natural family planning methods. There has been mainly been supported by international development erratic and uneven dissemination of SRH information organizations.10 The resulting absence of a national across the country. Moreover, access to quality health policy on SRH hampers the implementation of com- services is constrained by high costs, inefficiencies in prehensive and concerted programmes within the health care management, and socio-cultural norms. country, and undermines the commitment to the sex- There is limited availability of contraceptives and poor ual and reproductive well-being of overseas workers. dissemination of information on how to prevent early Efforts from civil society organizations and some unwanted pregnancy, or the risk of pregnancy. The local government units have been made to provide power of the church means that contesting the nor- services that cover all the ten elements of reproductive mative understanding on the relationship between health recognized by the Philippine government. But sexuality and health and attempts to meet some of the these remain far from the international normative critical SHR health needs of the population can only framework of SRH rights. Family planning services be negotiated between civil society organizations and are available in most public health facilities but with local government institutions. For overseas workers, restrictions imposed by the host countries on the practice of non-national health professionals limit the 8 The Republic Act No. 8042 puts together the national ability of embassies and consulates to provide actual policies on overseas employment and establishes a and direct medical services. They can only refer over- higher standard of protection and promotion of the wel- seas workers to service providers in the host coun- fare of migrant workers, their families, and overseas Fil- tries, or facilitate repatriation. ipinos in distress. Together with the amendatory law RA The scope for the government of the Philippines 10022 of 2009 it defines in more concrete terms the to take responsibility for ensuring migrant women do- diplomatic and consular duties of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and its embassies abroad. In mestic workers have access to SRH services does re- 2009 the total number of contracts processed for Over- main limited. The existing body of knowledge on seas Filipino Workers (OFWs), reported by the Philip- SRH of migrant workers is too small and does not pine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) for contain the hard data often required by policy-makers both rehires and new hires reached 1,479,070. Of these, and programme implementers to institute the neces- 71 per cent were land-based (1,043,555) and 29 per cent sary services. Furthermore, there is an overwhelming (435,515) were sea-based. 35 per cent (362,878) of the concern among civil society organizations about la- land-based OFWs were new hires. Domestic workers comprised about 20 per cent (71,557) of total new hires bour issues, which is putting SRH rather in the shade for 2009, of which 97 per cent (69,669) were women on the government agenda. In destination countries (Sobritchea/Subingsubing/Quesada 2010: 10). faith-based organizations have been in the lead in rais- 9 The Philippine government recognizes ten elements of ing SRH consciousness through programmes con- reproductive health as follows: 1) family planning infor- ducted with migrant workers and local authorities. mation and services; 2) maternal, infant, and child Since they are at the bottom of the hierarchy of social health and nutrition; 3) prevention of abortion and man- worthiness, migrant domestic workers must rely on ei- agement of abortion complications; 4) prevention and treatment of RTIs/STIs/ HIV/AIDS; 5) education and ther their employers or faith-based organizations to counselling on sexuality and sexual and reproductive recognize their right as persons to health and well-be- health; 6) treatment of breast and reproductive tract ing. cancers and other gynaecological conditions; 7) male involvement and participation in reproductive health; 8) 12.3.1 Regulating Domestic Work in Hong adolescent and youth reproductive health; 9) elimina- tion of violence against women and children; 10) pre- Kong, Singapore, and Qatar: vention and treatment of infertility and sexual Implications for Workers’ SRH dysfunction. This chapter deals specifically with 1, 3, 4, and 5. Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China), 10 These include training, advocacy, and service pro- Singapore, and Qatar share the characteristic of being grammes on the prevention of HIV and AIDS, the small in area yet having a large stock of international reduction of maternal deaths, and the promotion of migrants as a percentage of the total population education in adolescent sexuality. Sex education is now (Hong Kong 39 per cent; Singapore 41 per cent; Qa- integrated into the curricula of secondary and public 11 tertiary schools. tar 87 per cent), with a large proportion of them be- 232 Thanh-Dam Truong, Maria Lourdes S. Marin, and Amara Quesada-Bondad ing domestic workers. These workers are mainly from woman because of pregnancy; limiting a worker’s South Asia and South-East Asia. The three places en- transfer or training options because she is pregnant; joy the status of being among the richest in the world firing or forcing a worker to leave because she is preg- with excellent health care systems. That the presence nant or on return from maternity leave; taking away of these migrant workers fills the labour gaps in low- credit for service because of maternity leave. skilled and low-paid sectors where work is too oner- In Singapore foreign workers are classified by level ous by national standards has become common of education and income, according to which the gov- knowledge; less widespread is knowledge about the ernment grants permission for terms of residence. relationship between the presence of domestic work- Employment passes are granted to foreign profession- ers and sending countries’ labour export policies (Oi- als whose monthly earnings reach a certain threshold shi 2005) and how the right to health is or is not en- set by the government; they are widely known as ‘for- sured under such policies. Concerns are emerging eign talents’. At the lower end of the income/profes- about socio-demographic transition, family structures, sion spectrum, employers are granted permits to take and the ageing factor in these societies, especially in ‘unskilled or semi-skilled’ workers, whom Singapore- Hong Kong and Singapore (Huang/Yeoh 2005). Un- ans refer to as ‘foreign workers’. Foreign domestic less family policy can effectively address intergenera- workers are called “Foreigners in Our Homes” (Teo/ tional care (Chiu/Wong 2009) the presence of do- Piper 2009). The work permits are issued on the con- mestic workers should be treated as a bilateral issue dition that the women do not marry Singaporeans between sending and receiving countries rather than nor become pregnant. Standard employment con- only from the perspective of individual choice and tracts in Singapore now state that registered employ- agency. ers must ensure medical care and treatment is covered The migration system for domestic workers is for the duration of the employment. Foreign workers based on a two-year period, with allowance for re- without valid work permits are unable to access the newal for a period of the same duration. Of the three government health system to the same degree as countries, Hong Kong is legally the most advanced in those with permits, and they do not have access to a terms of ensuring labour standards for migrant do- government health subsidy. In March 2012 the Man- mestic workers. They are protected by Chapter 57 of power Ministry granted foreign domestic workers a the Laws of Hong Kong, covering a comprehensive weekly rest day.15 range of employment protection and benefits for em- By contrast, Qatar has a very poor record in the ployees12 and by the Occupational Health and Safety treatment of foreign workers. They are excluded from Ordinance which ensures the protection of employees Law 14 of 2004 that governs labour in the private sec- in the workplace regardless of citizenship or docu- tor, which limits working hours and sets requirements mentation status.13 The Race Discrimination Bill pro- on paid annual leave, health and safety, and prompt hibiting discrimination, harassment, and vilification payment of wages each month. Neither this law nor on the grounds of race introduced recently has had a supporting legislation sets a minimum wage. The Law limited effect on domestic workers, given the excep- allows only Qatari workers to form unions, and per- tion clause applicable in any work situation where mits strikes only with prior government approval. Qa- fewer than five persons are employed.14 A related pol- tar has 150 labour inspectors to monitor compliance icy, the Sex Discrimination Ordinance, prohibits em- with the labour law, though inspections do not in- ployers from doing the following: refusing to hire a clude worker interviews.16 Excluded from the labour law as they are, foreign workers do not benefit from these provisions. To- 11 Figures are from IOM’s (2010) World Migration Report, gether with construction workers, domestic workers and fact sheets. See at: (accessed 7 kafala system, which regulates their entry and employ- May 2012). 12 Labour Legislation, Employment Ordinance, Chapter 57. ment. Under this system migrant workers cannot See at: (accessed 10 November 2009). 13 Labour Legislation, Employment Ordinance, Chapter 15 See at: (accessed 20 content2. htm> (accessed 10 November 2009). July 2012). 14 See at: 16 See at: (accessed 22 April 2012). Intersectionality, Structural Vulnerability, and Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services 233 change jobs without their sponsoring employer’s con- It can be said that the social standing of migrant sent, other than in exceptional cases with permission domestic workers within the hierarchy of foreign la- from the Interior Ministry. A Qatari company, which bour is defined by specific processes of inclusion and can be run by a private citizen or a foreign national, exclusion. The interplay between different identities— acts as the sponsor who procures a visa for a worker. legal, economic, political, and sociocultural—is accen- The sponsor has effective control over the movements tuated in conjunction with gender, sexuality, ethnicity, of their worker in Qatar for the duration of the con- and nationality (Yeoh/Huang 2000, 2010). One com- tract. They frequently confiscate workers’ passports, mon concern is sexuality, where the condition of non- although this is in violation of the Sponsorship Law. entry and expulsion includes medical ‘unfitness’, cov- The worker cannot leave the country, buy a car, or ering ‘being pregnant’ and having Sexually Transmit- rent a home without the sponsor’s permission. Al- ted Diseases (STDs), Acquired Immune Deficiency though sponsors are required to give workers an end- Syndrome (AIDS), or Human Immunodeficiency Vi- of-year bonus, a return airline ticket, and medical in- rus (HIV). Once placed in their jobs, domestic work- surance, failure to do so is often not penalized. Non- ers must go through periodic mandatory health observance of requirements for minimum wage, over- checks for specific SRH (Guild/Mantu 2011: 80–103). time wage, and timely payment is common. Non-com- Birth prevention during migration, with all the legal pliance which results in the disadvantaged employees and medical risks involved, is left to a migrant’s dis- leaving the job situation can be a basis for the em- cretion. ployer to report the worker as ‘having absconded’, In response to incidents of abuse of migrant do- which leads to a threat of detention and deporta- mestic workers that have been made public, faith- tion.17 based institutions in Hong Kong and Singapore have Despite these variations in the legal treatment of played a critical role in providing immediate assist- migrant domestic workers in the three countries, so- ance to those who have escaped from their work- cially these workers share a common condition of be- places and agents, and in setting up other services for ing confined to individual households as their place of those who remain employed. The Catholic Church work as well as residence. In Hong Kong and Singa- has pioneered the giving of assistance to Filipino mi- pore, where they are allowed to have a day off, their grant workers. The increased diversification of ethnic- regular use of public spaces around the cities – to so- ity and nationalities among the population of migrant cialize and enjoy a brief moment of privacy away from workers has led to mosques and Buddhist temples their employers – has led to the formation of ‘ephem- also providing programmes for them which include eral enclaves’ which have become an issue for local religious education and recreational activities. There citizens who perceive this as a form of nuisance, in- has also been a rise in the number of Non-Govern- convenience, or even threat. Markers of cultural and mental Organizations (NGOs) active in lending sup- ethnic identities have emerged as a ‘cordon’ around port and assistance to migrant workers.19 It is also im- the public spaces used; these are then avoided by local portant to note that the general consciousness of citizens (Koh 2009; Tillu 2011). Such is the powerful SRH in Hong Kong promoted under the Family Plan- effect of cultural inscriptions on physical space. In Qa- ning Programme20 is resulting in some direct benefits tar some employers have allowed their domestic for migrant domestic workers, as will be shown in the workers a day off every Friday, in principle to study Is- next section. lam. This was the only way the domestic workers could spend time outside the house of their employ- ers.18 18 Our field research has noted a number of cases of domestic workers ostensibly converting to Islam to ben- 17 Field findings of this research indicate that there are efit from this allowance. employers who allow domestic workers to use their cell 19 Some major organizations are: 1) HOME, a recognized phones and the Internet to communicate with their fam- institution that responds to the needs and concerns of ilies and friends, to have some days off from work, and migrant workers in the country; 2) the Transient Work- have a rest period during the day. Some of have been ers Count Too (TWC2), which works to improve the allowed to visit their families even before the end of lives of domestic workers in Singapore through their two-year contract. This latter experience may be research, advocacy, and the provision of direct services; attributed to having expatriate employers who were 3) Aidha, a charitable non-governmental organization mostly Westerners, or for having served their employers focusing on organizing part-time financial and business- for a long period of time. related courses for domestic workers. 234 Thanh-Dam Truong, Maria Lourdes S. Marin, and Amara Quesada-Bondad The SRH experience of migrant domestic workers contract, information gathered from fieldwork sug- can be seen as contingent on the nature of domestic gests it is mainly only workers in Hong Kong who en- work and its formal and informal regulations, the cul- joy this privilege. In Singapore there were participants tural framing of sexuality, and social understanding of who had insurance and there were those who said their bodies. Identity construction processes selec- they didn’t. There were also participants who did not tively emphasize ‘gender’ in heterosexual terms that know they were supposed to have health insurance. are intersected by the workers’ ethnic, religious, and This was common among the participants in Qatar; class identities, making the subject of control so intri- those who could access medical services emphasized cate that interpretation of SRH norms must take seri- the instigating role of the employers. ous note of the contextual articulations of power rela- Nearly all the interviewed domestic workers be- tions. longed to the reproductive age group. Sixty per cent of the total number of research participants belonged to the 20–39 age group; thirty-eight per cent were be- 12.4 Individual SRH Problems and tween 40 and 59. One domestic worker was under Intersecting Power Relations twenty; one other was over sixty. There were slightly more in the older age bracket in Singapore and Hong The data discussed in this section were gathered from Kong compared with those in Qatar. Forty-five per cent seven in-depth interviews in a broader research involv- were unmarried, forty-two percent married, eight per ing 147 Filipina domestic workers and twenty-nine in- cent had separated, and the rest were widows. The rel- terviews with key informants in Hong Kong, Qatar atively younger average age of domestic workers in Qa- and Singapore. Three participants in focus group dis- tar could be explained by the fact that recruiters specif- cussions (FGDs) experienced reproductive health ail- ically target young women from rural areas in the ments and were interviewed at length as case studies. southern part of the Philippines. The rapid processing Local research partners further identified four other of documents allowing them to leave within a month’s domestic workers who had experienced sexual and re- time and the fact that the agents do not collect place- productive health problems as case study informants. ment fees were cited as the main reasons. In-depth interviews generated important information More than half the research participants had chil- on how the women dealt with their health problems, dren, ranging in number from one to nine. One in given their knowledge of and attitudes towards health three of the mothers had only one child; forty-one per and conditions of work. A key point that has emerged cent had two to three, and twenty-six per cent four or is the intersection of individual SRH problems with more. The higher percentage of women who had various facets of institutional exclusion. fewer than four children can be explained by the rela- SRH services are generally available in all three tively young age of the majority. The data on the study sites, but financial and social barriers to access number of years of work abroad indicate that more are the major problem. Policies on certain sexual and than half of the research participants had been out of reproductive health issues differ between the three the country for less than five years; forty-four per cent study sites. Abortion is legal in Hong Kong and Singa- had been abroad and separated from their families for pore within specific parameters: it has to be per- six to twenty years. Female domestic workers contin- formed by a doctor; the woman has to undergo coun- ued to bear children throughout the cycle of their selling and a medical going-over performed by at least overseas employment. This finding reveals their dire two physicians who approve the procedure. In Qatar need for regular access to reproductive health infor- abortion is illegal. Though all three countries have mation and services. policies on health insurance applicable to migrant do- Many FGD participants mentioned suffering re- mestic workers for the duration of their employment peated physical battery and verbal abuse not only from their employers but also from the latter’s 20 This consciousness has helped ensure quality reproduc- ‘spoiled’ children. Heavy workloads and close moni- tive health care for citizens, as reflected in the low rate toring emerged as being of greatest concern. of maternal mortality. In Singapore the rate is 9 per The family took me on ‘vacation’ to Jordan to visit sib- 100,000. While there is no separate figure for Hong lings. I had to clean three houses because my employer’s Kong, the equivalent statistic for China is 38, for Qatar siblings didn’t have a maid. (Case study participant, 8, and for the Philippines 94. See at: (accessed 9 May 2012). Intersectionality, Structural Vulnerability, and Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services 235 Although Hong Kong mandates a 24-hour day off for cause she had wanted to keep the baby. The president domestic workers, some employers expected the of the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants shared the worker to be continuously active during working days. following: One reported being followed around by her em- Some employers tell their maids ‘Don’t get pregnant’. ployer’s mother-in-law with a monitoring camera, and Should they even have a say in that area of your life?... never allowed to sit down between tasks. In her It’s your right, as a woman, as a married person, to have words: a child if you want to. But because you are a domestic helper, and your employer doesn’t want you to get preg- You go to the toilet not because you have to urinate but nant, you follow their order. But they are stepping on so you can have a little rest. You sit down and lean back your right to form a family. and close your eyes, and in that way you get rid of some of your drowsiness. (An FGD participant, Hong Kong). Exclusion from SRH education emerged as a key One worker who benefited from health leave told the point of issue affecting health-seeking behaviour. The following story: level of SRH awareness among interviewees varied but was generally very low and included a number of Yes, I got seven day’s leave after my surgery, but I still had to do some sweeping. (An FGD participant, Hong misconceptions with consequences for their health. Kong). Traditional gender norms, which dictate that women should remain ignorant about matters pertaining to Even when they were maltreated, very few went to the sex and sexuality, reinforce their exclusion from SRH authorities to complain. They were afraid that their education. A sense of discomfort surged among some contract would be terminated as a consequence. In of the FGD participants when these matters came up the words of one interviewee, a member of a support- for discussion as they were considered shameful. Even ing organization: when they experience SRH problems they find it un- Especially when they’re new, they’re thinking about the comfortable to talk to their friends, and even more so debts they’ve incurred, they’re thinking about their fam- to a male doctor who is not even a Filipino. Going for ilies who are waiting for their remittances. So even when a medical examination that would involve showing a they get sick, they just continue working. ... This is doctor their private parts is even more unthinkable. something that I wish our government would do some- thing about. As a result, a simple infection of the reproductive tract can become serious because only when their condi- Many put up with the maltreatment because they tion has worsened do they find the courage to make feared losing their jobs. The participants spoke of do- mention. Those who talked with more comfort about mestic workers who were fired for becoming ill or the matters related to sex and SRH were older and pregnant. As this kind of termination is illegal in had worked in the study sites longer. They did not Hong Kong, some employers there have waited until mind sharing intimate experiences such as masturba- the worker has gone through surgery or come back tion and showing the younger women in the group from a hospital confinement, and then found some that they should learn to be more comfortable about other reason for dismissing them. One of the key in- issues of sexuality, reject taboos, and accept these is- formants in the study, an expatriate employer in sues as a normal part of life. Hong Kong who serves as a volunteer for the organi- Some FGD participants admitted to engaging in zation ‘Helpers for Domestic Helpers’, said that she sexual relationships while in their country of employ- has known of women whose employment contracts ment, divulging also that they used condoms. They were terminated in just that way. In her words: did not always seek medical attention or health serv- [The employers] do this for their own convenience. ... ices when they felt sick. They kept their conditions to They don’t want someone who is slowed down, or tired themselves and endured pain and discomfort in si- or whatever, because they’re pregnant. Or they don’t lence for fear that their contracts would be termi- want someone who’s not doing their job as efficiently nated if their employers were to find out and they because they’re unwell. would be sent home. One FDG participant revealed that while on vacation The case of a 44-year-old unmarried domestic in the Philippines she got married and returned to worker in Qatar shows the detrimental consequences work pregnant. She asked permission to return home. of inadequate SRH education. Her employer told her to go to a doctor and ask for a I met him through a friend. After a year of casual friend- particular medicine. The worker did not know it was ship we had a sexual relationship. We both wanted it to an abortifacient. She got angry with her employer be- happen but we didn’t think about using protection 236 Thanh-Dam Truong, Maria Lourdes S. Marin, and Amara Quesada-Bondad because it never occurred to us that I would get preg- of us have myoma? Is it from being on our feet the nant. Besides, my menstruation still came every month. whole day? (Case study participant, Hong Kong). I didn’t notice that my abdomen was getting bigger because I have always been fat. One time I noticed it There have been many instances when an employer was hard to the touch. I told my employer about it, but will say, after the domestic worker has gone to the she dismissed it as merely gas pains. I also ignored it. doctor two or three times: Then one evening after going out with my employer’s Okay, I think that it’s better that you return to the Phil- family I felt an excruciating pain in my abdomen. I ippines and rest. (FGD participant, Hong Kong). thought it was a very bad stomach ache. My employer took me to the doctor, who injected me with medicine The fear of being sent home for having SHR prob- and gave me some tablets to take. After that we went lems can be reinforced by financial limitations.22 In home. That night I couldn’t sleep. The pain was persist- most cases FGD participants gave priority to saving ent. I slept in the bedroom of my employer’s children for remittances over spending their salaries to care for and they noticed I was crying in pain. They told their their own health. They rely on self-medication—bring- mother so my employers took me back to the hospital. Doctors took my x-ray and tested my urine. That’s how ing medicines with them from the Philippines; medi- they found out that I was pregnant and that I was cines they are familiar with that can be bought over already in my ninth month, which was a big surprise to the counter; medicines for pain, fever, colds, coughs, me because I never missed my period. I did not experi- and diarrhoea. If they run out of these medicines they ence any morning sickness otherwise my employer rely on non-prescription medicines without first con- would have noticed and would have taken me to the sulting a doctor. hospital sooner. (Case study participant, Qatar). Though exposure to education programmes Birth prevention through self-medication is wide- organized during pre-departure orientation seminars spread. A health official in Hong Kong revealed the as well as in the country of destination does make a prevalent use of Cytotec (misoprostol or synthetic difference in the level of SRH consciousness (as also prostaglandin E1)21 for the purpose of termination of does sharing experiences with their peers), their pregnancies. In Hong Kong and Singapore any access to SRH services in destination countries method of inducing abortion that does not follow the depends largely on their employers. The existence of regulated protocols of medical abortion is considered policies enabling workers to access health services in illegal. To keep the knowledge of their pregnancy to general or SRH services in particular can facilitate themselves, domestic workers use Cytotec because it such access but does not guarantee it. In Hong Kong, can induce abdominal contractions, which may result for example, employers of migrant domestic workers in labour. One domestic worker was jailed in Hong are required by law to ensure that their workers have Kong for trying to abort a foetus that was more than a valid Hong Kong Identification Card (ID) allowing twenty-four weeks old by taking Cytotec. them access to government hospitals and medical Cyctotec has a low rate of success as an abortifa- services at a very affordable rate. However, a domes- cient, simply because users do not have accurate infor- tic worker, though in possession of this ID card, may mation about dosage and proper administration. The not be able to readily reach any health facility if her FGD participants were aware that “if it only causes you employer does not allow her to leave the house at any to bleed and you don’t abort completely it may result in time except on Sundays. more complications”. One case study informant, who Having a good relationship with their employers had terminated a pregnancy using Cytotec, believed can greatly facilitate workers’ access to health serv- this was why she developed myoma (fibroids). “Not all ices. It makes it easier for a worker to inform her em- the blood came out and that is what grew into a tu- mour.” Myoma became a topic of discussion. It’s what we talk about when my friends and I get 22 The Philippine government requires employment agen- together. It’s our number one question: why do so many cies to prescribe a minimum monthly salary of US$400 for departing domestic workers but the findings show widespread violation of this regulation. Except for those 21 WHO currently includes misoprostol (Cytotec) in its in Hong Kong and for some in Singapore, there are evidence-based guidelines and Model List of Essential many deployed domestic workers who are not getting Medicines for early pregnancy termination together the prescribed minimum salary. Some departing domes- with mifepristone, medical management of miscarriage, tic workers are made to sign an employment contract and labour induction. See at: (accessed 9 made to sign another employment contract specifying a May 2012). much lower monthly salary once they are abroad. Intersectionality, Structural Vulnerability, and Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services 237 ployer if she gets sick and asks permission to go to the to have me shut up. But he can’t just pay me off for what hospital, or even to go on leave after a serious illness. he’s done to me. I really want to pursue this because he Responses from the employers do vary though. Some took my virginity. I find this very hard to accept. And I participants in FGDs stated that their employers took am waiting for my next period. What if he has gotten me pregnant? Then it would be even more difficult for care of them when they got sick; others said that de- me to accept. My mother in the Philippines now knows spite a good relationship with their employers they still what has happened to me. She wants me to go home had to work right after getting home from time in hos- but I told her that I want to pursue and win this case, pital. Employers depended on them to keep the house though the people here at the Embassy have told me in order and make sure the children were taken care of. these criminal cases take time, maybe two years. (A case One study participant was diagnosed with breast study in Qatar.) cancer, requiring treatment by chemotherapy, for In Hong Kong and Singapore there are NGOs and mi- which reason her employer fired her. In Hong Kong grant organizations who serve as support groups for the worker could have filed a case against her em- migrant women domestic workers. These institutions ployer for terminating her contract due to an illness, can be sources of SRH information and services. but most of the time the domestic workers do not They can also reinforce positive health-seeking behav- pursue such cases. They would actually rather go back iour through awareness-raising activities. FDG partici- to the Philippines. pants generally experienced positive treatment by the I am worried because the doctor said that the chemo- medical and health care personnel when in a hospital therapy is not totally free of charge and I will have to or clinic in the destination country, though some felt pay a portion of the cost. I know I won’t be able to that the doctors did not spend enough time on them afford this because my employers terminated my con- to find out what their ailments really were. They felt tract. I don’t blame them. They have been very good to they were rushed through the consultation and were me and call me to ask how I am. But they do not have simply given pills without any explanation of what the a lot of money so they cannot afford to support me. If pills contain or what they were supposed to be curing. I were to stay with them, I would n’t be able to fulfil my duties, yet they would be required to pay me. How will Communication barriers are another issue when they manage? This is why they had to let me go. ... I being dealt with by health care personnel. Participants need to have my visa extended so I can continue having in Hong Kong and Singapore confided that, because my treatment in Hong Kong. The Immigration Depart- of colloquial usage, they couldn’t understand what ment has already extended my visa for three months. ... their doctors were saying even though they were Immigration officers told me that I could demand sup- speaking in English. Hong Kong’s Racial Discrimina- port from my employer. They said I could file a case tion Ordinance provides for meeting a patient’s re- against them with the Labour Department because in Hong Kong, an employer cannot terminate a domestic quest to have an interpreter when accessing services worker if she is undergoing treatment. I know this but I in a hospital. The problem was that the migrant work- don’t want to file charges against my employer. I love ers were not aware of this policy and so remained frus- this family. (Case study in Hong Kong.) trated by the difficulties in communicating with medi- Apart from the kind of relationship they have with cal and health care personnel. In Qatar, there were their employers, the influence of family and friends domestic workers who noticed that the doctors treated also counts. In many instances the family in the Phil- them better when their employers were with them dur- ippines, as well as friends, can serve as facilitating fac- ing a visit to the hospital. They felt that they were not tors for migrant domestic workers to access SRH treated as well when on their own and believed that services. They can positively influence health-seeking they were discriminated against because they were do- behaviour by giving information on where to get help, mestic workers. A number of the study participants and can also provide emotional and moral support. also said that the nurses looked down on them because When they share positive experiences with health care they were just migrant domestic workers. facilities in the host countries, family and friends can The diverse experiences of Filipina domestic effectively encourage them to continue to seek these workers with SRH problems concerning access to services. If they share negative or traumatic experi- services, and the limited scope of this research, do ences, family and friends may discourage or even not permit taking any firm position on the causal rela- scare them off from pursing their case. In the words tionship between migration and SRH, especially re- of a rape victim in Qatar: garding the intersection of individual medical prob- lems with social inclusion/exclusion. What has My employer has actually offered to pay me five thou- become clear is that migrants do not leave their sexual sand riyals and buy me a ticket back to the Philippines 238 Thanh-Dam Truong, Maria Lourdes S. Marin, and Amara Quesada-Bondad lives behind them when they cross borders for work nize the intricate workings of power over the female and also that the institutional context of labour regu- human body. Such power intersects with a wide range lations matters a great deal in their SRH health-seek- of institutional practices and has consequences for ing behaviour. Yet the rigorous pregnancy control of their health. domestic workers seems to manifest a social con- Over the next few decades international migration sciousness about female efficiency, but efficiency that is likely to be transformed in scale, reach, and com- must be delivered by a body that is supposed to re- plexity due to growing demographic disparities, the main infertile. This has implications for the emerging effects of environmental change, new global political research field of migration and SRH, both theoreti- and economic dynamics, technological revolutions, cally and practically. and evolving social networks (IOM 2010). The sheer magnitude of the movement and flow of persons in a given region and throughout the world necessitates 12.5 Conclusion critical discussion on the health aspects of migration. Depending on the situation and location, the health As an emerging issue in global migration, SRH re- of migrants may have important implications for the search in the Philippines still has a long way to go to populations from which they originate, through which come up with policy messages useful for setting up they travel, and where they live and work. At the same services to groups of migrants whose health has been time aspects of migrants’ health are influenced and af- affected by the ways their migration is organized. fected by how they travel and to what destination, and Findings on overseas domestic workers from the Phil- where they temporarily reside or permanently settle ippines in this study show how power relations can be (Gushulak 2010). articulated in ways that shape their structural vulnera- Addressing migrants’ health involves integrating bility to SRH problems. The articulation depends key human rights concepts into sound public health greatly on context and place irrespective of the fact approaches. The key is to eliminate disparities in ac- that the three countries share the common denomina- cess to health services, facilities, and goods between tor of an excellent health system. Most significantly, migrants and host populations, bearing in mind the fi- the link between the SRH problems experienced by a nancing implications for existing health systems. It im- migrant domestic worker as an individual and the plies the creation of an environment that enables mi- mechanisms of exclusion from, or inclusion in, SRH grants to enjoy their full rights, which must include services operates simultaneously at ideational and ma- those of sexual and reproductive health. This will terial levels. Ensuring affordable services is not need to be done along with proactive strategies that enough; gaining awareness and knowledge about the address the totality of migrants’ human rights. In the right to exercise the right to SHR health seems cru- area of migrants’ SRH it is important to continue gen- cial, particularly among migrant domestic workers erating more evidence. This should include further in- whose health-seeking behaviour is constrained by con- vestigation and analysis of trends and patterns in the ventional norms of sexuality and a range of choices SRH status of migrant workers, the mapping of exist- that are far from risk-free. ing SRH services, policies, and information, and iden- International migration connects countries of ori- tification of good practices in addressing migrant gin, transit, and destination, and it is important for workers’ SRH needs. Qualitative evidence of needs ar- governments to recognize the complex intersection ticulated through the voices of migrants is crucial to between migration systems and health systems. A improving existing SRH programmes and services. As purely national approach to migration and health is Marin (2012) emphasizes, the gathering, dissemina- too limited to respond to the health needs of migrant tion, and utilization of information must take into ac- workers. Bilateral, multi-country, and multi-sectoral di- count issues of human security such as security of alogues would help foster collaboration and partner- identity, since disclosure of sensitive data or informa- ship to harmonize the responses to these needs. Vari- tion about migrants could put them in a precarious ous regional and subregional forums addressing situation. This is especially true in the case of irregu- transnational health challenges such as HIV and larly documented migrants, for whom a more nu- AIDS, SARS, avian influenza, and the H1N1 virus are anced approach will be required. already in place. Efforts to address migrants’ health, and in particular SRH, must take note of the specific structural vulnerability they are subject to and recog- Intersectionality, Structural Vulnerability, and Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services 239 References Lorant, Vincent; Van Oyen, Herman; Thomas, Isabelle, 2008: “Contextual factors and immigrants' Health Sta- Bourdieu, Pierre, 2000: Distinction: A Social Critique of the tus: Double Jeopardy”, in: Health & Place, 14,4: 678– Judgement of Taste (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Uni- 692. versity Press). 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This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. 13 Sub-Saharan Migrants’ Masculinities: An Intersectional Analysis of Media Representations during the Libyan War 2011 Maria DeVargas and Stefania Donzelli1 Abstract Studies of the role of the media in conflict situations have brought to the fore the significance of representa- tions as an important part of the process of knowledge production about wars and the actors involved. The media can influence interpretations and framing of conflicts, moulding specific understandings of their causes and modalities of intervention. The Libyan war in 2011 is an interesting case to reflect on the United Nations (UN) principle of Responsibility to Protect (RtoP), and how conflict affects those populations who occupy a subordinate position in multiple stratification systems (gender, race, and class), whether they are locked in con- flict zones or are trying to join the flow of people fleeing across borders. In the context of humanitarian inter- vention, specific understandings of the migrants as social subjects become strongly correlated with correspond- ing support mechanisms. This chapter conducts an intersectional analysis to provide a perspective on the politics of the media representation of ‘migrants’ in Libya, discerning the key links between the constructions of their masculinities and the practices of protection for ‘people on the move’. We show how, being situated at the bottom of the social hierarchy in Libya, sub-Saharan black Africans were inappropriately presented in media coverage during the initial phase of the conflict as subjects of adequate protection. Their invisibilization and subordination by the media have been largely framed within international political and economic interests, which have also reinforced the idea of the international community as the legitimate protector of civilians. We argue that these representations reproduce migrants’ vulnerability and, by placing them in a situation of triple jeopardy (structural, political, and representational), undermine the possibility of conceiving and understanding security beyond their ‘naturalized’ victimization and subordination. Keywords: Masculinities, intersectionality, media representations, sub-Saharan migrants, Libya, human security. 13.1 Introduction1 ing human vulnerabilities and international commu- nity interventions (Fukuda-Parr/Messineo 2012). Following the United Nations’ report Human Secu- While human security thinking is mainly concerned rity Now (Commission on Human Security/UNOPS with the multidimensional impacts of threats to peo- 2003), the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) has now ples, communities, and individuals, and is comple- become the main normative framework for approach- mentary to thinking on state security, the RtoP relates specifically to how the international community – em- ploying a variety of means, including military ones – 1 Authors’ names are indicated in alphabetical order as can prevent and stop genocides, war crimes, ethnic their contributions to the paper are considered equally valuable. Maria DeVargas works as Researcher Assistant cleansing and crimes against humanity occurring in in- and Project Officer for the project promoting this book ternal conflicts (Hoogensen/Stuvoy 2006; Saxer 2008). at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), These normative frames when associated to migration, Erasmus University Rotterdam. She is a psychologist “treat security as a value or condition” to be achieved with a Master’s in Development Studies at ISS. Stefania by people on the move. In doing so, they move beyond Donzelli is a Ph.D. researcher at the International Insti- the traditional understanding of state security, recogniz- tute of Social Studies (ISS), Erasmus University Rotter- ing that “political concerns regarding security and mi- dam. Her main research project focuses on migration, feminism, and social movements. T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 241 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_13, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 242 Maria DeVargas and Stefania Donzelli gration have shifted beyond the state to the transna- representations in socially constructing sub-Saharan tional and global level” (Huysman/Squire 2009: 5). black Africans’ identities. We argue that by reinforcing Among the factors influencing access to security, their status of multiple subordinations, these media social relations of power delineated by gender play a representations contributed to reducing their access fundamental role. A consistent body of literature, to protection while fleeing the Libyan conflict or shel- emerging in the last decade, has focused on the rela- tering from violent situations. For our purposes, we tionships between women, gender, and the interna- do not focus on evaluating the limits and merits of re- tional security agenda, particularly UN Security Coun- lief programmes developed in the context of Human cil Resolution 1325 introduced in 2001 (Carey 2001; Security and RtoP, but we seek to reflect on the me- McKey 2004; Hudson 2010; Heathcote 2011). Some dia’s function in implicitly communicating proposals authors have entered the debate focusing on the vari- about who should get access to these programmes ety of forms of insecurity faced by women in conflict and how and why they should get it, as well as in le- situations and while on the move, and showing gitimating the underlying normative frames. women as actors who can help to create a more posi- In order to enter the debate on who gets access to tive environment for social well-being (Hill/Aboitiz/ security, this study comprehends the meaning of ‘bor- Poehlman-Doumbouya 2003; Pezzotti 2005). Others der’ as not limited to sovereignty and territoriality, but have broadened the meaning of security to cover also as the demarcation of legal and social boundaries many complex global problems beyond its conven- that allow different identities and groups to be de- tional understanding, including environmental issues, fined as subjects of protection. In these terms, the HIV/AIDS, and economic crises (Scheffran/Brzoska/ meaning of border as the legal boundary of being a Brauch/Link/Schilling 2012; Gasper 2010; Truong ‘refugee’, ‘migrant worker’, or ‘expatriate staff’ needs 2009; Kristoffersson 2000). In general, most scholars to be exposed so that definitions of accountability using the concept of gender have focused on women, and norms as used by humanitarian organizations to and have failed to develop more comprehensive ap- administer evacuation and provide protection can be proaches to men and masculinities. Yet, as shown by grasped. Similarly, the understanding of borders as Das (2008), empirical research has highlighted that at- cultural, ethnic, and racial frontiers arising from inter- tention to gendered differences in terms of construc- group dynamics allows us to discern the different tions of masculinities and femininities can illuminate pathways through which people become ‘locked into’ the complexity of situations of vulnerability. Such a conflict zone, or are made socially visible as human broader understandings of gender analyses, as Hoog- subjects in need of protection. Exposing such legal ensen and Stuvoy (2006) argue, have the potential to and social meanings of boundaries and the particular expand the definition of security from bottom-up per- value systems on which they are based, this chapter re- spectives by drawing attention to subjective experi- flects on a constitutive element of the ‘politics of rep- ences and allowing more complex comprehensions of resentation’2 relevant to achieving more egalitarian the determinants of human insecurities. However, in justice, namely constructions of differential locations order to open spaces for people-centred meanings of and forms through which diverse groups access pro- security, we claim the importance of deconstructing tection, while others grant it (Fraser 2009). In this the dominant understanding of those considered sub- sense, the analysis of boundaries among collective jects of protection as conveyed in public discourses. identities presented in media information becomes In fact, by showing problematic aspects of dominant relevant to issues of ‘protection’ in so far as the com- discourses, we aim to highlight the importance of bot- mon representational strategies used by the media tom-up voices to promote a debate on how identity designate particular groups as ‘subjects’ to be pro- constitutes a key element in articulating relationships tected or as responsible for protecting others. In of security and protection, and also on how subjects other words, the representation of actors involved in of protection as political actors in their own right can conflict through such strategies as naturalization, nor- construct more inclusive forms of protection. malizing, categorization, or framing entails the con- This chapter seeks to contribute to this literature struction of the accountability of subjects, politics, by examining the links between migration, media con- struction of masculinities, and human security, focus- ing on the war in Libya in 2011, which triggered a crit- 2 For readers unfamiliar with the concept, this ‘politics of ical migration emergency in the region. Our core representation’ or media representations means the concern relates to the role and influence of media forms in which media present identities and realities of different subjects and events. Sub-Saharan Migrants’ Masculinities: An Intersectional Analysis of Media Representations 243 and actions in the field of human security (Hall 1997; olent conflicts, media construct perpetrators and vic- Leudar/Marsland/Nekvapil 2004; Zarkov 2011). tims in dichotomous ways, and often the information In Libya, the group of black people and sub-Saha- presented is unable to capture the cultural and struc- ran black Africans is a heterogeneous population, in- tural dynamics behind processes producing intersec- ternally stratified by race/ethnicity, age, religion, class, tional identities, multi-layered belonging and affiliated sense of loyalty, nationality, and history of migration vulnerability within conflict zones and during the into the country. They also constitute a highly gen- process of fleeing. This makes the application of dered group of migrants, in the sense that a consider- norms of protection by the ‘protectors’ a dubious area able majority are male as men are more easily inte- that must be subject to scrutiny towards the assembly grated into the construction, agriculture, and oil of more egalitarian perspectives on justice. sectors offered by the Libyan labour market. Their To develop this argument, the chapter firstly dis- treatment and subordination have been largely deter- cusses the theoretical posture on intersectionality mined3 by intersectional and dynamic patterns of vio- elaborated by Crenshaw and its relevance to reflecting lence related to the unfolding of the conflict. How- on the representation of sub-Saharan masculinities ever, in addressing how the media construct sub- during the conflict. It then presents the preconditions Saharan black Africans’ masculinities in connection for migrants’ vulnerability in Libya, showing how sys- with the Libyan conflict, it is important to observe tematic discrimination against them, emerging also how, despite their diverse social locations, they tend from the historical development of migration policies to be homogenized by race/ethnicity along the lines in Libya, affected sub-Saharan migrants during the of a ‘threat’ to different actors, and how this under- 2011 Libyan conflict. Further, it discusses Bourdieu’s mines their entitlements to security and protection as concept of symbolic violence in relation to media rep- human subjects under international norms. resentations of sub-Saharan and others’ masculinities Studies of media and conflict have pointed out the during the war in Libya. Finally, the study analyses the significant role and risky implications of media cate- findings on sub-Saharan migrant masculinities as rep- gorization and other representational strategies re- resented in three mainstream online news media: Al garding the selective exposure and characterization of Jazeera, The New York Times, and The Guardian. certain actors and their particular conditions, which These media were selected because they address an provide moral accounts and justification for particular international audience and have been influential ac- actions (Hall 1997; Zarkov 2011; Tucker/Triantafyllos tors in conveying specific understandings of the 2008; Fudge 2010). Media, located within the broader events during the war (Leudar/Marsland/Nekvapil frameworks of contemporary processes of globaliza- 2004). To conclude, we present some reflections on tion and relying on discourses and forms of represen- the relevance of intersectionality to analysing media tation embedded in global societal power relations, characterization of various vulnerable groups, discuss- propose specific understandings of international in- ing the importance of uncovering media’s symbolic volvement, and may support non-intervention or call forms of violence within the claim for more compre- for action (Hall 1997; Didero 2011; Fraser 2009). In vi- hensive, egalitarian, and bottom-up understandings of human security. Some reflections on the practice of journalism and migration policies are also presented. 3 This group of population includes Libyan citizens and foreigners in transit, with temporary or permanent sta- In particular, the Libyan case raises important con- tus. In addition to their nationality and migratory status, cerns in terms of the regulation of human mobility the class elements are relevant to defining their position and the guidance and practice of Responsibility to in the Libyan social hierarchy according to their educa- Protect. tion and type of job. It is also important to contemplate the diversity of race because not all come under the labels of black race or sub-Saharan ethnic groups. How- 13.2 Understanding Masculinities ever, political and conflict dynamics define a large part Through the Lens of of their treatment. For example: a black African who has Libyan nationality and is loyal to Gaddafi is in a very Intersectionality different position to a sub-Saharan black African migrant worker, or one who is in transit to Europe, or The concept of intersectionality, since its emergence one detained by Gaddafi under his agreement with Italy within black and third world feminist movements in on extra-territorial control. However, during the con- the 1970s and its academic re-elaboration from the flict the pattern of actions taken against black ‘merce- late 1980s into the present, has inspired a comprehen- naries’ affected all the black population. 244 Maria DeVargas and Stefania Donzelli sive body of literature that focuses on multiple and ing the complexity of factors involved in producing cross-cutting forms and practices of exclusion, dis- vulnerability and differentiated experiences of access crimination, and oppression (Bürkner 2012). A main to a life with dignity and safety. This angle on intersec- contribution in this field was made by Crenshaw in tionality can enable a more integral examination of 1989, who coined the term intersectionality to ad- the normative frame of human security, both in terms dress black women’s experiences of domestic violence of deconstructing dominant notions and advancing a at the intersection of race and gender at different lev- people-centred perspective. It is consistent with femi- els, a neglected juncture between different systems of nist approaches to human security that have high- oppression. Her approach allows an important dis- lighted the importance of acknowledging the differ- tinction between the inequalities constituted by struc- ences masked by the term ‘human’ when addressing tural variables, e.g. to be poor, black, and male, and the politics of multiple overlapping social relations of by political factors, e.g. cultural variables and social re- power when engaged in the construction of the sub- lations according to political agendas (Walby/Am- jects (Hudson 2005). In this sense, the concept of in- strong/Strid 2012). The lens of intersectionality re- tersectionality from Crenshaw’s perspective contrib- veals how subjects are positioned and constituted by utes to enriching the paradigm of human security, mutual shaping and constitution of intertwined con- because it facilitates the identification of multidimen- text-specific structural conditions, discourses, and so- sional aspects and cross-cutting factors that condition cial practices (Yuval-Davis 2006; Walby/Amstrong/ a person’s life. In the migrants’ case, it is also applica- Strid 2012). These social practices are understood as ble to an analysis of access to safe spaces and life with context-based arrangements articulating overlays of dignity, in terms of both an absence of direct threats oppressions linked to the distribution of locations as well as the conditions required for a better quality and resources in society around different categories of life within a peaceful environment. such as gender, ethnicity, and class, and at different The case of sub-Saharan migrants during the Lib- levels such as structures, representations, or identity yan conflict reflects an experience of the notion of construction (Bürkner 2012). Within this framework, ‘triple jeopardy’ used by feminist movements, mean- the understanding of contextual elements avoids es- ing the oppression generated by simultaneous and in- sentialism and generalizations that do not reflect the terconnected patterns of oppression proceeding from intersectionality of various categories. the systems of racism, imperial capitalism, and sexism Crenshaw (1991) delineates three levels of intersec- (Aguilar 2012). The location of sub-Saharan migrants tionality: structural, political, and representational. at the bottom of Libyan society as well as their vulner- Structural intersectionality refers to the production of ability during the war appear linked to racialized, disempowered locations generated by intersecting classed, and gendered constructions of their identity. structural patterns of subordination. In the case of These constructions are not fixed and their dynamics black women addressed by the author, the junction of are to a large extent defined by contextual factors. race and gender make their experience different from They shift in the Libyan political system, moving from that of white women or black men. Political intersec- an understanding of black migrant workers as a neces- tionality speaks of clashes in the political agendas of sary recruited labour force to economic burdens to different groups performing advocacy around particu- deport. These changes in the construction of mi- lar features of marginal sectors and the imperatives grants’ identity make their lives precarious, reinforc- that the marginal subjects are facing. For instance, the ing their subordination, in a continuum along the situation of black women is often ignored by the po- structural and representational levels proposed by litical agendas of both anti-racist and feminist groups, Crenshaw (1991). For this study, we focus on the rep- who have marginalized the specific circumstances of resentational level, where media play an important subordination of women of colour. Finally, represen- role in reinforcing or transforming the contents of tational intersectionality is linked to the construction those social constructions. An intersectional analysis of subjects’ identities in popular culture. One example of media representation will therefore result in a valu- would be constructions of black men as agents of sex- able tool for deconstructing how certain subjects are ual violence against white communities, which be- included in the ideas of security advanced by media. come their fixed potential victim (Crenshaw 1991). In this sense, the ‘triple jeopardy’ location of sub-Sa- Crenshaw’s frame contributes to debates on the haran migrants as well as their representations in me- potential of the concept of intersectionality for analys- dia become highly influential factors in the achieve- ing the conditions of different social groups, by grasp- ment of their human security as media participate in Sub-Saharan Migrants’ Masculinities: An Intersectional Analysis of Media Representations 245 establishing the frame of the debate on mechanism of portunities in differentiated forms. Gender is here un- protection. derstood as a “mode of discourse that relates to Since, in the Libyan conflict, skin colour was a fac- groups of subjects whose social roles are defined ac- tor relevant to migrants’ vulnerability, we are inter- cording to constructed [sexual] differences” (Yuval- ested in race. Race is here understood as a con- Davis 2006: 201). This analysis helps us in conflict sit- structed differentiation of people who are grouped uations to appreciate the dissimilarities in terms of around ‘exclusionary/inclusionary boundaries’ ac- gendered participation in and, the differentiated im- cording to phenotypic features (Yuval-Davis 2006: pact of violence on women and men (Lorentzen/ 201). Racial differences have been also used to con- Turpin 1998). Further, gender analysis uncovers addi- struct and justify ideas of superiority, discrimination, tional understandings of media representations of and exploitation, which become normalized within how male/female migrants deal with and should ac- society (Gopalkrishnan/Babacan 2007). Racial social cess protection and security. For example, representa- hierarchies have deep historical roots, and they have tions of civilian men in wars usually entail forced par- not always been rationally constructed nor con- ticipation in violence or involuntary-compulsory exile sciously identified. However, in conflict situations it is from their community. This aspect of analysis is par- common to find that the link between race and eth- ticularly relevant to the Libyan case, where most mi- nicity is an important habitual strategy of representa- grants are male.4 Moreover, centring the analysis on tion used by media to construct the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ men makes it possible to identify how masculine char- actors. Further, media’s selective reference to actors acteristics and values of physical force, bravery, and and events in racial terms raises or lowers the visibility honour are associated with the role of different actors of victims and perpetrators (Zarkov 2011). Inside this and their particular gendered involvement in con- process, the role of media in perpetuating ‘stereotypi- flicts. This is not to say that manhood and masculinity cal images’ could undermine the security of vulnera- are homogeneous categories: they intersect and inter- ble groups because these ‘symbolic tools’ can influ- act within various social relations of power embedded ence practices dealing with the protection of civilians in media representations. By adopting the intersection (Carpenter 2005). of race, class, and masculinities within the conditions In the case of Libya, a ‘rentier’ state with a small of being sub-Saharan migrant workers as the main fo- population extremely dependent on a foreign work- cus of analysis, we aim to understand how different force, sub-Saharan migrants have usually been placed masculinities are set in hierarchies, defining both pri- at the bottom of social hierarchies, becoming scape- orities and positions from which to access protection goats for societal issues while performing jobs that are and security. To understand these hierarchies, it is use- unwanted by the local population under exploitative ful to begin with Connell (2005), who defines repre- conditions. Therefore, to understand migrants’ vul- sentations of masculinities as “symbolic processes of nerability it is relevant to reflect on the topic of class, configuring practices” that transform gender relations because class is a form of social boundary “grounded over time. Within these processes, different types of in relation to the economic processes of production masculinities can be identified: hegemonic, complicit, and consumption” (Yuval-Davis 2006: 201). In addi- and subordinated (Connell 2005: 72). tion, class variables generate different forms of ine- Hegemonic masculinity comprises a set of values quality and therefore are relevant to understanding associated with the socially idealized model of man- marginalized groups and masculinities. In conflict sit- hood, implies dominance over other forms of mascu- uations class is a key aspect linked to risk because linity, and shapes the organization of social and sym- class determines the possibility of access to livelihood bolic processes because of its links with institutional resources, and is therefore a crucial element in guaran- power (Connell 2005). It tends in international media teeing access to security. At the representational level, representations – which often identify global values class divisions are usually normalized and migrants and norms with mainstream Western ones – to be as- have become naturalized as part of the lower classes, so sociated with a secular, independent, and well-edu- that selective access to protection is justified. cated Western white bourgeois man, who is able to As mentioned earlier, gender is also a main aspect of interest for this study because its analysis allows the recognition of power relations established between 4 Surveys of returnees during the Libyan war suggest the and within groups of men and women, in the frame vast majority (over 95 per cent) are male and young (20 of societal structures that broaden or limit their op- to 40 years) sub-Saharan migrants as well as Egyptians, Tunisians, and Bangladeshis (IOM 2012). 246 Maria DeVargas and Stefania Donzelli properly participate in wars to protect the nation and represented as feminized in order to produce a humil- its ideals (Das 2008; Foster 2007; Carrigan/Connell/ iation of their manhood (Das 2008). Lee 1985; Mohanty 1991; Connell 2005). Currently, he- gemonic masculinity tends to be considered as not marked by aggressiveness (which in a conflict context 13.3 The Production of Vulnerabilities is linked with modern warfare as the ‘civilized’ exer- and Instrumentalization of cise of violence through the “mediation of law and Migrants in Libyan Regulatory technology” (Das 2008: 286)), but as rule-bound and Migration Regimes rational among the relevant ‘heroic’ virtues. Complicit masculinities refers to a type of man- In Libya’s territory, migrants are a significant pres- hood that, even if lacking some of the qualities and ence: they account for between eleven and twenty-five standards of hegemonic masculinity, still benefits per cent of the population according to different fig- from it and sustains the same hegemonic project ures, representing around 2.5 million foreign nationals (Connell 2005). From this logic complicit masculini- in the country before 2011 (IOM 2012). This figure in- ties gain recognition in the masculine arena and cludes from 1 to 1.5 million sub-Saharan Africans, achieve better power status for negotiation and mainly from Niger, Chad, Mali, Nigeria, and Ghana broader opportunities for their interests. Within a (CARIM 2011; IOM 2012). During the uprising and warfare situation, this is the case for men who maybe the conflict in Libya in 2011, these groups suffered re- do not fulfil all characteristics (such as race, class, peated experiences of violence, which strongly evi- knowledge, technology, or rationality) associated with denced the conditions of vulnerability and life-threat- the West, but who embody “the image of idealized ening conditions lived by sub-Saharans staying in or masculinity through which they imagine themselves as transiting through Libya. participating in a universal worldwide military cul- The International Organization for Migration ture” (Das 2008: 288). (IOM) claims that this conflict has caused the worst Finally, subordinated masculinities are the con- migration emergency in the region since the first Gulf structed sets “symbolically expelled from hegemonic War. About 790000 migrants and their families masculinity” (Connell 2005: 78), which therefore lack crossed borders and concurrently a consistently high legitimacy and whose characteristics tend to be but indefinite number of migrants were caught in a sit- blurred with feminine ones. This category is usually uation of involuntary immobility, exposed to the vio- assembled as fragile, fearful, disgraceful, poorly edu- lence of the war, stranded in overcrowded transit ar- cated, and therefore disempowered to act in negotia- eas and camps, and obliged to use unsafe escape tion or to control affairs. Within conflict, subordi- routes. Sub-Saharan Africans constituted a large part nated masculinities are usually presented as lacking of this group, which was not in a position to be evac- any heroic virtue such as courage or capacity for self- uated from the country (IOM 2012; IMI 2011; CARIM sacrifice. Furthermore they are effeminate through 2011). references of fear, fragility, and dependence, and A number of historical preconditions gave rise to sometimes exposed within shameful situations to con- sub-Saharan Africans’ vulnerability during the Libyan finement, torture, or even sexual violence (Das 2008; war in 2011, including most importantly the historical Zarkov 2011). regulatory regime of migratory movements. In fact, In addition to these three types of masculinity, changing and sometimes contradictory migration pol- Connell (2005) introduced the category of marginal- icies have made migrants’ conditions in Libya precari- ized masculinities, related to a more complex set of ous. This particularly affected sub-Saharan Africans, masculine hierarchies in which social differentiations who have come to inhabit the most vulnerable posi- based on gender intersect with other features directly tions in Libyan society, from which access to legal pro- associated with race, class, and so on. Marginalized tection and economic resources is limited. Shifts in masculinities embody different symbolic roles which migration policies have been employed to cope with are not just excluded from but antithetical to hegem- internal economic and political needs and used to sat- onic masculinities. Within conflicts, for example, mar- isfy the requirements of the international alliances es- ginalized masculinities would include behaviour seen tablished at each time. In particular, Libya’s profile as as savage and under the control of visceral passions. a ‘rentier’ state meant that it both needed to attract an Their irrational characters lead them to inherently ni- immigrant workforce and was exposed to the volatil- hilistic forms of violence. Moreover, they are often ity of oil prices. The latter in particular led to periods Sub-Saharan Migrants’ Masculinities: An Intersectional Analysis of Media Representations 247 of unemployment during which the presence of mi- tect the sub-Saharans. On the contrary, responding to grants was seen as a burden. Furthermore, in its shift- the hardening of anti-immigrant sentiments, more re- ing political alliances with Arab, African, and Euro- strictive immigration policies were introduced and pean countries, the Libyan state saw advantages in mass expulsions organized. This, together with arbi- instrumentalizing the presence of migrants as political trary police treatment reserved for sub-Saharan mi- leverage in international diplomacy, prioritizing its rai- grants, increased the vulnerability of the wider black son d’état over the security of migrants. population (De Haas 2008). Historically, transnational mass migration to Libya Since coming to power in 1969, Gaddafi took a started in the early 1960s with the discovery of energy very pragmatic approach in his external policy, modi- resources in 1959 and the consequent establishment fying Libya’s alliances in response to transformations of large modernization programmes, which stimu- in the political and economic international environ- lated a high demand for a low-skilled labour force. ment (Paoletti 2011). A common trend until the end Given that the Libyan population was small, large of the 1990s was a strong anti-Western stance. At the numbers of workers from neighbouring countries beginning of the Gaddafi regime, Libya embraced were recruited and Libya begun to rely heavily on im- Nasser’s pan-Arabism (Huliaras 2001). As part of this migrants for its economic development (Brachet 2011; agenda, preferential treatment for Arab migrants was De Haas 2008; IOM 2012). This trend continued until given by, for example, facilitating access to Libyan cit- the 1980s, when the collapse of oil prices and the izenship and to other rights (Global Detention Project pressure of international embargoes5 made the coun- 2009; CARIM 2011). This established an unfavourable try enter a period of recession. In an attempt to curb context for sub-Saharan Africans in terms of legal pro- unemployment, Libya reduced, through mass deporta- tection, with most able to access only the lowest-paid tions, the numbers of migrant workers in the country and least-protected jobs, making them easily exploita- (Altunisik 1996). Given their presence in Libya at that ble and relatively more exposed to arbitrary police time, these deportations disproportionately affected treatment (De Haas 2008). Beginning in the 1990s, sub-Saharans,6 with a consequent reinforcement of Libya had to face the lack of support from Arab coun- their status as the most marginal migrants in the coun- tries in the face of a UN embargo, and started to pur- try. At the beginning of the 2000s, Libya faced an eco- sue a pan-African policy. Among the leverages em- nomic downturn and again used migrants as a scape- ployed by Libya to strengthen this new alliance, goat for societal problems (Huliaras 2001; Paoletti instrumental management of migrants took a substan- 2011; IMI 2011). Particularly emblematic of this sec- tial role. Thus a policy of threatening and carrying out ond trend were the deportations following the clashes deportations was later reversed into an open-door between Libyan and sub-Saharan workers in 2000 that policy towards sub-Saharan nationals, to show Libya’s had led to the killing of hundreds of migrants (John- commitment to reinforce ties with African countries. son 2000). In this case, state authorities did not pro- More precisely, the 1990s saw the adoption of legal regulations to end visa requirements for sub-Saharan Africans: Libya thus became a major destination for 5 During the 1970s and 1980s Gaddafi pursued an anti- migrants from West Africa and the Horn of Africa Western imperialist policy, financially supporting insur- (CARIM 2011). gencies and radical governments in different parts of the world, including sub-Saharan Africa. During those Another major change in Gaddafi’s international years, Libya was accused by the West of supporting agenda came with his alignment with Europe at the international terrorism. In response to the country’s beginning of the 2000s. This shift came about in rela- conduct in international affairs, the United States set up tion to Libya’s intention to regain international re- an oil blockade in 1982, the European Union established spectability, lift the embargo, and attract direct for- arms restrictions in 1986, and the UN imposed an air eign investment. European interests in externalizing and arms embargo in 1992 (Ronzitti 2009). ‘border control’ to neighbouring countries also ex- 6 Migrants from the sub-Saharan region represented nine 7 per cent of the total migrant population in Libya in 1984 plain this shift (Paoletti 2011). As a result, Libya posi- (Paoletti 2011). However, when oil revenues decreased tioned itself as an EU partner in the governing of mi- in 1985, Tripoli expelled or laid off more than 100000 gratory movements by firstly reviving Italian-Libyan workers from Mali, Mauritania, and Niger in response colonial ties and later by cooperating with the Euro- to an economic crisis (Huliaras 2001). In the same year, pean Union. Among the main agreements it is worth 80000 Tunisians and Egyptians were deported in a gen- remembering the 2003 operational pact, allowing It- eral context where Libya accused Tunisia and Egypt of aly to sponsor the construction of detention camps being pro-US (De Haas 2008). 248 Maria DeVargas and Stefania Donzelli for undocumented migrants in Libya; Italian financing the same time, changes concerning residence and la- of Libyan police training for border surveillance, bor- bour permits suddenly turned an unknown number of der control equipment, and deportations of migrants immigrants into irregulars (CARIM 2011). In this con- from Libya to their countries of origin since 2004; text, racist insults9 and attacks, inequitable police and the 2008 Friendship, Partnership and Coopera- treatment, thefts, and failure to be paid after complet- tion Treaty that sanctioned intense cooperation in dif- ing work were increasingly reported by sub-Saharan Af- ferent sectors and introduced new and contested ricans (Hamood 2008). These trends highlight how the measures such as pushing back practices in violation processes of migration management engender condi- of the ‘principle of non-refoulement’8 (Ronzitti 2009; tions of vulnerability and open spaces for diffused legit- Kumar 2011). This collaboration securitized migra- imate violence against the migrant population. tion, following the EU tendency to conflate crime, In sum, marginalization of migrants in Libyan soci- terrorism, and migratory movement. This reduced ac- ety, differential treatment for racially differentiated cess to legal protection and the absence of any pres- groups of migrants, contradictory political agendas, sure on Libya to ensure the protection of refugees economic interests, and the processes of EU external- made the condition of its migrant workers and asylum ization of migration controls all laid the basis for the seekers from sub-Saharan Africa even more precarious reproduction and escalation of violence against sub- (Global Detention Project 2009; Kumar 2011). Thus Saharans during the 2011 conflict. This trend was evi- both economic and geopolitical peculiarities of Lib- dent even at the beginning of the protests: in February yan history led to the instrumentalization of migrants 2011, rumours and statements regarding Gaddafi’s hir- as political leverage. ing of mercenaries from sub-Saharan Africa resulted in The result of the cooperation between the EU and rebel forces attacking black people, both migrants Libya is a good example of how instrumental regula- from sub-Saharan Africa and black Libyans. At the tion of migratory movements affected the security of same time, sub-Saharans and blacks feared both rebel migrants in Libya. In fact, this new international pol- attacks and being drafted into Gaddafi’s army (Del icy on sub-Saharan migrants resulted not only in Grande 2011c). Their situation did not reach the atten- tighter border controls and an expanded detention in- tion of the international community, while stories of frastructure but also promoted two further reforms black mercenaries did. The international community reducing migrant security. In 2004, harsher penalties, did however uphold the principles of Responsibility heavy fines, and up to twenty years’ imprisonment for to Protect and human security as its underlying frame- crossing borders without the required travel docu- work with the declared intent of avoiding mass vio- ments were established (Global Detention Project lence and guaranteeing the safety of civilians (ICRtoP 2009). In 2007, open-door policies were ended and vi- 2012). In March 2011, UN resolutions 1970 and 1973 sas for both Arabs and Africans became obligatory. At first imposed an arms embargo and a travel ban on the Gaddafi family and members of government, froze the assets of the Gaddafi family, and referred the 7 At the end of the 1990s and beginning of the 2000s the situation to the International Criminal Court for inves- EU increasingly framed Libya as a strategic territory for tigation, and later sanctioned a no-fly zone to protect the movements of people through the Saharan and Libyan civilians, and authorized Member States, in co- Mediterranean regions, despite the fact that the trans- Saharan space has been traditionally crossed by people operation with the Security Council, to take “all neces- in movement (Blanchet 2011). On the one hand, eco- sary measures […] to protect civilians and civilian popu- nomic downturns and regional conflicts increased lated areas under threat” (UN 2011).10 migration flows in the trans-Saharan space and tight This lack of attention to the position of sub-Saha- controls on other parts of the Mediterranean coast, in rans was evident again in the process of evacuation or- particular the Straits of Gibraltar, resulted in a partial ganized by the international community. While Liby- reorientation of migratory movements with migrants ans and groups of migrants fled the country in large trying to reach Europe from Libya. On the other, Libya remained mainly a destination country, but its descrip- tion as a transit area has been used as political leverage for Gaddafi to negotiate with European governments 9 It is common in Libya to refer to a black person with (De Haas 2008; Branchet 2011; Paoletti 2011). the derogatory and depreciatory term of ‘abd’, in Eng- 8 The principle of non-refoulement refers to “the obliga- lish ‘slave’ (Hamood 2008: 40). tion of states not to forcibly return people to countries 10 See Press Release from United Nations, Security Coun- where they face persecution or serious harm” (UNHCR cil 10200-6498th Meeting; at: . Sub-Saharan Migrants’ Masculinities: An Intersectional Analysis of Media Representations 249 numbers, in most cases sub-Saharan migrants did not ing in Libya. In fact, even where external intervention find a safe escape route and were involuntarily immo- was planned to guarantee civilian safety, NATO forces bilized in Libya without the basic conditions for a life did not act consistently to protect sub-Saharan mi- with dignity (IMI 2011; UNCHR 2011a). Sub-Saharan grants and refugees within and outside Libya. Mini- migrants who reached the Tunisian, Egyptian, and mal evacuations and actions were organized to ad- sometimes the Chadian borders requested refugee sta- dress the particular dimensions of risks and threats to tus but remained stuck in transit camps (UNCHR the sub-Saharan population. On the contrary, Euro- 2011a). Even in the absence of precise data,11 it is pos- pean countries saw any movements towards their ter- sible to state that great numbers of civilians who es- ritories as an ‘incoming invasion’14 and failed to act in caped by sea died in the attempt (Forte 2011a). Those favour of migrants’ security, something particularly who did manage to reach the coasts of Italy and needed for this group. Emblematic of this attitude has Malta found themselves in the detention-deportation been the Atlantic Alliance’s refusal to help migrants’ system of the European Union regime of migration drifting boats at the end of March and at the begin- control (Del Grande 2011a). In particular, the meas- ning of August, which caused dozens of deaths (Del ures provided by the Italian state under the frame- Grande 2012b). Even as substantial resources were al- work of an emergency Reception National Plan12 have located for humanitarian aid and some emergency been criticized for holding asylum seekers under inhu- evacuations were organized by UN agencies later in mane conditions, examining asylum applications with the war, the protection of sub-Saharans’ lives was not extreme slowness, and denying refugee status to most a clear priority. Instead, precedence seemed to be non-Libyan nationals on the basis that they are in a given to the control of migratory movements. Indica- position to return to their home country (Garelli/ tive of this is a proposition by the Italian government Tazzioli 2011; Vassallo Paleologo 2011). Concurrently, in June 2011 that solicited NATO to block migrants’ internal displacement persisted, and violence against ships and return them to the southern shore of the blacks did not cease (Koser 2011; UNCHR 2011a/ Mediterranean, which clashed with Italian and Euro- b).13 Furthermore, the war in Libya has had negative pean discourses and practices concerning humanitar- consequences for all migrants in terms of employ- ian aid and support (Migreurop 2011). In short, the ment and income, increasing their vulnerability by re- EU understanding of sub-Saharans as a potential ducing their access to food and health care. This ma- threat increased migrant vulnerability to violence and terial vulnerability is reflected in migrants’ returning life-threatening circumstances. to their home countries, where they face a lack of eco- nomic resources and their families are confronted by the absence of remittances (IMI 2011; IMO 2012). 13.4 Symbolic Violence and Media A set of contradictory interests have crossed the Representations of the Libyan discourses and practices of the international commu- Conflict nity during this conflict, prioritizing migration control over concerns about the security of migrants remain- To confront the violence lived by sub-Saharan mi- grants in Libya and the limited political will as well as the action displayed by the international community 11 According to UNHCR, “More than 1500 drown or go missing trying to cross the Mediterranean in 2011” to guarantee their security, it is relevant to show how (UNHCR 2012); at . structed within the media. As the principal source of 12 To consult the plan see at: . 13 In a press release of 22 August 2011, Antonio Gutterres, 14 De Haas (2012) has noted that both European politi- High Commissioner for Refugees, is quoted as follows: cians and media have repeatedly referred to an incom- “We have seen at earlier stages in this crisis that such ing invasion. For example the Italian Minister of Foreign people, Africans especially, can be particularly vulnera- Affairs, Franco Frattini, has talked about “an invasion of ble to hostility or acts of vengeance” (UNCHR 2011a). two to three hundred thousands of migrants”, while the Addtionally, at the time of writing [August 2012], three Italian Interior Minister has referred to a “human tsu- sub-Saharan asylum seekers were killed by the Libyan nami”. See at: ; (30 August 2012). html> (20 June 2012). 250 Maria DeVargas and Stefania Donzelli information on which global public opinion relies, some media implicitly argue for the need to control media representations produce meanings and rela- and securitize ‘these dangerous’ subjects, instead of tions that make sense of the violence they narrate arguing for their protection. This type of categoriza- and, consequently, suggest appropriate behaviour and tion also supports the rebels’ call for an external inter- conduct (Titscher 2000). Representations of different vention by the international community in order to actors in war contexts, through specific narratives, pacify the situation.17 In addition, when migrants are framings, and categories, are key elements through described as ‘poor’ and ‘desperately hoping’ to reach which media implicitly or explicitly advocate, con- Europe, the implicit message argues for the impor- struct, or justify modes of action (Leudar/Marsland/ tance of limiting arrivals of sub-Saharans on European Nekvapil 2004). It follows that how sub-Saharan mi- coasts, as they might constitute a danger for the local grants have been approached will be strongly con- population because of their condition of despair.18 nected to media representations of the Libyan con- Media representations of sub-Saharans during the flict as well as of its causes, responsibilities and con- coverage of the Libyan war as well as their implica- tributing factors, and the possible solutions to the tions for migrants’ security have been debated both in migration crises that it entailed. academia and other circles. The international media’s As mentioned earlier, intersectional analysis can il- silence about the lynchings of both sub-Saharan luminate how the positioning and constitution of sub- migrants and black Libyans in the first stage19 of the jects and groups in society are constructed at different conflict has been criticized as diminishing the dignity levels and through different and interrelated social and worthiness of these lives (Chatora 2011; Marshall discourses and practices. Since social discourse is at a 2011; Forte 2011a/b). Further, media emphasis on the macro-level filtered through and by media, our focus rebels’ claims about sub-Saharan mercenaries may, it on media aims to address the level of symbolic repre- has being argued, have fuelled these events, firstly by sentations circulating in societies. Such representa- corroborating unconfirmed information and secondly tions have been defined by Bürkner (2012), following by making violence against the black population in Crenshaw (1991), as part of the meso-dimension of in- Libya acceptable by framing sub-Saharan migrants as tersectionality, revealing interdependencies among dif- dangerous subjects. These media representations have ferent societal structures (macro-dimension) and proc- been seen as reinforcing the urgent claims for external esses of identity construction (micro-dimension). support to the rebellion, later concretized with the However, for our purposes, only the interconnections NATO humanitarian intervention. Overall, media also between symbolic representations and structures need have been thought to support the narrative of a united to be addressed. Thus here intersectional analysis is Arab Libyan people committed to fighting against an employed to enable us to comprehend how media isolated Gaddafi, supporting calls for an international representations of sub-Saharan migrants during the intervention (Forte 2011a/b; Marshall 2011). Interna- 2011 Libyan war suggested why and how migrant secu- tional media have also been criticized for constructing rity should be addressed and who should address it, the fear of an invasion of Europe by overemphasizing and placed this within a context of transnational migra- sub-Saharans’ movements from Libya to Europe tion management. In addition, this analysis specifically across the Mediterranean, without questioning the focuses on how the intersections of the categories of dimension of the real numbers20 or the lack of protec- masculinities, race, and class enable a deeper compre- tion experienced by migrants (De Haas 2012). hension of media representations and their role in con- flict, as well as how this affects other actors. Finally, the analysis reveals suggestions conveyed 16 See Forte, 2011 “The top ten myths in the war against by such representations about how to address mi- Libya”; at: . many cases through categorization15 strategies. For ex- 17 See for example article (1) analyzed from the New York Times. ample, when sub-Saharans are defined as ‘mercenar- 16 18 See for example article (2) analyzed from the New Yorkies’ – in journalists’ reports ‘according to rumours’ – Times and articles (3) and (4) from Al Jazeera. 19 We consider the first stage to have lasted from February to July 2011, when violence against sub-Saharan Africans 15 ‘Mercenaries’, ‘poor desperate’, ‘helpless’, and ‘trapped’ was invisibilized. It was not until August, with the publi- are some of the most frequent terms found in the news cation of human rights and other international studies, media in reference to the sub-Saharan population in that media started to mention in a more visible way the Libya. lychings of sub-Saharan Africans. Sub-Saharan Migrants’ Masculinities: An Intersectional Analysis of Media Representations 251 However, research exploring sub-Saharan racializa- out detailed and deep analytical reading, because tion has failed to intersect such understanding with much of the content and subtle assumptions of such gendered social practices. Thus this study, conducted stereotypes and prejudices can be beyond rational on the media representation of sub-Saharan migrant awareness (APS 1997). Therefore it is important to re- masculinities during the Libyan conflict, may be one flect on dominant discourses, observing the elements of the first. It shows that the construction of their and actors included, the ways in which they are repre- identity in the news has strongly relied on ideas about sented, and the consequences of these representa- maleness: as presented by different studies, migration, tional strategies for debates about security. Represen- conflict, and state21 are highly gendered processes tation may thus justify subordination, discrimination, and institutions whose meanings media contribute to exclusion, and marginalization of subjects who do not constructing. For example, sub-Saharan men were of- meet established norms. In Fraser’s terms, “represen- ten framed as potentially active actors in the conflict, tation [is] the defining issue of the political”, establish- whether as mercenaries or as objects of forced enlist- ing who is subject to what security (Fraser 2009: 18). ment:22 their participation or exclusion from the war as well as their sense of loyalty were part of the con- struction of their maleness. The same could be said 13.5 Visibilizing the Role of Media in about the media representation of ‘migrants’ in Libya the Creation of Human as an exclusively male category. These elements influ- Insecurity: Information on the enced their positioning at the bottom of different hi- Libyan War 2011 erarchies of masculinities, at the same time that it had important repercussions for the framing of their vul- As the Libyan conflict became an international issue nerability and the possible understanding of their hu- with the involvement of the so-called international man security. This shows the relevance of considering community, this chapter uses three international masculinities of migrants in the 2011 Libyan conflict. mainstream media that aimed to address a global pub- Additionally, as some studies in racist violence sug- lic. All three have online editions, generally free and gested, masculinity is relevant “since the perpetrators more accessible, and in this chapter we consider a se- of most racial attacks are young men attacking other lected number of news and opinion articles covering young men” (Anthias 2007: 14). the period of the conflict from the beginning of the Thus, media representations constitute and posi- protests in February 2011 to the death of Gaddafi in tion subjects, suggesting, justifying, or promoting par- October 2011. The media selected are The New York ticular behaviours and actions (Leudar/Marsland/ Times (NYT), The Guardian (TG), and Al Jazeera Nekvapil 2004). In so doing, such representations English (AJ). The first is a US national daily newspa- may exercise forms of symbolic violence by legitimiz- per and its online edition is one of the most viewed in ing as valid certain models and norms. As Bourdieu the world, despite the fact that since 2011 free online suggests, symbolic violence is a “hidden […] gentle, in- access to its archive has been limited. Its political line visible form of violence, which is never recognized as is considered centrist, and it is owned and financially such” (Bourdieu 1977: 192). It assigns characteristics to controlled by a corporation. The Guardian is a British social groups that make acceptable and even natural national daily newspaper, also with an international their subordinated or privileged location, while ques- online multimedia presence. Its editorial line tends to- tioning these positions is made harder precisely be- wards centre-left liberalism and its position on migra- cause such normalization is not openly exposed tion issues tends to be considered quite progressive. (Bourdieu 1977). Additionally, as socio-psychological Its contents and archives are freely available online. studies have shown, the symbolic violence intrinsic to Funded by a charitable foundation, The Guardian stereotypes and prejudices is difficult to convert with- claims to be characterized by political independence. Al Jazeera English is a news channel broadcasting 20 It is estimated that just 24465 persons (3.9 per cent) of from Doha and London. It aims to provide a liberal the overall 790000 migrants and their families fleeing perspective from the Global South on global issues, Libya arrived in Italy and Malta (IMO 2012). specifically conveying a Middle Eastern point of view. 21 Charlotte Hopper (2008) is one of the few authors who It has been criticized for adopting both a pro- and an elaborate on the links between masculinities and state, anti-Western bias, and also for reporting in a crude particularly in the book Manly States: Masculinities, style described as a ‘negative trend’.23 Financially, Al International Relations and Gender Politics. 22 See Al Jazeera (2), (3), (6), and (9). 252 Maria DeVargas and Stefania Donzelli Jazeera depends mostly on Qatari government subsi- sub-Saharan migrants and their masculinities have dies. been represented, and how these representations jus- In addition to their wide audience, the criteria ap- tify certain type of actions towards them (Leudar/ plied for selecting these media have been their recog- Marsland/Nekvapil 2004). nition at the international level and the different per- Within the articles considered, three main narra- spectives they are believed to offer in terms of tives related to the 2011 Libyan conflict have been political and geographical standpoints. For the selec- identified through a reading of the text aimed at iden- tion of articles, at first we conducted a research exer- tifying ‘topoi’ or argumentations explaining the situa- cise into archives to identify news dedicated to the tion in which sub-Saharans found themselves in Libya Libyan conflict and focusing on sub-Saharan Africans. (Reisigl/Wodak 2001). These refer to the revolution, Second, from this base sample we chose specific arti- migration crisis, and humanitarian intervention, with cles to analyse – news and opinion texts – connected racism as a cross-cutting theme. They were not devel- to relevant events24 during the conflict which saw the oped at the same time in all the articles analysed, but involvement of sub-Saharan migrants; in doing so, we these implicitly supported each other and offered a attempted to balance the selection of articles to cover general framework of interpretation for the events the period mentioned. After a detailed examination that the media provide an account for. Along this line, of thirty selected articles,25 the analysis demonstrated all three media offered common readings and per- homogeneous patterns in terms of the representation spectives and only a few differences or major tenden- of masculinities among all selected articles – notwith- cies can be noticed. Al Jazeera tended to provide standing the different sensibilities and ideological in- more information regarding the context of Libya and clinations of both media and journalists. In this way, the sequencing of events, acknowledging the com- we arrived at thematic/data saturation as the purpose plexity of its society. For instance it recognized differ- of our sample was “not to count opinions [...] but to ences in terms of ethnic/racial groups living in the explore the range of […] different representations” of country, acknowledging diversity in the Libyan popu- subjects (O’Reilly/Parker 2012: 3). lation in terms of phenotypes.26 The Guardian was The analysis procedure first focused on identifying more inclined to present migrants as victims and the main narratives presented in the material ana- claim the moral importance of addressing issues re- lysed, specifically the assumptions and values pro- lated to their security, consequently celebrating its duced in the text in the way characters, actions, and role as an ethical agent.27 Finally, The New York events relate to each other (Titscher 2000). These Times distinguished itself by insistently essentializing were searched for clues to understand how media sug- gest addressing the security of sub-Saharan migrants in the conflict. This analysis was further enriched by 26 This is the case in the Al Jazeera article (2) where under reasoning about the framing of the articles analysed, the subtitle of dangerous racism, it is stated: “In the especially the aspects of reality made more salient or past, Gaddafi has oppressed both black Libyans and eth- excluded so as to convey a particular understanding nic Arab Berbers in the western Nafusa Mountains. Last of the events narrated (Zarkov 2011). Finally, categori- year, the regime lashed out against the Tabu tribe, zation analysis allowed for an understanding of how darker-skinned Libyans who live in and around the towns of Sabha and Kufra near the Chad border.” This information confirms once more that the black popula- tion belongs to diverse groups of black Libyans, instead 23 Adjective used in a letter attributed to Mike Maples, of just sub-Saharan Africans. director of the US Defense Intelligence Agency, in a 27 In all pieces analysed from The Guardian, concern for wikileaks, at: (May 2012). portray them as victims. In articles (3), (7), and (10), the 24 The relevant events considered have been: evacuations role of media as actors denouncing injustice and thus and spreading of rumours about sub-Saharan mercenar- contributing to attracting attention to problems to be ies at the beginning of the conflict (February and March resolved is openly celebrated. No discussion of the 2011), sub-Saharans’ boat voyages in the Mediterranean frame which media adopts to foster their denunciations (April–August 2011), relevant battles in Misrata (May is offered. On the contrary, when it is recognised that 2011) and Tripoli (August 2011), media acknowledge- journalists may have participated in falsely labelling sub- ment of massacres of sub-Saharans (August and Septem- Saharans in Libya as mercenaries, article (10) minimizes ber 2011), death of Gaddafi (October 2011). these errors, arguing that media have showed to be able 25 A complete list of the selected articles and their internet to correct themselves, proving the reliability of their links is presented in table 13.3 below. reports and interpretations. Sub-Saharan Migrants’ Masculinities: An Intersectional Analysis of Media Representations 253 spaces of Africa, Libya, and Europe, thereby reducing are emblematic of this story line: the root cause of the complexity of the processes described.28 this violence was identified as a long history of exploi- At the outset of the analysis it is important to tation and discrimination against sub-Saharan mi- point out that the revolution29 is represented as a grants throughout Gaddafi’s regime, in some way nor- stage in a positive and necessary developmental proc- malizing the spread of racism31 in society. The ess moving toward Western liberal democracy as a weakness of the revolution was seen as proceeding sort of end of history. That is, in the heart of the from years of repression which have caused the ab- struggle for power between anti-government protest- sence of organized movements able to move beyond ers and Gaddafi’s loyalists, the former are represented racist understandings of nationalism and construct an as champions of democracy and human rights moving inclusive sense of belonging (TG 10). The violence of closer to the accomplishment of these values (AJ 2-9- the repression ordered by Gaddafi was then presented 6; NYT 2-5-9; TG 7-10). Notwithstanding the military as a multiplier of the racist tendencies of Libyan soci- imbalance between the two groups, since the begin- ety: the brutal attacks of government loyalists ob- ning of the protests the rebels’ possibilities of success scured the protesters’ capacity of judgement (AJ 1; are exalted, while Gaddafi is constantly described as NYT 4; TG 3). This subtle message is particularly re- on the brink of defeat (AJ 5-6; NYT 1; TG 1-9). A inforced through the image of sub-Saharan Africans as highly teleological vision is deployed, according to mercenaries, which also explains the violence suffered which Libya is seen as chasing the West and its ideals by them (AJ 1-6-7; NYT 1-9-10; TG 1). Further, it was the with the whole country’s population united in sup- war that – by impeding the implementation of a justice porting this effort (AJ 6-9; NYT 1-5; TG 7-10). A West- system – enabled a situation of diffused violence. The ern liberal democracy, a market-oriented economy, opposition was presented as having good intentions and modern social organization are represented as the and Western sympathies, while the savage and cruel best and more likely future, guaranteeing justice, free- forces of Gaddafi worked to undermine the revolution dom, and prosperity to ‘all’ those living in Libya. as a hope for democracy (AJ 5-6; NYT 1; TG 4-7-10). However, the rebels’ approach to democracy is seen The migration crisis was represented by media as as incomplete because – despite their rhetoric of sec- fully the responsibility of Gaddafi (AJ 1; NYT 5; TG ularism, transparency, and rule of law – the opposi- 3). This is exemplified by another title: “Helping tion’s commitment to Western values remains to be Libya’s refugees is the better way to beat Gaddafi” proven in the post-revolutionary period. This is pre- (TG 7). Opposing and resisting a necessary change, sented in contrast with the long history of Western the Colonel was generally seen as the principal subject democratic experiences, which emerge as superior (AJ to blame for the disastrous effects of the war. In par- 2; NYT 2-3-5; TG 7). ticular, complex migratory movements and increased Episodes of non-legitimate violence committed by vulnerabilities that resulted from the conflict and af- the rebels were denoted as indicative of the limits of fected all migrants in Libya (sub-Saharan or not) was Libya’s revolution: “Libya’s spectacular revolution has understood as taking place due to Gaddafi’s choices. been disgraced by racism” as titled by the Guardian at He was seen as committed to ‘creating’ refugees by the end of August (TG, 10).30 However, in the media, spreading violence within Libya and impeding rescue the origin of such violence was identified as the efforts; he was also presented as attempting to force weight of Gaddafi’s inheritance, diminishing the op- sub-Saharan Africans in Libya to fight on his side or position’s responsibility (AJ 2-3-9; NYT 5; TG 2-3-4-6- leave the country (AJ 2-3; NYT 3-4-5; TG 2-4-5-10). Fi- 10). The racist attacks against sub-Saharans in Libya nally, he was portrayed as ‘exploiting boat people’ by facilitating their journey across the Mediterranean in order to frighten Europe with the possibility of mas- 28 This tendency is particularly evident in articles (1), (2), sive arrivals of migrants (AJ 2; NYT 2-5; TG 4-7). To and (3) from the NYT. In these cases Libya tends to be support such a reading of the crises, as noted earlier, represented as a dangerous place, Europe is a stable and prosperous area, while sub-Saharan countries are charac- media tended to diminish the responsibility of the terised by poverty, corrupt governments, and stagnant rebel anti-Gaddafi forces with regard to migrants’ se- economies. curity (AJ 2-3-7; NYT 4-5-9; TG 2-4-5-10). In short, the 29 It is important to notice that the understanding of revo- media story was that as a result of a conflict desired lution as a necessary step is one of the main narratives by Gaddafi, migrants were obliged to expose them- found in media, and it also became a justification for the conflict and its consequences. 30 See also articles (5), (9), and (10) from NYT, and AJ (2). 31 See AJ (2) and (6), and NYT (9). 254 Maria DeVargas and Stefania Donzelli selves to very risky situations: internal displacements itarian support, are represented as less organized and or perilous travels across the Mediterranean, carrying proactive in the effort to save human lives (TG 1-6). additional dangers and insecurities for sub-Saharan This contrasts with visions of Western states and UN migrants previously living and working in Libya. agencies as endowed with the means and resources Movements of people were seen by media as car- for assessing the situation and best planning any inter- rying negative consequences not only for the migrants vention. In this vision, they are courageous and gener- themselves, but for other actors too. For example, Eu- ous agents ready to self-sacrifice, have great care for hu- ropean states were represented as legitimately perceiv- man lives, and have the capacity to act (AJ 1-3; TG 1-2). ing their coasts as ‘invaded’ and facing resentment to- When the international community fails to comply wards migrants by their populations, widely with these standards publicly, its accountability is es- supportive of anti-immigration stances (AJ 4; NYT 2- tablished through different techniques. First, other re- 3; TG 5-8). The rightness of such positions was then sponsibilities are identified and often these are not el- justified by the idea that migrants, especially sub-Saha- ements within the control of the so-called rans, are untrustworthy and dangerous subjects for international community: for example, the weather or Europe (AJ 3; NYT 2-3). The media suggestion was the bureaucratic system is seen as hampering rescue that most, by entering Libya illegally, had proven efforts in the Mediterranean (TG 2-4). Also, the irra- themselves to be disrespectful of rules. Further, their tionality of other actors can be used to explain the in- desperate condition was seen as a factor that might ternational community’s failures: sub-Saharans in des- cause further problems to European countries, as des- perate situations would be inclined to not exercise peration leads to desperate and irrational behaviours clear judgement and to put their lives at risk, as when, (NYT 2-3). In addition, Tunisia and Egypt were other trying to capture the attention of a rescue boat, they actors presented in some of the articles analysed as move to one side of their ship, causing it to capsize facing the problems of migratory movements. Not- (TG 2). Moreover, NATO and EU states are pictured withstanding their proven goodwill in helping mi- as self-reflexive and prone to take actions that will im- grants, the two North African states had to face exas- prove their tactics and strategies of intervention, for peration from their own citizens for the problems instance improving coordination efforts for evacua- caused by sub-Saharans in refugee camps who ‘stu- tions and lifesaving missions at sea (NYT 5-7; TG 7- pidly protested’ about their situation without appreci- 8:). Finally, media and other actors take the role of ating the efforts made by those countries (TG 6). As powerful watchdog, engaged to show the interna- a consequence, the needs for border control, refugee tional community unforeseen problems and to envi- camps, and organized management of migratory sion possible solutions, as in the case of unanticipated movements were implicitly presented as necessary and migratory movements towards Europe or racist at- appropriate solutions for avoiding additional prob- tacks on black Libyans and migrants in Libya (AJ 2-3- lems in destination countries and for migrants them- 5-6; NYT 5; TG 5-7-10). In this case, in addition to mi- selves (AJ 3-4; NYT 3-7; TG 6). grants’ testimonies employed to confirm the informa- From these understandings of the conflict and mi- tion presented, many references to Western values of gration crises, the humanitarian intervention was es- liberal democracy serve as guidelines for actions, com- tablished by media as a necessity in order to save lives pletely legitimizing the actual organization of the from the irrational violence of Gaddafi’s forces. The world order and failing to address existing inequalities international community was the actor charged with and imbalances (AJ 2-6-9; NYT 5; TG 7). the responsibility of preventing fighting from escalat- In a nutshell, media represented the Libyan con- ing and alleviating suffering (AJ 1-2-5-6-7-8; NYT 1-2-3- flict as a step in the country’s process towards West- 4-7; TG 1-3-5-7). However, even if the term ‘interna- ern ideals and modernity; they show its migration cri- tional community’ conventionally refers to the com- ses as the result of irrational, cruel, and short-sighted munity of world states and UN organizations as sup- policies by Gaddafi, and this implies that support for posedly super partes actors, in media it more often the management of migratory movements by Western indicates just Western states and certain international interventions was necessary to achieve security, free- agencies as high moral subjects committed to protect dom, and the democratic principles of the interna- Others, beyond the principle of sovereignty (AJ 1-8; tional order. Direct and subtle associations in the arti- NYT 1-2; TG 1-2). Such selective use of the term estab- cles analysed indicate strongly that media conveyed lishes a hierarchy in which states like Egypt or Tunisia, suggestions that reinforced mainstream international though actively engaged in the organization of human- models while play-acting mobilizations for migrants’ Sub-Saharan Migrants’ Masculinities: An Intersectional Analysis of Media Representations 255 Table 13.1: Media narratives related to the 2011 Libyan conflict. Source: The authors. Revolution Stage in a developmental process directed towards a model of society based on liberal democracy, free market, and other values presented as Western. Result of long years of Gaddafi’s regime, which spread hate and enabled episodes of ille- gitimate violence to take place (e.g. repression, racism, and violence against different eth- nic groups). Contributes to demonstrating the backwardness of some countries and the superiority of the West that does not need conflicts to provide freedom, stability, and prosperity. Event to support the process of democratization in other parts of the world through Western institutions and organizations. Migration crises Result of Gaddafi’s behaviour: he did not care about putting the life of migrants at risk in Libya as his way of resisting a necessary change. Situation of danger for migrants themselves, but also for Europe and Libya’s neighbour countries. Situation to support an efficient and organized management of migratory movements as a necessity for achieving security Humanitarian intervention Situation for the West to use its generosity, skills, and abundant resources to save the lives of thousands of civilians. Event to support Libya’s path towards liberal democracy, free markets, human rights prin- ciples, etc. Action through which the West establishes its accountability. security. This reading of the events and processes de- constructs of the international community as a neutral scribed is reinforced through different strategies, in- actor not directly involved in the conflict, but whose cluding media’s silences over certain elements. For ex- efforts aim at saving lives. In doing so, the interna- ample, the lack of mention of the civilians killed by tional community displays skills related to rationality, the NATO intervention allowed a dichotomous vision expertise, moral strength, and determination, while of the conflict in which good and evil faced each being guided by heroic virtues related to courage, gen- other, making invisible those suffering and whose ex- erosity, and capacity for self-sacrifice (AJ 1-3-4-7; NYT perience could not function to support such readings 10; TG 1-2-7-9). Further, the availability of means and of the conflict. The superiority of Western democra- resources not only represents the international com- cies, in relation not only to the Gaddafi government munity’s capacity to feasibly respond to crises and but also to the incoming opposition, was made possi- conflicts, it also makes it possible to relate actors to ble by excluding memories of past European coloniza- different ideas of success (AJ 8; NYT 1-2; TG 1). As tion and the present reality of a legitimized racism emerged from the narrative analysis, the term ‘inter- against black Africans. The absence of any reflection national community’ often refers to only Western on how EU migration control policies played a role in states and selected international agencies. From here limiting sub-Saharan migrants’ possibilities for safe it is easy to infer that the success associated with he- evacuation contributed to a polarized comprehension gemonic masculinity in this case refers not only to the of the situation, which is revealed in the silence sur- economic area, but is a manifestation of Western rounding the expulsions of asylum seekers from Eu- achievements in different fields, mainly connected to rope. The lack of acknowledgement of Western geo- the model of the white race, professional education, political and economic interests also contributed to aid workers, policymakers, entrepreneurs, or corpo- legitimizing and celebrating the NATO intervention. rate managers. Media representation of hegemonic More examples could follow, but for the purposes of masculinity thus becomes involved in legitimizing a this study, our attention is now turned to the media specific array of values and reproducing dominant so- categorization of sub-Saharan migrants. cial relations (Carrigan/Connell/LeeReviewed 1985; Within media representations, different sets of Connell 1998). masculine values can be distinguished, organized in hi- The complicit category of masculinity in the con- erarchies and associated with different social groups. text of the Libyan war could be identified in the The hegemonic model of masculinity is here linked to rebels, the opposition to Gaddafi. Anti-government 256 Maria DeVargas and Stefania Donzelli forces, “former regime notables, businessmen and 2). Egotistically attached to power, their behaviour is professionals as well as exiles” (TG 10), were in fact explained by media with reference to hysteria, associ- associated with certain values of hegemonic masculin- ating this subordinate manhood with feminine fea- ity: proactivity and determination, advanced educa- tures (TG 3). This type of masculinity is then banished tion, democracy, and the principles of the free mar- from the hegemonic model, and lacks legitimacy in re- ket. However, the rebels distanced themselves from lation to the norms supported by the latter. However, the international community’s hegemonic model of this expulsion does not constitute a negation, as in masculinity by fighting a war using violence and by fact Gaddafi is still represented as a subject endowed their lack of military technology and strategy (AJ 5-6; with agency: he does not simply react; on the contrary NYT 9). Because Gaddafi’s opposition sought to en- he is an extremely proactive agent. From this sense of gage in conflict rather than just employing its re- initiative, his moral and ethical condemnations sources in the service of others – as Western masculin- emerge and find justification (TG 7). Consequently, ity is represented to do – they are seen as according to the logic of contraries, the hegemonic developmentally a step behind the international com- masculinity embodied by the Western international munity (NYT 2-3-5; TG 7). Nonetheless, this behav- community is again reinforced by the media through iour is identified as a necessary act of courage. From the insistent message of its necessary action to control this perspective, the rebels are allowed to receive sup- Gaddafi’s ‘erratic’ performance (AJ 9). port from the international community because they Mainstream international media fixed images of fulfil the majority of qualities of the hegemonic model sub-Saharan migrants through categories associated of masculinity, including their concern for assisting with ideas of passivity or dangerousness. The repre- and supporting those in need (NYT 4; TG 9). As a re- sentations of sub-Saharan black Africans entrenched a sult, the values in media representations associated dispossession of hegemonic masculinity’s qualities with the rebels’ complicit masculinity work again to and resources, making them useless, helpless,34 or ir- support hegemonic masculinity’s values and the dom- rationally violent actors. They are ‘poor’, ‘desperate’, inance of the rational, polite, and educated man mov- ‘afraid’, ‘trapped’, or ‘brutal mercenaries’, ‘on the ing within the frame of capitalist interests. An illustra- front line’. In this way sub-Saharan migrants are subor- tive example is the start of one Al-Jazeera article: dinated when represented as marginalized masculini- “Sporting a crisp well-tailored grey suit and pink tie, ties: in fact, not only gender, but also class and race Harris Mohamed Zuwei looks more like an aspiring play an integral part in the construction of manhood. banker than a Libyan pro-democracy fighter who took As it is stated by Connell (2005), “Race relations may a bullet for the cause” (AJ 6). become an integral part of the dynamic between mas- The subordinate model of masculinity is here em- culinities. In a white-supremacist context [as the bodied by Gaddafi, the ‘mad dog’ of the Middle East, media discourse turned out to be from this analysis], as President Reagan defined him in the 1980s.32 Me- black masculinities play symbolic roles for white dia portrayed the Colonel as a non-modern and irra- gender construction” (Connell, 2005: 80). Following tional figure, whose cruel and unreasonable decisions this line, it is possible to explain the functionality of had very serious and negative consequences for al- this construction of sub-Saharan migrants for ready marginalized subjects.33 Demonstrating a defi- Gaddafi’s international negotiations, for the rebels’ ciency of clear judgement by choosing to oppose what claim on the need for international intervention, and is presented as an upcoming and inevitable change, for the validation of the role of the international com- Gaddafi and his loyalists put at risk the lives of the vul- munity – including media and journalists.35 Addition- nerable and thus came to symbolize cowardice and ally, explanations of migrants’ insecurity and vulnera- the lack of any heroic virtue, “gangster[s] who hold bility to violence are rooted in the negation of foreigners at knifepoint in the Libyan streets” (NYT Western ideals by actors involved in the conflict. Also, the normalization of victimhood and danger impedes the development of alternative accounts more centred 32 See BBC News: “Profile: Muammar Gaddafi”, 27 June on the migrants’ voices, because – within this hierarchy 2011; at: . 33 “Sins of the father, sins of the son” is a title of a news 34 See for example AJ (1), (2), (4), (7), and NYT (7). article in Al-Jazeera on 27 February 2011, where Gaddafi 35 The modern profession of journalism finds its origins in is accused of “exploitation of the plight of the African the Enlightenment period and so is usually associated people” (AJ 9). with Western values and forms. Sub-Saharan Migrants’ Masculinities: An Intersectional Analysis of Media Representations 257 of masculinities – experiences and needs expressed by insecurity, generating questionable gaps in the effec- migrants themselves as well as their role as political ac- tiveness of those actions as adequate protection. This tors are undermined. On the contrary, migrants’ voices is the case for the Western management of the migra- appear in media merely to support facts or opinions tion crisis, which we argue has not stopped migrants’ presented by journalists: the existence of sub-Saharan insecurity or mobility, but led to the death of many migrants is not seen independently from the Western sub-Saharans due to the prioritization of control and presence; it is through media that sub-Saharans prove borders over the rights of asylum, protection,38 free their existence and living conditions. Both ways of clas- mobility, and so on. We raise serious doubts about the sifying36 sub-Saharans, as well as the logic presented, possibility of fostering migrants’ security through these become functional for justifying international interven- types of actions and discourses, including the represen- tion in the conflict and the contemporary regime of mi- tations that they entail in terms of migrants’ identities gration control as the main instruments for guaran- and needs. Moreover, categorizations are usually cou- teeing human security. The hegemonic model of pled with justifications of past or future actions (Leu- masculinity is then the one reproduced and legitimized dar/Marsland/Nekvapil 2004). Finally, we conclude in media representations through the silencing of sub- that mainstream media representations played a cen- Saharan voices or by contrasting them with (or by the tral role in the construction of gendered, racial, and celebration of) Western values, with their ideals of de- class-based categorizations that undermined the possi- mocracy and economic wealth. bilities for debating social justice beyond the domi- Concluding the analysis, we note that media repre- nant frames of security and migrants’ stereotypes. sentations of different forms of masculinities – within the narratives presented – worked to construct an idea of security linked to dominant modern Western val- 13.6 Conclusion ues, including liberal democracy, market-based econo- mies, rationality, and expertise. Norms and behav- Investigating the links between migration, the media iours associated to masculinity reinforced these representation of masculinities, and human security, propositions. Following Bourdieu’s understanding of this chapter aimed to show the relevance of intersec- symbolic violence, we see that it is the normalization tional analysis in illuminating the complexity of the of vulnerability as well as hostility towards sub-Saha- conditions of insecurity faced by vulnerable groups in ran work as a form of symbolic violence that makes conflict situations. The concept of intersectionality reflections on and questions about the current domi- elaborated by Crenshaw has proved to be a useful tool nant conception of security and the actions under- for studying how power relations at political, repre- taken from this perspective difficult. In fact, the me- sentational, and cultural levels affect not just women’s dia legitimization of RtoP as normative frame shifts conditions, but also those of other social groups in the attention beyond the state as a protector, to in- marginal positions. Moreover, the understanding of clude for example international agencies and NGOs. different levels of intersectionality as a continuum, However, it undermines the role of sub-Saharan mi- where different knowledge and spheres interact, 39 al- grants as political actors, in so far as the media limited lowed an examination of the symbolic representations the understanding of bottom-up initiatives to security as elements influencing structural and institutional initiatives (Huysman/Squire 2009). In short, media levels and vice versa. The triple jeopardy situation is discourse during the Libyan conflict supported the reflected for example in how the role of migrants is implementation of RtoP and limited the possibilities conceived by job market forces and institutions, influ- for its critical discussion.37 encing the ways in which the presence of migrants in Further, we have highlighted that responses to sit- Libya is understood by policymakers pushing for the uations of diffused insecurity have been seen as pro- endorsement of different kinds of state migration pol- ceeding almost entirely from Western capacity and values, as well as the Western paternalistic and heroic 38 This is the case with asylum seekers who were returned predisposition to help others. However, in repeated to their country of origin, the lack of assistance for boats situations these urgent humanitarian actions ignored at risk, and the prioritizing of detention centres over ade- the needs and circumstances of sub-Saharan migrants’ quate living conditions in a life-threatening context. 39 Leudar, Marsland and Nekvapil (2004) make reference to the concept of ‘dialogical network’ to refer to the 36 As mercenaries or as vulnerable population. links that exist between various media events and that 37 See for example Forte (2011a). are created by different actors around the world. 258 Maria DeVargas and Stefania Donzelli Table 13.2: Media representations of masculinities during the 2011 Libyan conflict. Source: the authors. Models of masculinity Associated to Characterized by Hegemonic masculinity Associated to western actors and embodied Rationality, expertise, wealth, moral by the figures of aid workers, professionals strength, courage, generosity, capacity for of the international community, entrepre- self-sacrifice. neurs and corporate managers. Complicit masculinity Associated to the Rebels, and embodied by Proactivity, determination, courage, care for Gaddafi’s opposition, stakeholders of the others, advanced education, need to be sup- new regime, notables, businessmen, profes- ported. The ‘lack’ of knowledge and strate- sionals, exiles. gies for violent actions. Subordinated masculinity Associated to Gaddafi’s loyal forces and Irrationality, cruelty, cowardice, proactivity. embodied by Gaddafi himself. Marginalized masculinity Associated to sub-Saharans in Libya and Poverty, desperation, victimhood, irrationa- embodied by the poor black migrants. lity, aggressiveness. They are politically under- mined and have a lack of agency capacity. icies in the country and elsewhere; this would in turn knowledge, sources of information, political agendas, affect foreign workers’ quality of life and media infor- and ethics involved, among others – has led to a mul- mation regarding actors involved in migration flows. tiplicity of positions. One of the authors argues from In the Libyan case, the structural conditions of vulner- a socio-constructivist perspective for the importance ability of sub-Saharans have been understood by me- and urgency of promoting normative regulations con- dia as motives to represent migrants as either passive cerning the use of specific categories that reinforce victims or dangerous subjects, and this became an im- symbolic violence and cultural stereotypes of con- pediment to identifying solutions that addressed the tempt for the black race or marginal groups, particu- need for the dignified protection of migrants within larly within a context of conflict. Her reasoning, in particular life-threatening circumstances. line with APS (1997) recommendations, also implies Further, the possibility to observe this type of dy- processes of cultural awareness within which one’s namics offered by intersectional analysis has also ena- media should “take responsibility for representing eth- bled us to put the spotlight on the symbolic violence nic groups, ethnic differences and conflict between embedded in media discourses about who should be ethnic groups, in ways which highlight the diversity protected and by whom, which strongly require ques- within groups and similarities across groups, thereby tioning, deconstruction, and reflection. In fact, look- discouraging stereotyping” (APS, 1997: 42). The other ing critically at media’s construction of identities, we author shares the importance of undermining the cir- observed that the proposed set of categorizations culation of racializing and racist discourses, but is served to discriminate groups of civilians and normal- sceptical about the capacity of regulatory practices to ize an understanding of selective protection which, for change the editorial choices of mainstream media and instance, favoured expatriate staff from the ‘interna- their shareholders, and considers that any regulation tional community’ over migrant workers and refugees. would instead run the risk of increasing the legitima- The timeline of organized evacuations for migrants at tion of mainstream media practices. She instead the beginning of the conflict is one example of this makes a claim for supporting independent and self-or- trend. Thus, acknowledging that civilians are not a ho- ganized media that make explicit the standpoint from mogeneous group but are divided along sociocultural which they speak. In line with Harding’s (1993) ideas and legal boundaries, we argue that media discourses of strong objectivity, she suggests moving beyond rhetorically approached the problems of those struc- ideas of neutrality in journalism, which often translate turally disadvantaged and legitimized selective protec- objectivity as being a white, bourgeois, and male tion of the better-off. In sum, media have been an ac- standpoint, and favours editorial projects40 which ac- tor and an instrument contributing to insecurity. In terms of media responsibility it is difficult to make conclusive proposals. The debate about the pos- 40 Examples of independent and self-organized media might be the Spanish Diagonal; at: or the Pan- long-lasting and the prioritization of different ele- African Pambazuka; at: . Sub-Saharan Migrants’ Masculinities: An Intersectional Analysis of Media Representations 259 knowledge biases and openly discuss their approach isting mechanism to protect civilians, it failed in the to social justice (Durham, 1998). Libyan case to provide safeguards for sub-Saharan mi- To discuss the issues of migrants’ security, the Lib- grants. Instead of suggesting concrete alternative un- yan context provides a meaningful case of analysis to derstandings of security, we emphasize the impor- illuminate the consequences of migration policies in tance of promoting further research to identify conflict situations. In fact, this country has been one mechanisms and practices of protection from a bot- of the first involved in the process of the externaliza- tom-up perspective. Intersectional analysis can prove tion of EU border control. Further, regulations pro- to be a useful tool for empirical studies that move be- ducing the illegality of migrants and the restriction of yond universalistic standpoints and instead search for mobility have not only worked to relegate migrants to migrants’ own understanding of security. We would situations of precariousness and marginality in peace- encourage the Arendtian approach of ‘right to have ful times. These regulations also impeded migrants’ rights’ as the right of those in insecure situations to safe escapes during conflicts and suspended people’s choose what security might signify for them and how lives for the indeterminate period of being held in ref- it would be possible to improve their conditions ugee camps. As the deaths in the Mediterranean (Oman 2010). Doing so may also imply generating dis- showed, the EU regime of migration control does not courses and practical alternatives to the unilinear foresee the possibility of accessing airports for sub-Sa- mainstream media’s narratives on how things ‘should haran workers in Libya (Kumar 2011). Nor does it al- be’. From this perspective, we argue for a future with low the mobilization of resources, knowledge, and re- open possibilities to practise alternatives to Western lations outside the rules of humanitarian emergencies. liberal democracy market-based economies, and the Reflecting on the guarantees offered by the nor- related understanding of security, that makes possible mative frame of RtoP is important because, as an ex- a human life with dignity. Table 13.3: Articles analysed Al Jazeera articles 1. “Libya migrants‘ plight 'desperate’: British minister demands ‘unfettered access’ to help thousands of migrants flee- ing violence amid anti-Gaddafi uprising”; at: . 2. “Migrants suffer in Tripoli camps: Black Libyans and migrants are stuck in Tripoli in squalid conditions and threats of violence”; at: . 3. “Migrants forced to fight for Gaddafi: 'They said we must stay to fight when the Americans come', a Ghanaian worker tells Al Jazeera from a refugee camp”; at: . 4. “Migrants 'fleeing Libya' drown off coast: Bodies of some 70 Eritrean asylum seekers fleeing the conflict are reported to have been found off the coast”, at: . 5. “The day the Katiba fell: Libya's turning point may have come when protesters overwhelmed a barracks in Beng- hazi”, at: . 6. “Tales from the front: A Libyan rebel speaks: Who are Libya's fighters? And can they defeat Gaddafi? An injured rebel says yes, but military analysts aren't so sure”; at: . 7. “African migrants targeted in Libya: Rights groups fear dozens killed in violent backlash against supposed Gaddafi- hired mercenaries from sub-Saharan Africa”. With video (2:10min); at: . 8. “Libya no-fly zone supporters push for UN vote: Washington says the Security Council may need to take measures that go beyond a no-fly zone in Libya”; at: . 9. “Sins of the father, sins of the son: While Gaddafi has relied on empty revolutionary slogans to maintain power, his son looks to oil money for his”; at: . 10. “Scores killed in Libya tribal clashes: Fighting in southern town of Sabha has killed more than 70 people as African tribe says it is facing a 'massacre'”; at: . 260 Maria DeVargas and Stefania Donzelli The Guardian articles 1. “Libya: Britain sends planes to help with mass airlift of refugees”; at: . 2. “300 migrants feared dead after boat capsizes off Sicily”; at: . 3. “Gaddafi targets relief ship as it evacuates Misrata wounded in Libya”; at: . 4. “Aircraft carrier left us to die, say migrants”; at: . 5. “Libyan regime accused of exploiting boat people"; at: . 6. “Refugees from Libya attacked in Tunisian desert”; at: . 7. “Helping Libya's refugees is the better way to beat Gaddafi”; at: . 8. “Italy demands to know if Libya blockade warship ignored refugees”; at: . 9. “Tripoli facing three-sided advance by the Libyan rebels”; at: . 10. “Libya's spectacular revolution has been disgraced by racism”; at: . New York Times articles 1. “Refugee Agency Reports 'Humanitarian Emergency' as Multitudes Flee Libya”; at: . 2. “Many Refugees From Libya Don't Want to Go Home”; at: . 3. “250 Migrants Missing After Boat Sinks Off Italy”; at: . 4. “On Ship of Evacuees From Libya, Harrowing Tales”; at: . 5. “The Killing Seas"; at: . 6. “The Lives at the End of the Rockets' Arc”; at: . 7. “NATO Crew Failed to Aid Migrant Ship, Survivors Say”; at: . 8. “New Fighting Outside Tripoli as Foreigners Seek an Exit”; at: . 9. “Libyans Turn Wrath on Dark-Skinned Migrants”; at: . 10. “Accused of Fighting for Qaddafi, a Libyan Town's Residents Face Reprisals”; at: . 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The patterns of movement are generally seasonal and circular and are based on a variety of social arrangements for guiding, including a modification of ‘child fostering’ as a tradition, biological kinship and mar- riage, and employment. Each type of arrangement delineates specific obligations and entitlements between the guides and the beggar according to the relationship involved: parent, guardian, spouse, or employer. The last arrangement applies especially to girls and women who migrate on their own account in search of other types of work but end up as guides. Social justice strategies that address the individual rights of young migrants from Mali to Senegal have yet to recognize the existence of this group of female guides. Understanding the experi- ences of the migrant blind beggars from the perspective of multiple conditions of ‘disability’ may help towards an appreciation of how mutual dependency based on gender and age can be interwoven into layers of culturally defined inter-generational obligations, for which social justice strategies built only on the idea of the individual rights of women or children may not necessarily be appropriate. Keywords: Circular migration, Senegal, Mali, West Africa, children, gender, generation, begging, livelihood, dis- ability, river blindness, social justice. 14.1 Introduction123 cal, national, and international levels, and of its espe- cial role in sustaining and expanding people’s liveli- A large body of literature on migration in West Africa hoods (Adepoju 2004; De Haan/Brock/Coulibaly tells of the complexity of migratory movements at lo- 2002). With some exceptions (Sy 1991; Findley 1991; Brockerhoff/Eu 1993; Gondola 1997a, 1997b), this 1 Codou Bop is a researcher and activist on women’s body of literature generally emphasizes the experience human rights and the coordinator of Groupe de Recher- of the male migrants. In recent years some attention che Femmes et Lois au Sénégal (GREFELS) based in has been given to the autonomous migration of Dakar, Sénégal. women and people under eighteen years of age (Find- 2 Thanh-Dam Truong is Associate Professor at the Inter- ley 1991; Bocquier/Traore 2000). Within this subset national Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University of the migration literature, much attention has been Rotterdam, The Netherlands. given to practices of child trafficking and fosterage for 3 This chapter draws on the results of a broader study funded by IDRC, project number 104891-001, and enti- economic exploitation (Kielland/Tovo 2006), and to tled: “Femmes, Migrations et Lois au Mali et Sénégal” the migration of children as soldiers in the context of (Women, Migrations and the Law in Mali and Senegal) armed conflicts (Machel 1996). Analyses of child la- implemented by the Research Group on Women and bour migration that place emphasis on ‘gender’ distin- Laws in Senegal (Groupe de Recherche Femmes et Lois guish between the types of work that boys and girls au Sénégal). The members of the research team are: do – domestic work and sexual services for young girls Codou Bop, Fanta Cissé, Fatou Binetou Dramé, Aissa and agricultural work and fishery for young boys Haidara Touré, Ndeye Sokhna Guèye, and Cheikh Ibra- hima Niang. (UNICEF 2002; Truong 2005; de Lange 2007). The T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 265 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_14, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 266 Codou Bop and Thanh-Dam Truong relationship between gender, child migration, and their gender and age dimensions, and the layers of ‘streetism’ as a mode of life has also recently been vulnerability experienced by women and girls as looked into. This has demonstrated not only that guides. Migrating to Dakar in the dry season is based there are multiple causes behind children’s moving to on interrelated considerations, such as Ramadan – a the street to make a living, pointing to the need to holiday linked with the giving of alms and demon- treat ‘gender’ and ‘age’ as power relations rather than strating Muslim piety – and the fact that the spaces merely ascriptive characteristics (Awumbila/Ardayfio- they occupy in the city are not flooded, and so are Schandorf 2008), but also that the term ‘street chil- habitable even on the streets. The preference for girls dren’, being associated with delinquent behaviour, can rather than boys as guides is both social and eco- have a stigmatizing effect. Caution should be exer- nomic. Five types of social arrangements applicable to cised to avoid further discrimination against girls and girls and young women who guide the blind are iden- young women, and instead the causes related to struc- tified, demonstrating the key relationships that shape tural inequality should be examined (Eshia 2010). their migration and the scope for them to assert con- This chapter provides a perspective on the situa- trol over their own life. tion faced by Malian girls and young women who In section 14.4, the legal and institutional frame- migrate from rural and peri-urban areas to Dakar, the works for the protection of child migrants in Mali and Senegalese capital city, to guide beggars who are rela- Senegal are discussed, demonstrating a misfit between tives or acquaintances affected by Onchocerciasis and the social constructions of ‘children’ and ‘gender’ Trachoma.4 People affected by these insidious and upon which current migration and human trafficking non-fatal diseases must endure lifelong suffering and policies in the region are based, and the reality as grave socio-economic problems as regards their iden- lived by blind beggars and their guides. This calls for tity and relations with family and community. Begging a re-evaluation of the ideal notion of ‘childhood’, the is one way of earning a living while maintaining a interpretation of ‘gender’ in migration, and the domi- sense of self-worth and dignity, but requires the cru- nant notion of ‘disability’ as physical or mental impair- cial assistance of a guide, especially when the activity ment. is conducted across borders. The activity can be lucra- Understanding the situation faced by the blind tive, but beggars and their communities must endure beggars from the perspective of multiple conditions harsh conditions when on the move and as transient of ‘disability’, as well as the situation faced by their migrants. female guides from a perspective of multiple-layered As section 14.2 shows, migration in West Africa is vulnerability, can help identify the specific aspects of showing trends of increased feminization (a higher gender as an adaptive structure in a web of culturally proportion of women) and precociousness or increas- defined intergenerational mutual dependence. ingly younger chronological age. The perspective on the migration of beggars and their guides presented in section 14.3 is based on the findings of multi-sited 14.2 Contextualizing the Migration of research in Mali and Senegal. The aim is to provide Men, Women, and Children in insights into the prevailing practices of migration, Senegal and Mali Well before West Africa was colonized by the Euro- 4 Commonly known as river blindness, Onchocerciasis is pean powers, migration had taken diverse patterns, caused by Onchocerca volvulus, which is transmitted to driven by a multiplicity of causes, such as long-dis- humans by the bite of infected black flies which breed tance trade and search for pastures and work (Cord- in fast-flowing streams and rivers; it often blinds people, ell/Gregory/Piché 1996). Subregional migration, in- as well as causing a debilitating skin disease. Onchocer- tensified under colonization owing to urbanization, ciasis can be cured by a drug called Mectizan which kills the growth of administrative and industrial centres, the parasite’s larvae in the human body, preventing blindness and transmission of the disease to others and plantation agriculture, continues today with little (Remme 1995). Trachoma, also known as river blind- regard for post-colonial borders (Colvin 1981; Diop ness, is the result of infection of the eye with Chlamy- 2008). In the last few decades, rural–urban migration dia trachomatis. Infection spreads from person to patterns have changed from seasonal and circular person, and is frequently passed from child to child and movements by individual men to more permanent mi- from child to mother, especially where there is a short- grations, frequently involving part of or the entire age of water, many flies, and crowded living conditions family unit (Riddell 1980). These migrations, studied (Mufioz/West 1997). Complexity of Gender and Age in Precarious Lives 267 by Findley (1989, 1991, 1997), Sy (1991), Bâ (1996), and of crossing a national border for the people involved Lambert (2007), are progressively more feminized, (Fall 2003). Today, long-lasting or permanent settle- with women increasingly migrating autonomously. ments by Malians in the city of Dakar can be found in This may be a response to the combined effects of communities specializing in particular economic activ- drought and the structural adjustment policies imple- ities. These communities, particularly those formed mented since 1981, both of which have led to a wors- from people of Soninke origin from the valley of the ening of living conditions in rural areas (Toulmin/ upper Senegal river and from the Bambaras of the Guèye 2003; Truong 2006); it is also possible that Kayes region, have mostly traded cola nuts (especially women left rural areas to escape not only from pov- the men) and dyed fabrics and food (especially the erty but also from dependency on their men. Migra- women) and settled in Dakar, Thies, Saint-Louis, and tion by unmarried women can now arguably be Mbour. The first and second generations of migrants viewed more as an individual endeavour than a family act as hosts to the latecomers (Fall 2003). Today, in- strategy (Bocquier/Traoré 2000; Lesclingand 2004). ternal and cross-border migrations in search for work The presence of Malians in Senegal has been fos- – whether seen from the perspective of a strategy to tered both by a common political history and by ad- diversify household livelihoods or as a path to ‘moder- ministration as a unified territory during the colonial nity’ – are showing signs of being undertaken more period.5 The Senegalese Navetanat system of sea- and more by those who are increasingly younger in sonal labour6 was also a factor. Navetanat is charac- chronological age (ILO 2007; BIT/LUTRENA 2007; terized by a massive short-term migration of young Moens/Zeitlin/Bop/Rokhaya 2004). people – generally from the areas where subsistence agriculture predominates – for intensive and tempo- rary work on commercial groundnut farms (David 14.3 Circular Migrations for Begging 1980). The system was consolidated by the close ties with the areas of origin through social and financial 14.3.1 Research Methodology remittances. For young people the Navetanat was of- ten a means to escape the power of, and abuse by, the This study is among the first multi-sited research elders that the colonial authorities ignored (Bourgeot projects on the migration of adult blind beggars and 1977). The Navetanat developed rapidly following the their female guides. Its results are to be considered as expansion of trade in agricultural commodities until preliminary. Its aim is to raise new questions for re- the economic crisis of the 1970s, declining only search on the links between disability, gender, and age through the combined effect of drought and falling in migration and the appropriateness of human traf- global prices, particularly for groundnuts (Ndiaye ficking and children’s rights as a policy field in West 2012). Migrants seeking longer-term and more remu- Africa. In Mali three regions (Bamako, Koulikoro, and nerative temporary urban employment gradually aban- Kayes) were chosen as research sites with the help of doned the system (Gubert 2007). resource persons, including (ex)-migrants and offi- At the peak of the Navetanat system in the 1960s cials. All three regions are known to have been af- and 1970s, many migrants originated in the Kayes re- fected by river blindness. In addition, Kayes City is gion in the western part of Mali, bordering Senegal known to be the main transit point for Malian chil- and Mauritania. Their movement was facilitated by dren before they leave for Senegal. Interviews (with the Kayes–Dakar rail connection as well as by social bilingual Bambara–Wolof translation) were conducted connections, with two-way movements being so com- with twenty-two blind beggars and forty-one adoles- mon that they did not, and do not, carry the meaning cent returnees from Senegal who were being assisted by a civil society organization for reintegration. In ad- dition, interviews were attempted with seventeen per- 5 The Malian Federation was founded on 4 April 1959, sons working in a wide range of institutions active in uniting Senegal and the Sudanese Republic (formerly the migration field (specialized agencies of the United French Sudan), and became entirely self-governing when it gained independence from France on 20 June 1960. Nations, non-governmental organizations, and The federation collapsed shortly after independence, on women’s organizations), but they were unaware of the 20 August 1960, when Senegal withdrew, due to politi- existence of female guides within the flow of blind cal disagreements. The Sudanese Republic was renamed beggars across the border. the Republic of Mali on 22 September 1960. See Foltz A key message that emerged from interviews with (1965). Malian beggars at the different research sites con- 6 Navet means rainy season in Wolof. 268 Codou Bop and Thanh-Dam Truong Figure 14.1: Map of Mali with indication of the research sites (Bamako, Koulikoro, Kayes). Source: United Nations (2012; permission granted 12 November 2012). cerned economic motivation, namely the belief that socio-demographic information about the target pop- Senegalese people are more pious and make higher ulation was unsuccessful due to non-cooperation, this donations than Malians, and that girls inspire pity and information was gathered during one-to-one and are more likely to bring in large donations. Socially, semi-structured interviews. girls are also preferred as guides because they are It should be noted that Senegalese law forbids beg- thought to be more ‘courageous’ and able to accept ging, and a few months before the study began there the strenuousness of their occupation without com- were several police and municipal raids. Beggars were plaining. Further, the adolescent returnees provided thus anxious to avoid attention from the authorities, insights on the trajectories of migration and modes of fearing forced repatriation to Mali if their identity was adaptation in transit and destination, highlighting revealed. The ethics of research also had to be taken how border porosity, the railroad, and new develop- into consideration, because normally children should ments in public transport facilitated their journey be- only be interviewed in the presence of their parents or tween Mali and Senegal. guardians, or with the latter’s authorization. Where this Being both the main destination and accessible for was impossible, a retired female Malian teacher who research, Dakar was chosen as a research site on the has lived in Senegal for many years was hired as a facil- receiving end. Within Dakar, research sites were the itator and translator. The fact that she was an elderly Dakar-Bamako train station, the mosque on Fleurus person with a respected position also helped temper Street (Grand-Yoff), and Castor, all areas that host the concerns of the blind beggars. The use of “la communities of blind beggars from Mali. Because the parenté à plaisanterie”7 greatly helped improve the rela- use of the survey method to obtain disaggregated tionship between the researchers and the participants. Complexity of Gender and Age in Precarious Lives 269 Figure 14.2: Map of the Communes d’Arrondissement of Dakar Department with indication of research sites: Plateau; Grand-Yoff; Castor; Liberté; Grand Dakar. Source: Wikimedia Commons. The interviewers placed the blind beggars in the posi- ian. Age was found to be an arbitrary measure, given tion of ‘resource persons’, together with a few people that many children began guiding the blind when un- in the Senegalese communities. Through this tech- der ten in their home country and now practise it as nique, information could be gathered from the mi- cross-border migrants. grant young women and girls as research subjects, as The semi-structured questionnaire was designed to well as from beggars as migrants who also shared elucidate, from respondent biographies, the process their own personal experiences. In total, twenty-five of becoming migrant beggars or guides, their trajecto- male and one female blind beggars (between 24 and ries of migration, and their means of coping in Dakar. 70 years of age) and fifteen female guides (between This provided an opportunity for the respondents to the ages of 10 and 26) were interviewed, some in the relate in great detail their migration experiences, and presence of their father, mother, husband, or guard- through these the researchers were able to gain an in- depth understanding of the social meanings of disabil- ity and the notion of masculinity as the provider. This 7 This social practice, known as a kind of joking relation- examination of the migration of children and young ship, is unique in West Africa. Known as Sinankunya in Mali, Rakiré in Mossi of Burkina Faso, Toukpê in Ivory people within a social enclave of poverty shows the Coast, and Kal in Wolof Senegal, the practice allows, significance of gender and intergenerational mutual and even requires, members of the same kin group and dependency, and thus may help to raise more aware- ethnic groups to mock or insult without consequence. ness about the links between gender, disability, migra- The practice is a means of easing tension and reinforc- tion, and life choices. ing alliances between clans whose members are obliged to help each other (Labouret 1929). 270 Codou Bop and Thanh-Dam Truong 14.3.2 Multiple Conditions of Disability and amokola). The others come from Koulikoro, Segou, Migration for Begging as a Livelihood and other rural areas. Many of these villages are close to one of two dams, the Manantali in the Kayes re- The medical anthropologist Kaplan-Myrth (2001) sug- gion and the Tienfala in the Koulikoro region, with gests that where the conditions of everyday life are the proximity of the dams linked to river blindness. disabling, as in the case of rural Mali,8 the modes of Begging across the border, which seems to have be- coping adopted by people suffering from river blind- gun around the 2000s or possibly before, involves cir- ness should be seen from the perspective of multiple cular and seasonal migration. They usually travel dur- and interwoven disabilities. This perspective involves ing Ramadan and stay through the dry season. This a shift away from the logic of disability prevention pattern is closely related to the availability of housing that sees ignorance of the origin of river blindness as and the living conditions in the street. During the the main cause. It focuses on how people deal with rainy seasons, the areas they occupy are flooded and the disease as a given, something that diminishes their become uninhabitable. capabilities but not necessarily their social roles and The most common means of transport is the obligations. When prevention programmes do not Bamako–Dakar train. Blind beggars are often allowed reach them, they continue to cope with their everyday to travel by rail for free, being seen as destitute. The life and their insidious illness. girls who accompany them sit between the cars in In Mali, most of the health care centres that have front of the toilets, a location considered dangerous treatment/medicine to offer for river blindness are lo- by the railroad employees and ignored by the ticket cated in Bamako, the capital, or in towns and villages collectors because of the risk of accident. As the rail- along the Niger river. There are also programmes for ways become increasingly privatized, travelling by bus, prevention (eye examination, specialized procedures, truck, or canoe for some parts of the trip, or walking distribution of drugs, provision of supplies and infor- for some stretches, have become more common. Such mation) in health posts in villages throughout the trips do not happen in one go. Beggars generally stay country. However, poor accessibility due to poor in- (in transit) in the big cities, especially Bamako and frastructure, lack of motivation, and poor organiza- Kayes. While in transit, children and young people tion preponderate in many infected areas (Thylefors may take up small jobs such as load carriers or shoe 1985; Sommer 1989). This reduces prevention and, as polishers to earn their fare. They then move from Kaplan-Myrth (2001) noted, in remote areas people Kayes, hundreds at a time, towards Kidira, Bakel, Tam- suffering from river blindness simply refer to the ill- bacounda, Goudiri, or Diawara. Some beggars and ness as a ‘disabling fact of life’, ‘the worst possible their guides travel on foot to Kayes. Once in Kayes they fate’, ‘the will of Allah’, and as a destiny that must be go to Berola in the Kenieba circle and cross the river coped with. Since blindness diminishes their ability to which forms the border between Mali and Senegal in work in their fields and homesteads, begging is con- order to get to Sayanssou; from there they continue to sidered an acceptable means of survival, though many Kedougou. In Senegal, for those who decide to go on undertake other manual tasks for a living as much as to Banjul in The Gambia, the transit cities are Kidira, possible, such as spinning cotton rope, shelling pea- Tambacounda, Kaolack, Thies, and Dakar. nuts, and weaving plastic to make cots and chairs (Ka- Senegal is attractive for beggars from neighbour- plan-Myrth 2001: 99–102). This perspective resonates ing countries partly because the standard of living is with the findings of this research, with one additional higher, but mainly because the Senegalese are reputed feature: crossing borders to beg requires the sustained among Malians to be pious and to diligently honour support of a guide and a caretaker of daily needs in an the Islamic requirement to give alms. A resource per- alien environment. son in Mali explained: Interviews conducted in Mali revealed that the majority of women and girls and the blind beggars A beggar who is a head of his household may get to hearfrom other Malian beggars telling of their experience in they guide come from remote rural areas in the Kayes Senegal and of how much money can be made and may region (Bafing, Mahina, Kita, and Brigo towards Kar- decide to travel with his family. Interviewees, including resource persons and the girls themselves, explained that at the moment of depar- 8 By ‘disabling’, Kaplan-Myrth refers to the lack of basic infrastructure such as access to clean water, adequate ture the girls becoming guides were happy to be doing housing, roads, electricity, health care, and education, so because they thought they would be able to shop combined with malnutrition and infectious disease. for their marriage trousseau. Their parents also prom- Complexity of Gender and Age in Precarious Lives 271 ised them presents and explained that their father interviews. The first type involves the girl who serves would be able to build a house for the family. Accord- as guide for her biological father or mother who is ing to the imam of the mosque at Fleurus Street in blind. In the words of a thirteen-year-old girl: Dakar, who is a Malian: I came here with my blind father six months ago. He Begging is a job for disabled Malians in Senegal. It’s a first went to Bamako with my mother to beg. My two lucrative business, as shown by their large communities. older brothers work in the fields. But my younger Although some end up doing this all their lives, for oth- brother fell ill and my mother returned to take care of ers it is a necessary but short-term means of acquiring him. So my father took me with him [on his next trip]. funds for various projects – such as starting a business, I miss my mother and brothers. But my father says that buying supplies, buying and/or building a property. Sev- we will return at the beginning of the rainy season and eral beggars and adult guides have managed to own a we can bring them money and lots of things. Here peo- house from what was earned by begging. ple give us food and clothing and we sleep in front of the mosque. Migrating to beg as a means of livelihood has also been associated with declining community support in A sixteen-year-old girl told the following story: the home villages. A 44-year-old blind male beggar ex- My father has passed away. I am the second child. My plains: elder sister is married and looks after my younger brother. My blind mother and I came from a rural area We have to feed and clothe our children. The commu- and I guide her to beg. My mother heard from other nity does not do anything for the children of the blind people that earnings during one day here [in Dakar] can and each blind beggar must look after his children, so be as much as earnings during one month of begging that they can look after themselves in the future. I want where we come from. My mother used her savings and to buy a house for my family and have been sending with the help of her brother we took the train to come money to my brother, but the amount is not yet suffi- here. cient. A blind male beggar, forty years of age, explained how The way in which beggars make their living is not re- his daughter became his guide: ally offensive to the Senegalese population, even when practised by children. Interviewees related that earn- My wife has our baby on her back. I feel sorry for her. ings from begging can be twice or three times as high Guiding me is very tiring for her because we have to in Senegal as in Mali. In Mali, daily earnings may be walk a lot. So I ask my little girl to guide me and let my wife beg on one spot. When daughter guides me I between 300 and 3,000 Communauté Française d’Af- notice that my earning is higher than when I ask one of rique (CFA) francs, equivalent to less than US$1 to 6. the girls from our community to guide me. These girls In Dakar the daily amount can be as high as 10 000 to scam us because they practise the tontine and save for a 20 000 CFA francs (US$20 to 40). These earnings are house upon their return to Mali. used in various ways: remittances to family members The second type involves girls who were required by who stay behind in Mali; basic living costs of the beg- their parents to travel to Senegal to guide a blind beg- gar and his/her family in Senegal; and purchasing per- gar in exchange for financial or material resources for sonal effects, cereals, and other foodstuffs to be taken the parents. The beggar may not be related to the girl back to the village upon the beggar’s return home. and her family, but comes from the same village in Mali. The girl may be the niece or daughter of a 14.3.3 Gender and Age in Guiding and Living friend or neighbour of the beggar. The arrangement Conditions between the girl’s parents and the beggar is called ‘lending’. In the words of a ten-year old girl: According to adult respondents in a village in Mali, once a daughter is ‘mentally competent’ to guide her My father has ‘loaned’ me to my uncle. My father made the decision and my uncle asked me if I wanted to come blind father, she is required to accompany him. Boys along with him. I knew what I have to do once in Dakar generally refuse to guide their blind parents when they and I agreed. My uncle paid my transport. We came reach a certain age (between nine and twelve) because here four months ago and I have no contact with my of shame. When they join the flow of migrant beg- family since. I have no idea if he has sent money to my gars, they beg for themselves. Some beggars keep parents. their own daughters in Mali, and once in Senegal they The third type involves those who were married to hire girls of the same ethnic group to guide them. the beggar they guide before leaving Mali. Resource Five main types of arrangements for the girl chil- persons also told us about some women being mar- dren and women as guides were discerned from the ried to blind beggars under the custom of levirate,9 272 Codou Bop and Thanh-Dam Truong sometimes by force – especially the younger ones. A Those who provided guiding services in return for a forty-four-year-old blind beggar on Fleurus Street ex- share of earnings admitted that begging could be lu- plained: crative – particularly when their beggar employers My young wife guides me. My friend, Sékou Konaté, paid for their meals. Resource persons in Mali and gave away his daughter to me in marriage. She is my Dakar confirmed that some of these young women, fifth wife. The others have left me because I fell ill. I as returnees, were able to buy goods (televisions, fur- have been coming here to beg since 2003. I had been niture, foodstuffs) to take back to their home towns saving to buy salt for trade. Two years ago, I was able to or villages. Some have managed to use their savings to buy two tonnes of salt. I was counting on buying a buy land or set up an income-generating activity in grinding machine with the money earned from selling their home country. In Dakar, there were also cases in the salt. But the customs officer demanded a sum of 200000 CFA francs (US$400) for clearance. I did not which the companionship between these independent have the money so I lost my merchandise. If it were not women and the beggars has led to a relationship of af- for this customs officer I would have stopped begging fection and love, and even marriage. In these cases and returned home with a business. the pair continues the same arrangement for their The fourth type involves those who are ‘rented out’ work, though the guides can be more independent on a daily basis by their mothers (also blind beggars) to since they have become indispensable partners for the a blind male beggar with whom they share the same beggars. Some can negotiate a position as an equal sites. Being old, widowed, or divorced, these women10 partner, gain autonomy, and achieve a position of au-11 earn through their own begging in addition to the serv- thority vis-à-vis their blind husbands. ices provided by their girl children to the adult male In Dakar, the main problems the beggars encoun- beggars; the children do not receive any compensation ter are housing and personal security, though newly due to the fact that the agreement is made between arrived people fairly quickly integrate into migrant adults. A seventy-year-old blind beggar explained: begging communities. Those who do not immediately find a place to stay often share the shelter of another There are blind beggars who come without their wives couple until an alternative can be found. The lucky or children. They hire girls to guide them and they ones are those who can find a tiny room built from divide the earnings in half at the end of the day with the girl’s father or mother. Often the girls themselves also cardboard and sheet metal in Grand-Yoff, Hann vil- come to the beggars looking for work. lage, or Castor. These housing arrangements are pri- vately owned and managed by the local population The fifth type involves young women who independ- and rented to the beggars. They are situated close to ently migrated to Senegal in search for work, often as water discharge canals. On Valmy Street, a part of the housemaids, but could not find work and have ended begging community lives in a run-down building, pay- up becoming guides for beggars. Unrelated to the beg- ing on average 10 000 CFA francs (US$20) per gars through kinship, they work for earnings in a month; but the majority sleep in the street ‘en famille’ strictly economic relationship without the interven- around the mosque in Fleurus Street or the mosque of tion of a parent. Grand Dakar or inside the Dakar train station. A Ma- A twenty-year-old female guide explained: lian women trader in the Malian market at the Dakar I have lost both of my parents and I live with my grand- train station describes these shelters as follows: mother. My grandmother convinced me to go with her to Senegal because she had been there and knows the The girls and the beggars live in rooms made of wood, place. I guide blind beggars who need me and we share metal sheets, or rice bags or plastic sheets with many the earnings at the end of the day. It is a professional holes. The rooms are overcrowded with adults and chil- relationship and I keep my share of the earnings. People dren, bags of clothes, and other belongings. To sleep, give us clothes here and I don’t have to buy them. I want they place mats on the ground and fold them up during to save money to buy merchandise and sell it upon our the day. The building belonging to the Cité des Eaux return to Mali. That way I don’t have to guide beggars near Bignona in Grand-Yoff has many rooms in a row, any more. 11 The researchers once witnessed a marital dispute over the amount of money obtained from selling a donated piece of meat. The husband complained that the 9 Levirate marriage is a marriage in which a man takes amount appeared too low and was met with rather over the widow of a family member. defensive behaviour on the part of his wife. The young 10 These were Senegalese women who live and beg in the wife had to be calmed down by neighbours to prevent same area as their Malian counterparts. escalation of the dispute. Complexity of Gender and Age in Precarious Lives 273 with narrow doors and without windows. The rooms olence leading to unwanted pregnancy. Their ability have quite high ceilings but there is no electricity or to gain some autonomy varies, depending on their water. Apart from these, there are even more dicey shel- age, the type of guiding arrangement, and the rela- ters, with doors that cannot be closed properly, or no tionship with the beggar which defines the term of door at all. A number of abandoned trucks are also used as shelters. mutual dependency: whether this is an inter-genera- tional obligation within kinship or an employment re- In these conditions, personal security and poor sanita- lationship, marriage with the wife in a commanding tion are problems. The beggars have no information role as the non-blind party, and so on. about or access to banking services; they keep their money to themselves and are therefore vulnerable to attack and robbery (in their rooms or on the streets), 14.4 Legal and Policy Responses: The particularly when it is publicly known that they have Exclusion of Young Migrant electronic equipment of value – radios, televisions, or Malian Guides of Beggars mobile phones. Poor sanitation leaves the beggars and their guides vulnerable to many types of illnesses such In the context of cross-border migration today in as malaria, rheumatism, bronchitis, and skin diseases. West Africa, human trafficking, including child traf- Self-medication is practised; they buy medicines that ficking, becomes pertinent. There is an important le- come illegally from Mali or Nigeria and are sold gal and administrative arsenal with provisions protect- nearby. In cases of serious illness they go to the local ing children who are victims of malpractices in cross- health centres or private clinics where they have to border migration and trafficking in West Africa and a pay the full costs. A beggar complained: great number of intra-regional and bilateral pro- To ensure that my second wife got proper care when grammes to counter child trafficking. The most im- she had problems during her pregnancy, I had to spend portant is the United Nations Convention against about 250 000 CFA francs (around US$500). Transnational Organized Crime (UNCTOC) and its As circular migrants, girls who are guides do not have Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Traffic in access to schools in Senegal and are kept entirely Persons Especially Women and Children. within the Malian beggars’ communities. Few of them The Senegalese and Malian legal and policy instru- speak Wolof, the principal language in Senegal, and ments on child trafficking follow the definition of the thus most are unable to make friends with a Senega- Protocol on human trafficking of UNCTOC (see lese. Some of those interviewed had been victims of Bop/Cissé/Touré/Niang 2012). According to article 3 sexual violence, or were in conflict with boys living in (a) of this protocol: the neighbourhood. The young women and girls who ‘Trafficking in persons’ shall mean the recruitment, guide the beggars spend their days walking with the transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of per- beggars without a rest, and sometimes they have to go sons, by means of a threat or use of force or other forms begging at night. They have little to eat, surviving on of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the leftovers from cheap restaurants or bits of meals left abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the by their Senegalese neighbours. Under these circum- giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another per- stances the burdens on the girls are more intense – son, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall particularly for the biological daughters, wives include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitu- through forced marriage, or ‘loaned’ guides. As condi- tion of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, tions are harsh some wives have left their husbands. A forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to wife of a beggar tells: slavery, servitude or the removal of organs (UNODC 2008: 2). I guide my husband in the morning, and in the after- noon I must guide my mother. In the night I sell attiéké12 Regarding consent, article 3 (b) states that and fish. if a victim’s consent to the intended exploitation is In sum, young Malian female guides are frequently ex- obtained through any improper means (threat, force, posed to hazardous living conditions and strenuous deception, coercion, giving or receiving of payments or work, and to all types of violence – including sexual vi- benefits, abuse of power, position of vulnerability) then the [apparent] consent is negated and cannot be used to absolve a person from criminal responsibility. Regard- less of whether their consent was obtained without use 12 Attiéké is a grain-based product processed for urban of any prohibited means, children have special legal sta- use. 274 Codou Bop and Thanh-Dam Truong tus. A ‘child’ shall mean a person under the age of eight- both parents and fosterers, given the increasing role een years [emphasis added] (UNODC 2008: 5). of intermediaries who facilitate these arrangements in Senegal has harmonized this Protocol with its national exchange for personal profits (Truong 2005). Re- laws. Mali has instituted a mandatory exit visa for chil- search from a child-centred perspective shows that the dren, but this has not yet produced the expected re- children themselves view migration as a valuable sults. Many children continue to move across borders means of improving their status and learning new by train, bus, and boat, sometimes with the full aware- skills and that they can actually benefit from its educa- ness of the security forces responsible for ensuring tional impact (Hashim/Thorsen 2011). Given the the implementation of this new measure. The only in- mixed evidence on the effects of fostering on chil- strument between Senegal and Mali with respect to dren’s well-being and education, caution should be ex- the issue of child trafficking is a bilateral agreement ercised against a general demonization of the system signed on 22 July 2004 in Dakar. (Serra 2009). Other related international instruments include Furthermore, the traditional perception of the the conventions of the International Labour Office child as ‘capital’ to ensure the parents’ old age is very (ILO) relating to the Rights of Women and Children, much alive, not only in families but also among insti- the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of tutions responsible for the promotion of children’s Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the rights. A child also may not be defined solely and ex- Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which clusively by chronological age. Other criteria come West African countries have signed and/or ratified. into play in determining the status of childhood or There are also regional instruments, such as the Afri- adulthood: capacity, strength, size, level of economic can Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child dependence, marital status, having been (or not been) that came into force on 29 November 1999, and the subject to an initiation rite. This means that adjusting Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peo- policy to local contexts may have to involve thinking ples’ Rights on the Rights of Women adopted in about ‘social age’ (Clark-Kazak 2009) instead of ‘chron- Maputo in 2003. At the regional level, the Economic ological age’. Community of West African States (ECOWAS), of Thus, applying the UN definition of human traf- which Senegal and Mali are members, adopted the ficking has met with both local resistance (Truong Declaration to fight against Trafficking in Persons 2005: 71) and with resistance among socially engaged during the twenty-fifth Ordinary Session of Authority scholars, since a strict crime-oriented approach intro- of Heads of State held in Dakar on 20–21 December duces new risks. These risks include the wrong peo- 2001 (see appendix 1). ple being punished, or the further tightening of con- At the national level, both countries prohibit beg- trol over the mobility of people under the age of ging, although the tradition of giving alms and beg- eighteen (Busza/Castle/Diarra 2004). The puzzle re- ging as a way of making a living are socially accepted. garding interaction between ‘culture’ and socio-eco- From the perspective of the young guides, there are nomic relations, its outcome in relation to children’s discrepancies between the legal definition of ‘traffick- rights, and the question of the stage at which child la- ing’, ‘age’, and ‘consent’ and the social reality of their bour migration can be considered as trafficking is yet migration. These discrepancies should be of concern to be solved. There continues to be a great deal of un- for national institutions and organizations responsible certainty, both when defining the target group and for controlling child trafficking. Different cultural and when determining the means of intervention (De sociological interpretations of ‘childhood’ are at play, Lange 2007). especially under conditions of dire poverty. A major Where policy concerns for child beggars are ex- point of contention revolves around the question of plicitly expressed, so far girls have been hardly visible labour exploitation and the links between practices of to researchers. A survey conducted by the United Na- ‘child fostering’ and trafficking. tions Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in cooperation with In West Africa, child fostering is an age-old prac- the project Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) tice that involves the parents’ placing their child (or (2007: 2–4) on child beggars in the Dakar region as- sometimes ‘giving’ the child to a childless relative) in serts that boys constitute the quasi-total population of a family, workshop, or business of a relative for ap- child beggars, and that ninety per cent of the child prenticeship and education. In the context of child beggars in Dakar are talibés or boys who have been migration today, fostering may have become a way to sent away to religious schools (daaras) for an Islamic 13 access child labour for which gains can be made for education. The survey covered 7,600 child beggars, Complexity of Gender and Age in Precarious Lives 275 among whom no single girl was included, based on nomically insignificant group of migrants may have the belief that girls are ‘marginal’ in the activity of beg- shut them out from the realm of policy relevance. ging. Boys work up to six hours per day begging in ad- These biases are laid bare in the defining of ‘target dition to other jobs they manage to find such as carry- groups’ for policy and support programmes. Under ing loads or collecting garbage. The need for special the various programmes designed to help children in protection of the girl guides of blind beggars has to difficult circumstances implemented by the UN agen- date been neither acknowledged by their families nor cies or NGOs, a number of terms have been intro- recognized by responsible institutions. Ironically, de- duced, such as street children, children in danger, traf- spite their visibility in public spaces – in the streets, at ficked children, little beggars, vulnerable children, crossings, in front of filling stations and mosques –, the children in vulnerable circumstances, and children in relevant policymakers seem unable to recognize their distress. None of these definitions captures the multi- presence. This lack of awareness of the presence of fe- ple conditions of vulnerability and difficulty experi- male children in begging communities is also the case enced by the girls who guide blind beggars. Their dif- with staff at regional offices of UN agencies and at ficult conditions are reinforced by a combination of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Dakar power dynamics mediated through a range of social whose mandate is the protection of vulnerable chil- institutions (the family, child fostering for economic dren. gain, levirate marriage) not easily captured under the It can be said that this invisibility in the eye of pol- category of a single target group. icymakers may have been reinforced by two kinds of In Senegal, despite the existence of many national bias. First, there is a sectoral bias in campaigns against and international institutions that support vulnerable child trafficking, leading to the targeting of particular children, most of them have as yet little knowledge of sectors that have received public attention and domi- the presence of girls guiding beggars, or of the migra- nate the global agenda. For example, cocoa produc- tion routes they take or their living conditions. Fol- tion (known to employ more boys than girls) has been lowing an advocacy initiative, several donors agreed to subject to multi-level pressure and collaborative ac- fund a voluntary return migration programme involv- tion: consumer brands, strategic government interven- ing hundreds of Malian children trafficked into Sen- tion, and geographic concentration (Schrage/Ewing egal, paying for the journey and providing initial mon- 2005; Ndiaye 2009). Likewise sex trafficking – be- eys for income-generating activities once back in Mali. lieved to generate US$7–12 billions annually (Yen No female child was considered. There is no specific 2008: 659) and estimated at seventy per cent of all hu- or positive discrimination policy for the families these man trafficking (Adepoju 2005) – has been subject to children come from. The girls guiding beggars are many different types of collaborative action. also excluded from the Senegalese government’s anti- Second, there is a cognitive bias based on gender poverty measures, which cover children’s needs and beliefs held by officials, civil society organizations, do pay special attention to the rights of the girl child and researchers on who does what ‘work’ and what in education and health. counts as ‘work’ for children. Child beggars are con- Finally, there is little political will in either the Sen- sidered to be rare (or a small fraction of the popula- egalese or Malian states to protect the rights of mi- tion of children in most countries) and difficult to grant children. Following the 2004 bilateral agree- reach (UNICEF/UCW 2009). For the girls who guide ment of cooperation between Senegal and Mali, a beggars, the multiple layers of disadvantage derived Joint Standing Committee was set up with administra- from being young, female, and a member of an eco- tive focal points for monitoring child trafficking. But as neither country has arranged for the financial and human resources to translate commitments into ac- 13 The survey method used in this study defines talibés as tion, this Committee is not functional and no meet- any child who has spent the night before the survey in a ings of the focal points have been held. Koranic institution and has declared himself to have received religious education. It should be noted that in the past many talibés lived at home and studied at a daara in their village, while some were entrusted to 14.5 Conclusion marabouts (Koranic teachers) in distant villages. Today with the deterioration of rural daaras it has become Knowledge about the situation of girls who guide beg- common for parents to confide their boys to the care of gars is sparse. The insights obtained from this re- marabouts far away and often without contact for sev- search underscore the importance of recognizing the eral years. 276 Codou Bopand Thanh-Dam Truong presence of these girls among the population of chil- ity and vulnerability may open up new avenues for dren and young people who move across borders. research and action. Viewing adults and children as The fact that most of them were persuaded to leave two fixed categories can constrain an understanding their biological family and their village and cross the of the multiple relations amongst, and between, Senegal–Mali border to carry out such strenuous activ- adults and children, and the changing nature of power ity proves they are not only victims. Although their that underpins these relationships in matters of both agency is circumscribed by the relationships that or- mutual interest and resistance (White 2002). Studying ganize their migration, they can be agents having children in relation to migratory processes must go unique personhood. They face major constraints in beyond viewing them as only passive extensions of achieving personal well-being and in maintaining per- adult actors to ensure a better understanding of their sonal security with regard to health, housing, and in- being active agents in their own efforts and imaginar- come. ies of the world in relation to the varying circum- In this respect, the view that children’s rights pro- stances under which they migrate. This has implica- grammes should have an approach that is person-cen- tions for legal as well as policy practices. tred (White 2002) rather than one merely category- Finally, given the context of a multidimensional centred (based on an identity arbitrarily fixed by gen- crisis (economic, social, and environmental) facing der or a given age limit) seems to make sense. The West Africa and the relatively lucrative benefits of multiple forms of vulnerability faced by girls who migration for begging as a livelihood, the migration of guide beggars suggest that in their situation, many children and young people in this context is unlikely structural inequalities have been reinforced and/or to stop unless sustainable alternatives for the blind produced. Micro-processes of social transformation can be found. Only a bold policy aimed at greater that are gendered and generation-based are such that social justice that also gives a cognitive dimension to the normative distinction between the categories of the quotidian aspects of human security as intergener- ‘migration’ and ‘trafficking’, ‘childhood’ and ‘adult- ational mutual dependence generally and in communi- hood’, ‘ability’ and ‘disability’ may not always be ties affected by river blindness could change this situ- appropriate. Improvement of this knowledge should ation. A new prism on social justice is needed to help be a priority for researchers. overcome the tendency to disaggregate social prob- Understanding the reality of begging communities lems into discrete challenges facing specific groups from the perspective of multiple conditions of disabil- rather than to define them as being interrelated. Appendix: Legal and Institutional Frameworks to Combat Child Trafficking relevant to Mali and Senegal International Instruments 11. Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children 12. Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 44/25 of 20 Novem- ber 1989, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1577, no. 27531. 13. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 54/263 (annexe II) of 25 May 2000, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2171, no. 27531. 14. Convention concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour, 1930 (Convention No. 29), of the International Labour Organization Convention, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 39, no. 612. 15. ILO Convention 182óThe Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, adopted in 1999 and ratified by 173 nations by 2010. Article 2 defines a child as someone under the age of 18. 16. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, adopted by the General Assem- bly in its resolution 34/180 of 18 December 1979 (article 6 refers to traffic in women and exploitation of prosti- tution of women), United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1249, no. 20378 Regional Instruments 1. The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child entered into force on 29 November 1999. Article 29 of this Charter states that States parties shall take appropriate measures to prevent: (a) the abduction, the Complexity of Gender and Age in Precarious Lives 277 sale of, or trafficking of children for any purpose or in any form, by any person, including parents or legal guard- ians of the child; (b) the use of children in all forms of begging. 2. The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child that came into force on 29 November 1999. 3. The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoplesí Rights on the Rights of Women, adopted in Maputo in 2003. 4. Economic Community of West African Statesí Declaration on the Fight against Trafficking in Persons (the twenty-fifth Ordinary Session of Authority of Heads of State, held in Dakar on 20–21 December 2001, with a Plan of Action against Trafficking in Persons (2002–2003) annexed to the Declaration. Bilateral Agreement A bilateral agreement on the struggle against trafficking and trafficking of children signed between Senegal and Mali, 22 July 2004 in Dakar. References Clark-Kazaka, Christina Rose, 2009: “Towards a Working Definition and Application of Social Age in Interna- Adepoju, Aderanti, 2004: “Trends in international migra- tional Development Studies”, in: The Journal of Devel- tion in and from Africa”, in: Massey, Doris. S. and Tay- opment Studies, 45,8: 1307-1324. lor, J. 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Part V Liminal Legality, Citizenship and Migrant Rights Mobilization Chapter 15 Migrants’ Citizenship and Rights: Limits and Potential for NGOs’ Advocacy in Chile Claudia Mora and Jeff Handmakert Chapter 16 Diminished Civil Citizenship of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates Antoinette Vlieger Chapter 17 The Right to Education for Migrant Children in Thailand: Liminal Legality and the Educational Experience of Migrant Children in Samut Sakhon Kamowan Petchot Chapter 18 Challenges of Recognition, Participation, and Representation for the Legally Liminal: A Comment Cecilia Menjívar and Susan Bibler Coutin 15 Migrants’ Citizenship and Rights: Limits and Potential for NGOs’ Advocacy in Chile Claudia Mora and Jeff Handmaker1 Abstract In this chapter we address the structural and institutional constraints faced by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) assisting Peruvian migrants in Chile to advocate for migrants’ rights. We argue that these constraints have provoked reactive rather than proactive strategic responses by NGOs in their promotion of migrants’ rights. In addition, the unchallenged acceptance of a traditional notion of citizenship has placed Chilean NGOs as short-term service providers rather than as long-term advocates. We propose that a conscious recognition of the possibilities opened up by international legal regimes to confront nation-states’ regulation of migrants’ rights offers a pragmatic approach to navigating such limits. Keywords: citizenship, liminal legality, migrant advocacy, rights translation, stratification. 15.1 Introduction1 Migration to neighbouring countries demands lower monetary and time investments, given the prox- The Southern Cone of Latin America has undergone imity to migrants’ countries of origin and flexible en- significant shifts in the migration of people during the try requirements. Today, more than ten per cent of last few decades. The direction of movement has tra- Latin American migration happens within the region ditionally been south to north, in particular to North (Martinez 2011). As in other parts of the world expe- America and Europe. However, the movement of peo- riencing similar dynamics, the rapid increase in intrar- ple to countries in the global North has given way to egional migration has been accompanied by migrants’ an increasingly intraregional south-south migration. social exclusion and structural constraints on their This diversification of flows has not only followed ability to claim rights, taking place on two levels: first, economic and political crises, but has also resulted based on the territorially based normative regimes in from border containment policies in the north, weigh- the country of destination; and second, related to mi- ing on migration’s costs and the length and purpose grants’ location in social hierarchies of gender, race, of the entire migration project. and social class, which constitutes differentiated no- tions and exercise of rights, in both the countries of origin and of destination. In this chapter, we focus on a case study of Peru- 1 Dr. Claudia Mora is a faculty member of the Depart- vian migration to Chile in order to assess the condi- ment of Sociology at Universidad Alberto Hurtado, tions forging civil society organizations’ capacity to re- Chile. Dr. Jeff Handmaker is a senior lecturer in Law, spond to these challenges in their promotion of Human Rights and Development at the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University, The migrants’ rights. We explore the incongruence of na- Netherlands and Honorary Senior Research Fellow in tion-state rights’ addressing globally based justice is- the School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand, sues pertaining to the movement of people around South Africa. The authors would like to thank Hugo Sir the globe, and the possibilities for advocacy on behalf for his invaluable help as research assistant. Correspond- of migrants by civil society organizations. In the case ence can be e-mailed to cmora@uahurtado.cl and hand- of Chile, an increase in Peruvian migrants has not maker@iss.nl. Funding for this research was provided by changed the policy framework in a way that supports IDRC, Canada, Grant number 104785-006 and FONDE- CYT, Chile, Grant number 1100793. broader protection of migrants’ rights, and the advo- T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 281 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_15, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 282 Claudia Mora and Jeff Handmaker cacy response of civic organizations has been corre- ship set by the nation-state not only contradict the re- spondingly limited. This has left the growing Peruvian alities of migration, but that the unquestioned accept- migrant population with a liminal legal status (Menji- ance of this bounded notion by civic actors, and var 2006), including restricted access to social services particularly NGOs, is a significant obstacle to social and almost no participation in the public sphere. advocacy for migrants. NGOs are, broadly speaking, Peruvians in Chile form a distinct flow of mi- not a network capable of safeguarding the human grants. They amount to 138,000 according to the Im- rights of peoples (Ong 2006). However, their unques- migration Department of Chile, and this number has tioned acceptance of such a limited definition of citi- continued to grow since the 1990s. Migrants from zenship has resulted in NGOs’ intensifying their posi- Peru consist, by and large, of predominantly labour tion as service-providers to migrants, rather than as migrants travelling on an individual basis, at least in representatives of migrants in legal and social proc- their initial stages of migration. Peruvian migrants are esses that define social belonging and economic dis- mostly women (sixty per cent according to the last tribution (Fraser 2003). This has consequently re- 2002 census), which is in part explained by the fewer stricted the scope of their activities and their potential resources required for intraregional migration, and as advocates. Furthermore, this positioning of NGOs the proximity of the country of origin that permits the as service-providers rather than critical advocates has continued fulfilment of gender responsibilities with confirmed the Chilean state’s approach to individual family and community in Peru. responsibility and autonomy in the resolution of mi- While they average over ten years of education, Pe- grants’ needs and demands. This becomes particularly ruvians are concentrated in precarious, low-paid, low- relevant in the case of Peruvian migration to Chile, status occupations in Chile, largely due to prejudice which involves a great number of women. Women mi- and stereotypes held by employers and society at large grants are mostly segregated into care work, a low-sta- (Mora 2009, 2011). Most migrants are recruited tus position in the occupational hierarchy, which through informal channels to work in domestic serv- tends to reproduce their social and economic margin- ice and construction work, in conditions that do not alization in Chile. In addition, Peruvian migrants’ life substantially alleviate their economic and social mar- conditions and trajectories are shaped by their limited ginalization. The effects of these conditions on mi- access to social resources on the grounds that they grants’ awareness and the exercising of their rights ‘lack citizenship’ and experience liminal legality have been explored elsewhere (Mora/Piper 2011). (Mora 2008, 2009). Our research has drawn attention to the relevance of Our critique of traditional notions of citizenship social stratification and its influence on notions and espoused by Chilean NGOs is intended to shed light claims of rights, linking migrants’ understanding and on alternative models of representation that would practice to a combination of their social and cultural broaden the service approach of NGOs to one of in- capital, the length of their stay in the host society, and formed advocacy for the rights of migrants. In reach- their understanding of rights vis-à-vis their country of ing these findings, we draw on research carried out in origin and destination (Mora/Piper 2011). Santiago de Chile between 2008 and 2009 and on in- In this chapter, we will address the structural and terviews with thirty-five key informants from organiza- institutional constraints faced by non-governmental tions which provide at least one service to immi- organizations (NGOs) assisting Peruvian migrants in grants, in order to explore the constraints placed on Chile to advocate for migrants’ rights. We will argue NGOs should they ultimately fulfil a more prominent that these constraints have provoked NGOs’ reactive advocacy role. rather than proactive strategic response to advocacy. We propose that a conscious recognition of the possi- bilities opened up by international legal regimes to 15.2 Citizenship in a Globalized World confront nation-states’ regulation of migrants’ rights offers a pragmatic approach to navigating such limits Migration poses many challenges to traditional no- and to translating entitlements into a locally relevant tions of citizenship – understood as the bond between context (Merry 2006a, 2006b). individuals, their rights and responsibilities, and a na- We will begin by assessing the implicitly pre- tion-state – since the growing scale of people’s move- scribed notion of citizenship that defines the category ment around the globe confronts people’s claims to ‘migrant’, which precludes the recognition of certain universal citizenship with the actual boundaries of cit- rights. We will argue that the boundaries of citizen- izens’ inclusion within a nation’s frontiers. The Migrants’ Citizenship and Rights: Limits and Potential for NGOs’ Advocacy in Chile 283 breadth of contemporary migration draws attention ing access to health2 and education3. A core objective to at least three aspects of this challenge. First, to the of the 1990 Convention provides that migrant work- unyielding hold of the nation-state on the political sys- ers should be guaranteed decent work conditions. Ar- tem, which narrowly defines the parameters of inclu- ticle 70 of the Convention states that: sion. Second, to the need for recasting membership of States Parties shall take measures not less favourable a political community as an issue of social justice. And than those applied to nationals to ensure that working third, to the possibilities for a redefinition of citizen- and living conditions of migrant workers and members ship’s emerging out of clashes between different levels of their families in a regular situation are in keeping with of regulatory regimes. These three aspects help us ex- the standards of fitness, safety, health and principles of plore some of the contradictions of citizenship in a human dignity. globalized world. These entitlements provided by the 1990 Convention form part of a social dimension of citizenship, guaran- 15.2.1 The Restrictiveness of Citizens’ Inclusion teeing as a minimum the opportunity to live a ‘digni- fied life’ according to the means and capacities in the Citizenship can be a mark of belonging as well as of host society. In this context, the reinforcement by exclusion. It warrants entitlement to social benefits to international regimes of the protection of migrants’ all those considered part of the political community basic rights acquires great relevance. by birth, by ancestry, or by ascription through a for- The intensity and speed of people’s movement mal procedure established by the state. In contrast, have therefore exceeded the boundaries of citizen- the category of migrant is possible only to the extent ship, which has been recast as not the sole path to the that it is conceived as the other in relation to the cat- recognition of membership. In a highly mobile world, egory of citizen. Non-citizens, generally, lack member- immigrants do not always become, or even want to ship of the political community. It is this negation that become, citizens of a nation-state. Indeed, for many signals the impervious hold of the nation-state on the migrants, citizenship status is less relevant than their political system, in that it defines the limits of access entitlement to social services such as health, educa- to social rights and entitlements. This power of the tion, and welfare benefits (Basok 2004). This means nation-state has clearly diminished in other spheres, that, to migrants, formal political recognition may be most notably in economic activities and regulations, secondary to the legitimacy of social rights provided but not in the definition of membership (Halfmann by the international regime of human rights, of rights 1998). located in the individual rather than in the nation- Even though citizenship has been thought of as a state. neutral political space, unmarked by social stratifica- Migrants’ experiences and demands are shaped by tion, this idea of universalism contained in a homoge- interactions between different types of agents and in- neous community of citizens has served to obscure stitutions, framed by conflicting norms and symbols, material differences and inequalities among nationals and within a structural context. This is why different and migrants alike (Barber 2006). Indeed, the con- stages of migration may intensify the relevance of mi- cept of social inclusion professed by the notion of cit- grants’ access to social services or to formal recogni- izenship disregards the material and symbolic differ- tion (Basok 2004; Mora/Piper 2011). And, to fully un- ences among nationals by gender and class, and it also derstand the relevance of different degrees of determines the particular forms of exclusion faced by migrants’ entitlements, and the way they are con- immigrants as non-members of a political community structed through interaction, it is necessary to also and ‘aliens’ to the distribution of social benefits. consider citizenship as a process (Nakano Glenn The conventional distinction between citizens and 2011). This means that practices of citizenship are non-citizens is becoming increasingly contested in a shaped by different forms of social hierarchies which globalized and conflict-ridden world, involving large unevenly position migrants in relation to entitlements and often sudden movements of people. Related to and their exercise of rights (Basok 2004). Hence, to these developments, in terms of human rights law, go beyond paper rights, or ‘law in the books’, which and especially with regard to the International Con- may be accorded by formal citizenship, migrants must vention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (1990) which Chile ratified on 21 March 2005, is the fact that mi- 2 Provided for in articles 25(1)(a), 28, 43(1)(a), 45(1)(e) and grants are entitled to demand social benefits, includ- 70 of the Convention.3 Provided for in articles 30, 45(1)(a) and 45(4). 284 Claudia Mora and Jeff Handmaker be able to formulate claims to these rights in terms of 15.2.2 Rights and Social Justice Beyond Formal the ‘living law’ (Hertogh 2009), and such claims are Citizenship likely to be precluded by forms of social exclusion of gender, class, and race. Related to the perceived, albeit contested importance As we have argued elsewhere, there are key factors of citizenship status for migrants, there has also been triggering migrants’ sense of entitlement: the nature an increasing questioning of the very concept as of their legal (i.e. documented or undocumented) sta- anachronistic and surpassed by actual developments tus; the length of migrants’ stay in the country of des- in the international arena. In this vein, Yasemin Soysal tination; migrants’ human and social capital, which (1997), for example, has argued that the notion of cit- provide the resources for consciousness and claims; izenship assumes rights and identities presaged by the and their understanding of rights compared to their boundaries of the nation-state, without taking into ac- country of origin (Basok 2004; Mora/Piper 2011). A count that the public sphere is constituted transna- processual approach allows one to correlate different tionally and hence that claims emerge ‘within’ and stages of migration with changing grievances and no- ‘beyond’ the nation-state (Soysal 1997: 510–511). In tions of rights, as well as the centrality of access to this regard, Fraser (2009) proposes to go beyond con- formal citizenship. For example, the first stage of mi- ceptualizing justice as pertaining to all those affected gration is often governed by migrants’ search of em- nationally or transnationally, to a notion where it per- ployment. Hence, it is likely that, even if conscious of tains to all those subjected to the same governance their rights, migrants’ need for a job may take prece- structure. dence over other grievances and demands. Migrants Human rights and international law, including spe- may fear losing their job if they claim labour rights or cifically articles 23 and 24 of the Universal Declara- fear stigmatization as ‘problem workers’, which would tion of Human Rights (1948); article 5(e)(i) of the not only affect their situation as family providers, but Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial that of the network of migrants often involved in their Discrimination (1965); the broad protection afforded labour recruitment, ‘contaminating’ the network for by the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989); future referrals (Mora/Piper 2011). Recently arrived and especially the Convention on the Protection of migrants are, on the whole, more socially vulnerable the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of compared with experienced migrants. In this first Their Families (1990), as well as various Conventions stage of migration, consciousness of needs and a ca- passed under the auspices of the International Labour pacity to formulate demands for social services may Organization, potentially provide a broad normative be more relevant than acquiring formal citizenship. basis for the advancement of migrants’ rights in the This differentiated position does not mean mi- countries and societies in which they settle. Claims grants’ experiences are similar in every stage of migra- based on human rights are not tied to a territory but tion. The notion of ‘migrants’ also suffers from the located in individuals. Hence, states are less able to ar- dangers of essentialization, given that people’s posses- bitrarily deny rights to non-citizens. This form of indi- sion of economic, social, and cultural capital marks vidualized citizenship captures the aspirations of mil- different paths and experiences of migration. As Sas- lions of migrants who, while not citizens of a nation- sen (1998) notes, there are two different circuits of state, invoke universal norms to claim or advocate for people’s movement. Firstly, there are highly skilled the recognition of their basic social rights. In practical professionals who more closely resemble the relatively terms, citizenship is surpassed by the contestation of free movement of capital, and for whom citizenship global regimes placing claims of rights beyond the may be irrelevant and/or an accessible resource. Sec- boundaries of the nation-state. ondly, there are migrant workers in search of better The limits of nation-state citizenship in a glo- economic and life chances through marginal and of- balized world are that this conventional notion of cit- ten precarious work. This second group is subject to izenship has ceased to explain the relations between increasing constraints of movement and while rele- the state and the political community, precisely be- vant, their membership in a political and/or eco- cause, as Soysal (1997) argues, the public sphere is nomic community is equally elusive. We deal with the constituted within and beyond the boundaries of the second group, for whom human dignity and access to state. The persistence of the state’s hold on the polit- basic services constitute an aspiration in their first mi- ical sphere with its corresponding normative frame- gratory stage. work of what is distributed and to whom has made migration and membership in a political community Migrants’ Citizenship and Rights: Limits and Potential for NGOs’ Advocacy in Chile 285 pivotal to an issue of social justice that is not always In this plurality of legal systems, a national law territorially based. Indeed, as Fraser (2003) has ar- may, for example, prescribe that no one of a particu- gued, the effects of such framework are mediated by lar nationality be entitled to health care, whereas a non-territorial and extra-territorial forces. That is, in health care clinic financed by the municipal govern- answering the questions of what, whom, and how the ment may observe a policy of opening its doors to an- distribution of resources is accomplished, the frame- yone, regardless of legal residential status. Clashes work for justice needs to be rethought to include post- also arise between different national laws. For exam- Westphalian principles (Fraser 2003). ple, a country’s immigration law may forbid the possi- At the same time, a stumbling block on the path bility of a long-term migrant guest-worker being to social justice is a definition of belonging using ter- joined by her family members, while the same coun- ritorial parameters for a process where they are irrele- try’s constitution may extend to all the right to enjoy vant. A critical assessment of citizenship and of the one’s family life. limits of a territorially bound justice frame allows one Migration policy regimes that emanate from multi- to explore an understanding of different facets of the lateral systems often clash with a state’s national vulnerability and social exclusion on the grounds of (im)migration law system. In the case of a treaty, the gender, race, and class confronted by the majority of juridical implications of these clashes are explicitly ne- labour migrants. In this scenario, civil society and es- gotiated and agreed in terms of another international pecially NGOs assisting migrants have the potential to law principle, pacta sunt servanda.4 At the global connect different political levels. These include the level, multi-lateral policies aimed at restricting the level within and beyond a nation-state and interre- movement of people across borders may contradict lated regulatory regimes and the level of different so- policy regimes aimed at the protection of migrants. cial actors within the nation-state. Civil society organ- In terms of global protective measures, the Inter- izations are key agents in the representation of national Labour Organization (ILO) oversaw the de- migrants’ interests and in the promotion of measures velopment and ratification of a comprehensive Mi- that advance the recognition of migrants, such as the grant Workers Convention (1990), which came into gathering and dissemination of information to mi- force in 2002. While the treaty has been ratified by grants; advocacy, particularly for the most vulnerable; large numbers of states from which migrant workers legal aid services; lobbying for legal change; and edu- originate, virtually none of the host states where mi- cation on immigrant rights (Battistella 1993; Klaaren/ grant workers obtain employment have ratified the Dugard/Handmaker 2011). More importantly, a will- treaty and the Convention is therefore not binding in ingness among organizations to question a territori- these countries. As mentioned earlier, Chile is an ex- ally based frame of justice can help facilitate their ception, having ratified the Convention on 21 March bridging role between migrants and the society in 2005. A state’s ratification of an international treaty countries of destination, which in turn enhances their designed to protect an individual raises the possibility advocacy for migrants’ interests. of individuals, either on their own or via an interme- diary organization, making a direct or indirect claim 15.2.3 Clashes between Different Regulatory against a state (Handmaker 2009: 32). For example, Regimes NGOs in Chile could raise issues of concern with the Committee on the Rights of Migrant Workers, which Regulating who may enter and remain within a coun- was established in terms of article 72(1) of the 1990 try has conventionally been one of the principal fea- Convention. The Committee in fact reviewed Chile in tures of a state’s exercise of territorial sovereignty in its 15th Session in September 2011. Among its conclu- terms of well-established principles of international sions, the Committee expressed concern “about re- law. More importantly, “the right to leave and the ports on the existence of discriminatory attitudes and right to enter a country are not symmetrically pro- social stigmatization of migrant workers and members tected” (Cornelisse 2010: 175). This principle of terri- of their families” in Chile (Committee on Migrant torial sovereignty in international law has, however, Workers 2011). been seriously undermined as different legal systems and social normative structures, both national and in- ternational, coexist within nation-states, leading to 4 Meaning: “agreements must be kept”. This refers to the theoretical and actual clashes that have the potential collective, binding effect of treaties on all contracting to either limit or advance a person’s social protection. states, against whom claims may be brought by migrantsand/or representative organizations. 286 Claudia Mora and Jeff Handmaker As an inherently global issue, governments and vine of interests’ in which non-state actors, NGOs, multilateral organizations have been encouraged to have played a key role (Korey 2003). As participants in harmonize or codify many different efforts to regulate international legal and political processes, individuals transnational migration. Consultative policy processes and civic organizations have played key roles, from have sought a middle ground between the different the framing of juridical standards to human rights en- levels and types of regulatory regimes, according due forcement and the expanding of public consciousness attention to state security concerns as well as promot- about migrants’ rights, and these have shifted the re- ing the humane treatment of migrants. lationship between civic actors and the state (Hand- In the course of these efforts at global codifica- maker 2009: 57). tion, states have tended to privilege and indeed en- courage people to migrate for study purposes as well 15.2.5 Civic Actors as Translators as to take up key jobs in certain employment sectors. International organizations and NGOs have mean- Civic actors also fulfil a crucial role in mediating the while sought to promote and protect the rights of ref- translation of international legal norms into local con- ugees as an exceptional category of migrant. Conse- texts. The role of these translators can be a powerful quently, this category of migrants, together with force in reinforcing social justice claims through knowledge migrants, has benefited more from these other, non-legal means (Abel 1995, Merry 2006b). In regimes in terms of their level of legal protection and order to be effective translators, civic actors must pos- social acceptance (Handmaker 2011). Labour mi- sess a ‘double consciousness’ of the content of inter- grants are, in this sense, the category most likely to national law and the circumstances and institutions benefit from an active role being taken by civil society through which it is enforced, as well as the local or na- organizations, and their strategic use of international tional context in which international norms find ex- versus national norms in the promotion of migrants’ pression (Merry 2006a, 2006b). NGOs are situated at rights and entitlements. a place where they can be brokers or ‘translators’ of human rights and social justice claims: a bridge be- 15.2.4 Civic capacity to hold states accountable tween the human rights world, activists, and migrants (Merry 2006a, 2006b). The capacity of civic actors to promote and, some- times, impose state accountability for meeting na- tional and international legal obligations has been 15.3 Migrant NGOs in Chile: From shaped by concomitant global, regional, and national Service Providers to Potential legal frameworks. With the introduction of human Advocates rights instruments at the international and, by exten- sion, regional level, the legal scope for advocating in- The vulnerability characterizing most labour migra- dividual and group rights at the national level has tion means it is decisive that organizations lobby for been enhanced. As illustrated earlier, treaty-based their interests, considering that migrants have limited rights, such as those provided by the Convention on structures of representation. In this section, we will Migrant Workers and Their Families, may not only be examine the role migrant NGOs have played as civic directly enforceable through a relevant international actors and in the challenging of social, cultural, legal, treaty body or international tribunal, but also through and political contexts in which they operate. In the a state’s national court system, depending on whether case of Chile, migrant organizations have not taken a or not a state’s domestic legal system regards a treaty strong advocacy role, and services provided tend to be as self-executing. Legal remedies in direct relation to specific and uncoordinated with other organizations the Convention may be difficult, although migrants or services. Some of these organizations are spon- would still be able to make claims through the state’s sored by the Catholic Church and function as shelters labour law, insisting on the enforceability of the Mi- for recently arrived migrants as well as placement grant Workers Convention (Satterthwaite 2005: 63). agencies for domestic service work. Some are affili- Ignatieff (1999) has referred to these develop- ated to universities in Santiago and provide basic legal ments as components of a human rights ‘revolution’ and psychological services. There are also organiza- with juridical, enforcement, and advocacy dimen- tions that focus on the ‘cultural integration’ of Peru- sions; as part of a human rights ‘spiral’ (Risse/Ropp/ vian migrants, and a few other organizations, born Sikkink 1999); or as the product of a ‘curious grape- out of the political exile of Peruvians under former Migrants’ Citizenship and Rights: Limits and Potential for NGOs’ Advocacy in Chile 287 president Fujimori, which provide legal and financial ily care-taker, and workshops to prepare them for do- assistance to the community. mestic work (Mora/Piper 2011). We suggest that these organizations are limited by We have argued elsewhere (Mora/Piper 2011) that structural and organizational constraints to become migrants differ in the relevance they attribute to agents of social justice for migrants, and especially rights, and that their evaluation shifts with their mi- women migrants, in Chile. Some of these barriers are gratory experience and with their acquired capital (so- institutionally based, while others are outcomes of an cial and cultural), widening the scope of rights claims insufficient normative framework (political, social, as these features increase. Hence, migrants’ involve- and juridical), precluding the development of an ac- ment with NGOs is limited, partly because their no- tive role by civic society agents. Organizational and tions of rights are tied to improving their conditions normative constraints compel NGOs’ tactical or reac- of employment, using NGOs’ legal services, or secur- tive approach to social demands, which in turn im- ing access to medical attention and education for pedes the capitalization of NGOs’ achievements; the their children. This does not, however, mean that or- accumulation of institutional knowledge; and the es- ganizations are silent on the collective harnessing of tablishment of NGOs as relevant actors in the promo- rights; rather their work is just beginning to focus on tion of migrants’ rights. migrants’ access to legal information as well as to in- New forms of citizen participation are, no doubt, formation on housing, employment, and educational promoted by Chilean civil society organizations. Their rights. Nevertheless, the dominant perspective that work in providing immigrants with basic tools to nav- has resulted is one that naturalizes the positioning of igate and understand novel structures, institutions, Peruvian migrants, and of women in particular. Con- and experiences in a receiving society that is often sequently the promotion of rights has translated hostile reveals an understanding of their potential role mostly into information workshops on labour law and as advocates, grounded in deep beliefs in humans’ the filing of migrants’ visa applications, or on the right to have rights. However, Chilean organizations know-how of domestic service, reinforcing the low have not been able to represent migrants’ interests status of migrant women. and promote their full access to social and political rights and have rather targeted migrant women in their reproductive role, focusing on the provision of 15.4 Chilean NGOs’ Possibilities for necessary though unrelated services insufficient to Agency broaden the sense of belonging and entitlement in the new society. Certainly, the provision of services is fun- As mentioned, many migrant organizations have damental on immigrants’ arrival in Chile; however, or- emerged in the last decade in Santiago, a number of ganizations fall short in their support of needs emerg- them sponsored by the Catholic Church, others under ing along a wider trajectory, and often fail to the auspices of universities, such as legal aid and psy- incorporate the knowledge and empowerment mi- chological clinics, and a few volunteer-based political grants are likely to accumulate over time. and cultural organizations. However, there are a In addition, a lack of understanding of migration number of barriers preventing a strategic approach to as a process that is also transnational has limited serv- advocacy, limiting the development of practices that ices to migrants’ arrival, in some ways naturalizing would allow civic agents to consolidate a sphere of ac- conditions that may not reflect migrants’ needs over tion and to capitalize on their achievements. The first time. In our research into organizations in Santiago, stumbling block for NGOs is the absence of continu- we found that most pay sole attention to individual ous funding. The majority of these organizations rely and care-related needs, rather than taking on an advo- exclusively on volunteers and short-term funds. The cacy role in demanding the advancement of collective consequences of this financial uncertainty are nega- rights. Perhaps a more important form of naturaliza- tive and widely felt, ranging from charging migrants tion of immigrants is organizations’ unchallenged re- for services to employee and volunteer rotation. The production of the labour segregation of Peruvian mi- effects of this unmanaged risk prevent the accumula- grants in Chile. Migrant civil society organizations in tion of organizational knowledge and, in the long run, Chile tend to foster the inclusion of Peruvian mi- the achievement of long-term goals. grants, especially women, in their gendered role. A second issue, arising from the above, is that Many provide services tailored to women as the fam- Chilean organizations tend to offer only services re- quested by migrants. Hence, their goals are defined in 288 Claudia Mora and Jeff Handmaker a reactive fashion, narrowly limited to the particular institutions. Peruvian migrants’ life chances are dimin- demands for services made by migrants. Most do not ished by gender roles and stereotypes. Peruvian include a questioning of the denial of citizenship sta- women tend to show a circular pattern of migration tus to migrants, but rather naturalize the restrictive le- when care at origin is involved, affecting their labour gal, institutional, and structural limits of the Chilean trajectory and benefits. Gender stereotypes also direct state, where ‘help’ is provided to ‘aliens’. The net- migrants into a highly segregated labour market, works established among NGOs are scarce too, and where ‘domestic servant’ and ‘Peruvian immigrant’ are for this reason they are rarely able to capture an becoming symbolically interchangeable. The intersec- agenda beyond pressing demands to incorporate plan- tion of migrants’ class and gender, and their percep- ning for broader citizenship and rights claims. tion as a racial other – elaborated on the basis of na- But perhaps the most compelling barrier faced by tional origin – also contribute to migrants’ lack of civil society organizations is the rigid legal framework recognition, and hence, of social justice in Chile. This of the Chilean nation-state. Current immigration law is why NGOs are central to the promotion of social dates back to the dictatorship the country endured respect of migrants. from 1973 until 1990. The focus of the national juridi- NGOs’ potential to advocate for migrants’ rights cal regime is on national security threatened by migra- in Chile through legal and social mobilization would tion, rather than on taking into account the reality of represent a significant departure from their current increasing migration flows and the need for recogni- service orientation. Advocacy is a confrontational ex- tion of migrants’ rights. NGOs have worked under pression of civic agency that is, generally speaking, this normative framework with its limited focus on as- more limited in scope than cooperative interactions, similation rather than fostering an understanding of such as helping the government cope with implemen- migratory flows as part of an all-encompassing tran- tation challenges, but also potentially more effective snational dynamic. in widening the understanding of who counts as a Given that many barriers to advocacy emerge from subject of rights (Fraser 2003). NGOs are best posi- nationally based structural constraints, including a mi- tioned to contribute to an effective transnational pub- gration law that cannot address citizenship and rights, lic sphere that would permit the demand of rights it is only opposition by international regimes that can within and beyond the nation-state (Fraser 2003). open the possibilities for a recognition of migrants’ However, in the case of Chilean NGOs, organiza- rights and for NGOs’ legitimation as advocates. The tional barriers – such as limited funding, short-term capacity of civic actors to promote and sometimes im- goals and activities, and the absence of networks – pose state accountability for meeting national and in- and structural barriers – such as a dated, national-se- ternational legal obligations has been shaped by the curity-inspired legislation – erode the potential of introduction of human rights instruments at the inter- Chilean NGOs to articulate different levels of legal re- national level. By extension, the legal scope for advo- gimes, to advocate for a notion of citizenship that is cating individual and group rights at the national level not territorially based, and to act as brokers or ‘trans- has been enhanced. Treaty-based rights are not only lators’ between international human rights regimes directly enforceable through a relevant international and local migrants’ demands. treaty body or international tribunal, but also through Here, we have suggested the need for civic actors’ a state’s national court system. To advocate migrants’ appropriation of a social space that will allow them to rights in Chile by way of legal—and social—mobiliza- anticipate and manoeuvre power relations—the idea of tion would represent a significant departure from strategy proposed by de Certeau (2000). And plan- their current service orientation. ning, as an effect of the accumulation of NGOs’ knowledge and observation, is preceded by a con- sciousness of the field, its possibilities, and the actors 15.5 Conclusions and positions involved. Only then will Chilean NGOs be able to challenge narrowly defined notions of Dignity and social esteem are integral parts of social membership and entitlement, especially given the justice that often elude Peruvian migrants in Chile, breath of migratory flows and the potential for legiti- whose share in the distribution of social benefits is of- mation in international regimes. For this, civic actors ten exiguous due to their lower status in Chilean hier- must also understand the potential to mobilize mi- archies of gender, class, and the racial othering taking grants’ rights in Chile. They have an inherent capacity place in day-to-day interactions, as well as by Chilean to hold states accountable to their national and inter- Migrants’ Citizenship and Rights: Limits and Potential for NGOs’ Advocacy in Chile 289 national legal obligations through legal and social mo- which suggests that the limits to organizations’ advo- bilization strategies, and civic actors can fulfil a cen- cacy have indeed prevented this role beyond basic as- tral role in the translation of international rules in sistance to migrants. Civic actors can be a powerful local legal contexts. force in the advancement of migrants’ rights in Chile, Our research shows that while Peruvian migrants but the necessary conscious recognition of these pos- do use NGOs’ services at different times, they mostly sibilities is contingent upon their own strategic, rather rely on informal networks and sources of knowledge, than reactive, positioning. 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This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. 16 Diminished Civil Citizenship of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates Antoinette Vlieger1 Abstract This chapter discusses the positions of domestic workers and their employers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in relation to different conceptions of citizenship. Scholars studying domestic workers commonly use concepts of citizenship to situate the vulnerable position of domestic workers. This chapter elaborates on existing theory in specifying the connection between the concepts of access to justice, citizenship, and legal lim- inality. Specifically, this chapter shows how the theory of diminished citizenship, developed to analyse the posi- tion of domestic workers elsewhere, also applies to domestic workers in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. Inter- views and fieldwork show that in the case of a conflict, these workers have no proper access to justice; this results in severely diminished civil citizenship and is related to the fact that domestic workers are both migrants and women. This chapter then examines to what extent the position of the employers can be conceptualized within the same citizenship framework. The results suggest that the position of the employers cannot be framed using the same conceptions of citizenship. A more detailed look at Saudi and Emirati societies reveals new con- cepts, but also shows there may be an interconnection between the various concepts of citizenship. The study finally opens the discussion on possible connections between civil citizenship, social citizenship, and the posi- tion of women. As such, this chapter is relevant not only for the more than two million domestic workers in these two countries but also for reaching a better understanding of the importance of full citizenship for women worldwide. Keywords: Access to justice, civil citizenship, domestic workers, gender, legal liminality, migrant workers, Saudi Arabia, social citizenship, United Arab Emirates. 16.1 Introduction1 childcare, and care for the elderly, in exchange for food, lodging, and money. In earlier historical peri- This chapter discusses the positions of more than two ods, there was often a life cycle of domestic work: million female, migrant, live-in domestic workers2 in girls who worked as domestic workers during their Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (the Emir- younger years would hire one after marriage. Upon ates) who suffer from a lack of access to justice. Fe- the introduction of the minimum wage in western Eu- male domestic workers are live-ins who perform tasks rope, domestic workers became too expensive for the in private households, such as cleaning, cooking, average household. Furthermore, other jobs became available for women, and therefore paid domestic work almost vanished from many European countries. 1 Antoinette Vlieger studied Dutch law, international law, cultural anthropology, and sociology of the non-Western In the 1970s, several scholars predicted the demise of world. She has lectured in corporate law, introduction paid domestic work (Moors 2003), but developments to law, argumentation theory, contract law and penal during the decades that followed have proven them law from meta-legal perspectives, and liability law at the wrong; in both the northern and the southern hemi- University of Amsterdam, where she obtained her Ph.D. spheres, the number of those engaged in paid domes- in 2011. tic work has grown rapidly, causing a feminization of 2 Male domestic workers are notably rare and Saudi or the migrant labour force. Whereas in the 1970s Emirati domestic workers have not been found and according to interviewees no longer exist; see below. women formed approximately fifteen per cent of the T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 291 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_16, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 292 Antoinette Vlieger migrant labour force, in the mid-1990s they consti- fluence the conflicts between female, migrant, live-in tuted the majority of migrant workers in several coun- domestic workers and their employers in Saudi Arabia tries—almost sixty per cent in the Philippines and ap- and the United Arab Emirates from the perspective of proximately eighty per cent in Sri Lanka and the sociology of law with many aspects of legal an- Indonesia (Vlieger 2012: 45–49). thropology included and applied. Sociology of law (or Similarly to migrants on the Arabian peninsula in legal sociology) is the systematic, empirical study of general, domestic workers have migrated to Saudi law and conflicts as a set of social practices. As such, Arabia and the Emirates in large numbers only since it draws on the whole range of methods and theories the 1970s (Silvey 2006: 23). On average, there is one generally associated with sociological research (Clark domestic worker for each household in Saudi Arabia, 2007: 1413). Legal anthropology scholars study legal making a total of between 1.4 and 2 million. The systems, law, and law-like social phenomena, and take United Arab Emirates report a higher rate of at least as fundamental that law cannot be meaningfully un- one domestic worker for every citizen (Strobl 2009: derstood apart from the wider culture and society. 167), with estimates ranging from two to five hundred Scholars in this area share a commitment to intensive thousand (Ali 2010: 95, among others). The women and rigorous field methodologies requiring extensive concerned come mainly from the Philippines, Indone- involvement in the communities under study (Clark sia, Nepal, India, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Morocco. 2007: 68). Embassies from these labour-sending countries in The results of this extended study of the factors both Saudi Arabia and the Emirates report that abuses that influence the conflicts between female, migrant, against domestic workers account for the vast major- live-in domestic workers and their employers in these ity of the complaints they receive (Human Rights two countries showed, among other things, that if a Watch 2008a: 2). The number of runaways is consid- domestic worker is lucky, her employer is good to her; erable. Staff at embassies that were interviewed re- if she is not so lucky, she has nowhere to go. Even un- ported that there were many urgent requests for help der the best of circumstances, a domestic worker in on a daily basis. Most safe houses are filled beyond Saudi Arabia or the Emirates may be treated well, but their capacity. For instance, the Jeddah deportation she has no rights – she may have some rights on pa- centre houses 8,000 people in a facility designed for per, but without any possibility of realizing them, she 5,500 (Human Rights Watch 2008a: 104). Tens of has no rights in practice (Vlieger 2012). thousands of workers run away each year because of An often-used framework of analysis for the posi- claimed serious breaches of their rights. However, tion of domestic workers is provided by Bosniak most domestic workers who claim infringement of (2006),4 who frames the vulnerable position of do- their rights do not run away, as they are generally well mestic workers in terms of diminished citizenship. aware of the fact that in conflict, they have almost no This chapter elaborates on her work, hoping to offer one (or no place) to turn to for the protection of their a contribution to our understanding of the impor- rights. A Filipina domestic worker employed in Riy- tance of citizenship for domestic workers in these two adh, for instance, stated: countries in particular and women worldwide in gen- Really they are good to me. If I say I need rest, they give eral. Other theories and perspectives on these two me rest. million domestic workers were covered in an earlier work, including the minimal influence of both Sharia Asked if they were not good to her, if she had some law (Vlieger 2012: 85–102) and the Western human problem with her employer, where she would go, she rights discourse (Vlieger 2012: 144–174), and the habit replied: of not regarding their jobs as work because they are Madam, I cannot go anywhere, I am not allowed to go performed in the private sphere of the house (104– outside. I cannot go to the embassy. I will just cry in my 105, 141, 203–205). This chapter focuses on concepts room and pray.3 of citizenship. This short excerpt illustrates the empirical facts that form the basis of this chapter. These findings are de- rived from an extended study of all the factors that in- 4 This work does not elaborate a particular hypothesis, but gathers together the knowledge that Bosniak has 3 Interview by the author with a Filipina domestic worker accumulated over the years on the citizenship of (2008); name, place, and details allowing cross-refer- migrants in general and of domestic workers in particu- ence withheld for security reasons. lar. Diminished Civil Citizenship of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE 293 This chapter first elaborates on the theory of Bos- from the start of their employment when they are not niak in specifying the connection between the con- allowed to leave the house on their own, if at all. cepts of access to justice, civil citizenship, and legal In a second type of conflict, domestic workers and liminality. Specifically, this chapter shows how the the- employers disagree on behaviour or on a preferred ory, developed to analyse the position of domestic outcome without clear, preliminary ideas about appli- workers elsewhere, also applies to domestic workers cable norms. For example, in one documented con- in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. Thereafter, the flict as to whether a domestic worker had the right to chapter advances the analysis by posing the question join her employer’s family on a trip to Mecca, the par- of to what extent the position of the employers can ties did not seem to have had clear norms at the start be framed in these same concepts. The results suggest of the conflict but merely a goal or preferred out- that the position of the employers cannot be framed come. In a third type of conflict, both parties agree in the same concepts, which opens new perspectives on norms at first, but one party nevertheless acts in a on what citizenship is and on how different concepts way contrary to these norms. Such conflicts concern of citizenship may be interrelated. This approach alleged theft, child abuse, consensual sexual relations leads to a better understanding of the importance of with a male employer either with or without payment, full citizenship for women worldwide. and physical, psychological, or sexual violence, includ- ing but not limited to rape and murder.6 The common factor in all of these conflicts is that 16.2 The Conflicts That Domestic they are generally not dealt with outside the house- Workers Face holds in a conflict resolution forum (in both countries norm enforcement is generally limited; see the section Domestic workers in the two countries concerned are on the citizenship of employers below). These con- nearly all female and are currently, according to all in- flicts are only dealt with in such forums in cases terviewees, exclusively migrants. These workers gener- where (i) a domestic worker is the accused party and ally live in their employer’s private household, where (ii) the employer wants her removed from his house- they perform several tasks, such as cleaning, cooking, hold. These cases concern conflicts in which a domes- childcare, and care for the elderly, in exchange for tic worker is, for example, accused of having a boy- food, lodging, and money (usually approximately friend, of stealing, of abusive behaviour, or of acts of US$200 per month). The conflicts that domestic occultism. In such instances, and usually without evi- workers in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates regularly dence, the domestic workers are either sentenced or face are numerous and diverse. These conflicts can be instantly deported. In all other conflicts, domestic divided into three types (Vlieger 2012: 16–19). First, workers generally remain within the household, there is often disagreement from the outset of em- where the employers are able to enforce their own ployment about the norms that have been agreed to. norms and preferred outcomes. Both parties agree to work conditions set out by a re- cruitment agency, and presume that the other party agrees to the same conditions, although this is often 16.3 Data and Research Methods not the case. This first type of conflicts concerns sal- ary, specific tasks, days of work per week (usually The data forming the background of this chapter on seven), hours of work per day (the average is seven- citizenship are derived from research using grounded teen),5 whether a domestic worker has a right to sal- theory methods (Charmaz 2006: 2–3). A combination ary payments during the first three months, whether of qualitative and quantitative methods was applied payments should be made monthly or at the end of during fieldwork throughout 2008 and 2009 in Saudi the two-year contract, or even if she is supposed to Arabia and the Emirates and in two countries of ori- work as a domestic worker (she may have initially gin, Indonesia and the Philippines. 7 In the early stages agreed to become a waitress or nurse). Furthermore, of the research, Human Rights Watch published a re- domestic workers often disagree with their employer port on the position of domestic workers in four 5 This is hard to believe for many Westerners, but during 6 The frequency of the different conflicts could not be Ramadan even this average rises, causing even more established; see below under data and research methods domestic workers to run away simply because they are for the problems of carrying out qualitative research in exhausted. dictatorships. 294 Antoinette Vlieger countries, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United ducted door-to-door, in safe houses run by embassies Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Lebanon, which led to a and in the countries of origin, at the airport upon focus on these four countries (Human Rights Watch returning home, via employers and taxi-drivers, and in 2007). The research was thereafter restricted to Saudi several waiting rooms for the processing of papers. Arabia and the Emirates because, due to time and fi- Other interviews were held with thirty-three employ- nancial restrictions, it was not possible to study all ers regarding the subject of domestic workers and four countries described in the report. The two se- with fifteen Saudi and Emirati women regarding the lected countries were chosen because Saudi Arabia legal system. Additional interviews were held with and the Emirates are considered to be, respectively, thirty-two government officials, nine lawyers, six per- the most conservative and the most open countries in sons from international governmental organizations, the Gulf region. Saudi Arabia is difficult to enter due seventeen persons from non-governmental organiza- to strict visa regulations, so the world has compara- tions (NGOs), twenty-six diplomats, eleven lower- tively little information about the country. In Saudi strata male migrant workers, seven agency owners, Arabia, women have to cover themselves entirely and two Saudi experts on domestic violence, four nurses, are segregated from the larger parts of public life. and three judges. They are not allowed to enter most government build- Questionnaires were used at different locations ings and are separated from men in restaurants. Fur- and were completed by both departing and returning thermore, women are not allowed to drive and are domestic workers. Domestic workers in Manila and not allowed to travel or study without the permission Jakarta who were about to leave for employment in of a male relative. They are treated legally as minors Saudi Arabia or the Emirates completed one hundred and still run the risk, among others, of being con- and sixty questionnaires; they were contacted during victed for practising magic or of being imprisoned in different, pre-departure orientation courses. One hun- their families’ houses for life for talking to men. Alco- dred questionnaires were completed by domestic hol, music, and fun in general are strictly prohibited, workers who had been employed in Saudi Arabia and and such punishments as flogging and beheading still the Emirates and who were contacted (i) at their em- occur. Dubai, on the other hand, is an international bassies in Saudi Arabia; (ii) at the airport upon their hub with a large tourist industry. In Dubai, tourists return to Manila and Jakarta; (iii) at government- or openly walk around in bikinis, drink alcohol, and visit NGO-run safe houses in Dubai, Manila, and Jakarta; sex workers. While most Emirati women wear the tra- (iv) in offices where domestic workers arrange for ditional abaya, they can currently work in all sectors their paperwork upon contract renewal; and (v) in the of the economy, and they can become lawyers and houses of their employers. judges. Therefore, while the countries were neigh- The data drawn upon for this chapter mainly con- bours, the differences at first sight seemed stark, and cern the question of where, in the event of a conflict, this raised the question of whether that would influ- domestic workers have turned or would turn to for ence the position of domestic workers. Indonesia and help, as illustrated above. Questions asked included the Philippines were later added as research locations whether and why they would or would not turn to the because a comparatively large proportion of the do- police, the embassies, or the Saudi or Emirati govern- mestic workers comes from these two countries. Fur- ments. Government officials, diplomats, NGO mem- thermore, persons from these two countries of origin bers, and lawyers were interviewed regarding available were more easily researched because their embassies conflict resolution mechanisms for migrant domestic had safe houses that cooperated extensively in this workers. Because several domestic workers men- study.8 tioned that they had asked taxi drivers for help, taxi The data in this chapter was gathered primarily drivers were asked where they would take a person through seventy-three interviews with domestic work- who was seeking assistance. Almost all of the loca- ers. These interviews were half-open interviews, con- tions mentioned by interviewees were visited, such as labour offices, police stations, law offices, shelters, embassies, and the Governor’s Office in Riyadh. Sev- 7 Almost four months in the United Arab Emirates and eral locations had different functions from those offi- three months in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, four cially stated, while other locations simply did not exist weeks in Manila, and three weeks in Jakarta in the years at that time. If a conflict resolution mechanism did ex- 2008 and 2009. ist, attempts were made to determine the number of 8 These safe houses opened their doors, answered ques- cases concerning domestic workers handled there and tions, and even provided interpreters when necessary. Diminished Civil Citizenship of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE 295 what their typical outcomes were. At some locations, 16.4 Literature on Migrant Domestic where previous visits or interviews had raised suspi- Work cions about the actual availability of conflict resolu- tion mechanisms, attempts were made to file a case Domestic work is a topic that has received increasing on behalf of a (hypothetical) domestic worker. The scholarly attention from economists, sociologists, an- discussion on the citizenship of Saudi and Emirati em- thropologists, and demographers (Santos 2005: 9). ployers is based both on the answers provided to The last two decades have witnessed an impressive questions regarding the actual functioning of their le- growth in the academic literature relating to women, gal systems in numerous types of conflicts, such as car human rights and development, economic migration, crashes and divorce cases, and on the relevant litera- trade, migration and globalization, transnationalism, ture on this topic. immigration and racism, and the politics of care-giv- The problems of finding and gathering quantita- ing (Moors 2003). The studies on domestic work by tive data were considerable. Auwal (2010: 89) writes: Colen 1990, Constable 1997, Parreñas 2001, and Lin- Political realities in this region limit the ability of individ- dio-McGovern 2003, have theorized citizenship as a uals and groups to collect and publish solid ‘scientific’ new marker of inequality connected to the national, data on labour issues. With broad quantitative data una- class, and racial politics that organize domestic work vailable, qualitative inquiry and anecdotal analyses pro- (Hondagneu-Sotelo 2001). The peculiarities of paid vide the best opportunity to develop an understanding domestic work in what can be regarded as a relatively of how migrant labourers are treated or victimized in new form of ‘global apartheid’ (Richmond 1994) have this region (Auwal 2010). led to the dependency of domestic workers as the re- In this study, the main hurdles that I faced were the sult of diminished citizenship, which is related to the inaccessibility of certain types of domestic workers lack of sufficient legislative protection against exploit- and the unwillingness of most employers to be inter- ative working conditions. This diminished citizenship, viewed. These problems could not be solved within along with race and class, generates an additional axis the given time frame and budget. Thus, the question- of inequality (Bakan/Stasiulis 1995a, 1995b; Parreñas naires were used largely in a qualitative way, and most 2001; Chang 2000). results have been restricted in their presentation to Citizenship as a prerequisite for the effectiveness broad categories, such as many and some. of rights has been a topic of discussion since 1951, Sampling bias occurred due to language issues and when Arendt first published on the problem of indi- location problems. For example, Filipina domestic viduals who are not members of a political commu- workers who were interviewed had run away from nity (persons but not citizens) and therefore are not their employers and gathered in safe houses, but for granted access to the legal system (Arendt 1951). many other nationalities, such an option was not avail- Walzer further added that community members dis- able. Furthermore, domestic workers who were con- tribute power to one another and avoid, if possible, tent with their employers, even though they were not sharing it with anyone else (Walzer 1983). According to allowed to leave the house, were often inaccessible or the German philosopher Hamacher, citizenship grants unwilling to talk for fear of losing employment. Again, a privi-legium, a right to have rights (Hamacher 2004). in analysing the data, caution was applied by continu- However, the existing literature does not clarify how ously questioning the consistency of the results, ask- diminished citizenship could be more of a constraint ing whether the results may have been different for or different for domestic workers in Saudi Arabia and other groups, and if so, why this might have been the the Emirates than in, for instance, Canada, as re- case. Researcher bias, the sensitivity of the topic, and searched by Bakan and Stasiulis (1995a, 1995b). There- the highly protected privacy of the average Saudi or fore, the dilemma of assessing how citizenship was Emirati household severely limited the possibilities of specifically related to the position of domestic work- participatory observation within the households. Fur- ers in the two countries studied became a specific re- thermore, researcher bias was created by the fact that search question. I, as a woman, had certain access to places where Many scholars writing on the citizenship of do- males could not enter, while there were many other mestic workers apply Bosniak’s theory, which is the places where only males could enter (research meth- reason why it was used for this study as well. As Bos- ods in Vlieger 2012: 21–27). niak rightly concludes, a distinction must be made be- tween different types of citizenship (Bosniak 2006). Bosniak distinguishes three types of citizenship, which 296 Antoinette Vlieger are helpful in an analysis of domestic workers’ posi- law, which explicitly excludes domestic workers from tions. In the formative periods of most democratic its protection (Emirati Labour Law article 3, sub-sec- countries, no mention was made of the fact that the tion 3). Instruments of the International Labour Or- right to vote would be limited to men, as this was as- ganization are also generally not applied to domestic sumed. Women were not supposed to take part in workers. Interviewees from the government stated public decision-making, which can be referred to as that this difference is related to the fact that domestic political citizenship. Throughout many periods of pre- workers are not considered to be workers, as they modern history, women often lacked the opportunity work in the private sphere of the household. While to work outside their own house and to gain financial the government attempts to implement certain laws, it independence, which can be referred to as economic is not always equally capable of or interested in doing citizenship (Bosniak 2007: 38). Furthermore, in most so. Certain laws, according to government interview- countries, women are not supposed to defend their ees, are not intended to be implemented. They are own rights. Male relatives are supposed to defend only meant as a hint of what is considered proper be- women’s rights, while women (like children) are not haviour.10 Other laws are intended to attract direct supposed to have an individual right to request and re- foreign investments by giving the (false?) impression ceive governmental protection of their rights. This of a system demonstrating the rule of law.11 right to legal protection provided by a government While attempts to establish a proper functioning can be referred to as civil citizenship. As will be legal system are evident, not all courts and not all shown, in both Saudi Arabia and the Emirates domes- judges reach the standards of the inhabitants of the tic workers suffer from diminished civil citizenship. Emirates. The general opinion is that there is no rule Before we turn to that, the next section will first pro- of law and that the system functions instead on wasta vide a short introduction to the legal systems of both or connections, as discussed later in this chapter. countries studied in order to provide proper context. Most of the Emirates have joined the federal sys- tem, with the courts being organized into two main divisions, specifically, civil and criminal, and generally 16.5 The Two Legal Systems divided into three stages of litigation. Dubai and Ras al-Khaimah initially organized their courts into two 16.5.1 The Emirates stages, but later Dubai expanded this by establishing the Dubai Court of Cassation.12 In Dubai, the Emir- An important body of law in the Emirates is Islamic ates labour law is applied by special labour courts, law or Sharia, applied mainly in personal status issues which are to be consulted only after an attempt at me- and criminal cases. However, the applicability of this diation by the Ministry of Labour has failed.13 Until body of law creates confusion, as it is unclear to what quite recently the judges in the different courts were extent its rules apply to non-Muslims as well. For mainly foreigners. For the application of Sharia, schol- instance, the rule that drinking alcohol is not allowed ars mainly from Sudan, Egypt, and Pakistan were in- is generally expected not to be applicable to non-Mus- vited into the country. For the application of Western- lims, as alcohol is served in practically all restaurants oriented laws, retired Western judges have been and and bars in Dubai. However, anyone who comes into still are being invited.14 All of these judges, however, contact with the police, for instance, upon filing a fall under the regulations of the sponsorship or visa complaint against a local for molestation, as one inter- system, which, according to interviewees from embas- viewee did, can face charges for alcohol abuse. Fur- thermore, Sharia is not a codified body of law, which makes it difficult to determine what the exact con- 10 For instance, a governmental interviewee stated that tents of the Emirati version of this body of law are during the first years of the law concerned, the obliga- and what one’s rights and duties are. tion to wear seat belts while driving was only intended Next to Sharia, there are increasing numbers of to promote, not to enforce the law. 11 Stated by government critics and by government offi- law codes oriented towards Swiss, English, and cials in informal interviews. French law.9 These laws include the Emirati labour 12 See at: (accessed in 2009). 13 This was explained by an interviewee from the Ministry 9 See for the English version of most important laws at: of Labour. (accessed in 2009). ees. Diminished Civil Citizenship of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE 297 sies and NGOs, undermines their independence, as provide advisory services only for contract, banking, they are constantly under threat of deportation. Cur- and corporate law. rently, more Emiratis are being appointed as judges, There is not much additional information availa- although they are generally young and inexperienced. ble on the laws and courts in Saudi Arabia, either in The first female judges have also recently been ap- their theoretical or actual functioning. In part, this pointed. lack of information is due to the fact that members of the legal-religious elite are generally not keen on 16.5.2 Saudi Arabia granting individuals the right to interview them or to provide access to courts and other legal institutions. In most Muslim countries the workings of Sharia are Several laws referred to by interviewees, such as a law currently limited to status and family and inheritance that forbids employers to take away an employee’s law, to which banking and penal law are added in passport, could not be found, and their existence is some countries. For centuries, governments have been questionable. Nevertheless, there is a Saudi labour law allowed to write secular laws concerning public ad- that, like its Emirati counterpart, explicitly excludes ministration, taxes and, less regularly, penal law. Op- domestic workers from its protection (Saudi Labour position to secular laws arose in the fourteenth cen- Law article 7 sub-section 2). The Saudi government tury from Ibn Taimiya, who stated that politics should has written a draft law concerning the position of do- be conducted entirely according to the Sharia. Ibn mestic workers, but it has been pending for years. Nor Taimiya’s work has had a great influence in Saudi Ara- are instruments of the International Labour Organi- bia, especially within the Hanbali school of law (Zu- zation (ILO) generally not applied to domestic work- baida 2005: 93). In the eighteenth century, al-Wahhab ers in Saudi Arabia. Thus, while the position of work- built on these teachings, so starting the movement of ers in general and domestic workers in particular is Wahhabism. This movement is closely related to not strong from a legal perspective, it is even worse Salafism, the radical ideology of resistance as formu- from a sociolegal perspective, as the implementation lated by Sayyid Qutb, whose Egyptian followers were of laws is generally poor (Vlieger 2012: 31–43). welcomed in Saudi Arabia. The essence of both Wahhabism and Salafism is that governments should be subject entirely to the 16.6 Access to Justice by Domestic principles of Islam—which severely restricts both their Workers executive and legislative powers. These movements can therefore only properly be understood as move- The concept of access to justice here refers to more ments against the establishment. This characteristic is than what is usually meant in Western law schools. Ac- particularly true within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, cess to justice in the West is commonly perceived as where the Saud family is eager to gain legislative and the availability of free legal aid (Clark 2007: 13–14). judiciary power and where the religious leaders op- According to Llewellyn and Hoebel (Clark 2007: 241– pose the growing power of the Sauds by reference to 244), access to justice means the availability of any the teachings of the conservative scholars mentioned type of dispute resolution procedure for conflicts, in- above. The religious leaders have a considerable influ- cluding negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and adju- ence on public opinion through their teachings, both dication. Therefore, these broader categories have in the mosques and on television. However, they are been examined along with the extent to which domes- losing power to the royal family of the Sauds, who are tic workers could actually realize what they perceived creating more and more statutory laws (Abukhalil as their rights through these forums. 2004: 86). In the Emirates, as stated, domestic workers are Apart from the work of the Mutawwa, often re- excluded from the labour law, and so they have no ferred to as the religious police, the implementation access to the attached labour courts. Unlike the of law in Saudi Arabia is notably poor. Furthermore, labour courts in Saudi Arabia, the labour courts in the while most judges are Saudis and therefore do not fall Emirates do not make any exceptions to that rule: no under the sponsorship system, many lawyers are for- interviewed diplomat had been able to file a case for eign and therefore cannot operate independently. In- a domestic worker at a labour court. During a con- terviewees in Saudi Arabia were in agreement on this flict, domestic workers were officially supposed to point with interviewees in the Emirates. They stated, turn to the mediation offices falling under the Minis- among other things, that foreign lawyers generally try of the Interior because domestic workers are regu- 298 Antoinette Vlieger lated under the sponsorship or visa regulation system, take action by contacting the employer to ask for un- and they are not considered to be the responsibility of paid salary, passports, exit visas, or plane tickets. the Ministry of Labour. When interviewed about this matter, the Governor’s In Dubai, however, this mediation office of the Office (or Imara) reacted with hostility to the pres- Ministry of the Interior turned out not to exist. Al- ence of non-Saudi visitors. This reaction could possi- though it officially did exist as of 2008, the Ministry bly be because the office preferred written requests, of the Interior’s reception desk had no knowledge of but another interviewed diplomat denied the possibil- this office or its function. The media department of ity of foreigners’ writing letters to the Governor’s Of- the Ministry mentioned the existence of a human fice. rights department, but other interviewees stated that At the Human Rights Commission, a governmen- this department did not address the issues of domes- tal body that officially claimed to handle many cases tic workers. According to several interviewed diplo- concerning domestic workers, several officials made mats, the mediation office had indeed been estab- such statements during interviews as “Domestic work- lished by 2009, although nobody to date had ers don’t have problems, they are problems”, and “In- successfully filed a complaint on behalf of a domestic donesian domestic workers are prostitutes, all of worker. them.” These officials were neither able nor willing to In Abu Dhabi, a mediation office at the immigra- show evidence of cases in which they had actually set- tion office did indeed exist, and it functioned fairly tled a conflict. The National Society for Human well according to interviewed diplomats. This finding Rights, an institution working directly under the King, notwithstanding, not one of the domestic workers was the only other institution where there was a de- who was either interviewed or who completed a ques- gree of indication that occasional actions were taken tionnaire for this study was aware of the existence of on behalf of domestic workers.17 this office. Diplomats in the Emirates also reported Another possibility for migrant workers in Saudi that they occasionally took cases to the Sharia court Arabia would be to refer complaints to the Sharia or the attached reconciliation committee if a rule of courts. Because domestic workers were not allowed religious law had been broken. However, the diplo- to go to the labour offices, based on the argument mats all complained about the extremely remote that they were part of the family, it would make sense chance of winning a case. to refer to the court that applied family law. However, Domestic workers in Saudi Arabia are also offi- Sharia judges, according to interviewed diplomats, cially not allowed to turn to the labour offices, but in generally refused to look into cases concerning do- exceptional circumstances these labour offices do mestic workers. Both the courts and the Ministry of sometimes accept cases of domestic workers. The Hu- Justice were approached for interviews but declined man Rights Commission stated in its Universal Peri- the requests. odic Review of 2009 that in Saudi Arabia domestic It is worth mentioning that the lack of recourse workers officially do have the right to go to the labour for migrant domestic workers to make a complaint is offices.15 However, the labour office in Riyadh was contrary to Article 47 of the Saudi Basic Governance unaware of this report. This office claimed not to ac- Act that states the right to bring action in a court of cept cases from domestic workers and explicitly law is guaranteed equally among citizens and resi- stated that women, including me, were not even al- dents. The lack of recourse is also contrary to Article lowed to be there. 12 of the Arab Declaration of Human Rights, which With no access to the labour offices, some domes- demands that each member state, including both tic workers write letters to the Governor’s Office, the Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, guarantees the right of National Society for Human Rights, or the Human every person to bring an action in a court of law. Rights Commission.16 As all three entities function as Most interviewed Saudis openly agreed that their le- a sort of ombudsman, these institutions may officially 15 See at: (accessed in 2009). yer was able to confirm this finding. Such confirmation 16 All three are governmental institutions, although the is necessary because the lack of press freedom and inad- National Society for Human Rights seems to be slightly equate education of journalists makes Saudi newspapers more independent. unreliable sources. Diminished Civil Citizenship of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE 299 gal system had severe shortcomings with ramifications have any mahram around. While the male members extending beyond domestic workers. of the household in which they are employed usually Thus, it can be concluded that access to justice for refer to domestic workers as family, the male employ- domestic workers is severely limited, and as such, ers do not consider themselves to be mahram and, as these workers suffer from extremely limited access to such, they neither feel capable of nor responsible for justice, connected to the following three issues: the legally representing their domestic workers. In the issue of khulwa, or gender segregation, the require- rare cases that domestic workers’ conflicts are han- ment of women to be accompanied by their mahram, dled through official conflict resolution mechanisms, and problems specifically associated with the sponsor- they are represented by diplomats from their own ship system. countries. The women, however, must take shelter in the overcrowded embassy before such representation 16.6.1 Khulwa is possible, and certain embassies either do not have such shelters or lack the knowledge of how to file While the concept of khulwa has officially been abol- these types of legal complaints. For instance, one la- ished in the Emirates, is still has influence. In Saudi bour attaché interviewed was not even aware of the Arabia, a woman is officially not allowed to be alone existence of a labour law or labour court. in one place with a man who is not her father, brother, son, or husband (her mahrams). This rule 16.6.3 Sponsorship System leads to the exclusion of women from the larger parts of public life. As many public buildings are restricted The main obstruction to access to justice by any mi- to men, women do not have many places to go out- grant worker is the sponsorship system. These visa side their own house and the houses of direct rela- regulations tie the residence of domestic workers, and tives. Some policemen and many judges in Saudi Ara- any other migrant, directly to their employers. The bia simply refuse to communicate with women. This workers cannot change employers, and upon cancella- situation is worsened by the fact that women in this tion of the labour agreement for whatever reason, the country are not allowed to drive. They are officially visa is cancelled. Without protection against arbitrary not allowed to share a car, such as a taxi, with some- dismissal, employers can have their migrant domestic body who is not a mahram, and there is hardly any workers deported at will. As soon as an employer re- public transport in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the lives ports to the authorities that his domestic worker of women remain largely restricted to the house, al- needs to go home, the government arranges the de- though because of the presence of domestic workers, portation without asking questions.18 Additionally, as many women have little to do there. Domestic work- soon as a domestic worker leaves the house or ers, who are not used to seclusion, explained that premises of the employer without permission, she is their employers forced them into following this same considered to have terminated the labour agreement. rule by several means, including by closing all doors As such, her visa is no longer valid, and she is consid- and windows, by not providing any information on ered to be a criminal. In these respects, the sponsor- the location of the house in relation to other loca- ship system makes it almost impossible for migrant tions, and by making domestic workers fear the out- domestic workers to file complaints against employers side world. (Vlieger 2012: 179–210). 16.6.2 Women and their Mahram 16.7 Civil Citizenship of Domestic Women in Saudi Arabia are not permitted to mingle Workers with men who are not their mahram, that is, their husband or close male relative. Women are therefore According to Bosniak’s definition of citizenship, polit- not permitted to have contact with the police, media- ical citizenship encompasses the rights to take part in tors, or judges by themselves, but are to be repre- public decision-making, while economic citizenship is sented by one of their mahrams. While this patriar- the right or opportunity to work outside one’s own chal rule is not connected to Islam and officially is no longer applied in the Emirates, it is still reported to be in effect. For domestic workers, this practice is even 18 According to most interviewees and other fieldwork data, the only exceptions are cases concerning extremely severe more complicated because as migrants they do not abuse of the domestic worker or murder. 300 Antoinette Vlieger household to gain financial independence, and civil and the lack of membership in the public commu- citizenship is the right to legal protection of one’s nity—greatly diminish domestic workers’ civil citizen- rights by a government. Political citizenship is the type ship. First, because migrants work and reside under of citizenship that most Saudis and Emiratis do not the sponsorship or visa regulations, they do not and want domestic workers to gain, and it is this type of never will belong to the Saudi or Emirati state. These citizenship that Saudi and Emirati interviewees seem migrants lack membership in the community. This is to have in mind when they say that the visa regula- the type of diminished citizenship to which Arendt re- tions or sponsorship system cannot be changed be- ferred. During World War II, stateless refugees (or in- cause of the number of migrant workers (over ninety désirables) received no protection whatsoever from per cent in the Emirates; in Dubai, the indigenous any state. The second factor shaping diminished civil population has been reduced to less than five per citizenship, the lack of membership in the public com- cent). This form of citizenship, however, has not been munity, is a status that domestic workers in Saudi Ara- requested by any of the interviewed domestic work- bia and the Emirates share with many women world- ers. The same applies for migrant workers in the wide. In the Emirates and especially in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates in general (Davidson 2008: women in general suffer from diminished citizenship 190). Economic citizenship is not the issue here, ei- as they are supposed to be legally presented by males ther. Some scholars argue that in most countries who may be the ones they are in conflict with. women can only join the political community and Thus, the reason that domestic workers in Saudi gain full citizenship by hiring a domestic worker (Bos- Arabia and the Emirates suffer from a lack of enforce- niak 2006: 15). In other words, economic citizenship, able rights is that the two factors appointed by Bos- or the opportunity to gain an income through decent niak as diminishing civil citizenship, visa regulations work outside one’s own household, and political citi- and the seclusion of women, are particularly acute in zenship, or the right of women to join in public deci- these countries. The result is severely diminished civil sion-making, is gained at the expense of citizenship citizenship, which materializes as a near-complete lack for domestic workers. This finding is only true con- of access to justice. Diminished civil citizenship and cerning the political citizenship of domestic workers the related lack of access to justice is referred to by as they are paid labourers and thus economic citizens others as legal liminality or liminal legality (see for in- but are bound to the private sphere and are thereby stance Menjívar 2006). These concepts are all used to excluded from public decision-making. Thus, their analyse the position of undocumented workers in Eu- economic citizenship is not diminished, while political rope and the United States of America. In the Middle citizenship is not what domestic workers seek. What East, due to the visa regulations referred to as the they lack is civil citizenship, which is the right to ac- sponsorship system, the literature largely applies to tual legal protection by a government. documented workers as well. The diminished civil cit- Domestic workers lack this civil citizenship, ac- izenship of domestic workers is connected with the cording to Bosniak, on two grounds. Bosniak makes a larger political structures shaped by the exploitation distinction between (i) those who lack citizenship of oil (Vlieger 2012: 211–230). Based on this connec- based on their bureaucratic status or their lack of tion, social transformation can be expected to take membership in a community and (ii) those who lack place in the Emirates earlier than in Saudi Arabia, as citizenship based on their lack of membership in the the Emirates are running out of oil. public community (Bosniak 2006). The first addresses those illegal migrants who officially have no right to reside in a country. In many countries, illegal migrants 16.8 Citizenship and Saudi and Emirati either have no rights or cannot enforce them, whereas Employers in other countries, they have limited rights. The sec- ond includes those members of the community who The previous section argued that domestic workers have diminished membership in the public commu- suffer from diminished civil citizenship, which is nity, including women and all others whose lives are caused by the fact that they are both women and mi- largely contained within the private sphere of the grants. Bosniak’s theory, developed for domestic household, such as children and domestic workers workers in Europe, applies on the Arabian peninsula (Bosniak: 2006). The previous section demonstrates as well. This finding, in itself, is not surprising. Never- that both in Saudi Arabia and in the Emirates, these theless, comparing the situation in Saudi Arabia and two factors—the lack of membership in a community, the Emirates with issues in Europe is problematic in Diminished Civil Citizenship of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE 301 the light of postcolonial theory, postmodernism, and restricted to the private sphere of the house, her mah- legal culturalism. Postcolonial theory concerns an (of- rams are most often the ones with whom she will ten Marxist) literary theory, mainly from Said, Spivak, have a conflict, thus making the realization of rights and Bhabha, that focuses on the legacy of colonialism problematic. Women claim to often lose conflicts and the question of how knowledge about the world based on their gender if they try to ask for protection is generated under specific relationships between the of their rights. A Saudi female interviewee stated: “It (ex-)colonizers and the (ex-)colonized (Ashcroft/Grif- all really depends on who is the judge. Some are very fiths/Tiffin 1998; Krishna 2009). Postcolonial theo- strict in the religion: they are always on the men’s rists state that one should recognize the uniqueness of side.” Extensive problems may arise. For instance, one each culture’s development. In this way, postcolonial interviewee explained that: theory resembles postmodernism, which states that My wife’s sister has been trying for six years now to get there is no objective basis for knowledge (or at least a divorce because her husband is sleeping with the not a knowable one). From this perspective, theories maids all the time. However, they don’t allow her to get are merely human constructs that are never value-free, a divorce. He plays the smart guy in court, educated, and therefore, postmodernism emphasizes diversity well-dressed, and then they refuse her the divorce. She and relativism. The legal version of this line of think- supports the children on her own now, doesn’t get ali- ing is legal culturalism, of which Legrand is the most mony or anything and doesn’t get a divorce either. important proponent. Hesselink explains Legrand’s A female interviewee who filed for divorce lost cus- position that legal systems cannot be analysed outside tody of her four-year-old child, something which of their historical and cultural context, and therefore occurs regularly in Saudi Arabia (Sasson 2004: 276– comparisons in law are only possible by searching for 277), even though Sharia states that in a divorce, chil- differences (Hesselink 2004: 32–36). dren must stay with their mother until at least the age Indeed, while Bosniak’s theory can fruitfully be ap- of seven and, according to other interpretations of plied to domestic workers, it cannot be applied to the Sharia, even longer. Some argue that this is a right to position of Saudi or Emirati employers, as the differ- custody; others that it is a right to take care (Schacht ences are vast. For instance, Halfmann (1998) states 1964: 167). When this interviewee appealed to a that citizenship offers inclusion into the political sys- higher court for proper application of the Sharia, she tem, but Saudi and Emirati citizens in general suffer was told to go home and stop bothering them: “You from a lack of political citizenship as they cannot par- already have a court ruling, deal with it.” ticipate in any public decision-taking. Second, as For men also, the realization of rights is problem- stated above, the female citizens in both of these atic, as neither country has anything resembling the countries suffer from diminished economic citizen- concept of the rule of law. All Saudi and most Emirati ship. While in the Emirates access to the labour mar- interviewees stated that in general, rule implementa- ket for women is not officially restricted, it is in Saudi tion or realization of rights is highly problematic, and Arabia. Saudi women are in general only allowed to rules are often simply unknown. The Saudi govern- work in the segregated sectors of education and ment, in particular, seems not inclined to clarify rules. health care, or in their family company. As such, their The government distributes an English translation of economic citizenship is severely diminished. Further- the Labour Law, but concerning the rule that employ- more, unemployment among citizens is a problem in ers are not allowed to take away domestic workers’ both countries, and pushes women further out of the passports, the Saudi Deputy Minister of Labour, for labour market. As for civil citizenship, this is heavily instance, stated: “If the law is not imposed, it is not diminished for nationals as well, not because they as the fault of the Ministry” and “It’s not our responsibil- citizens have no rights on paper, but because in prac- ity to make sure that the employers know”. In re- tice the government does not properly protect these sponse to the suggestion that they set up a website rights. Several interviewed employers and government with all Saudi laws in Arabic and English, an inter- officials made such statements as “Why is the whole viewee at the Saudi Human Rights Commission world so upset about these domestic workers? No- stated, “No, if we tell them all immediately about all body has rights in this country.” the rights they have, it will be a disaster”. Other well- In Saudi Arabia, civil citizenship of women is se- known rules are simply not applied. Many migrants verely restricted through the concept of the mahram, are sentenced to punishments of 3,000 or even which states that a woman must be represented by a 10,000 lashes for zina, or extramarital sex, even husband or a close male relative. As her life is largely though Sharia prescribes a maximum of 100 lashes. 302 Antoinette Vlieger This same crime requires four witnesses, which judges zenship, of which the first two are proposed here for rarely ask for in the case of migrants. Examples are so analysis, while the third concept is more often used, common that the non-application of Sharia seems to among others, by Bosniak herself (2007). be the rule instead of the exception. First and foremost, having Saudi or Emirati citizen- Interviewees almost all stated that the legal system ship means having residency citizenship. Unlike all of functions around the concept of wasta, a system that the migrant workers, Saudi or Emirati citizens do not is not based on rules that apply equally to everyone. live under the constant threat of instant deportation. Yet there is a hierarchy involved in the issue of who Second, Saudi and Emirati citizenship generally comes usually wins in a conflict. This hierarchy is shaped by with the right to partake in the welfare of the country. how much power the concerned parties have. Their Whereas in Europe, this right to welfare is directly power, in turn, depends on connections, or wasta. connected to the duty to contribute to society in the Wasta is determined by patriarchy, tribalism, crony- form of taxes, in these two Gulf countries, this con- ism, and the power to corrupt or bribe (Vlieger 2012: nection is not the case. The third concept that de- 211–230). According to almost all interviewees, the scribes Saudi and Emirati citizenship is used in the Eu- party that wins a case or conflict is usually the more ropean context as well. Social citizenship refers to the powerful one. In both countries, but especially in social ties that individuals are either born with or de- Saudi Arabia, several interviewees complained about velop. To complicate matters, many sociologists tie the fact that the elite seemed to be above the law en- this phenomenon to the concept of social capital and tirely. An interviewee stated, for example: “My uncle preserve the term social citizenship for what is de- was a contractor here. He was doing very well, until fined in this study as welfare citizenship. The concept he got a contract with a prince. He had all these sub- of social citizenship as used by Walsum and in this contractors and when the prince didn’t pay him, no- chapter is associated with self-fulfilment, social inter- body helped him: no judge, nobody. So he went bank- action, and civil movement (Walsum 2007: 3). While rupt.” Other interviewees made more general there is very little civil movement in either Saudi Ara- statements, such as “If you have a company and some bia or the Emirates, citizens do have social ties. These prince decides he wants to have half the shares, there are either those with which they have been born is nothing you can do to stop him.” Well-connected (tribal and familial ties) or the ones that they develop non-royalty can also get away with many crimes, inter- over the course of their lives (friends and work ties). viewees stated. One interviewee summarized the situ- Interestingly, these social ties are what largely define ation: “If they like you, there are no rules. If they an individual’s wasta. Wasta is the combination of don’t like you, there is nothing but rules.” tribalism, cronyism, and corruption, while social ties Because of the poor functioning of the legal sys- or social citizenship are largely defined by tribal ties tem, including the absence of the rule of law, it can be and cronies. concluded that employers, or at least those employers who are lower in the societal hierarchy, suffer from di- minished civil citizenship (Vlieger 2012: 211–230). If 16.9 Connections Between Social and civil citizenship concerns governmental protection of Civil Citizenship rights and the actual realization of rights depend on wasta, then only those with a decent level of wasta Neither Saudi nor Emirati citizens, at least not the can be said to have civil citizenship. However, if Saudi ones without wasta, have civil citizenship as defined and Emirati citizenship in general is not meant to in- by Bosniak. The government does not generally pro- clude civil, political, or economic citizenship, then tect their rights. Rather, these citizens usually defend what does it mean? Unfortunately, little has been writ- their position through the use of their connections ten on the question of what citizenship entails for the through wasta. However, as wasta is closely related citizens of the Arabian peninsula. The gathering of to the concept of social citizenship, this finding seems data in support of such theories faces the same prob- lems as the gathering of qualitative data on migrant 19 There is no freedom of opinion in general, and for sci- workers, as discussed above.19 entists in particular. Basically, a choice needs to be made Based on the data from this research, I propose an between political acquiescence and a rather problematic analysis of citizenship in Saudi Arabia and the Emir- career. Scientists from outside the Arabian peninsula ates using three other concepts of citizenship: resi- run the risk of being blacklisted, meaning they will not dency citizenship, welfare citizenship, and social citi- be able to return to the countries in which they have specialized. Diminished Civil Citizenship of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE 303 to reveal a relationship between social and civil citi- positions through social citizenship (a connection zenship. If it is wasta that compensates for the lack of based on current functioning). Secondly, the two the rule of law, it seems that social citizenship com- groups that, according to Bosniak, have diminished pensates for diminished civil citizenship. As such, civil citizenship in practice are exactly the same as the there seems to be a connection between the two con- groups that in principle have fewer options with re- cepts of social and civil citizenship, based on the cur- gard to a growing network of social ties and to devel- rent functioning (according to interviewees) of their oping social citizenship (a connection based on Bos- legal systems. niak’s theory). This possible connection between social and civil Also, there is a third clue to a connection between citizenship is all the more interesting in the light of the concepts of civil and social citizenship. Several in- the two groups that, according to Bosniak, suffer terviewees stated that before industrialization, which from diminished civil citizenship: (i) those who lack was no more than half a century ago in these two citizenship based on their bureaucratic status or their countries, communities were small, and social control lack of membership in a community, and (ii) those was sufficient as the normative enforcement mecha- who lack citizenship based on a lack of membership nism (Vlieger 2012: 211–230). However, social control in the public community (Bosniak 2006). Those who functions only if individuals have connections with lack civil citizenship because they lack membership in persons who are willing to stand up against infringe- the community are often the ones who have not been ment of their position. In other words, interviewees born in the community (jus soli) and those who have stated that in the old days the legal system largely no blood ties to the community (jus sanguini). These functioned around social citizenship. Again, there is individuals are thus the ones who have not been born an observable connection between the two concepts: with a network of social ties in the community. In while social citizenship diminished due to industriali- Saudi and Emirati society, this means that one is born zation and the connected trend towards urbanization, without any familial or tribal ties. As such, these peo- according to interviewees civil citizenship, or protec- ple have less wasta and less social citizenship, while, tion of rights by a governmental body, became neces- according to Bosniak, they also form a category lack- sary (a connection based on the historical develop- ing civil citizenship. ment of the legal systems). The second group that, according to Bosniak, suf- Based on these three connections, it seems that fers from diminished civil citizenship are those indi- civil citizenship is intended to compensate for a lack viduals whose lives are largely restricted to the private of social citizenship. Social citizenship, if defined as sphere of the household. The effect of this restriction one’s network of connections, or one’s wasta, defines in movement is a less developed network of social one’s power, and that is what renders government ties, other than familial and tribal ties. As Walsum ar- protection unnecessary. Because migrants and women gues, involvement in the reproductive or private have a less developed network of social connections, sphere provides little or no credentials for integration as they have less access to the community or less ac- into social citizenship such that women who are heav- cess to the public community, they are more in need ily committed to responsibilities in the private sphere of a protective government: they are the ones in need receive, at best, marginal support from the welfare of civil citizenship and of the rule of law. state (Walsum 2007: 3). In Saudi Arabia and the Emir- ates, this condition means that both men and women are born with tribal ties and, as such, can defend their 16.10 Conclusions position through these ties. However, men, unlike women, also become part of the public community in Domestic workers are excluded from the Saudi and which they develop new ties and new connections. As Emirati labour laws, and they correspondingly have a result, men’s further developed social network no official access to the labour courts that are desig- opens possibilities for making better use of cronyism. nated to address conflicts between employers and em- Women, both nationals and migrant domestic work- ployees. As the data show, there are no other conflict ers, develop fewer of these ties throughout their lives. resolution mechanisms to compensate for this exclu- This leads to a second interesting connection. First, sion. Therefore, domestic workers’ access to justice is because of diminished civil citizenship through the extremely limited. Bosniak discusses three concepts of lack of a government that actively protects an individ- citizenship: political citizenship, economic citizenship, ual’s rights, Emirati and Saudi citizens protect their and civil citizenship (Bosniak 2006). Because of their 304 Antoinette Vlieger limited access to justice, domestic workers in Saudi distinct ways. The data of this research suggest the fol- Arabia and the Emirates suffer from diminished civil lowing connections. First, in Saudi Arabia and the citizenship. This situation is caused by the fact that Emirates, where a rule of law exists on paper but not the workers are both women and migrants. In Saudi in practice, citizens protect their position through Arabia especially, women are secluded to the private wasta, or connections. Where there is no proper civil sphere of the household. Additionally, because of the citizenship provided by the government, people use sponsorship system or visa regulations in the two social citizenship to protect their positions. Second, countries, migrant domestic workers cannot realize while Bosniak argues that it is those who are excluded their rights. As such, the workers’ diminished civil cit- from the community (migrants) and those who are ex- izenship is comparable to the position of undocu- cluded from the public community (women and chil- mented workers in the West, which is referred to as dren) who suffer from diminished civil citizenship, it liminal legality or legal liminality. is also migrants, women and children who, in general, While Bosniak’s theory applies closely to the posi- have fewer connections and less social citizenship. Fi- tion of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia and the nally, according to interviewees, social control was Emirates, her concepts of political, economic, and largely enough to enforce norms in the past. How- civil citizenship are less suitable for describing the po- ever, now that people in the Arabian peninsula have sition of the Saudi and Emirati employers. These em- moved from villages to cities, government organiza- ployers hold a not entirely unrestricted but similar res- tions have become necessary for the enforcement of idency citizenship: a right to reside. The employers norms. In other words, the effectiveness of social cit- also hold a certain welfare citizenship, although it is izenship has diminished due to industrialization, different from the Western concept. This citizenship which has made civil citizenship necessary. is a right to partake in the welfare of the country, re- However, the two governments have not properly gardless of one’s contribution to this welfare, al- developed the rule of law, and by extension civil citi- though critics of the two regimes state that this right zenship, and this leads to destructive effects for those depends on the acquiescence of citizens. Further- with the least social citizenship. Therefore, because more, this welfare citizenship certainly would not migrants and women have less social citizenship, as have existed in this form without oil revenues. they have less access to the community and less access Citizenship as discussed by Arendt (Arendt 1951) to the public community respectively, they are most in and Hamacher’s concept of a privi-legium (Hamacher need of a protective government: they are the ones in 2004), the right to have rights, refer to access to the need of civil citizenship and of the rule of law. In- legal system or civil citizenship. As the data in this versely, as migrants and women suffer from dimin- research show, this concept is not universal. Walzer ished civil citizenship, they are the ones most in need stated that community members distribute power to of social citizenship. one another and avoid, if possible, sharing it with any- In the two countries researched, a large number of one else (Walzer 1983). Such sharing indeed applies in domestic workers have taken on the largest share of the two countries studied. Saudi and Emirati citizens household tasks. In this light, the concept of khulwa, are not inclined to share their residency citizenship or or seclusion of women to the private sphere of the welfare citizenship with outsiders. house, makes no sense. However, in a country with- The concept of social citizenship concerns the ac- out the rule of law, which is particularly the case in tual social ties developed by members of the commu- Saudi Arabia, where women lack civil citizenship, so- nity. This concept is regularly referred to as social cap- cial citizenship could compensate for that seclusion by ital and applies equally to the Saudi and Emirati offering other means of protection. Therefore, in employers. In fact, social citizenship seems to be the those instances where Saudi or Emirati women have only citizenship concept that applies equally, next to little to do at home, it is the connection between the the concept of residency citizenship. Hence, the gen- concepts of civil citizenship and social citizenship that eral concept of citizenship, or membership in a com- actually explains the strong adherence of men to the munity, in countries that lack both welfare and a sys- concept of khulwa, of seclusion of women to the pri- tem of the rule of law, may not encompass more than vate sphere of the house, for it will prevent women— the right to reside, plus the actual social ties one de- domestic workers and wives and daughters alike— velops. from developing any protection against the men in Furthermore, the concepts of social citizenship the house. and civil citizenship seem to be interrelated in three Diminished Civil Citizenship of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE 305 References Mechanisms and Consequences of International Migra- tion (London: Zed Books Ltd). 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This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. 17 The Right to Education for Migrant Children in Thailand: Liminal Legality and the Educational Experience of Migrant Children in Samut Sakhon Kamowan Petchot1 Abstract For decades, Thailand has experienced an influx of a large number of migrants from Myanmar who have come in search of better economic opportunities. This influx has led to a sizeable migrant population residing in Thai- land, of which children make up a significant percentage. Providing education for large numbers of migrant chil- dren has become a matter of national concern, both because of Thailand’s international human rights obliga- tions and as a matter of national security. Responding to these concerns, the government of Thailand has adopted a policy of providing free and compulsory education for every child within its territory, including migrant children. However, despite the efforts of the Thai government to provide education for all, many migrant children are still unable to benefit from this policy. In this chapter, the challenges of realizing the right to education for migrant children in Samut Sakhon, a coastal province in central Thailand, are studied. Schools are regarded as institutional duty bearers that are obliged, on behalf of the state, to fulfil their legal obligation in terms of Thai government policy. These obligations emanate from the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Thailand is a state party. In addition, the research analyses the precarious status of migrant children. The concept of ‘liminal legality’ is used to conceptualize the in-between status of migrant children and families, and to illustrate how this liminal status shapes the opportu- nity structure of migrant children in education by influencing household decision-making. In this chapter, it is argued that addressing the liminal status of migrants is essential in addressing not only the issue of migrant chil- dren’s education, but also that of their incorporation into Thai society in general. Keywords: Burmese migrants, migrant children, right to education, liminal legality, Thailand. 17.1 Introduction1 the service sectors as well as a decline in the birth rate has resulted in an acute domestic labour shortage, Since the 1980s, the expansion of Thailand’s economy especially in labour-intensive industries (Chantavanich has created a large national demand for labour, and 2007a: 1). Consequently, Thailand has become a des- especially for unskilled labour. Unskilled work has tination for many migrants from neighbouring coun- been shunned by local Thai workers, partly because of tries throughout South-East Asia, and in particular improvements in the level and availability of basic edu- from Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, who fill the gap cation through to secondary school. This has resulted in unskilled jobs. A sizeable community, migrants in in Thai workers moving from semi-skilled to skilled Thailand have fuelled the country’s economic growth. jobs. In addition, the preference of Thais to work in According to a report by the International Labour Organization (ILO), out of thirty-six million Thai workers in 2007, five per cent or 1.8 million were 1 Kamonwan Petchot (Thailand) holds an MA in Devel- migrants, and their contribution to the Thai gross opment Studies from the International Institute of domestic product (GDP) was estimated at 1.25 per Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam. cent or US$2 billion. The number of migrants and the She is currently a consultant to the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD). T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 307 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_17, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 308 Kamowan Petchot range of occupations in which they have been tific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), was employed has further expanded (Martin 2007: xi-xii). adopted by Thailand in 1990 (MFA 2011). In 2004, Children make up a significant percentage among the Office of Education Council (OEC) created the those migrants who come to Thailand. Article 1 of the ‘Education Provision for Disadvantaged Children’ UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC (MFA 2011; ILO/OEC 2008: 11). In addition, the 1989) defines a child as “every human below the age ‘Education for All Cabinet Resolution’ of 2005 pro- of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the vided for universal access to education for all children child, majority is attained earlier”. A 2008 report by in Thailand, regardless of their nationality or legal sta- the International Organization for Migration (IOM) tus (MFA 2011; ILO/OEC 2008: 11). estimated that there were 200,000 migrant children However, there is a gap between law and imple- under the age of 17 years in Thailand (IOM 2008: mentation. This is evidenced through the very low 184). Migrant children in Thailand are a heterogene- number of migrant children who actually enrol in ous group, differentiated by age, ethnicity, their legal school. According to the Foundation for Rural Youth status, and the patterns of mobility of their parents. (FRY), a non-governmental organization (NGO) that For the purposes of this chapter, migrant children can promotes access by migrant children to Thai public be divided into those who are (1) migrants themselves schools, Thailand has accepted less than sixteen per who came to Thailand without their parents in search cent of registered migrant children into its education for work; (2) those who accompanied their family, system. In some areas, such as Bangkok, the situation and (3) children who were born to migrant parents in is critical, with fewer than four per cent of migrant Thailand (Huguet/Punpuing 2005: 124, Thu 2006: children enrolled in schools.2 14). Studies of access to education by migrant children From the perspective of the Thai government, pro- have pointed to three interconnected problem areas, viding education to migrant children is a response to namely policy issues, the school system, and problems its international obligations under the UN Conven- at the household level (Thu 2006: 18). At the level of tion on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which obliges policy, the 2005 ‘Education for All Cabinet Resolu- Thailand to provide for all children, including the chil- tion’ requires that migrant children be afforded the dren of migrants, with the right to education. It is same rights as Thai children, including government regarded by the government as a measure to ensure funding. However, schools cannot receive govern- national security in the long term, since a large ment funding for migrant children who are undocu- number of uneducated migrant children without mented (Thu 2006: 60). Therefore, schools bear the access to formal employment could join in illegal financial burden of accepting the children of undocu- activities that would harm national security, such as mented migrants. This runs contrary to the govern- drug trafficking or the sex industry. There is much ment policy of offering education to all children, irre- public concern that the lack of access to education by spective of their nationality or documented status. migrant children can lead to their marginalization and At the level of the school system, legal conscious- prevent their assimilation into Thai society. Without ness among school administrators, or the way in access to education, migrants remain an uneducated which they perceive and interpret their obligations as underclass vulnerable to exploitation and illegal activ- stated by law, also appears to be a major issue. ities. This is confirmed by Caouette, who argues that- Amanda Bissex, chief of the child protection section migrants’ cultural and economic marginalization may of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Thailand has lead to drug trafficking or human trafficking for pointed out that “access to education for migrant chil- labour or sexual exploitation in the sex industry dren is impeded by understanding of the cabinet deci- (Caouette 2001: 92, 107). sion at the local level” (Irinnews 2009). Thu’s study As a state party to the CRC, Thailand is obliged to (2006) revealed that the government budget was mis- respect, protect, and fulfil the right to education for used, for example by using the per-head budget, all children, including migrant children. Article 28 of which is aimed directly at students to cover their edu- the CRC provides that all children have a right to edu- cation. Responding to this international obligation, the Thai government has adopted various policies to 2 Nicola Hoyne, 2011: “Thailand: Education desperately ensure universal education for every child within its needed for migrant and stateless children”; at: (accessed 15 June 2011). The Right to Education for Migrant Children in Thailand: Liminal Legality and the Educational Experience 309 cational costs (e.g. uniforms, shoes, and books), and 17.2 Methods and Scope of Study for other school expenditure (e.g. electricity and water). Consequently, many schools did not receive The research project used qualitative methods. Data the supporting budget as stated in the Cabinet Reso- was collected through different methods, including lution (Thu 2006: 60). documentary research, semi-structured interviews, At the household level, factors that affect the edu- and field observation. My main method was semi- cational opportunities of migrant children are the atti- structured interviews with three groups of inform- tude of migrant parents towards education in general ants: (1) migrant students, (2) migrant parents, and (3) and the Thai educational system in particular. teachers and educators. Fifteen informants from each Migrant parents with a positive attitude towards edu- group (forty-five in total) were selected from three cation tend to keep their children in school for a schools (two public schools and an NGO learning longer period of time. Other factors include the direct centre). The community of Samut Sakhon in central costs (e.g. fees, books, clothes) and indirect costs (e.g. Thailand was selected as a field for research study be- child labour) of attending school, an uncertain future cause of the large number of Burmese migrant chil- in Thailand, lack of information about Thai educa- dren who live there; in addition, the local governor tion, gender, the duration of their stay in Thailand, has made an effort to provide education for migrant and proficiency in the Thai language, all of which can children in the community. Based on a case study of have negative impacts on migrant children’s opportu- this community, this chapter documents how Thai- nities for pursuing education (Thu 2006: 18). land deals with the education of migrant children. This study explores the challenges of accessing ed- ucation, faced by the children of migrants in Thai- land. The rights of migrants derive from the interna- 17.3 Thai Policy on Labour Migration tional legal obligations of the state, although an explicit, national recognition of their legal status is im- Due to a domestic labour shortage in Thailand from portant in defining who is entitled to what level of the late 1980s until the early 1990s, the business sector rights protection. Migrant children are not entitled to asked permission to employ foreign workers in order the same rights and protection as those who are citi- to overcome their labour shortage. In 1992, the Thai zens. The law requires that each child, including mi- government developed an immigration policy for un- grant children, residing on Thai territory is legally en- skilled labour migrants, mostly directed towards the titled to the right to education; however, there are fishing, construction, agricultural, and other indus- some legal gaps or difficulties for migrant children in trial sectors. obtaining an education. Their presence in Thailand is In Thailand, the rights of workers and the obliga- only temporarily legal or even illegal in some cases tions of employers are covered by the Labour Protec- but they are legally entitled to education, while the fu- tion Act of 1998 (B.E.2541), which deals with working ture of their career or status in Thailand remains un- hours, holidays, notice, overtime, and sick pay. How- clear. The in-between or ‘liminal’ legal status of mi- ever, as Muntarbhon (2005: 13) argued, the “national grant children makes it difficult for the state to realise law with the greatest impact on migrant workers are the right to education. Furthermore, the framing of not the labour laws themselves but the national immi- children’s education as an issue of human security (re- gration law”. Immigration policies governing migrant duced to the idea of the costs and benefits of provid- workers’ lives in Thailand rely on two major acts, the ing education) can be confused with matters of na- Foreign Employment Act 2008 (B.E.2551) and the Im- tional security (viewing migrants as a potential threat), migration Act 1979 (B.E.2522). The latter states that which may generate fear and mutual suspicion among unauthorized entry or breach of immigration law or members of a community and further undermine ef- both is illegal and may lead to deportation or other forts to provide education for migrant children. This penalties or both. However, Section 17 gives the Min- is a grey area of the law. Migrant children’s experi- istry of the Interior some flexibility to exempt irregu- ences are shaped in a different way from the experi- lar migrants from being deported if they present ences of other groups of children. themselves for registration. Additionally, the employ- ment of migrant workers is regulated by the Foreign Employment Act 2008, which requires that an alien must have a work permit and that aliens are allowed to work only in activities designated by law or by the 310 Kamowan Petchot relevant governmental authority (i.e. the Ministry of Thailand will continue to depend on migrant workers Labour) (Muntarbhon 2005: 13). in many sectors in the future. Thus, the policies of the Thailand had never allowed the employment of MOL tend to be more generous, and it has worked unskilled foreign workers in the country before; its with other related agencies on policies to grant wel- existing legal framework did not provide clauses for fare assistance and other forms of social and legal such initiatives, so the government decided to use a protection to migrant workers, including health care cabinet resolution as the mechanism to establish a and decent working conditions, although these poli- new legal framework. The cabinet resolution is an ad cies are limited to workers only and do not necessarily hoc type of policy formulation based on the belief imply protection for the children of migrants (Ruku- that the employment of migrant workers would be a mnuaykit 2009: 27). temporary event and the situation would change after The first migrant workers registration programme some years (Chantavanich 2007a: 1–2). was introduced through a cabinet resolution in 1992 This belief in the ‘temporariness’ of migrant la- that allowed registered migrants to temporarily work bour has proven to be misplaced. Many economic sec- in Thailand instead of facing deportation. Initially, the tors in Thailand have relied continuously on migrant registration was limited only to Burmese migrants and workers for more than three decades and there ap- to certain types of jobs (fishing, construction, agricul- pears to be no prospect that Thai workers will return tural, and some industries) in particularly designated to these labour-intensive jobs. On the contrary, a re- provinces (Chantavanich 2007a: 1). A big demand search study suggested that the structural dependence from the business sector for migrant workers pushed on migrant workers tends to persist in the medium- to the government to introduce additional categories for long-term since there is little evidence of alternatives registration, which gradually expanded to migrants such as a mechanization or re-structuring of the na- from Cambodia and Laos and to additional provinces, tional workforce to attract Thai workers (Martin and also gradually expanded the number of job types 2004: 3). to seven, then eleven, then forty-seven, and then to eighteen sectors in five industries, before it eventually 17.3.1 Administration of Thai Labour Migration expanded to all types of jobs and sectors in 2001 Policy (Chantavanich 2007b: 2, 4). Later, in an attempt to manage migration differ- The main administrative bodies involved in migrant ently, the registration shifted from an area-based sys- management in Thailand are the Ministry of the Inte- tem to one that was area- and quota-based. The gov- rior (MOI) and the Ministry of Labour (MOL). The ernment limited the number of registered migrants MOI manages the regularization of migrants through following a recommendation by scholars (Chantavan- civil registration and issues a thirteen-digit identifica- ich 2007b: 5). However, this amendment has been of tion (ID) number, which grants migrants a temporary limited relevance since the number of registered work- residence. The MOI’s primary concern has been to ers has been lower than the quota. This was due to protect national security, and therefore it has sup- the fact that many workers have been employed in ported strict migrant policies, from confining mi- sectors that were not permitted to hire migrants. Nev- grants to the employers with whom they had regis- ertheless, some employers have been unwilling to pay tered to restrictions on their freedom of movement high registration costs, although they have avoided (Pollock/Pearson/Kusakabe 2009: 3–4). The MOI in- prosecution by paying bribes to the police (Chanta- troduced policies that assumed that the need for mi- vanich 2007a: 6). grant labour in Thailand was temporary. Conse- In 2001, the Thai government changed its policy quently, migrant workers are ‘working migrants’ who again to permit an open registration nationwide in all will eventually return to their countries of origin. occupations, without any limiting quotas. The inten- The MOL is responsible for issuing work permits, tion was to ‘regularize’ all underground irregular mi- which will allow migrant workers to legally obtain grant workers, so that the government could have an employment in Thailand. The primary concern of the accurate figure of the number of migrants to guide fu- MOL is the demand for migrant workers to meet the ture policy measures. The registered number of mi- country’s domestic labour shortage, and since the grants in 2001 was 568,000, the highest number ever Ministry works directly with the domestic labour mar- recorded, before the number dropped to 409,339 in ket and business sectors, the MOL recognizes the the following year when the registration programme importance of migrant workers and the prospect that was renewed (Rukumnuaykit 2009: 20). At the same The Right to Education for Migrant Children in Thailand: Liminal Legality and the Educational Experience 311 time, the government concluded memoranda of un- security (ILO/OEC 2006: 1, 2008: 8). The Thai gov- derstanding (MOUs) with Myanmar, Laos, and Cam- ernment and international agencies (e.g. ILO and bodia to legalize migrant workers, based on a govern- Save the Children) regarded education as the best ment-to-government recruitment of migrant workers solution for reducing poverty and child labour. Educa- for specific periods of employment in Thailand. Plac- tion was also regarded as assisting in the integration ing conditions for this registration was intended to of migrant children into Thai society, thereby reduc- motivate the workers to return home after the com- ing the (perceived) national security threat. pletion of employment, although the MOUs also cov- In addition, based on the norms of international ered matters of labour protection and dispute settle- treaties to which Thailand is a party, the Ministry of ment, and measures aimed at eliminating illegal Education (MOE) introduced the ‘Education for All’ employment (Chantavanich 2007a: 7). policy, which aimed to expand universal education in In 2004, another major shift in migrant policy oc- order to reach all children from every group in soci- curred which required that migrant workers, their de- ety, including migrant children. In 2005, based on the pendents, and their employers must all be registered. ‘Education for All’ policy, the MOE began working in Migrant workers and their dependents were to receive cooperation with other relevant stakeholders to pro- a thirteen-digit ID number for better migration man- vide education for migrant children, irrespective of agement. These IDs were only valid for one year, how- whether or not they were documented. This included ever, and since then there has been no systematic ef- cooperation with the Ministry of Interior (MOI), fort to register migrants, other than those applying for which started issuing a civil status that granted tempo- work permits. In addition, the 2011 work permit reg- rary residence to migrant children. However, as there istration with the MOL was opened for dependents was no clear and coherent policy in place for migrant (family and children) of migrant workers to apply for workers in Thailand, and as each organization in- a temporary status. volved in migrant management had different interests In short, most laws and policies regulating mi- and agendas, the possibility for misunderstandings be- grants have been concerned with the working condi- tween policies at the local and national levels was tions, wages, and welfare of migrant workers. There high. has never before been an immigration law or policy Thus, while the Thai government openly recog- concerning migrant children in Thailand. Further- nized the right to education, at the same time the re- more, the government of Thailand sees a key linkage strictions of Thai immigration law meant that it was between immigration law, national security, and na- almost impossible to acquire a permanent residence, tional policy, with national security in particular shap- let alone citizenship. Hence, the migrant assimilation ing the application of the Immigration Act. Conse- process has relied greatly on how migrants manage to quently, a series of cabinet decisions since 1992 have deal with their precarious status. resulted in a ‘half-open door’ policy towards migrant workers (Muntarbhon 2005: 13). 17.3.3 Migrant Labour in Samut Sakhon Province 17.3.2 Thai Policy on Migrant Children The Samut Sakhon province, has experienced rapid Since the early 2000s, the government has responded economic growth, which has in turn expanded the la- to the concerns raised by international organizations bour market in three key sectors (fishery, industry, (e.g. ILO) over migrant children with regard to child and agriculture), but this work has been unattractive trafficking and exploitation of migrant child labour in to Thai workers. A high and growing demand for la- the commercial sexual industry, the fishery industry, bour, coupled with inadequate local labour, created and seafood processing factories.3 At the same time, an acute labour shortage, paving the way for migrant the increasing numbers of migrant children raised workers from neighbouring countries to fill the gap. challenges of integration which were perceived by the Half of the workers in these sectors are now migrants. Thai government as a potential threat to national Responding to the pressure from the private sector for a sustainable labour supply, in 1992 the Thai gov- ernment eased the procedure for registration of un- 3 See: United States Department of Labor, 2012: Thai- documented migrants from Myanmar, Laos, and land: Incidence and Nature of Child Labour; at: (accessed 15 May 2012). tially the law allowed them to work only in fishery 312 Kamowan Petchot and fishery-related factories, construction, farming, 17.4 Liminal Legal Status and domestic service, before it gradually expanded to nineteen other sectors by 2009 (Chantavanich 2007a: Legal status has been recognized by scholars as one of 2; Thai Cabinet Resolution of 26 May 2009). The ac- the most essential aspects of migrants’ lives. Immigra- tual number of migrants in Samut Sakhon, taking into tion law governs and shapes vital spheres of migrants’ account unregistered migrants, is estimated to be existence, from health care, vulnerability in the streets, 200,000, compared to the local Thai population of the ability to combat domestic violence, and access to 543,302 (ILO/OEC 2006: 5; Thu 2006: 31). the labour market and wage levels, to their identity, Samut Sakhon is also an attractive destination for self-recognition, and, more importantly, incorpora- migrant workers due to relatively high wage levels tion in the receiving country (Menjivar 2006: 1000). compared with other provinces. As of 1 April 2012, The impact of legal status on the lives of migrants has the minimum wage in Samut Sakhon is 300 baht per been stressed as very influential, to the point that it day, whereas in other provinces with a high concentra- creates different classes of immigrants with different tion of migrant workers such as Tak, Chiang Rai, and rights and privileges. These differences in turn con- Ranong, the minimum wage is 226, 232, and 259 baht tribute to the experiences faced by migrants from dif- respectively.4 However, undocumented workers often ferent legal categories (Freeman 2004: 950). receive less than the minimum wage, and have no In their study on ‘segmented assimilation’, Portes negotiating power (Martin 2004: 20). Even when and Zhou (1993) pointed to the different contexts of workers are legally documented, they still have very reception in the lives of migrants, which may conse- little negotiating power over their wages as the regis- quently lead them in different directions. According tration system ties the migrants to the employers with to Menjivar, migrants do not form homogeneous whom they have registered. Migrant workers who quit groups and they have different access to resources or leave without the employer’s or the authority’s per- (economic, social, and legal status) as well as to con- mission will immediately lose their work permits, a sit- ditions in destination areas. Therefore, the outcomes uation that leaves them with little room for wage of the integration of migrants into the host society negotiation. vary. Conditions in the receiving country include per- The majority of migrant workers in Samut Sakhon sonal factors such as skills, and extra-personal factors are from Myanmar. Out of 76,059 registered migrants such as immigration law and access to the labour mar- in 2008, 75,614 (99.41 per cent) were from Myanmar ket, which work together to shape the opportunity while 378 (0.5 per cent) were from Laos, and 67 (0.09 structure for migrants in a receiving country (Menjivar per cent) from Cambodia. Among the various ethnic 2006: 1002). Immigration law determines which legal groups that enter Thailand, Mon and Burmese are the categories the migrants belong to (regular/irregular or majority. Samut Sakhon also has old Mon-Thai com- documented/undocumented), as well as the status munities who migrated to Thailand a long time ago and participation of migrants in society; these are and are now Thai citizens of Mon ethnic origin. Mon closely linked to their entitlement to resources, ‘with is an ethnic group from Myanmar who have a long little to share with others’ (Menjivar 2006: 1023). Im- history of migration to Thailand because of an ongo- migration law can be a constraining factor affecting ing ethnic conflict in Myanmar. Their first migration the opportunities of migrants in the labour market by dates back to as early as the sixteenth century. The determining who can or cannot do certain kinds of majority of migrant workers are concentrated in the jobs and for how long. For migrant workers in Thai- Muang Samut Sakhon district, and especially in Mah- land, immigration law strictly governs their work con- achai, where seafood processing and fishery-related ditions. Moreover, immigration law and legal status factories are located. As will be argued next, this situ- also govern the interaction of migrants with welfare ation for migrants in Thailand represents a clear and cultural regulations (Freeman 2004: 950). example of ‘liminal legality’ or a ‘segmental assimila- Legal status is closely linked to the concept of cit- tion’, where the outcome of the assimilation varies izenship, which not only forms the domestic legal ba- due to personal and interpersonal factors. sis for access to individual rights, but also frames the social obligations between the individual and the state. Citizenship furthermore shapes immigrants’ 4 Department of Employment, 2012: Ministry of Labour membership in society and their understanding of Statistics, Government of Thailand; at: (accessed Calavita, “[t]he immigrant is a stranger, physically 28 June 2012). The Right to Education for Migrant Children in Thailand: Liminal Legality and the Educational Experience 313 present but not a member of a community” (Calavita work permits, which are generally valid for no more 1998: 401). The legal status of migrants is convention- than two years. Their status is thus one of temporary ally divided in a binary way between regular and irreg- legality. In addition, migrants may return to an irregu- ular or documented and undocumented. However, as lar (undocumented) status in different ways: when globalization has brought about changing patterns of their temporary status ends, when their work permits movement and migration as well as variable migration expire, or if they violate the immigration law and reg- policies in different contexts and historical periods, ulations such as changing employers without either the boundaries of legal categories between the black the employer’s or the authority’s permission, or when area of illegality and the white area of legality have be- migrant workers leave the province in which they are come blurred. A new category of immigration status registered without authorized permission (Vasuprasat has emerged in the grey area in between these two 2010: 20). conventional categories. This in-between status has been explored by different scholars, and referred to 17.4.1 Liminal Legality and Migrant Children’s variously as “liminal legality” (Menjivar 2006), “per- Access to Education manent temporariness” (Bailey/Wright/Mountz/Mi- yares 2002: 125), “legal non-existence” (Coutin 2002: Migrant children in Thailand are a heterogeneous 34, 47), “precarious status” and “less-than-full status” group, differentiated by age and ethnicity, as well as (Goldring/Berinstein/Bernhard 2009: 240). by the legal status and the patterns of mobility of their Using the concepts of “liminality” and “legal non- parents. They can be divided into three groups: chil- existence”, Cecilia Menjivar developed the concept of dren who accompany their parents in migration to “liminal legality” to explain the social impact of Cen- Thailand; unaccompanied migrant children; and chil- tral American immigrants’ uncertain status. Victor dren born to migrant parents in Thailand (Huguet/ Turner’s concept of “liminality” was used to concep- Punpuing 2005: 124). tualize the “becomingness-state” or the transitional The liminal legal status of migrants leads to spe- period between two relatively fixed or stable condi- cific kinds of vulnerability that significantly affects tions (Turner 1967: 93). Susan B. Coutin’s concept of their experiences of assimilation in Thailand in gen- “legal non-existence” captured the experiences of un- eral, and their attitude towards education in particu- documented Central Americans as being “physically lar. Burmese children born to migrant parents in Thai- present and socially active but lacking legal recogni- land cannot obtain citizenship of either Myanmar or tion” (Menjivar 2006: 1008). Undocumented migrants Thailand. Myanmar law requires a child born to Bur- living in legal non-existence fall under a state of subju- mese parents to be registered within a month of birth. gation, which makes them “vulnerable to deportation, Parents must use the birth certificate to apply for a confinement to low wage jobs and denial of basic hu- household certificate. Burmese migrant parents can- man needs, such as decent housing, education, food not fulfil this requirement while working in Thailand and healthcare” (Menjivar 2006: 1008). Coutin since many undocumented migrant parents may have stresses the negative impact of legal non-existence as left Myanmar without a proper document or they may an “erasure of rights and personhood thus making vi- be afraid that if they return, their re-entrance to Thai- olence against people in this condition not only legit- land could be difficult and costly. imate but sometimes even required” (Coutin, cited in Most workers from Myanmar are reported to have Menjivar 2006: 1008). Without legal recognition by a Myanmar ID, but in order to legally leave the coun- the state, the rights of people who live under this sit- try they also need to have a passport, which is also uation become ambiguous and are usually violated very costly. Therefore, many migrants from Myanmar (Coutin 2000, cited in Menjivar 2006: 1008). leave their country illegally, even though returning Liminal legality is therefore characterized by its without a proper document may lead to a penalty of ambiguity; it is neither a regular nor irregular status up to one year’s imprisonment and a fine (Rukum- but may have characteristics of both. It is neither one- nuaykit 2009: 10–11). As a matter of principle, Thai dimensional nor a linear process; it is not simply a nationality may be obtained by birth for all children changing phase from undocumented to documented born in Thai territory but according to Thai law un- status – the transition is never complete as the mi- documented migrants are exceptions to this principle grants’ legal status usually fluctuates (Menjivar 2006: (Yang 2007: 523). Without Thai or Burmese citizen- 1001). Migrants who register and become regularized ship, these children are left stateless, and are what in Thailand are granted temporary residence and Bhabha calls “Arendt’s children”, a situation when 314 Kamowan Petchot “supposedly inalienable rights are unenforceable for dren are weighed against the costs of not providing it individuals who lack their government” (Bhabha (ILO/OEC 2008: 8). 2009: 411). Bhabha has further observed that, accord- ing to Article 1.1 of the Convention Relating to the 17.4.2 Migrant Children’s Education in Samut Status of Stateless Persons of 28 September 1954, state- Sakhon lessness refers to when a person is “not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law” While Samut Sakhon has been experiencing rapid (Bhabha 2009: 411). growth, especially in the fishery sector, the province Though migrant children in Thailand are granted has employed a large number of migrant workers to temporary status, their future is still very uncertain. take over low-skilled labour jobs that have been aban- There is no clear implication for their legal status af- doned by local Thais. Since it is unlikely that Thai ter they complete basic education. This means that workers will return to these jobs, there is an expecta- there is no clear expectation of obtaining Thai citizen- tion that Thailand, and especially the Samut Sakhon ship or permanent residency. Migrant children are province, will continue to depend on migrant workers subject to the same procedures as their parents in that in many sectors, especially fishery and fishery-related they may only attain a temporary or precarious legal industries. Hence, there have been some shifts, not status. Due to their liminal legal status, job opportuni- only in migration policies, but also in relation to so- ties are limited to manual jobs, as restricted by the cial welfare, and in particular to education and health law.5 These jobs require no educational qualification, care. but workers who are proficient in Thai might have a According to the registration statistics provided by better chance to work in a higher position with higher the Ministry of Labour, in 2011 there were 1,218 wages than workers who cannot speak Thai. The op- migrant children under fifteen years of age registered portunity for Burmese labour migrants to legalize as dependants of migrant workers in Samut Sakhon. their residential status is further limited as the law re- However, this number does not reflect the reality of quires that aliens must demonstrate ‘good behaviour’ migrant children since a short period of registration (Thailand’s Nationality Act B.E.2508 amended by Act (15 June–14 July 2011), inadequate publicity about gov- B.E.2535 and Act B.E. 2551, Section 10.2). In practice, ernment registration, and complications with the sys- this excludes most migrants (as well as their children) tem led to only a small number of children being reg- who have entered the country illegally (Yang 2007: istered.6 526). Since there is no clear policy or prospect for the The Labour Rights Promotion Network (LPN), future of migrant children, migrant parents and their an NGO working with migrant children in Samut Sa- communities view the efforts of the government to khon, estimates that every year there are 2,000 chil- provide education to their children with suspicion. dren born to migrant parents in Samut Sakhon. Fur- Moreover, a series of shifts in immigration policies in thermore, given that some children were sent home the last decade have exacerbated their already inse- and some accompanied their family to other prov- cure feeling about their future in Thailand and this sig- inces in search of work, the estimated number of mi- nificantly affects their attitude towards education. grant children in Samut Sakhon who arrived between The precarious status of migrant children as well 2004 and 2011 is 7,000–10,000.7 This situation is fur- as their families brings about ambiguity in their enti- ther described by an official from the Education de- tlement to education. As mentioned earlier, the state’s partment: decision to provide rights to education for migrant We are aware of the ‘Education for All Cabinet Resolu- children is based on national security concerns, and tion’ which is the policy of the government that states the benefits of providing education to migrant chil- that migrant children, regardless of their status, can go to school. Therefore we have tried to improve the situa- tion of migrant children in our area. We have worked with our sample school, the Sirimongkol School, to pro- mote the school enrolment of migrant children. We try to 5 Ekachai, Sanitsuda, 2003: Shattered Dream: Immigrant publicize this to inform the migrant parents that their Workers’ Fact and Figure, The Human Rights Sub-Com- mittee on Ethnic Minorities, Stateless, Migrant Workers and Displaced Persons, The Lawyers Council of Thai- 6 Interview by Kamowan Petchot with Sompong Srakaew, land; at: (accessed 2 May 2012); and Thai Cabinet work (LPN), Thailand in July–August 2011. Resolution of 26 May 2009. 7 Interview by Kamowan Petchot with Sompong Srakaew. The Right to Education for Migrant Children in Thailand: Liminal Legality and the Educational Experience 315 children can come to school. Most of them go to Siri- resulting in different practices. At the same time, at mongkol School, our sample school. The number of the national level, there is a lack of effective coordina- migrant children enrolling in schools has increased over tion of priorities and interest between the different time although we still face problems of student drop-out.8 agencies that are involved in migrant management Table 17.1: Number of migrant students enrolling in the (e.g. MOE, MOI, MOL, and the Royal Thai Police). public school in Samut Sakhon during the Ineffective communication and coordination between academic years 2005–2009. Source: Samut different agencies, such as MOE and MOI regarding Sakhon Educational Service Area (2012).a) students’ ID numbers and budget allocation, exacer- bates not only the vulnerability of uncertain status for Academic Year No. of Migrant Students migrant students, but is also a financial burden for 2005 177 schools. 2006 287 2007 493 17.4.3 Tracking Differences and Commonality 2008 526 Migrant children have two main educational options, 2009 1,039 namely formal (public school) and informal (e.g. a a) Samut Sakhon Educational Service Area, 2012: migrant learning centre). The challenges these “Number of Migrant Students Enrolling in Public schools face in providing education for migrant chil- School in Samut Sakhon from Academic Year 2005– dren must be specially emphasized. Interviews were 2009”; at: (accessed 28 June 2012). majority of migrant students while the other had a majority of Thai students. In addition, one migrant While the Samut Sakhon Educational Service Area has school/learning centre was selected for interview. devoted a lot of attention to education for migrant There are many actors involved in the provision of children, policy implementation has also been driven education for migrant children, ranging from the staff and supported by international organizations such as of the schools, educational authorities, NGOs, and the ILO’s International Programme on the Elimina- learning centres to communities. Data were collected tion of Child Labour (ILO-IPEC), IOM, and Save the from three main groups of stakeholders, namely Children. These organizations operate their own teachers, students, and parents/guardians, with some projects as well as others in partnership with local or- additional interviews with education officials from ganizations, both governmental (e.g. Samut Sakhon Samut Sakhon Educational Service Area and NGO Educational Service Area) and non-governmental (e.g. workers from LPN. The first school is the Wat Siri- LPN and the Rak Thai Foundation). The main objec- mongkol School, which provides education from pre- tives of these international organizations in Samut Sa- primary to primary level (grade 6). There are 604 stu- khon range from education as a key mechanism for dents: 591 migrants and ten Thai students. The school bringing children out of child labour (ILO/OEC has the largest number of migrant students, with a 2010) to education as a means of protecting children cluster of more than thirty per cent of the migrant stu- from trafficking and exploitation (Save the Children dents who enrol in public schools in Samut Sakhon. It UK). As a result of the convergence of objectives and was also the only school where migrant students out- interests from various parties at the local, national, numbered Thai students. The openness of the and international levels in providing educational op- school’s policy allows for the registration of students portunities for migrant children in Samut Sakhon, the regardless of their nationality and legal documents. educational situation of migrant children has im- This school has furthermore an ethnic affinity with proved. However, there still remain some challenges the local community. The school is located in the old faced by schools, as well as barriers caused by migrant Mon-Thai community, which is quite open to new- children’s liminal status. comers from Myanmar. The community still shares At the local level, schools have adopted different some ethnic identity with the newcomer Mons, such interpretations of the 2005 ‘Education for All’ Policy, as language, cultural practices, and beliefs, although they are also open to people of other ethnic groups as well. Most people in this community work in the agri- 8 Interview by Kamowan Petchot with Mr Pongdhep, cultural sector. Education Service Area Officer at Sirimongkol School, Thailand in July–August 2011. 316 Kamowan Petchot Table 17.2: Number of students at the primary and upper secondary levels in Samut Sakhon during the academic year 2010. Source: Ministry of Education (2012).a) Grade Male Female Total Grade 1 3,779 3,578 7,357 Grade 2 3,550 3,324 6,874 Grade 3 3,584 3,336 6,920 Grade 4 3,577 3,330 6,907 Grade 5 3,501 3,253 6,754 Grade 6 3,690 3,557 7,247 Total of Primary Ed. 21,681 20,378 42,059 Grade 7 3,762 3,331 7,093 Grade 8 3,393 3,272 6,665 Grade 9 3,038 3,057 6,095 Total of Lower Secondary Education 10,193 9,660 19,853 Grade 10 779 1,272 2,051 Grade 11 699 1,158 1,857 Grade 12 584 1,027 1,611 Total of Upper Secondary Education 2,062 3,457 5,519 a) Ministry of Education, 2012: “Number of Students at Primary-Upper Secondary Levels in Samut Sakhon: Academic Year 2010” (Bangkok: Government of Thailand); at: (accessed 28 June 2012). The school receives funding from the Ministry of the class and gradually learn Thai. The school also has Education (MOE). The school had applied for a per activities that help promote an understanding of Thai head budget by sending the total number of students culture and values, and this can facilitate the chil- and school registration documents without applying dren’s integration into Thai society through such for the thirteen-digit numbers for their students; the things as Thai etiquette and courtesy. The second Ministry left this requirement to the discretion of the school, the Srisuttharam School, is a big public school secondary school. The rationale behind this practice with 583 students, of whom 124 are migrants. The is the minimum age for legally working. If the school school provides education from pre-primary to lower had applied for civil registration for their students, it secondary level (grade 9). The school is located in the might have contributed to a drop-out of students same area and is functionally linked to the LPN Learn- before grade 9. It was felt that some migrants might ing Centre, which trains and prepares migrant stu- just have used school as a means to obtain civil regis- dents to join this public school. The students from tration and legal status in order to stay in the country, the learning centre who wish to continue their study after which they would get the thirteen-digit number in this school have to complete an examination to and take their children out to work.9 identify which class fits their academic ability. The school was popular among migrant students The school has a legal duty to provide education because of a flexible curriculum that adjusted to the to every child, regardless of their legal status. When a specific needs of migrant children and provided a mi- child with no legal registration documents enrols, the grant-friendly environment. The school has used the school registrar issues a personal record for the stu- core curriculum as assigned by the MOE, but has ad- dent, which includes a photograph and the parents’ justed some details to suit migrant children’s learning details. This school will also apply for a civil registra- needs, such as providing a translator to help the teach- tion (the thirteen-digit ID numbers) for their students. ers in primary classes so that new students can follow The ID numbers allow for temporary residence up to a maximum of ten years. This school reported that the process of issuing an ID number from the MOI 9 Interview with teacher G, a teacher from Sirimongkol could be very slow, up to two years or more. The de- School and teacher I, a teacher from LPN Learning Cen- layed procedure has caused budgetary challenges to tre, 2011. The Right to Education for Migrant Children in Thailand: Liminal Legality and the Educational Experience 317 the school because, for the per head budget from were waiting for one, then their teachers may provide MOE, the school needs to send the actual number of the police with evidence that they are students in enrolled students, with their thirteen-digit ID num- order to get them out of custody. Some migrant par- bers attached. As a result, the school does not receive ents send their children to school just to obtain the the per head budget for those students who are wait- legal status, for fear of police harassment, arrest, and ing for their ID numbers. As a result, the bureaucratic deportation. difficulties of receiving funding for migrant students is I and most parents send our children to school because in contradiction with the school’s legal duty to pro- we are afraid that the police could arrest our children. vide education for migrant children. As confirmed by Now we are mostly registered at the new registration the school’s director: this year so police cannot arrest us any more but for many children who did not know about the registration My school receives the support from the government. or the employer did not take them to registration, they When we accept migrant students, school registrar will still have no documents. But if children come to school, fill the form for students’ information and then send the police cannot arrest them.11 the application for the thirteen-digit number to the dis- trict office which will eventually go to the Ministry of Besides the budgetary challenge faced by Srisuttharam Interior who will issue the ID for migrant students but School due to the delay in issuing ID numbers, the the problem we have here is that sometimes, it takes so school also experiences the problem of student drop- long before the students can get their numbers…some- out. Many students have to move when their parents times up to two years. I’m not sure why it takes them so long. We need that number to apply for a budget per change jobs, and this makes it difficult for students to head from the Ministry of Education. We cannot get the continue their studies as they might leave before they budget for students who don’t have an ID or are still in receive the ID card, and they cannot reapply for it the process of applying so we have to share with them from the new school. Public schools are only open for the budget of other students, Thai students and those enrolment twice a year, at the beginning of each new students who already received their ID numbers…I think semester, while the pattern of mobility of migrant maybe the long and complicated procedure and finan- families varies throughout the year. Migrant children cial problems might be one of the reasons why many public schools don’t want to accept migrant students might arrive in the middle of the school semester, and but here we accept all children who applied. The law be unable to immediately continue their study in a clearly states that we have to do so.10 new school, or may end up repeating classes. Poverty and debt was mentioned by those interviewed as the There are two ways for migrant children without legal main factor that caused students to drop out.12 residential documents to obtain some form of legal Another teacher emphasized this point: status, through their registration as dependents of mi- grant workers and/or through registration by the Basically, learning Thai is important since they live here school. If migrant children apply through schools, but some of their parents don’t think like that. They they will be granted a different status and a longer don’t think about how useful an education for their kids is nor do they pay any attention. However, there are temporary residence permit of up to ten years, while some that care about the education of their children registering as a dependent will grant them the same and send their kids to school although there are a lot of status as their parents, with a residence permit for up problems due to the expenses, for example for school to two years. Mostly, migrants can only obtain a one- uniform, daily allowances, transportation, etc. Even if year amnesty to legally stay in the country through a they don’t have to pay tuition fee, but for some, still out work permit renewal with the MOL. Accordingly, a of hand. In this classroom as well, there are many poor number of migrant parents have decided to send their kids whose parents work for a shrimp peeling factory. Some families have only a mother who is living with the children to a public school to obtain a longer legal sta- children while the father has sailed with the fishing tus. boat. Many children left school to work.13 Migrant children without ID numbers face arrest and deportation, and they are charged with entering the country illegally. However, if the migrant children are students of a public school, whether children who 11 Interview by Kamowan Petchot with A, a migrant par- have not applied for an ID number, or those who ent at Srisuttaram School in July–August 2011. 12 Interview by Kamowan Petchot with Vava, a student, with teacher W, and with Mr F at Srisuttaram School, 10 Interview by Kamowan Petchot with Mr Pisarn, School Thailand in July–August 2011. Director, at Srisuttaram School, Thailand in July–August 13 Interview by Kamowan Petchot with Tan, a teacher, at 2011. LPN Learning Centre, Thailand in July–August 2011. 318 Kamowan Petchot Even though there was no school fee and there were learning centre uses the same curriculum as the public subsidies for uniforms and textbooks, parents still school, they are more flexible and sensitive to the sit- have to pay some additional expenses such as trans- uations and specific needs of migrant children. The portation costs and a daily allowance. The income of main language of instruction is Thai with some addi- some migrant families is too low for them to be able tional use of Burmese and Mon so that the new stu- to afford their children’s education. To send a child to dents can follow the lesson and don’t feel isolated school, parents have to spend at least 300 baht for from their classmates. their lunch and at least 500 baht on transport every Sending children to the learning centre rather than month, while the average monthly income of a the public school involves additional costs. Although worker in the seafood processing factories is about the centre does not require a school fee, parents still 2,000 baht. When added to other necessary expenses have to cover transport costs, lunch, uniforms, text- such as housing and food, the educational expenses books, and stationery. Despite this, parents still prefer are beyond the financial means of migrant families. to send their children to the learning centre before Apart from their low income, many migrant families they enter the Thai public school in order to prepare are also in debt bondage, arising from their journey their children mentally and academically for the for- across the border and sometimes through job seeking, mal school system. The Thai public schools provide as was confirmed by one migrant child: no preparatory classes for migrant students. Further- When I first arrived here, I joined school but my mother more, the learning centre has a more flexible accept- and brother alone cannot work to pay our debt so I left ance period for new students, which better suits the school to work in the shrimp peeling factories…Then pattern of migrant families’ mobility. They accept new when we paid off all our debt I came back to study in students all year round. Although many people call school.14 the LPN school a migrant school, the law does not Many children leave school to enter the labour market recognize its status as a school. For this reason, the when they reach the age of nine or ten years old, school receives no support from the government. either by working in the informal sector, or by lying to Lack of support from government poses the main employers about their real age, since the minimum challenge. The school does not require a school fee as age for employment in Thailand is fifteen. This corre- all school expenses come from foreign donors. How- lates with the drop-out rate of students in school. ever, it is running out of funds after five years of ex- According to statistics from the Samut Sakhon Educa- ternal support and is facing difficulties in operating. tional Service Area for the academic year 2010, the The school has already had to cut many expenses. educational level that had the highest drop-out rate Free lunches have been cancelled, while textbooks was grade 2, where a total number of forty-six stu- and some stationery have been scarce. Moreover, the dents became only ten students, who proceeded to lack of funding leads to a lack of teachers. Apart from grade 3. financial difficulties, the status of teachers in the A third school for migrants was set up five years learning centre is another issue. The learning centre ago by LPN and it is solely funded by foreign donors. has a problematic status. Teachers in the learning cen- Currently there are 140 migrant students in the learn- tre are considered to have a lower status than teachers ing centre, ranging from pre-primary to primary level in formal schools. They also receive lower wages, are (grade 2). The majority of the migrant children are seen as having lower social status, and there is no le- Burmese and Mon from Myanmar. As mentioned, the gal recognition of their status. As a result, people who learning centre is linked to the Srisuttaram School, are qualified for the job would prefer to work for for- both institutionally and by location, at the back of the mal schools. Srisuttaram School. Their classes prepare migrant stu- dents to enter the public school system. The school 17.4.4 Impact of ‘Liminal Legality’ on the tries to create a public school environment, such as re- Experience of Migrant Children in the quiring students to wear a uniform, as well as singing Thai Education System the national anthem, praying every morning, and us- ing the same curriculum and textbooks. Although the The ‘liminal legality’ of migrant children and their families affects the experiences of children in the edu- cation system. The combination of immigration laws, 14 Interview by Kamowan Petchot with Min, a migrant stu- migrant children’s socio-economic status, and their dent at Srisuttaram School, Thailand in July–August 2011. parents’ preferences affect both migrant children’s The Right to Education for Migrant Children in Thailand: Liminal Legality and the Educational Experience 319 educational lives and by extension their incorporation ation as themselves, with a ‘liminal legal status’ and into Thai society. access to the same low-paid jobs.15 Another migrant Most migrant children are living in ‘mixed legal parent elaborated on this point: status’ families, where each family member has a dif- I think it is very good that my granddaughter goes to ferent status in terms of the immigration law (Fix/ school. Now she speaks Thai much better than before Zimmerman 2001). Registered migrants possess a and she can read signs on the street and medicine labels temporary amnesty from deportation. However, the for me. [When asked: What did she plan for her grand- registration which allows undocumented migrants to daughter’s education? How long does she plan to keep temporarily stay and work in Thailand involves multi- her grandchildren in school?] No, I don’t want her to ple and confusing deadlines, which are often not well stay in school for too long...maybe not more than Por 3 [Prathom 3, first level of elementary school equivalent communicated to the migrants. Migrant children who to grade 3]…or Por 6 [Prathom 6, second level of ele- apply for an ID number through the school are mentary school equivalent to grade 6]. I don’t work any granted a temporary residence permit of not more more these days … Only their parents earn for the than ten years, whereas registered parents and de- whole family now and if they have to change workplace pendants are granted a residence permit and a work or if we have to go back to Myanmar, she will have to permit of no more than two years. get out of school anyway. It is better that after she gets Sometimes one family has members with both sta- necessary skills, she works to earn and help her family. … [After a long pause] Even if she finishes high school, tuses in relation to the law. For example, a migrant she will work like her parents. That doesn’t require a child might live in a family where one of the parents school certificate.16 is registered while the other is unregistered, or had been registered at an earlier stage but fell back into ir- Moreover, frequent shifts in immigration law and regularity. At the same time, migrant children may other regulations lead to an uncertain feeling among have siblings who are too young to join school and both parents and children about their future in Thai- register through the school system, and thus still do land, as deportation back to their country of origin not have a legally-protected status. Among migrant can happen at any time. Consequently, there has been children, some have received the ID number through a trend towards taking children out of schools as par- the school, while others will have been on a waiting ents weigh the possible gains from education in the list for years before they receive their ID number. A future against the likely income from child labour, further group of migrant children cannot apply since they do not have a secure feeling anyway about through their school since not all primary schools their future in the country, including that of their chil- concern themselves with the registration of their stu- dren. dents, but leave the burden to secondary schools. This is also partly a result of the experiences of Living in the grey area of precarious legal status, migrants in their country of origin. One respondent the mixed status of migrant children leads to sceptical recalled her mother telling her of the situation of attitudes toward education, and this further impacts underemployment in Myanmar; this leads to attitudes on the long-term opportunities of migrant children. to the value of education, which are different from As parents and other guardians move in and out of le- that of Thai society, where a higher level of education gality and fear deportation, their children and their is valued as providing better opportunities in the17 children’s education are also affected. For example, labour market. some parents feel that contact with a state authority, For some parents with previous experiences in like a public school, can lead to an inquiry about their Myanmar, a higher level of education does not neces- legal residence status, and therefore prefer to send sarily translate into better-paid jobs since the economy their children to learning centres, which generally pro- vide only a basic education up to primary or lower secondary level. Alternatively, parents choose to end 15 Interview by Kamowan Petchot with Mrs S, a migrant parent, at LPN Learning Centre, Thailand in July– the education of their children altogether at the basic August 2011, and interview by Kamowan Petchot with level due to their fear of contact with government au- Yu, a student at Srisuttaram School, Thailand in July– thorities. Consequently, as migrant parents do not August 2011. perceive a secure future in Thailand, they are reluctant 16 Interview by Kamowan Petchot with Mrs S, a migrant for their children to engage in the Thai education sys- parent, at LPN Learning Centre, Thailand in July– tem. The concern of parents is that, following their August 2011. education, their children will end up in the same situ- 17 Interview by Kamowan Petchot with Vava, a student, at Srisuttaram School, Thailand in July–August 2011. 320 Kamowan Petchot does not offer this and the majority of migrants face A further important factor affecting migrant chil- unemployment or underemployment. The parents’ dren’s access to schools is their insecure financial sit- level of education and length of time in Thailand also uation. Even though education is provided by the makes a difference in their attitude towards the value state free of charge, parents need to pay additional di- of education, since parents who have more education rect and indirect costs of education, such as transport and have lived for a longer period of time in Thailand and daily allowances, which can be considered unaf- tend to value education more than just language liter- fordable for low-income migrant families. Migrant acy and tend to keep their children in schools for families are bound by their ‘liminal legality’. Due to longer: their inability to find better-paid jobs, a lack of nego- I want my son to get an education as high as he could… tiating power to improve their wages, and the need to I have been here for a long time (more than 15 years). I pay high registration fees, migrant families also face have seen things and know more than others [migrant economic difficulties. Without access to other re- parents] who work in seafood factories here. I know sources, children are sometimes forced to enter the la- that the school is good for my son’s future. He will have bour market in order to support their families. The a better opportunity, a better future than others without opportunity cost of child labour outweighs the value education. Many migrant parents don’t think like me. of receiving an education, particularly when families They just want their children to have basic Thai lan- guage and keep their young children at school so that are in debt, acquired through making the journey to the teachers can take care of their children while they Thailand or sending remittances to other family mem- go to work. But I want my son to go to school and bers back home. maybe to university and get a nice job. ... But this also The socio-economic status of migrants is the most depends on the government.18 significant factor that dictates access to education and Mr. Mihn has been in Thailand for fifteen years and that shapes the opportunity structure in the education employs people in his own shop. His situation is dif- system. This is exacerbated by an uncertain legal sta- ferent from many other migrant parents who mostly tus, which itself moulds migrants’ access to financial work in fishery or fishery-related factories and have resources (for example, funding for education, and been in Thailand for less than ten years. Therefore his bank loans). Without access to financial resources, financial situation is also better than that of most migrant children are pushed into child labour. Mar- other migrant parents. The family lives in a rented ginal legal status also shapes their interpretation of house while most migrant families live in rented opportunities in the market, of school and of the edu- shared rooms in an apartment. cation system in general. Immigration law restricts migrants to remaining in Apart from the household composition and the fi- the area where they have registered; movement out of nancial situation of migrant children, their parents’ that area without the permission of the authorities is preference determines the access to education of mi- a violation of the law. As a result, many families are grant children. Parents decide the type of education separated and are not able to meet each other often. (formal, informal, or non-formal education), schools, Most migrant children in Thailand have had experi- duration of time in school, and level of education ence of family separation, both in relation to family their children should receive. members who still live in their country of origin, and As mentioned earlier, migrant families feel inse- of the separation caused by immigration laws that cure about their future in Thailand due to their pre- restrict the freedom of movement of migrants, as well carious status and frequent shifts in immigration pol- as the deportation of some family members who lack icy. As a result, they adjust their educational aspira- (or lose) their regular legal status. Family separation tions to their life conditions. Their expectation from can have an important impact on the performance of education is mainly oriented to acquiring basic skills, migrant children in school as well as their integration such as rudimentary mathematics and language liter- into Thai society. In short, immigration law dictates acy for the purpose of communication in the work- whether migrants will have access to education or place and everyday life, rather than aiming at attaining not, and to what level. By extension, immigration law a degree certificate or level of education higher than shapes migrants’ expectations and goals. their basic communication needs. However, as mentioned earlier, there is an excep- tion to this general trend. Parents who have received a higher level of education or have spent several years 18 Interview by Kamowan Petchot with Mihn, a migrant in Thai schools tend to recognize the value of educa- parent, in Thailand (place withheld) in July–August 2011. The Right to Education for Migrant Children in Thailand: Liminal Legality and the Educational Experience 321 tion more, and tend to keep their children in school In summary, while education is made available to for a longer period. This group of parents has devel- migrant children by way of government policy, mi- oped higher aims for and expectations from the edu- grant children’s lack of access to education is due to cation of their children. They believe that, with a their problematic legal status. Legal status reinforces higher level of education, their children will be able to and exacerbates the negative impacts of other forms find better jobs at a skilled level, which will lead them of discrimination such as race, gender, and socio-eco- out of poverty and to a better future. However, par- nomic status. ents still expressed concerns about the frequent shifts in policies and their uncertain future and recognize that their ‘liminal status’ serves as a barrier preventing 17.5 Conclusion them from access to educational loans or bank loans in order to pay for a higher level of education. One of The Thai government has made an effort to ensure the prior conditions in requiring an educational loan the availability of education by granting free and com- is Thai nationality, a condition which migrant children pulsory education for every child within its territory, lack. and has tried to reduce discrimination against migrant Schools and teachers seem to ignore the situation children by requiring that schools accept all children of migrant children at home as well as ignoring the regardless of their legal status. However, discrimina- specific need as migrants who have to live with an tion still takes place through the implementation of uncertain legality: this policy, where migrant children are prevented from accessing education for various reasons. Dis- We use the core curriculum as assigned by the Ministry crimination is mainly based on the ‘liminal legal sta- of Education. Here we don’t adjust the curriculum to tus’ of migrant children. the student. The student must adapt themselves towards us. We treat them just like Thai students. Everything is Because of the long bureaucratic procedure in ap- equal. … Here we only use Thai. … Everything is the plying for a budget for migrant children, many same, no divide… If they violate school rules they will be schools face financial difficulties. This procedure dis- punished just like Thai students. … Some [migrant] stu- courages most schools from accepting migrant stu- dents often come to school late or missed classes often. dents, and leads to a concentration of migrant chil- … [When asked about differences in performances dren in a few schools. In addition, insensitivity on the between Thai and migrant students] They are good at part of schools to migrant children’s difficult socio- mathematics and English but most of them are bad at science or social study, those subjects that require Thai economic conditions and their specific needs, such as language skills. They will be quiet but they are diligent language barriers, leads to formidable challenges for and obedient students.19 schools in providing quality education. Furthermore, Meanwhile, a school official responded: learning centres with an unrecognized status receive no support from government and face even more sig- Of course, I think it [the class and curriculum] is very nificant financial problems, including the low wages useful and appropriate for them. I don’t think we have and status of teachers, and ultimately an even lower to adapt to their needs. I think it’s them that need to adapt to our curriculum because they get many benefits quality of education. However, ‘liminal legality’ is the from coming to school. … It’s them who benefit from main factor preventing children from enjoying their coming to school so they need to adjust themselves to rights to education, by shaping migrant children’s ex- school rules as well as to the curriculum.20 periences in the education system as well as their ed- This lack of consideration about the effect of an ucational aspirations, and in general shaping the op- uncertain legal status on the performance and educa- portunity structure of migrant children in education. tional objectives of migrant children leads to a feeling This can also explain the low enrolment rate of mi- of isolation or exclusion in migrant children at school, grant children in public schools and their early drop- and this can form an additional reason for children to out rate. This situation of ‘liminal legality’ not only af- drop out of school. fects the educational opportunities for migrant chil- dren, but also has significant implications for their in- tegration into Thai society. Without addressing the 19 Interview by Kamowan Petchot with Noi, a teacher, at problematic legal status of migrant children, it will be Srisuttaram School, Thailand in July–August 2011. impossible for migrant children to fully realize their 20 Interview by Kamowan Petchot with an Education Serv- right to education. ice Area Officer at Sirimongkol, Thailand in July–August 2011. 322 Kamowan Petchot References ILO (International Labour Organization), 2010: Good prac- tice notes: Serving the unserved: How government Bailey, Adrian; Wright, Richard; Mountz, Alison; Miyares, agencies and NGOs learned to reach migrant children Ines, 2002: “(Re)producing Salvadoran Transnational with educational opportunities, at: can Geographers, 92,1: 125–144. (12 September 2011). 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This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. 18 Challenges of Recognition, Participation, and Representation for the Legally Liminal: A Comment Cecilia Menjívar and Susan Bibler Coutin1 Abstract Following the approach to social justice taken in this book, we would like to bring attention to issues of recog- nition, participation, and representation as these are linked to migrants’ legality and their rights in the chapters by Petchot (17), De Vlieger (16), and Mora and Handmaker (15). These three issues are closely intertwined. In this review chapter, we start by recognizing the implications of migrants’ liminal legality, of migrants’ rights as workers, and of their right to access goods and benefits in society as key to advancing projects of equality and justice more generally. As Fraser (2007) observes, misrecognition is fundamental to inequality, particularly gen- der inequality. Keywords: Access to goods and services, liminal legality, migrants, statelessness. 18.1 Comment on Chapter 17 by essarily recognize these children’s right to education Petchot 1 from a liminal legal position. The universal rights in international treaties clash with the national realities Petchot describes various ‘legal grey areas’ in the ex- of the immigration and educational bureaucracies and periences of Burmese migrant children in Thailand. can give way to new forms of inequality. Rather than One is the liminal legal status of the migrants them- facilitating access to rights, new social hierarchies selves; another comes from the different understand- emerge, particularly as social positions, such as age ings of these children’s rights by governing bureaucra- and ethnicity in the case of Burmese immigrant chil- cies, and a further grey area is found at the dren in Thailand, intersect with migrants’ legality. intersection of national and supranational legal or- Petchot’s piece invites reflection about similar cases in ders. At the centre of each area lies a tension between other parts of the world, particularly where the pres- the conferral of rights in principle and the difficulty in ence of migrants is compartmentalized, recognizing accessing them in practice. Importantly, Petchot re- their benefit to society while simultaneously curtailing minds us that the state is far from a monolithic entity, their rights. as its various bureaucracies often clash in terms of purpose and even in definitional questions of who is deserving and who is not. Whereas the Thai govern- 18.2 Comment on Chapter 16 by De ment acknowledges the need for educating migrant Vlieger children out of security concerns and assimilation projects, and seeks to comply with international trea- Projects of recognition to advance migrants’ rights do ties to extend rights to these children, it does not nec- not pertain solely to the recognition of how migrants’ legality, regulated by national governments, can curtail access to universal rights, but also on the recognition 1 Cecilia Menjívar is Cowden Distinguished Professor in of the contributions of migrants to the receiving soci- the T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynam- ety as workers. This is the case in the piece by De ics at Arizona State University. Susan Bibler Coutin is Pro- Vlieger, in which she documents the experiences of fessor in the Departments of Criminology, Law and women domestic workers in Saudi Arabia and the Society and Anthropology at the University of California, United Arab Emirates. A key factor that shapes the ex- Irvine, and Associate Dean of the Graduate Division. T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 325 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_18, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 326 Cecilia Menjívar and Susan Bibler Coutin periences of the migrant domestic workers as well as Peruvian migrants in Chile discussed by Mora and their lack of access to their rights as workers is the be- Handmaker. This tension often serves to exacerbate lief that their work does not represent ‘employment’ regimes of inequality to create new forms of stratifica- because it is performed within the private sphere of tion based on the migrants’ legality, as also described the household. Within a context of deep class, gen- by Massey (2007) in relation to the USA. In the case der, and ethnic inequalities, the work these migrant of Peruvian migrants in Chile, non-governmental or- women perform becomes particularly exploitable and ganizations (NGOs) that assist them have responded disposable because these workers are women and be- to restrictions imposed by the receiving country’s im- cause the work they perform is not fully considered migration laws through the recognition of the mi- ‘employment’. Indeed, the lack of recognition of do- grants’ universal rights and of the limited structures mestic work as an occupation in which workers can within which to exercise them as workers. However, claim rights and the informality associated with work the NGOs’ efforts to recognize these migrants’ rights performed within the home, together with ideas of (both their rights as workers and their social rights as servility associated with domestic work, set the condi- human beings) fall short because they act within the tions for rights violations and exploitation. In spite of same confining structures and inadvertently repro- the formal legal arrangements through which the mi- duce the segregation of Peruvian workers in Chile. It grant women depicted by De Vlieger enter this occu- should be noted, however, that like the domestic pation, the organization of the work as a private affair workers whose isolation often prevents them from re- in the home, couched within personalized under- lating to others as workers (and becoming conscious standings between two individuals, curtails the of their rights), the Peruvian migrant workers in Chile women’s rights and leaves them socially and econom- might engage themselves in projects of recognition of ically vulnerable. Importantly, although these their own rights and advocate for justice and human- women’s legality is formalized, the organization of ity from their own social locations. There are parallels work and expectations of the servility attached to it to successful movements that migrants have organ- contribute to diminish the women’s citizenship and ized. Notable among them are those of day labourers they end up as vulnerable as liminally legal migrants in in the USA (Cordero-Guzman/Martin/Quiroz-Becerra/ other contexts. Even though the cases De Vlieger de- Theodore, 2008), the youth organized around the De- scribes demonstrate extremely limited access to rights velopment, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors and justice, the lack of recognition of domestic work (DREAM) Act (Nicholls 2012), and the political dem- as an occupation like any other and the informality as- onstrations organized by migrants in uncertain legal sociated with it parallel the cases of migrant women statuses (Pantoja/Menjívar/Magaña 2008) who other- in other societies. Indeed, Hondagneu-Sotelo (2007) wise have been inhabiting legitimate spaces in society argues that a first step in addressing injustices and (Coutin 2000). Such mobilizations by the migrants rights violations among Latina domestic workers in themselves not only lead to a recognition of their the USA is the formalization of employment arrange- presence but also of their rights as workers and as hu- ments in paid domestic work so that labour protec- man beings. tions can be integrated in this occupation. Rights claims and even the recognition of rights can be par- ticularly challenging among these workers because of 18.4 Factors facilitating or precluding the isolation they experience in their place of work. migrants’ mobilization As Nakano-Glenn (1988: 61) notes about Japanese- American domestic workers, “her work is unrelated to By analysing factors that facilitate or preclude mi- the activities of other workers”. grants’ mobilization, these three chapters shed light on the possibilities that migrants have to achieve greater participation and thus increased levels of so- 18.3 Comment on Chapter 15 by Mora cial inclusion. Mora and Handmaker suggest that in- and Handmaker ternational forums provide a vehicle through which the Chilean government can be called to account for The clash between different regulatory regimes and failing to prevent the discrimination experienced by between the social rights extended by the interna- Peruvian migrants. Filing a complaint before the Inter- tional regime of human rights and those that are lo- national Labour Organisation, they argue, would be a cated in the nation state is also central to the case of proactive step that would sharpen NGOs’ rights focus Challenges of Recognition, Participation, and Representation for the Legally Liminal: A Comment 327 and enable them to develop more expansive notions to health care and employment opportunities, may be of citizenship and of gender, notions that denaturalize more important to Peruvian migrants than political in- Peruvian women’s participation in domestic labour. tegration. This position is echoed by Kamal Sadiq Petchot argues that the Thai state’s failure to ad- (2009), who critiques migration theorists for focusing dress the liminality of migrant children prevents edu- on south-to-north movements, to the exclusion of re- cational structures from meeting these children’s edu- gional and other migrations. Sadiq stresses that polit- cational needs. Though migrant children have the ical integration and voting rights, which are often right to education, they are unable to participate in taken as the key marker of citizenship within immigra- the educational system at rates comparable to Thai tion studies, are less important in flows that move in children. De Vlieger documents a strikingly blatant in- other directions. By redefining citizenship as a process stitutional insensitivity on the part of Saudi officials rather than as a status, Mora and Handmaker help to who are responsible for human rights issues. These of- refocus attention on these multiple dimensions of in- ficials denied the possibility that domestic workers tegration. could experience problems, instead depicting these women as problems and as sexually deviant. Further- more, the very offices to which domestic workers 18.6 Concerns about Migrant were supposed to bring complaints did not actually Children's Education and exist. A common feature of all the cases discussed by Migrants' Liminal Legality these authors is a level of institutional unresponsive- ness that, far from recognizing the migrants’ rights, Likewise, the public representation of migrant chil- misrecognizes them, in Bourdieu’s (2004) conceptual- dren in Thailand is at issue in efforts to meet these ization of misrecognition and its implications. Hence, youths’ educational needs. It is significant that public migrants’ rights are mislabelled as something else, ren- concern in Thailand focuses on the need for public dering the realities of migrant women and children in- education of migrant children, rather than regarding visible. such education as a public burden, as is sometimes the case in the USA (Abrego/Gonzalez 2010). And yet Petchot indicates that the Thai concern seems to stem 18.5 Racialization and Stigmatization from the sense that if they are not educated, children of Migrants in Popular may pose a security risk, and is therefore an instance Imaginations of a more widespread slippage between concerns for children at risk and the anxiety that children pose a Closely linked to state and even NGO unresponsive- risk. Once again, this is certainly an issue in the USA ness are limitations in the ways that migrants are rep- and in other countries in which key facets of youth resented in the popular imagination. Mora and Hand- culture have been criminalized (Ferrell 1999). There is maker point out that Peruvian migrants in Chile therefore a clash between the educational priorities of experience a form of racialization according to na- the Thai state and the ostensible purpose of educa- tional origin, setting them apart from Chileans as a tion. Migrant children in Thailand are granted the distinct population. Racialization is common in the right to education in order to keep children occupied USA case as well, where Latinos are accused of being and out of trouble, to integrate these children into foreign ‘invaders’ even in areas of the country that his- Thai society, and to comply with treaty obligations. torically were part of Mexican territory and where Education does not seem designed to equip children some residents’ roots pre-date these territories being for success in life, which presumably is the rationale annexed by the USA (Chavez 2008). The racialization for making education a right. Instead, school officials of Peruvian migrants in Chile presumably takes differ- interviewed by Petchot appear as begrudging, suggest- ent forms, perhaps linked to shifts in or redefinitions ing that the youth are the ones who need to adapt to of the composition of migrant populations, for exam- Thai educational standards and that migrant children ple from students and refugees to domestic and other are fortunate to have educational opportunities. The workers. Similarly, international discourses and legal representation of migrant children as interlopers ap- structures that are used to criminalize unauthorized pears to be significant here as well. movement (Walters 2002) may contribute to a deeper These representations of Peruvian domestic work- stigmatization of migrants there. Mora and Hand- ers and of Thai children derive, ultimately, from their maker contend that social recognition, such as access liminal legality, a form of liminality experienced by 328 Cecilia Menjívar and Susan Bibler Coutin domestic workers in Saudi Arabia and the United they complain. This double bind, De Vlieger argues, is Arab Emirates as well. Liminal legality is produced by a more extreme version of a diminished citizenship national laws in receiving states that with increasing that is common to (a) all women and (b) to a lesser frequency grant new migrants nothing more than tem- extent, to all citizens (including men), due to the porary statuses that limit their social rights and access seemingly poor functioning of the legal system, a sys- to justice (Menjívar 2006). Calavita (2005) has docu- tem in which even the requirements of sharia law are mented the cases of Spain and Italy, in which seem- ignored. Men, particularly those who are employers, ingly generous immigration laws were, in practice, un- are nonetheless able to compensate for their dimin- workable, thus enabling nation states to appear to ished citizenship through social capital derived from satisfy demands for rights and calls for restriction (see their ties to others. We wondered, however, whether also De Genova 2002). The papers discussed here, women are able to develop informal ties and strate- however, demonstrate that liminal legality can also be gies for at least trying to improve their situations. Le- produced through other means, including clashes be- gal anthropologists who are attentive to gender issues tween national and supranational legal orders, ten- have sometimes documented ways that women are sions between state bureaucracies of the same govern- able to work behind the scenes, strategizing even in ment, or even ideologies regarding gender, race, and seemingly stark or impossible conditions (see, for ex- ethnicity, also in conjunction with formal legal orders. ample, Hegel-Cantarella 2011 on legal strategies that Mora and Handmaker, for example, examine the mul- underlie Egyptian marriage contracts). The circum- tiplicity of legal regimes that are relevant to migrants’ stances of the domestic workers analyzed by De lives and that produce the grey areas in which the lim- Vlieger are certainly dire; however, we wondered how inally legal live. Petchot examines how the liminal le- these women respond, and whether their responses gality of Burmese migrant children is produced by ten- are ever communicated to other potential migrant do- sions between the Thai immigration and education mestic workers in their homelands. bureaucracies around recognizing the rights of chil- dren. De Vlieger demonstrates that even when mi- grants are recognized formally as migrants by receiv- 18.7 Migrants’ de Facto and Formal ing states, ideologies of gender and race and ethnicity Statelessness create marginal spaces of legality and vulnerability and constrain access to justice. By investigating not only The de facto statelessness discussed by De Vlieger is different orders (local, state, international), but also paralleled by the formal statelessness documented by different areas of law (family, health, citizenship) and Petchot. Some migrant children born in Thailand fail different regulatory mechanisms (policing, providing to acquire citizenship either there or in their parents’ health care, registering a birth or marriage) these country of origin. This statelessness is brought about chapters broaden our understandings of the legal by bureaucratic challenges (for example, children’s frameworks within which immigration is conceptual- births have to be registered in their parents’ country ized and offer new avenues of theorizing migrant le- of origin within one month in order for them to re- gality. The chapters also show how civil society actors ceive citizenship) and thus seems to be administra- respond to the exclusions associated with liminality. tively imposed, rather than treated as a deliberate ex- We wonder whether there are also other, less formal clusion. Children’s liminal legality in Thailand is ways to respond – a point to which we return below. exacerbated by different institutional priorities (pro- The liminal legality experienced by domestic control or pro-employment) of Thai ministries. Echo- workers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates ing Mora and Handmaker’s account of the contradic- is, according to De Vlieger, a form of quasi-stateless- tions between different legal regimes that govern mi- ness. Domestic workers’ diminished citizenship stems grants’ lives, Petchot details the ways that migrant from their lack of access to the public sphere, exacer- children fall between legal orders. These children are bated by their dependence on employers, who fre- protected by the Convention of the Rights of the quently are the very men about whom they may have Child, but are vulnerable in that most do not actually a complaint and who may be the ones who would receive the education that the Thai state recognizes as have to represent them in any formal legal proceed- their right. The multiple legal orders that produce lim- ing. This situation creates a crippling double bind for inality include illegalities that develop around unau- women, whose only recourse to formal justice re- thorised movement. Even the state, through police quires representation by the very person about whom who accept bribes and through other forms of cor- Challenges of Recognition, Participation, and Representation for the Legally Liminal: A Comment 329 ruption, participates in such illegalities. Petchot’s anal- Guatemalan asylum seekers (Perla/Coutin 2010). In ysis of the registration system to which migrant youth the post-war period, even Salvadoran authorities, in- are subject is fascinating; their experiences parallel the cluding the Procuraduría de Derechos Humanos, a bureaucratic maze that USA-born children of Mexican human rights office established through the Salva- immigrant parents navigate when their parents are de- doran peace accords, joined the effort to secure immi- ported from the USA to Mexico and the children en- grants’ rights to remain in the USA. This informal par- ter the Mexican school system (Medina 2011). School ticipation and formal organizing led to legal victories officials, parents, and youth themselves experience di- that gave some Salvadoran migrants the ability to be- lemmas about whether or not to register, when to reg- come legal permanent residents and eventually US cit- ister, what registering means, and what rights and ob- izens, while others remained temporary or undocu- ligations are conferred by registration. Importantly, mented residents, and thus liminally legal. Thus, the Petchot discusses a range of statuses that individuals challenges posed by the Thai registration system may have, thus helping to overcome the limitations of sound very familiar to us, given our knowledge of the seeing legality as binary, as either being ‘legal’ or ‘ille- ways that registration for Temporary Protected Status gal’ (Menjívar 2006). This status continuum has also (TPS) has worked in the USA (Mountz/Wright/Miya- been documented by legal scholars such as Hiroshi res/Bailey 2002). Furthermore, we have found that it Motomura (2006), who points out that in the USA, is not uncommon for one family member to apply for mere presence confers a form of territorial person- TPS and thus assume a risk of exposure to authorities, hood that merits legal recognition (see also Bosniak leaving other family members undocumented and, in 2006). We suspect that, though tragic for migrants the long run, legally unprotected. Such strategies, themselves, liminality is also productive for employ- though logical in the short run, result in the sort of ers, markets that thrive on migrant illegalities, and mixed-status families described in the chapters of this perhaps the state itself, in terms of the potential for section. social control of various populations. Therefore, in At the time of writing, migrant youth in the USA addition to seeing liminality as a form of social exclu- have been facing a new set of documentary challenges sion, as a lack or a gap, we suggest also examining given the Obama administration’s new ‘Deferred Ac- what liminality generates or enables, and for whom. tion’ programme, which permits individuals who en- tered the USA before the age of 16, lived continuously in the USA for at least five years, graduated from a US 18.8 The Case of Refugees from El high school or served in the US military, and have no Salvador and the US ‘Deferred criminal convictions, to obtain a work permit (De- Action’ Programme partment of Homeland Security 2012omHh). Though certainly a step forward for migrant youth, it is not yet Lastly, we cannot conclude our comment without not- clear what documentation will be required to demon- ing parallels to the case of El Salvador, with which we strate eligibility, or whether this programme will sur- both are familiar through our own research and advo- vive the 2012 presidential elections. Furthermore, the cacy work. Those who left El Salvador during the programme grants only employment authorization, 1980–1992 Salvadoran civil war experienced a form of not a path to citizenship, and thus constitutes a new quasi-statelessness not unlike that documented by form of liminal legality. these authors. Denied protection, or actively perse- cuted by Salvadoran authorities, migrants who trav- elled to the USA experienced social exclusion there as 18.9 Concluding Remark well, through legal processes that represented Salva- doran migrants as ‘economic migrants’ rather than as The cases documented in the chapters in this section, ‘political refugees’ deserving of asylum. Migrants as well as parallel cases we have referenced in our nonetheless participated in social life to some degree comments, remind us that as more immigrant receiv- in both the USA and El Salvador, obtaining jobs, of- ing governments adopt new forms of temporary sta- ten in the shadow economy, having families, and tuses that ‘irregularize’ immigrants (Calavita 2005), sending remittances to relatives in El Salvador. Addi- migrant workers’ social rights are simultaneously di- tionally, migrants launched social movements oppos- minished. Strategies to keep immigrants as guests and ing US military assistance to the Salvadoran govern- temporary workers may appear as solutions that con- ment and advocated on behalf of Salvadoran and fer migrants the right to work, but at the same time 330 Cecilia Menjívar and Susan Bibler Coutin encode restrictions on migrants’ rights. Projects that man rights of migrants, their rights as workers, and advocate for immigrants’ welfare can be critical in their social rights in the countries in which they reside also pointing to the inequalities and injustices that the so as to align national and supranational orders and legal regimes of receiving governments create. These various state bureaucracies to produce lasting condi- projects start with recognizing the fundamental hu- tions of justice for the immigrants. References in Egypt”, in: Law, Culture and the Humanities, 7,3: 377–393. 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This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. Part VI Migration Regimes, Gender Norms, and Public Action Chapter 19 Gender, Masculinity, and Safety in the Changing Lao-Thai Migration Landscape Roy Huijsmans Chapter 20 Public Social Science at Work: Contesting Hostility Towards Nicaraguan Migrants in Costa Rica Carlos Sandoval-García 19 Gender, Masculinity, and Safety in the Changing Lao-Thai Migration Landscape Roy Huijsmans1 Abstract Recent policy debates on migration in the Greater Mekong Subregion have put increasing emphasis on migrant safety, which has taken the form of opening legal channels of migration. Whereas the discourse on migrant safety revolves around gendered emphases in vulnerability, foregrounding female migrants’ vulnerability and muting male migrants’ vulnerability, policy interventions to make migration safer are too often framed as gen- der-neutral. In this chapter I focus on Lao employment agencies as a key technique in the management of Lao- Thai cross-border migration. I argue that employment agencies are embedded in a masculine policy landscape and I contest them as gender-neutral techniques by demonstrating how these agencies and the policy architec- ture in which they are situated produce significant degrees of male privilege when it comes to accessing suppos- edly safe forms of migration. Yet male privilege is limited, as migrating through these supposedly safe channels of migration may in fact increase male migrants’ vulnerability. However, I argue that young men’s motivations for migrating through these expensive legal channels can only in part be understood by looking at their material effects on migrant vulnerability. Instead, this practice should rather be interpreted as a modern version of the cultural style of hegemonic masculinity through which young men deal with protection from danger in the risky exercise of migration. Keywords: Gender, Lao PDR, masculinities, migration, policy, Thailand. 19.1 Introduction1 hotspot (UN-ESCAP 2000; ILO 2003b: 29; David/ Gallagher/Holmes/Moskowitz 2011: 1). Human traf- Recent policy debates on migration have put increas- ficking is one of the most dramatic representations of ing emphasis on improving migrant safety. This is migrant vulnerability and the explicit emphasis on driven by strongly gendered constructions of migrant ‘women and children’2 highlights how constructs of vulnerability in which female migrants’ vulnerability is migrant vulnerability are strongly gendered and gener- emphasized and often essentialized and male mi- ational. Recent attempts to broaden anti-trafficking grants’ vulnerability is silenced or ignored. Concerns legislation and interventions, in order to make them about a pattern of so-called feminization of migration inclusive of (adult) male victims (e.g. ILO 2008: 6–7; (e.g. Gaetano/Yeoh 2010) have further contributed to David/Gallagher/Holmes/Moskowitz 2011: 11; UNIAP a lack of attention to male migrants’ vulnerability, de- n.d.), have, so far, done little to alter such dominant spite the fact that men still constitute a large share of constructs of migrant vulnerability. the migrant population—including in the Greater Me- Sparse attention to male migrant vulnerability in kong Subregion (GMS). the context of both anti-trafficking and migration pol- The GMS is frequently highlighted in relation to icy is substantially due, I will argue, to the social con- concerns about migrant vulnerability. This is most ev- ident in the portrayal of the GMS as a trafficking 2 This is evident from the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women 1 Roy Huijsmans is Lecturer in Children and Youth Stud- and Children, of the United Nations Convention ies at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) against Transnational Organized Crime (2000), also in the Hague, the Netherlands. commonly known as the ‘Palermo Convention’. T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 333 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_19, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 334 Roy Huijsmans struction of masculinity. Hegemonic notions of mas- envisioned as actors who help to improve migrant culinity construct hardships experienced by male safety in various ways, including equipping migrants migrants as something to overcome and conducive to with a documented status, transparent recruitment the formation of masculinity as conceived in the hege- practices, providing pre-migration training sessions monic notion. This disassociates the vulnerability of for migrants, establishing contractual arrangements male migrants from questions about the social produc- between employers and migrant workers in accord- tion of male vulnerability and, specifically, the role of ance with relevant laws, and protecting migrant work- seemingly gender-neutral ‘safe migration’ policy frame- ers from exploitation by ensuring that contractual works in producing degrees of male vulnerability. arrangements are respected (e.g. Ministry of Labour Policy efforts to address migrant vulnerability have and Social Welfare, Lao PDR 2002a). over recent years undergone a gradual shift. The ini- Lao employment agencies are relatively new actors tial exclusive focus on the (potential) migrants in the emerging Lao migration regime, hence the em- deemed most vulnerable (young girls), through the hu- pirical prevalence of migration through employment man trafficking discourse, is now increasingly com- agencies remains low. Yet a focus on this particular in- bined with broader efforts to make migration ‘safer’ tervention is justified by the important role attributed (ILO 2003a; Dottridge 2006: 11). In this chapter I to such agencies globally and within the Lao People’s concentrate on a key policy area that is presented as Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). In addition, the making migration safer. This concerns the “improv- Lao-Thai case fits the purpose of this chapter since it ing, enlarging and creating [of] additional legal labour constitutes a case in which concerns about migrant migration channels that may substitute for the traf- safety are highly gendered, yet responded to in seem- ficking of children and women into exploitative situa- ingly gender-neutral terms. Moreover, a focus on Lao tions” (ILO 2003a: 2). PDR contributes to filling important knowledge gaps In this chapter I unravel the apparent gender neu- on migration research in the GMS, which has so far trality in the architecture of the legal channels of mi- paid little attention to Lao migration. The few studies gration. In addition, I shed light on the practice di- doing so typically focus on Lao migrants at their des- mension of migration policies presented as improving tination in Thailand without linking this to research at migrant safety, by analysing how such policies play out their sites of origin. in particular, often deeply gendered, migrant land- The chapter is organized as follows. The next sec- scapes. These two lines of analysis illuminate the male tion briefly explains the methodology and data privilege embedded in policy approaches to safe mi- sources before moving on to a discussion of the gration. Yet the analysis also shows male privilege to emerging body of work on masculinities and migra- be limited, as men’s privilege in accessing supposedly tion and its relevance for the Lao case discussed here. safe channels of migration in fact increases rather This is followed by a multi-scalar analysis of the intro- than decreases the condition of migrant vulnerability. duction of Lao employment agencies as situated in Lastly, by highlighting a number of ‘mistranslations’ of the emerging Lao migration regime. Having mapped policy in local contexts I stress the importance of eth- the discursive and politico-economic architecture of nography in policy-related research. This shows that the Lao migration regimes, the final sections of the policy as manifesting in local contexts is never static, chapter unravel the gendered working of employment given, or uniform, but always and necessarily in the agencies. This is done by focusing on the gendered making, negotiated, and plural. construction of categories of migrants and legitimate In making this case I will focus on Lao-Thai migra- migrant work, complemented with analyses of the tion in the middle Mekong Valley and on the role of lived experience of migrating through employment ‘employment agencies’ specifically.3 In global policy agencies. discourses on the creation of legal channels of migra- tion, employment agencies play a key role (Rudnyckyj 2004; Martin 2005; World Bank 2006; Chantavanich 19.2 Methodology and Data 2008; Pijpers 2010; Xiang 2012). These agencies are The empirical material presented in this chapter stems from two sources. First, material collected for an over- 3 In this chapter the term “employment agencies” is used. view report sponsored by the International Labour These agencies are also referred to as “human resources Organisation (ILO), using semi-structured interviews companies” (Rudnyckyj 2004) or “employment services predominantly (Huijsmans/Phouxay 2008). Second, agencies” (Martin 2005). Gender, Masculinity, and Safety in the Changing Lao-Thai Migration Landscape 335 data obtained through a long-term ethnographic re- terviews with all but one of the seven migrants upon search project focusing on young migrants from one their return to Baan Naam, and with material ob- predominantly ethnic Lao village in lowland Lao PDR tained from their families. (Huijsmans 2010). The ILO report forms a component in a regional ILO-sponsored study on recruitment practices final- 19.3 Masculinities and Migration ized in 2008.4 Together with a UNIFEM report (Phet- siriseng 2007), this is the only study to date that em- For decades, feminist critique of migration theories pirically addresses the phenomenon of migration has expressed concerns about the bias towards the through Lao employment agencies. The ILO report male experience due to the hegemonic construct of suffers, however, from important methodological lim- ‘the migrant’ as a male adult breadwinner, which has itations (outlined in Huijsmans/Phouxay 2008: 19– overgeneralized the experience of women, along with 20). First, due to the timing of the study the sample children (Huijsmans 2011a), as dependants and oblit- consisted of early returnees only and does not include erated the reality of them as agents in migration any migrants who have completed their two-year con- (Chant 1992; Momsen 1999; Jolly/Reeves 2005; Do- tract. Second, the study was conducted in a short pe- nato/Gabaccia/Holdaway/Manalansan IV/Pessar riod of time, which did not allow building up any 2006). However, the implicit treatment of “the man” form of rapport with the respondents or any follow- as “the universal, normative subject” (Louie 2002: 5, up research. The latter is particularly pressing since in: Ford /Lyons 2012: 1) means that in relation to re- cross-border migration into Thailand remains a highly search on men in migration one can also speak of gen- sensitive topic in Lao PDR (see for example Tham- der blindness since this amounts to a problematic fo- mavongsa 2006; Pongkhao 2007). The shortcomings cus “on men as non-gendered humans” (Hibbins/ of the ILO report are to some extent offset by incor- Pease 2009: 5). porating material obtained through a long-term eth- The notion of masculinity is used to gender men. nographic research project. In that study I succeeded The term refers to “the discourses and [material] prac- in building a sufficient level of rapport with respond- tices which indicate that someone is a man, a member ents and conducted multiple interviews between 2007 of the category of men” (Collinson/Hearn 1994: 6). and 2009 with a purposefully selected set of respond- Masculinity, in this sense, is a social construct, which ents. Among the respondents were five migrants (four is necessarily plural, hence ‘masculinities’, as it differs men, one woman) who had migrated through a Lao across and within time and space. In addition, mascu- employment agency. These five were part of the seven linities are relational constructs that can only exist in total villagers (five men, two women) who had left relation to something else like femininity or certain Baan Naam in the course of 2006 on a two-year con- other notions of masculinity (Connell 2005). tract to Thailand through a Lao employment agency Work on masculinities in the context of migration (all through the same agency) and returned in 2008.5 has redressed the gender-blindness that has long char- The men all migrated to an oil palm plantation in acterized the study of men in migration (e.g. Jónsson southern Thailand (Krabi province) together with 2008; Datta/McIlwaine/Herbert/Evans/May/Wills thirty-four other male Lao migrant workers. The two 2009; Donaldson/Hibbins/Howson /Pease 2009; women migrated through the same employment Hoang/Yeoh 2011; Kitiarsa 2012; McKay/Lucero- agency but were sent to different locations. One was Prisno III 2012; Thai 2012). This body of work has fo- sent to the north-eastern Thai town of Khon Kaen to cused mostly on men as migrants (but note: Hoang/ work in a factory producing fishnets, and the other to Yeoh 2011), unravelling the interplay between the im- central Thailand to work in a pineapple-canning fac- pact of “global systems of production on the working tory. When in Thailand, one of the female migrants lives of men” and “the impact of cultural flows on the and two of the male migrants were interviewed by tel- construction of what it means to be ‘a man’” (Ford/ ephone. This was supplemented with face-to-face in- Lyons 2012: 12). This has yielded research on a wide range of issues including sexual intimacy and migrant men’s subjectivity as transnational actors (Kitiarsa 4 The Cambodian, Lao, and Thai country reports are syn- 2012), migrant men’s enactment of diverse and con- thesized in Chantavanich (2008). flicting masculinities embedded in the socially con- 5 Baan Naam is a pseudonym for the research village. structed spaces comprising the migratory journey Names of respondents presented in this chapter are (McKay/Lucero-Prisno III 2012; Thai 2012), and the pseudonyms too. 336 Roy Huijsmans negotiation and reconstruction of male identities as a cryptic shorthand for cross-border migration. The through migration (Datta/McIlwaine/Herbert/Evans/ above interview excerpt is thus not limited to every- May/Wills 2009; Donaldson/Howson 2009: 210). day forms of cross-border mobility, but includes larger Work on masculinities and migration has, so far, migration projects. mostly concentrated on adult men in migration. Rela- Mae Laddavanh makes the striking point that the tively little attention has been paid to generational gendered face of mobility and migration in the mid- dimensions of masculinities (an important exception dle Mekong valley has transformed dramatically over includes Jónsson 2008) despite the obvious point that the past decades. In Tai7 Theravada Buddhist societies what it means to be a man, as well as becoming a mobility has long been part of important rites of pas- man, is to a great extent shaped by relations of age, sage for young men and contemporary labour migra- whilst migration is also shaped by generational rela- tion can thus be seen as a historical continuity in the tions (e.g. Haseen/Punpuing 2010). It is for this rea- cultural production of hegemonic masculinity. How- son that I focus in this chapter on a particular genera- ever, the over-representation of young women in con- tional grouping of men: young unmarried men. temporary labour migration in both Thailand and Lao Furthermore, there remains much scope to inform PDR (Mills 1999; MoLSW/Committee for Planning work on masculinities in the context of migration by and Cooperation National Statistical Center/ILO- a gender analysis of policy. Feminist scholars have IPEC/TICW 2003) presents a sharp break with the long pointed out that ‘policy’ is far from a neutral, very limited mobility experienced by young unmarried genderless activity, and that policymakers, who are of- women only a generation ago, as commented upon by ten men, are seldom ‘neutral’ men (Hearn 2011: 159). Mae Laddavanh above. This would suggest that migration policy is likely to Kirsch (1985) analyses the masculine and feminine produce a degree of male privilege. At the same time, scripts underpinning the gender differences in mobil- male privilege in the architecture of migration policy ity that were long observable among young people in and in the practice of policy does not mean that men Tai societies. For young men the practice of pai thiaw are less vulnerable whilst in migration. For example, (literally: to go around) constituted an “opportunity Donaldson and Howson (2009: 210) have pointed to wander around, to test themselves in new locales out that whilst it is “usually men who gain more than and different styles of life” (Kirsch 1985: 313). Mobility women from migration”, at the same time “it is also in the past, like labour migration today, was not risk- men who are more likely to need welfare support, free and young men were not oblivious to those risks. and…who are exposed to greater intolerance, violence Fordham (1998: 107) observes in this respect that risk- and discrimination, in the host country”. Even so, he- taking behaviour constitutes a key element of hegem- gemonic notions of masculinity frequently leave less onic masculinity in Tai Theravada Buddhist societies space to men than to women in terms of acknowledg- because “a man’s ability to pull off these sometimes ing vulnerability. highly dangerous acts [referring to drink-driving, 19.4 Gendered Continuity and Change 6 Baan Fangthai is the (pseudonymous) name of the vil- in the Migration Landscape lage across the river from Baan Naam on the Thai side of the border and a popular destination for contempo- In the years prior to 1975 people did not travel a lot like rary cross-border wage labour and point of departure today. People would only occasionally go beyond their for migration further into Thailand by Baan Naam vil- village. For example, when I was pen sao (a maturing lagers. girl) I never went to Baan Fangthai as young girls do 7 The term ‘Tai’ (also ‘Tai-Kadai’) refers here to the one today. However, some other villagers would go to Baan of the five indigenous South-East Asian language Fangthai in those days (Interview with Mrs Mae Ladda- groups. The Tai language group is scattered across vanh in 2008. She was in her forties at the time of inter- South-East Asia (including southern China) and includes view).6 ‘the national language of Thailand and Laos, as well as the tongues spoken by some upland groups found in Baan Fangthai, Baan Naam’s neighbouring village on those countries’ (Ricklefs/Lockhart/Lau/Reyes/Aung- the Thai side of the Mekong River, is for many villag- Thwin 2010: 2). According to the 2009 Lao National ers of Baan Naam the gateway to migration further Human Development Report, 64.9% of the total popu- into Thailand. The phrase ‘going there’ (pai phoun) lation of Lao PDR belongs to the Tai language group complemented with a nod towards the Mekong River (Souksavath/Acharya 2009: 42). This numerical major-ity is also the politically and socioculturally dominant (and all that lies beyond) was indeed commonly used group. Gender, Masculinity, and Safety in the Changing Lao-Thai Migration Landscape 337 speeding, unsafe sex, etc.] is concrete evidence of his multilateral responses to cross-border migration in the merit, his prowess, and his control over his body and GMS. the immediate environment”. The Bangkok Declaration on Irregular Migration The actual experience of vulnerability, understood of April 1999 forms an important starting point for as the failure to overcome the hardships of migration, analysing the emergence of a Lao migration regime.8 greatly undermines one’s credibility as a man accord- The Declaration acknowledged cross-border migra- ing to such a hegemonic masculine script (Fordham tion as a here-to-stay reality presenting challenges but 1998: 106). Furthermore, the emphasis on female vul- also opportunities, and requiring “orderly manage- nerability and the muting of male vulnerability in mi- ment” based on “concerted efforts of countries con- gration can be understood as an important act of cul- cerned, whether bilaterally, regionally or otherwise”.9 tural production which serves to maintain gender The subsequent 2002 Memorandum of Understand- boundaries in times in which male monopoly over mi- ing (MoU) on Employment Cooperation between the gration as a source of prestige is greatly undermined Royal Thai Government and the Government of Lao by the rapid feminization of migration (Mills 1995: PDR can be seen as an expression of the Bangkok 258). Declaration.10 Hegemonic femininity is constructed in terms of In this MoU the two states agreed upon taking motherhood and nurturing, and this has long contrib- action to realize the following: uted to limiting women’s social and spatial mobility in 1.1 Appropriate procedures in employment [of migrant Tai societies (Keyes 1984; Keyes 1986). In the current labour] era of widespread involvement of young women in la- bour migration the construct of ‘dutiful daughter’ 1.2 Effective deportation and return of migrant workerswho have completed the duration of their work permit constitutes a cultural continuity, legitimizing young women’s dramatically expanded spatial mobility. Still, 1.3 Appropriate labour protection young women’s involvement in labour migration is 1.4 Prevention and intervention in illegal border cross- met with much greater concern than that of men due ing, illegal employment services and illegal employment to the highly gendered ways in which sexuality is con- of migrant workers structed. As Mills (1995: 258) argues: “parents worry (Article 1 of MoU on Employment Cooperation; in: about the physical safety of absent sons and daughters Muntarbhorn 2005: 61). alike but usually only daughters are considered at risk These four key objectives of the MoU illustrate the of inappropriate sexual activity”. double-edged sword of the new Lao-Thai approach to migration management and the contradictions be- 19.5 The Emergence of a Lao tween discourses and conditions of ‘safety’ and ‘vul-nerability’. The creation of legal channels of migration Migration Regime is legitimized in the name of making migration safer through ‘appropriate procedures’ and reducing mi- In the decades following the establishment of the grant vulnerability through ‘appropriate labour protec- communist Lao PDR in 1975, migration by Lao na- tion’. Intertwined with the discursive coupling of the tionals to capitalist Thailand was a highly sensitive creation of legal channels of migration to migrant subject. Official Lao responses boiled down to either safety, point 1.4 foreshadows increased efforts to ignoring the evidence of irregular Lao migrants work- crack down on all forms of migration taking place ing in Thailand, or of condemning it as unpatriotic be- outside these supposedly safe channels of migration. haviour concerning only a few isolated individuals. In Given that the majority of Lao migrants migrate in an the 1990s this position became increasingly untenable undocumented manner, and will no doubt continue mainly because Thai authorities started conducting rounds of registration of unregistered migrant work- ers on Thai soil (Muntarbhorn 2005: 5). In addition, Lao PDR’s entry to the Association of Southeast 8 This Declaration was signed by representatives of theLao state alongside representatives of twenty-eight other Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1997, part and parcel of Asia-Pacific countries. the Lao state’s reorientation towards a politics of re- 9 With reference to Preamble note (1), (2), and (5), and gional integration and market economic principles, Declaration note (2) of the Bangkok Declaration on paved the way for Lao involvement in bilateral and Irregular Migration. 10 Followed in 2005 by an MoU on combating human traf- ficking. 338 Roy Huijsmans doing so in the near future, the condition of migrant played by these agencies in the newly emerging Lao vulnerability actually increases for undocumented mi- migration regime which is making Lao migration into grants, thus making migration more unsafe for the Thailand legible, profitable, and manageable, whilst majority of Lao cross-border migrants despite dis- discursively framing such agencies as a promotion of courses of migrant safety. migrant safety. In addition, the notion of governmen- The problematic interplay between different cate- tality also highlights the transnational nature of the gories of migration with regard to migrant safety has conduct of conduct in migration management. This been commented upon in the Lao and Thai context. allows the analysis of Lao employment agencies to be From a Thai perspective, Muntarbhorn (2005: iv-v) connected to shifts in transnational migration dis- has argued that Thai migration policies have certainly courses. become more liberal, yet this “more open door pol- icy” is subject to various conditions, most importantly the need “on the part of migrant workers to use open 19.6 Employment Agencies and the rather than clandestine channels to enter Thailand”. Changing Political Economy of Similarly, from a Lao perspective, scholars (e.g. Huijs- Migration mans 2011b; Molland 2012) have also emphasized that policies addressing irregular migration (especially anti- The creation of legal channels for migration is not trafficking initiatives) need to be analysed in relation something new (Martin 2005), and originally emerged to policies concerning the regularization of migration. at a time when migration was firmly associated with It is the interplay between policies addressing seem- the construct of the male migrant as the breadwinner. ingly different categories of migration, which are set At present, the opening up of legal channels of migra- apart by their opposing relation to constructs of mi- tion is growing rapidly as a form of migration man- grant safety, that constitutes the essence of the gov- agement. However, unlike when this approach to mi- ernmentality, the methods of governance, of Lao-Thai gration management was first promoted in Western migration. Europe in the years after the Second World War, it is The establishment of employment agencies consti- now implemented in a context in which social rights tutes a principal way in which legal channels of migra- of migrants are being undermined by market forces, tion are expanded. Following Xiang’s (2012: 51) work and is situated in a migrant landscape that is increas- on China, the Lao state too “relies on agents to turn ingly recognized as feminizing.12 Moreover, in the flesh and blood migrants into ‘paper migrants’, to present-day promotion of the opening up of legal transform unpredictable individual mobility into legi- channels of migration, an increasingly important role ble, aggregate flows, and to hold agents as scapegoats is attributed to the private sector in recruiting and dis- if needed”. Lao employment agencies can thus be un- patching migrant labour (for examples in East and derstood as technologies in the governmentality of South-East Asia see: Rudnyckyj 2004; Anh 2007; Lao-Thai migration. In the Lao context, this notion of Xiang 2012). This current trend contrasts with earlier governmentality does not take the form of the metic- approaches in the 1950s and 1960s in Europe and ulously orchestrated disciplining in the form of the North America and until several decades later in vari- compulsory pre-departure training as described by ous socialist states, where it was the state that, on the Rudnyckyj (2004) in the Indonesian context.11 basis of bilateral agreements, played an active role in Rather, referring to Lao employment agencies as tech- dispatching migrant workers (Martin 2005). nologies of governmentality highlights the key role This historical shift in the political economy of re- cruitment of migrants, away from the state and to- wards the market, can be seen from changes in ILO 11 In fact, interviews with representatives from Lao conventions (Peck/Theodore/Ward 2005: 6). ILO employment agencies conducted in 2007 revealed that Convention 97 on Migration for Employment (1949) in the Lao context such pre-departure training typically lasted two to three hours only and was little more than briefing sessions, often organized at provincial level and conducted by local officials of the Ministry of Labour 12 Feminization of migration refers here not only to the and Social Welfare. Furthermore, of twenty early return- growing prevalence of women as migrants, but also to ees interviewed in 2007 who had migrated through Lao the reduction in, and partiality of forms of, social pro- employment agencies to Thailand, eight had not tection available to female migrants especially compared received any such pre-departure training/briefing at all with what was prevalent under the ‘male-breadwinner’ (Huijsmans/Phouxay 2008). model of migration. Gender, Masculinity, and Safety in the Changing Lao-Thai Migration Landscape 339 is primarily state-centred and mentions migration bureaucratic and gendered regulatory landscape in- through other than “government-sponsored arrange- volving two different ministries in both Lao PDR and ments” only in its annexes. Moreover, it states in Arti- Thailand, as well as the Lao embassy in Bangkok (for cle 2 that: a detailed analysis see: Phetsiriseng 2007; Huijsmans/ Each Member for which this Convention is in force Phouxay 2008). undertakes to maintain, or satisfy itself that there is This highly complex structure partly explains why maintained, an adequate and free service to assist Lao employment agencies lagged considerably behind migrants for employment, and in particular to provide in meeting the Thai demand for Lao labour. By Au- them with accurate information (emphasis added 1949: gust 2007 the total request for Lao migrant workers Article 2). had accumulated to 59,700 while Lao employment This Article reflects the ILO’s concern, at the time, agencies had only been able to respond with a total of with for-profit employment agencies which it sought 6,546 workers (Pongkhao 2007).15 Next to the delay to regulate, if not abolish. With Convention 181 on caused by the bureaucratic architecture of the recruit- Private Employment Agencies (1997), the ILO defi- ment process, the mismatch between Thai demand nitely departed from this earlier concern and paved and Lao supply of formal migrant labour is also the way for private sector involvement in matching caused by the relative expense of this form of migra- demand and supply in transnational labour markets. tion. Migrants are typically confronted with recruit- This approach has received broad support from influ- ment fees of 15,000–20,000 Thai Baht (US$484–645) ential global players such as the World Bank (e.g. (Phetsiriseng 2007; Huijsmans/Phouxay 2008: 36).16 World Bank 2006). Paying large sums of money in order to get access to The governments of Lao PDR and Thailand have particular forms of employment is fairly common in not ratified any of the ILO conventions mentioned Lao PDR.17 Still, most Lao migrants are unable to above, yet employment agencies are firmly situated in meet such expenses prior to migration and these the newly emerging Lao migration regime. The MoU costs are typically deducted from the subsequent mi- on Employment Cooperation assigns an important grant’s wage. Hence, most migrants find themselves role to “competent authorities” in the management of in a situation of debt-bondage since their contracts do migration. Later policy documents reveal these “com- not allow them to change employers once in Thai- petent authorities” as migration employment agen- land, yet make them, or their households in Lao PDR, cies.13 principally responsible for recovering the expenses, as discussed below. Recruitment practices differ between agencies and 19.7 Uncovering Gender in Migration include advertising of migrant work over the radio through Lao Employment and in printed media, and recruitment through formal Agencies channels of command. The latter was the dominant mode of recruitment in Baan Naam, taking the fol- In the Lao context, it was only in late 2005 that the lowing shape: first, the village head would travel to first batch of Lao migrants was sent to Thailand the district centre to be briefed about migration through employment agencies (Vientiane Times 2005).14 Following an initial trial with 30–50 workers, 15 It should be emphasized that the number of migrants sent out on a one-year contract, subsequent migrant migrating through employment agencies is only a frac- workers were sent out on two-year contracts by a total tion of those thought to have migrated through undoc- of nine different employment agencies, including umented channels. The large gap between demand and three state-run agencies (Huijsmans/Phouxay 2008). supply was also caused by the fact that Lao employment These employment agencies are situated in a highly agencies were prohibited from sending Lao migrants abroad between January and August 2007 as the Lao state was looking into a range of problems with this form of migration (Huijsmans /Phouxay 2008: 30). 13 Note particularly Prime Minister Decree 68/2002 16 This is considerably more expensive than migration (2002) and Directive of the Minister of Labour and through irregular channels (Huijsmans /Phouxay 2008). Social Welfare 2417/MoLSW (2002a). 17 For example, in 2012 young urban Lao would reportedly 14 Note however that Phetsiriseng (2007: 43) observes that pay sums of 20 million Lao Kip (US$2,500) for a job in the State Employment Enterprise has existed since 1995 the booming Vientiane banking sector with a starting in Lao PDR, and has over the years recruited a few Lao salary of about 1.5 million Lao Kip (less than US$200) workers for international migrant work. per month. 340 Roy Huijsmans through employment agencies. He, in turn, would an- pact and a reduction of national unemployment; and nounce a ‘call for migrant workers’ over the village through the skill-upgrading envisioned taking place speaker system and invite interested villagers to attend through migration the returnees are considered more a meeting in the village temple where he would elabo- capable of participating in Lao national development. rate on further details. After the meeting interested This justification of the Lao state’s new position on villagers would register with the village head for a par- the issue of cross-border movement into Thailand is ticular form of migrant work in Thailand and pay an underpinned by a discourse of development as mod- initial fee to start processing the required documents ernization (Vijayan 2002). Vijayan argues, on the basis (e.g. passport). The village head would report these of the Indian case, that this development discourse details at the district centre and documents would constitutes a “silent privileging of the masculine” (Vi- then be processed. Once passports were ready, the jayan 2002: 34). prospective migrants would be invited to the employ- This gendered justification of the state’s promo- ment agency in Vientiane for a briefing and to sign tion of cross-border labour migration maps onto a the contract that tied them to a Thai employer. gender-segregated migrant labour market, gender dif- Migration policy in practice provides fertile ferences in the valuing of forms of work, and notable ground for ‘mistranslation’ of policy. Due to this gender differences in the experience of being young. grapevine structure of communication many Lao mi- This becomes evident from the list composed by the grants enter migration through employment agencies Lao state that employment agencies need to abide by. with vague or plainly wrong information, which seri- It is at this level that the construction of legitimate ously undermines the migrant safety these channels of cross-border migration and migrants to Thailand migration are meant to contribute to. In addition, by starts translating into highly gendered realities. First, bringing recruitment into the formal domain it be- potential migrants need to meet a series of minimum comes associated with masculine institutions. This requirements. This includes minimum age require- shift in the field of recruitment affects, even at village ments (18 years), completion of at least primary edu- level, potential migrants in a gendered fashion. The cation, good health, and good citizenship (Ministry of five young migrants interviewed all claimed it was Labour and Social Welfare 2002a: Article 3). Seem- they who took the initiative for migration through an ingly gender-neutral, these requirements play out in a employment agency. Yet only the four young men at- gendered social reality and, thereby, come to reinforce tended the meetings at the village temple in person. gender inequalities. Nalintone, the only female migrant interviewed, did With regard to the education requirement, for not attend these meetings in person. In her case one 2004–2005 a 44.2 per cent national primary school of her parents attended the concerned meetings. This completion rate was reported. The main variation no doubt explains why Nalintone was most articulate within this national average is by province (correlating about the lack of information she had received prior with ethnicity). However, for virtually all provinces to migration. For this reason she described migration the average number of years of schooling differs be- through Lao employment agencies as ‘pai dao’ (go tween men and women, with the male population, on guessingly). average, having spent more years in education than their female counterparts (Souksavath/Acharya 2009: 19.7.1 Gender and the Construction of 227). These gender differences in educational require- Legitimate Migrant Labour ments were also observed in the migrant population surveyed by the 2003 Labour Migration Survey. Al- Whereas in the recent past cross-border migration though on average the migrant population was found into Thailand was framed by the Lao state as under- to be educated to a slightly higher level than the total mining national development, the Prime Minister’s population, the share of female migrants who had not Decree No. 68/2002 (2002) reframes it as a positive completed primary education was, at 12.5 per cent, a contribution to national development. It does so by fraction higher than the corresponding share (9 per emphasizing its potential for “upgrad[ing] the skills of cent) among the male migrants (ILO 2007: 24). Lao citizens” in terms of “knowledge” and “technical- The minimum age requirement also plays out in a professional” skills (ibid.: Article 1). Policy note 3011 gendered manner. As observed above, several studies of the Minister of Labour and Social Welfare of the (e.g. MoLSW/Committee for Planning and Coopera- Lao PDR (2007) adds a further range of migration bo- tion National Statistical Center ILO-IPEC/TICW nuses, including its supposedly poverty-reducing im- 2003; Huijsmans 2010) have shown that in the Lao Gender, Masculinity, and Safety in the Changing Lao-Thai Migration Landscape 341 context, migration is shaped by the combined work- 2. jobs that are contradictory to customs and tradi- ing of gender and generation. At the aggregate level tions, culture, or law (e.g. prostitution, pimp, spy, Lao migration data show some gender disparity, yet terrorist, drug dealer, selling sexual equipment, this disparity becomes far more pronounced if a gen- nude shows); erational dimension is added. The 2003 Labour Mi- 3. jobs that are dangerous to the health and life of gration Survey data illustrate this point most clearly the workers (e.g. exposure to chemicals, radiation, (MoLSW/ Committee for Planning and Cooperation explosive substances, open-sea fishing in small National Statistical Center/ILO-IPEC/TICW 2003). boats, catching wild animals such as tigers, lions, Based on a survey using statistically representative or crocodiles). methods employed in three Lao provinces, and cover- (Adapted from Phetsiriseng 2007: 56–57.) ing 5,966 households, a total outmigration rate of 6.9 We limit ourselves here to the first category of ‘plain per cent was found, with the vast majority of observa- jobs’ and focus on domestic work in particular.19 tions (over 80 per cent) concerning cross-border mi- Due to its largely undocumented nature, the mag- gration to Thailand. The total cross-border migrant nitude and sectoral distribution of Lao migrant work population breaks down as 41 per cent male migrants in Thailand is only known by approximation. Yet Thai and 59 per cent female migrants. However, gendered data on the application for work permits by eligible patterns are far more pronounced if we concentrate Lao migrant workers following the Thai 2004 round on migrants below 18 years of age, comprising 21.5 per 18 of registration is instructive here, despite its limita-cent of the total migrant population. This sub-sam- tions (Table 19.1). ple is disproportionally female (over 70 per cent), re- flecting the fact that 25.4 per cent of all female cross- Table 19.1: Work permits issued to Lao workers already in border migrants were younger than 18 years of age, Thailand by mid-December 2004 (following whereas this figure is only 15.6 per cent for all male the 2004 round of registration), by sector. cross-border migrants. Source: Adapted from World Bank (2006: 56). The discussion above illustrates that seemingly gender-neutral requirements such as minimum age Type of work Number of Per cent and minimum educational requirements operate in Permits Issued gendered terrains and thereby come to reinforce gen- On fishing boats 2,634 2.7 der inequalities, as potential male migrants are, on av- Fish processing 1,013 1.0 erage, more likely to meet these requirements than Agriculture 16,795 16.9 potential female migrants. In addition to the gen- dered working of requirements imposed at the level Construction 8,442 8.5 of the individual, gender can also be observed in rela- Domestic service 31,449 31.7 tion to the categories of migrant work prohibited Other 39,019 39.3 from recruitment. In a Ministerial Regulation (Labour Total 99,352 100 and Social Welfare) issued in December 2002 by the Lao PDR (2002b), three categories of work were pro- Table 19.1 shows that domestic work is by far the sin- hibited from recruitment. These were: gle largest occupation of Lao migrant workers in 1. plain jobs that do not require the assistance of Thailand. Since Lao migrant domestics are predomi- mechanical machines in the workplace, do not nantly female (see e.g. Muttarak 2004; Phetsiriseng develop skill levels, and do not provide technical 2007: 78), the gendered impact of omitting ‘plain knowledge (e.g. cleaning, sweeping, portering, work’ from recruitment is significant, and far more digging canals/fishponds); pronounced than the exclusion of, for example, jobs in the ‘dangerous to health’ category such as open-sea fishing, which will affect Lao men primarily but in much smaller numbers. 18 This concerns cross-border migration predominantly (over 80 per cent), and mostly older children. Note fur- ther that the migration survey does not explain whether the age concerned was the first age of migration or the 19 However, a similar argument could be made for migrant current age of migration. Neither is the study clear sex work, which is also done mostly by women and about the precise definition of migration that was excluded from these supposedly safe channels of migra- employed (e.g. in terms of duration). tion. 342 Roy Huijsmans Constructing domestic work, cleaning work, etc., 19.7.2 Gender and Generation in Entering as ‘plain work’ that does not contribute to the devel- Migration through Employment opment of any skills makes it incompatible with the Agencies highly gendered legitimization of cross-border migrant work mentioned above: skills upgrading of the Lao In a similar way to the limitations imposed on poten- workforce with the ultimate goal of realizing an im- tial migrants and migrant work, the high costs at- plicitly masculine project of development as moderni- tached to migration through employment agencies do zation. This framing of domestic work indeed misrec- not play out in a socially undifferentiated manner. ognizes the very real skills this work requires at a Most importantly, Baan Naam data illustrate that this professional and interpersonal level. Moreover, the ensures that only those from relatively better-off fami- absence of women’s domestic and cleaning work lies would even consider becoming involved in this from legitimate migrant labour can also be explained form of migration (Huijsmans 2010: 178). Next, it also by efforts to preserve the dominant feminine value of ensures that only one household member at a time 21 ‘mother-nurturer’, which underpins the official dis- can become involved in this form of migration. In course on women’s role in Lao national development the demographic context of fairly large household as wives, mothers, and preservers of traditional cul- sizes, it is then of interest to observe how entry into ture (e.g. Sangsomboun 2008).20 Acknowledging the employment agencies is shaped by relations of gender reality of the earnings from Lao women’s migrant do- and generation. mestic work sustaining numerous livelihoods and thus Among the seven migrants from Baan Naam who being an important foundation of Lao national devel- had gone through an employment agency to Thailand opment would require a profound reworking of this all but one migrant were ‘dependants’ at the time of dominant feminine ideal. Lastly, omitting Lao migration in the sense that they had not yet estab- women’s domestic work from legitimate forms of mi- lished their own households. This means that despite grant work also needs to be appreciated against a lin- the fact that these young migrants claimed it was they gering sense of inferiority on the part of the Lao in who initiated the decision to migrate, such claims Lao-Thai relations (Ngaosyvathn /Ngaosyvathn 1994; should not be read as the unconstrained exercising of Theeravit/Semyaem 2002; Pholsena/Banomyong young people’s agency. Importantly, as dependants, 2006: 60–61). Lao women cleaning the houses of these sons and daughters lack the collateral to sign up Thai nationals can be viewed as the very articulation for migration through employment agencies. Hence, of a masculine sense of Lao inferiority which the Lao at the end of the day it is their parents who act as state seeks to overcome, and this sheds yet another gatekeepers, which means that migration decision- light on the exclusion of domestic work from legiti- making is here shaped by generational relations. Re- mate migrant work. search in Baan Naam showed that this dimension even gained contractual status as employment agen- cies would enter separate contracts with the head of household of the migrants concerned, making the Lao household responsible for recovering the ex- penses associated with recruitment should the mi- grant concerned fail to do so him/herself (Huijsmans 20 At the first Women’s Congress of the Members of the Women’s Association Central Committee of Lao PDR 2010). in 1984 the motto of “three goods and two duties” was The two most comprehensive studies on migra- coined. The three goods include being a good citizen, a tion through employment agencies (Phetsiriseng good mother, and a good wife, and the two duties 2007; Huijsmans/Phouxay 2008) fail to present statis- include a duty of national defence (socialist construc- tical data on recruitment through agencies in a gen- tion) and women’s emancipation (Ngaosyvathn 1995: der-disaggregated form. Doneys (2011: 56) reports, 105–107; Ireson-Doolittle/Moreno-Black 2004: 27). however, that in 2008 most Lao migrants who had en- Such mottos have never been applied to men, who were simply seen as already ‘good’ and ‘dutiful’ (Ngaosyvathn tered Thailand through employment agencies were 1995: 107). With the socialist rhetoric quickly fading and a widespread return to ‘traditional’ Lao values, being a ‘good citizen’ is in relation to Lao women increasingly 21 The one exception included a household in which both translated into preserving ethnic Lao traditional culture the father and the second-born (son) signed up for such as wearing traditional dress, traditional hairstyles, migration, leaving behind the mother and three chil- etc. dren. Gender, Masculinity, and Safety in the Changing Lao-Thai Migration Landscape 343 male (62 per cent). This pattern is indeed reflected at I was afraid that if he were to stay in Baan Naam he the micro-scale of Baan Naam.22 Importantly, this would find a girl and get married. Yet, right now we gender pattern of migration through employment don’t have the money for a wedding [their first-born agencies contrasts with the overall pattern of cross- [son] had just married]. Also, he should first earn money himself before getting married, that’s why I think it is border migration of Lao nationals into Thailand in good that he went again (Notes from interview with a which men constitute a minority (41 per cent, as mother whose second-born (son) was about to migrate stated above). Part of the explanation of this diver- for a second time through an employment agency on a gence may be found in the gendered construction of two-year contract to Thailand; 2008, Baan Naam). legitimate migrant work discussed above which pro- duces a degree of male privilege. Male privilege is further aggravated by the inter- 19.8 Masculinity and the Limitations section of relations of gender and generation at the of Male Privilege scale of the household. Three factors are at stake here. First, women tend to marry at an earlier age The previous sections have shown that the gendered than men. Because it is primarily unmarried young construction of the functioning of Lao employment people that become involved in migration and since agencies produces male privilege; men are more likely there is a minimum age of recruitment of 18 years, the to become involved in this form of migration than supply of potential male migrants outstrips that of po- women. This is potentially in tension with the policy tential female migrants. Second, the daily presence of rhetoric that presents migration through legal chan- daughters is, in general, of greater value to rural nels as contributing to migrant safety based on a dom- households than the daily presence of sons. Daugh- inant discourse of female migrants’ vulnerability ters are not only involved in a far greater range of eve- which is widespread in the activist and academic liter- ryday forms of work that are of significant impor- ature but also clearly identifiable in everyday village tance for the production and reproduction of rural life: households, but parents are, in general, also more suc- It would have been different. Girls would have listened cessful in directing their daughters’ labour towards and stayed. For example, I also wouldn’t want my the household economy than that of their sons (Hui- younger sister to go and work elsewhere because for jsmans 2010: 141). Hence, parents may be keener to girls it is more dangerous than for men. Men look approve of, and finance, the absence of a son than a stronger than women and are, therefore, safer. Also when we see the news, it is always girls to which bad daughter. In relation to the above, and thirdly, things happen. Therefore, I also don’t want my younger whereas daughters’ involvement in migration is often sister to go (Excerpt from interview with Jonnie (male, met with parental concern (Rigg 2005: 150), in rela- 21 years), Baan Naam, 2009, about why he and not his tion to sons it is local idleness that worries parents. sister became involved in migration through employ- Motivating sons to become involved in migration ment agencies). through employment agencies should thus not only be Jonnie’s remark reflects a widespread perception interpreted from an economic perspective, but also as about female migrants’ vulnerability, and in Jonnie’s a gendered form of parental discipline. Stemming case this remained ‘fact’ even though his own experi- from a hegemonic notion of masculinity which values ence stands out as a case in point of male vulnerabil- risk-taking behaviour (Fordham 1998), sons’ idleness is ity, as is discussed in more detail below. The govern- associated with drinking, getting into fights, and im- mentality of the Lao migration regime, which may be pregnating girls, whereas migrant work through for- summarized as bringing about a ‘conduct of conduct’ mal channels is seen as mitigating these possible trou- that discourages potential migrants from migrating bles. Moreover, encouraging sons into two-year through irregular channels by emphasizing the associ- migrant contracts may also constitute a parental strat- ated ‘risks’ and stimulating migrating in a docu- egy of postponing possible marriages of their sons mented fashion through the promotion of ‘safety’, can and the financial implications of this.23 be assessed as relatively successful based on the obser- vation that security considerations indeed emerged as an important motivation for migrants to opt for em- ployment agencies despite the considerable costs (Hu- 22 Note that one of the two young women who migrated through an employment agency comes from a house- hold with daughters only, rendering the gender question 23 Note that in the matrilocal ethnic Lao context bride- largely irrelevant. grooms or their family pay a bride price. 344 Roy Huijsmans ijsmans/Phouxay 2008). Importantly, this governmen- Table 19.2: Areas in which the reality of migration differed tality of migration has also shifted the cultural styles from the pre-departure information. Source: of hegemonic notions of masculinity. While we have Adapted from Huijsmans and Phouxay (2008: earlier observed that risk-taking behaviour constitutes 41). an important element in hegemonic forms of mascu- Category Formal recruits (n=20) linity among Tai men, so does a “preoccupation with protection from danger” (Tambiah 1984, in: Fordham nature of work 15 1998: 107). Whereas in the past this concern with pro- salary 16 tection from danger manifested itself primarily in the working hours 14 form of the accumulation of amulets, performance of overtime 6 rituals, and the search for blessings (e.g. Mills 1995; Fordham 1998), statements like the one below suggest rest days 9 that performing a modern form of citizenship, by mi- living conditions 15 grating through state-related institutions in a docu- risks and dangers 10 mented manner, has become part of the cultural style of seeking protection from danger among young men. However, the qualitative data from Baan Naam con- I went through an agency because I thought that if firms the above picture: something would happen the agency would take care of Research Assistant: Before you went, did you know it. Also, this is a comfortable way of going since all the exactly about the kind of work you were to do? documents are in order. This was important since I was a bit afraid to go abroad for such a long time because I Jonnie: When the village head announced the possibility had not done so before (Notes from interview with Som of working in Thailand over the village speaker system, (male, mid-twenties) upon return from two years in he said there were two types of jobs: work in a fish can- Thailand; Baan Naam, 2009). ning factory and work in a pineapple canning factory… we were preparing to go there [to one of the factories] These young men paid large sums of money or be- and our passports were processed. But then the facto- came indebted to the employment agency as a means ries did no longer need workers, and a palm oil planta- to secure a certain degree of protection from danger tion needed workers urgently, so we went there but we when engaging in an activity (cross-border migration had no idea what we would be doing there. into the deep South of Thailand) they clearly under- RA: Did you go to all the meetings? stood as risky. The question remains, however, Jonnie: Yes I went to all the meetings, but during these whether migration through Lao employment agencies meetings they didn’t talk about the palm oil plantations, as a means to protect oneself from danger actually only about the pineapple and fish canning factory. It contributes to making migration safer in a material was only in the very end that we heard a little bit about sense, or should indeed be viewed as a cultural style? plantation work…I wanted to work in one of the facto- A first point of concern in addressing this question is ries… but in the end this work was not available. So I whether migrants migrating through employment went to the palm oil plantations…I went [there] becausemy passport was already issued and I was indebted for agencies actually know what they are stepping into. A 15,000 Baht with the employment agency and had spent survey among twenty migrants showed that virtually about 5,000 Baht myself in the district level to prepare all had received information about the nature of documents (Excerpt from interview with Jonnie (male work, wages, working hours, health care, and termina- 21 years), upon return in Baan Naam, 2009). tion of employment prior to migration, which, in- Since passports were already issued and valid for three deed, compared favourably with migrants who had years only, Jonnie and the other young men from migrated through informal channels (Huijsmans/ Baan Naam felt they could not take their chances. Phouxay 2008: 40). However, when asked how pre- Rejecting a migrant opportunity without knowing departure and contractual information compared when and what would come up was playing with their with the actual reality at the migration destination a chances which could lead to a situation in which their significant discrepancy was observed, as illustrated in passport would run out before having completed a Table 19.2. standard two-year contract. For this reason they were The data presented in Table 19.2 was collected ready to accept entirely different work from the sort among early returnees and as observed in the method- of migrant work they had initially registered for with- ology section contains an important element of bias. out knowing much about what this work entailed. Gender, Masculinity, and Safety in the Changing Lao-Thai Migration Landscape 345 This indeed constitutes another form of ‘mistransla- Over time, two of the young Lao men managed to get tion’ of policy. out of these lowly paid tasks. Based on their physical Next to pre-departure information about the type strength, they were asked to join a Thai work team on and nature of work, information about prospective the plantation, which allowed them to enter the more salaries was also unclear. Salaries were typically pre- profitable work of harvesting palms. Bodily perform- sented as a range in the migrant contracts. Yet upon ance contributes here to the constitution of a hegem- arrival the migrants were soon to discover that their onic notion of masculinity, which makes, however, actual salaries rarely went beyond the low end of this gender vulnerable on two accounts. First, it immedi- range. This practice left Som, a young man in his mid- ately renders gender vulnerable for the five men twenties, to observe ironically that “everything they whose bodily performance fell short, particularly [employment agencies] had said was true”, meaning since the alternative strategies for improving their fate that the agency had emphasized the most rosy reading (repeatedly bringing up their complaints) proved fu- of the contract, without highlighting the fact that tile. Second, the hard labour of harvesting palm trees there were no guarantees that these conditions would does not contribute to skill formation. Hence, the im- be met. mediate improvement achieved through the bodily Consequently, salaries and conditions of work performance of physical strength is likely to render quickly became a main point of contestation for the these men’s gender vulnerable in the long run because Baan Naam men who had migrated to the southern labour under ‘the regime of profit uses up the work- Thai palm oil plantations. Once at the plantation the ers’ bodies, through fatigue, injury and mechanical Lao workers found themselves allocated lowly paid wear and tear’, a process which is here not offset by tasks like weeding and applying pesticides and ex- the growth of skill (Connell 2005: 55). cluded from better-paying types of work like harvest- The Lao migrants who have migrated through em- ing the palms, which were reserved for Thai labour ployment agencies are, by contract, tied to a specific teams.24 Following the pre-departure recommenda- employer, and their indebtedness to the Lao employ- tions of the Lao employment agency, the men got in ment agency means that these migrant workers have touch with the agency in order to have their concerns little other choice than to stick to their job despite addressed: problems remaining unresolved. It is only when the Before we left we were told to get in touch with the worst comes to the worst that migrants who had mi- employment agency in case of any problems. And so we grated through employment agencies would resort to 25 did, but the employment company did not like it when quitting without notice. I called them and they did nothing with our complaints. After about one and a half year into his contract Whenever we called, the Lao employment company Jonnie fell ill, which he believed was due to his daily would just get in touch with a Thai middleman. The work with pesticides in the palm oil plantation. After middleman would then say that the Lao workers were a period of tiredness and dizziness he could at some just too lazy. You know, the Thai middlemen and the Lao employment agency eat and drink beer together, so point no longer stand and walk and was hospitalized they believe each other no matter what we say. Also, the for eight days. After being discharged from the hospi- Lao employment agency got their money already from tal his fellow workers from Baan Naam advised him the palm plantation so they didn’t care anymore. (Notes to quit, as they feared continuing the work might kill from interview with Sukan’s father in Baan Naam, Jonnie. Since Jonnie had paid off his debts he decided 2008. He was the only adult in a group of five male to quit. Without bothering to ask for his passport workers from Baan Naam, including his second-born (which was kept by his employer) he travelled inde- son (Sukan), working at the oil palm plantation. As the only adult he acted as the group leader.) pendently and in an undocumented fashion back to Lao PDR (Notes from interviews with Jonnie; Baan Naam, 2009). Quitting without notice and leaving one’s passport 24 Work in the palm oil plantations is at piece rate. A main and documented status behind constituted in this difference between harvesting the palms and work like case a form of dealing with the migrant vulnerability weeding and applying chemicals was that the former created by the conditions of migrating through em- allowed workers to put in many hours of work with the possibility of earning much higher wages than they could earn by weeding and applying chemicals—which 25 Free transport back to Lao PDR at the end of the con- was seen as a single task of fixed magnitude and was tract is another motivation for Lao migrants to try to often completed in less than a working day. complete their contracts rather than quit prematurely. 346 Roy Huijsmans ployment agencies. Ironically, even this strategy, something that is conducive to the implicit masculine which is frequently employed by undocumented Lao discourse of development as modernization embraced migrants in Thailand as an act of agency in response by the Lao state. I have argued that hegemonic no- to dissatisfaction with their migrant work conditions tions of masculinity and femininity underpin the con- (Huijsmans 2010), is more risky for documented mi- struct of legitimate cross-border migrant work, which grants than for undocumented migrants as the former effectively excludes large parts of the Lao female mi- leave a traceable identity behind. grant labour population from these supposedly safe channels of migration. Furthermore, the seemingly gender-neutral selection criteria applied by employ- 19.9 Conclusion ment agencies produce significant degrees of male privilege in accessing safe migration because they in- In this chapter I have shown that notions of risk and evitably play out in the highly gendered social terrain safety feature prominently in discourses underpinning of contemporary Lao society. transformations in the architecture of migration re- Whilst young Lao men may be privileged in access- gimes. In the Lao-Thai case presented in this chapter, ing these supposedly safe forms of migration, I have migration through irregular channels is constructed as argued that the male privilege is highly limited. In risky and dangerous and this provides an important fact, the conditions of migration through employment justification for interventions aimed at preventing, dis- agencies may well contribute to an increase in migrant couraging, and even criminalizing such forms of mi- vulnerability, as the case of Jonnie illustrated. Further- gration. At the same time, the creation of legal chan- more, under the highly constraining conditions of nels of migration is presented and promoted as contractual labour migration young men typically had making migration ‘safe’. Employment agencies are key to rely on the bodily performance of sheer physical la- actors in the newly established formal channels of mi- bour power in order to improve their individual situa- gration and are assigned the ‘duty’ of safeguarding mi- tion. I have argued, however, that such bodily per- grant safety by ensuring protection of migrant work- formance renders gender vulnerable regardless of ers in accordance with relevant laws and regulations whether male migrants are able to contribute to this (Prime Minister’s Office, Lao PDR 2002). dimension of the constitution of a hegemonic notion Concerns about migrant safety are often highly of masculinity. gendered, revolving around female migrants’ vulnera- Lastly, I have argued that evaluating young Lao bility, whereas hardship experienced by male migrants men’s motivations to migrate through these very is only seldom problematized due to hegemonic no- costly employment agencies in purely material terms tions of masculinity. Despite such gendered con- loses sight of how it may rather constitute a modern structs of vulnerability, interventions promoted as im- version of a cultural style of hegemonic masculinity. proving migrant safety are typically presented as Acknowledging young men’s migration through em- gender-neutral. This is especially true for employment ployment agencies as the seeking of protection from agencies, which are presented as making migration danger through the performance of a modern form of safer and are envisioned doing so in a gender-neutral citizenship explains, for example, the paradoxical ob- fashion. servation that the young men from Baan Naam (and I have, however, shown employment agencies to none of the young women) decided, with the excep- be distinctly gendered. Firstly, these agencies are em- tion of Jonnie, to remigrate through the very channels bedded in the gendered terrain of the emerging Lao of migration that had already failed them once. migration regime. 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Despite Costa Rica’s self-representation as a peaceful and democratic society, Nicaraguan migrants in Costa Rica, the main foreign-born community in the country, are widely portrayed in derogatory terms, for example as violent and criminal and in general as “threatening Others” (Sandoval 2004). This chapter explores a set of examples of analyses of critical interventions – regarding immigration law, social imaginaries around which rep- resentations of Nicaraguans are framed, and participatory work carried out with impoverished communities – in order to reflect on the ways in which social sciences in Costa Rica attempt to intervene both in the everyday hostility of Costa Rican society and in the ways in which Nicaraguans contest that hostility. Responding to Michael Burawoy’s call for a “public sociology” (2005, 2007), the chapter reflects on how debates around public social sciences could enrich the political, institutional, and conceptual location of migration studies in Costa Rica. Keywords: migration, Nicaraguans, Costa Rica, immigration law, social imaginaries, community work, public sociology. 20.1 Introduction1 2 been how to translate the analysis of social sciences into a legal submission to the Constitutional Court. A This chapter3 reflects on the scope and limitations of second area is how to respond to the imaginaries of endeavouring as social researchers and social activists immigration, which are usually characterized by an ex- to intervene in three specific arenas of the debate on aggeration of the number of immigrants and by im- immigration in Costa Rica. One refers to the possibil- puting to them the weakening of public services and ities of influencing public policy in the field. The ex- the rise of insecurity. A third area of intervention re- perience of analyses of Costa Rica’s new Migration fers to work with migrant communities and the ways and Alien Affairs Law, which came into effect in they position themselves with respect to the criminal- March 2010, is discussed. The main challenge has izing discourses they are questioning. Reflection about the challenges, institutionaliza- tion, and links with the social sciences has been 1 Carlos Sandoval-García is professor at the Media Studies present in different periods and sociocultural con- School and the Institute for Social Research, both at the texts. Often it has involved critical observations grow- University of Costa Rica. He is also editor of the Anu- ing out of the context of power relations that privilege ario de Estudios Centroamericanos (). certain perspectives and institutional contexts to the 2 This chapter draws on the findings of an IDRC-funded detriment of others (see, for example, Fanon (1986), project ‘Advancing the Rights of Migrant Women in Mills (1987)). Some of these initial concerns have con- Latin America and the Caribbean‘, project number tinued to be debated more recently. Pierre Bourdieu 104785-003. and Wacquant (1992: 37), for example, suggest at least 3 An earlier version of this chapter (Sandoval, 2012a) was three angles of inquiry. One refers to the social ori- published in Entreverse. Teoría y metodología práctica gins and social conditions (e.g. class, gender, genera- de las Fuentes orales, edited by Miren Llona (Bilbao, University of the Basque Country). tion) from which a researcher envisions a project; the T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 351 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_20, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 352 Carlos Sandoval-García second asks about the institutional conditions from/ Issues regarding needs of knowledge and political or- in which it is worked on; and the third refers to the ganization of migrant communities and the interplay concepts and tools from which and with which it is between research, advocacy, and policy-making are conceptualized and developed. The three demand an among some of the challenges posed by these at- effort of distancing capable of converting the biogra- tempts to go beyond detached social science research. phy and premises of work into an object of inquiry. The three areas of work considered in the chapter Boaventura de Sousa Santos (2009: 125) offers a sec- – public policies, social imaginaries, and community ond contribution, suggesting that reality cannot be re- work – have been part of research projects carried out duced to what exists, but requires also a sociology of at the Institute for Social Research at the University of what is missing and a sociology of what is emerging.4 Costa Rica between 2005 and 2011.5 We began work- A third perspective, upon which this chapter is ing on a project whose title was La Carpio: The expe- mainly based, is Michael Burawoy’s call for public so- rience of urban segregation and social stigmatization, ciology, a sociology which addresses wide publics and which was supported by a grant awarded by the Wen- asks for whom and for what knowledge is being pro- ner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research duced. Burawoy (2007: 243) identifies four spaces of and another from the Central American Jesuit Migra- sociology: professional sociology, written for other tion Service (Sandoval/Brenes/Fernández/Paniagua/ specialists, which has the greatest legitimacy and rec- Sánchez 2007; Sandoval 2009a; Sandoval/Brenes/ ognition; the sociology of public policies; critical soci- Masís/Paniagua 2010; see also ). The La Carpio community is proba- lenge, public sociology. Some critics have reservations bly the biggest binational community in Central Amer- about whether public sociology will effectively be able ica and the project aimed to contribute towards to subvert the hierarchies within the discipline (Hays building collective memories and a grounded political 2007); others ask how far public sociology recognizes culture. the asymmetries between sociology and subordinate A second team project was Advancing the Rights fields of knowledge, such as Latino studies or ethnic of Migrant Women in Latin America and the Carib- studies (Nakano Glenn 2007). A greater doubt is to bean, a regional project that has looked at the lived what degree this debate about public sociology enters experience of migrant women and migrant organiza- into a dialogue with similar perspectives in the global tions in five Latin American countries, one of which South (see Burawoy 2007: 254 for an exception). was Costa Rica. This project was funded by the Inter- Following Patricia Hill Collins (2007: 21), this national Development Research Center (IDRC) of chapter asks whether and how we who work critically Canada (Brenes/Fernández/Paniagua/Sandoval 2010; in migration have “been making public sociology Bolaños/Brenes/Paniagua/Sandoval et al. 2011; San- without knowing it” (emphasis in the original). It asks doval/Brenes/Paniagua 2012). We aimed not only to too in what ways these debates are enriching our research some of the main issues regarding migration, work in a period in which the institutional weaknesses but also to learn how to build cooperative forms of of the Central American universities and the predom- work in which collaboration and not competition inance of international cooperation priorities leave could be the main source of inspiration. The chal- few possibilities for new generations of social scien- lenges of the social sciences not only refer to the for- tists to be able to enjoy stable work options from mulation of theoretically and empirically (and socially which they can respond to the needs for knowledge relevant) informed research questions, but also de- of the dispossessed peoples in the region. pend on the possibility of forging vibrant, generous, Both the views of de Sousa Santos and Burawoy and enriching academic cultures (Green 1997: 195). require us to reflect on the ways in which power/ Meanwhile, these projects have asked the team how knowledge relations are forged in migration research. to build links: with migrant people who, rather than 4 De Sousa Santos (2009: 129) suggests a sociology of 5 During this period, a number of colleagues have been absences and a sociology of emergences. “While the active protagonists. Esteban Sánchez-Solano, Mayela sociology of absences moves in the field of social expe- Castillo-Villachica, Karen Masís-Fernández, Marcela riences, the sociology of emergences moves in the field Montanaro-Mena, and Olman Bolaños have joined of social expectations” (p. 130). “Both grant the present several initiatives. Mónica Brenes-Montoya, Laura a denser and more substantive content than the fleeting Paniagua-Arguedas and I have worked together through- instant between past and future” (p. 131). out this period. Public Social Science at Work: Contesting Hostility Towards Nicaraguan Migrants in Costa Rica 353 being considered as ‘objects of research’, are recog- European Union (Lipsitz 1999; Chavez 2001, 2008; nized as subjects; with organizations that work on ad- Bhattacharyya/Gabriel/Small 2002). vocacy; and with cooperation agencies. In the case of Costa Rican society, a weak public sphere impedes a strengthening of reflection about it- self and of any recognition that there has been an un- 20.2 Nicaraguan Migrants as dermining of key institutions, generated above all by ‘Threatening Others’ in the Costa the shrinking of public investment and by a blurring Rican Social Imaginary of the collective imaginary that has characterized the country as ‘exceptional’. Fantasies about the nation The Nicaraguan community in Costa Rica is a major frequently replace debate about the type of society to case of South-South migration in the Latin American which one aspires. The anti-immigrant hostility, often context. The 2000 population census estimated that fed by the mass media, has been the raw material of Nicaraguans who live in Costa Rica represent around the exclusionary fantasies of the nation. In turn, this 226,374 (5.9 per cent) of the total inhabitants. Eleven same anti-immigrant hostility aims to contain and years later, in 2011, the population census reported make bearable the anxiety generated by the uncer- 287,766, 6.6 per cent of the total population. Over the tainty about the effacing of the institutions and the course of a decade (2000–2010), while there was a imaginaries (Sandoval 2004). 27.1 per cent absolute rise there was thus only a very During the last thirty years, Costa Rica has experi- slight increase in the share (0.9 per cent), which is enced a number of changes in its economic policies much less prominent than the one reported between which have configured an export-based economy that the census carried out in 1984 and the 2000 census, has diversified products and increased markets. Under which was 4.1 per cent. In other words, there is a ten- this economic pattern, economic growth has not dency towards stabilization of Nicaraguan immigra- meant equitable redistribution. While the proportion tion in Costa Rica, although in the Costa Rican imag- of those living below the poverty line remains at about inary the image is that the proportion of immigrants twenty per cent, inequality has risen considerably. A is continuing to grow. new methodology applied to estimating income distri- In the second half of the twentieth century, two bution reported that the Gini Index is about 0.54 per moments can be distinguished in which the displace- cent (INEC 2011). It locates Costa Rica as one of the ments from Nicaragua to Costa Rica intensified. One Latin American countries in which inequality has risen was the war in Nicaragua financed by the Reagan Ad- more sharply in recent years. ministration starting in the early eighties, which de- Paradoxically, those who are considered ‘threaten- manded the establishment of Patriotic Military Serv- ing Others’ are indispensable for these new economic ice (conscription) and produced a profound eco- patterns. Newer leading agricultural products like wa- nomic crisis in Nicaraguan society. The other was termelons, oranges, melons, and mangoes, as well as generated by the neo-liberal measures starting in the traditional products such as coffee and bananas, are early nineties that privatized institutions in Nicaragua, produced and processed by Nicaraguan men and eliminated subsidies, and generated enormous unem- women. The case of the construction sector is similar, ployment. Additionally, the social disaster produced since Nicaraguans have been indispensable for build- by Hurricane Mitch in 1998 aggravated the living con- ing the infrastructure that has made possible the tour- ditions of hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans. ist boom, especially in the Pacific coast region. Insecu- The Nicaraguan community in Costa Rica has rity, which has been considered as the main problem been thematized as much in the media as in everyday of the country in a number of surveys, has been tem- life conversations. Many of the themes will seem fa- pered by private security companies which very often miliar in other countries and regions, since while na- recruit Nicaraguan guards. Throughout this period, tionalities vary, the narratives do not: Will the immi- ‘security’ has ceased to be seen as an issue related to grants become a majority? Will they impose other cus- the Costa Rican welfare state and has become instead toms? Will they take jobs away from the nationals? a police concern. Meanwhile, attributing responsibil- Are they responsible for the decline of public services ity for this sense of dislocation to Nicaraguans has and the increase in crime rates and the sense of inse- been a way of making sense of these institutional curity? These are some of the recurring questions changes. Last but not least, Nicaraguan women are in heard in Costa Rica, just as in the United States or the charge of (badly-)paid domestic work and responsible for caring for Costa Rica’s middle-class children and 354 Carlos Sandoval-García elderly people. In short, those who are considered vi- tain extension periods for the migratory category or olent are also the ones responsible for maintaining to change it. For example, persons categorized as Costa Rica’s sense of security and economic growth. tourists must pay US$100 to prolong their stay in the The increase in drug trafficking and political corrup- country (article 90). In addition, those wishing to tion makes this landscape even more unpredictable change their migratory category must, in addition to (Sandoval 2012c). meeting the requirements to obtain the new category, pay $200 (articles 96 and 125) unless they leave the country to come in on a visa, in which case they must 20.3 Understanding and Countering begin residency proceedings, which costs $30. the Legality that Produces If one considers that the high costs are one of the Irregularity – Analytical, factors that impede the steps for regularizing the mi- Normative, and ‘Translation’ gratory status or renewing documents, they become a Research factor that impedes regularization itself. In fact, one of the grounds to cancel a person’s permanent resi- Seyla Benhabib (2004: 2) has noted that “transna- dency is failure to renew that person’s documentation tional migrations bring to the fore the constitutive di- within three months of its expiry date (article 129, lemma at the heart of liberal democracies between point 10). To this must be added that for every irreg- sovereign self determination claims on the one hand ular stay in Costa Rican territory, once must pay a and adherence to universal human rights principles on US$100 fine for each month of that stay or, “by de- the other”. It is recognized that there are human fault, the person’s entry will be prohibited for a pe- rights that transcend national policies but it is also re- riod equivalent to triple the time of his/her irregular corded that the sovereignty of the state continues to permanence” (article 33, point 3). determine who has rights and who does not. The insurance requirement added to the severity Costa Rica’s current General Law of Migration of the fines will very probably increase non-documen- and Alien Affairs (No. 8764) was approved by the Leg- tation. Thus the law would produce the ‘illegality’ it is islative Assembly in July 2009 and went into effect in claimed it would eradicate; that is, the requisites are March 2010. In general, it presents a series of modifi- such that they foster lack of documentation. The re- cations to the previous law. It eliminates a good part port of regularization requests presented to the Gen- of the vocabulary linked to ‘security’ which abounded eral Division of Migration and Alien Affairs (DGME) in the earlier law, replacing it with that of human reveals that there has been a decrease of almost fifty rights, alluding to multiple international agreements per cent in new permanent visa applications between ratified and in effect in Costa Rica. 2010 and 2011 (Press Conference 2012). In other The human rights framing has earned important words the law’s promise, which is regulation, is far6 legitimacy among stakeholders. But the new law com- from being fulfilled. bines this framing with specific provisions that make The same pattern is underscored in some studies the migratory regularization process even more cum- on migratory legislation in various other countries bersome and difficult, and grants competencies to au- (DeGenova 2002). Mae Ngai, for example, has noted thorities charged with executing the migratory legisla- tion that more properly belong to the judicial branch. Even though Costa Rican Social Security reports 6 During the second semester of the year 2012, the that only 57.4 per cent of the economically active pop- DGME announced a number of temporary measures ulation was covered by social security as of February that make some of the requirements for residence more 2009, mainly because the majority of jobs generated flexible. It coincided with the recognition of the Trat-ado de la Apostilla, which establishes that when a state are located in the so-called ‘informal’ sector, affilia- recognizes documents expedited by another state, such tion to the public social security system is one of the documents do not need to be certified by the consular new requisites for beginning regularization processes authorities of the country in which they are going to be (articles 7, point 7; 78, point 3; and 97). A conse- submitted. Currently, Nicaraguans applying for resi- quence of this new requisite is that the responsibility dency in Costa Rica can obtain their documents at the for insurance falls on the workers and employers are Nicaraguan consulate in Costa Rica. The large queues at exempted of their responsibility. the Nicaraguan consulate seem to confirm that most ofthe undocumented Nicaraguans who live in Costa Rica The costs related to documentation are another have already qualified for a visa but have not had the aspect. The law establishes a series of payments to ob- budget to pay for their documents. Public Social Science at Work: Contesting Hostility Towards Nicaraguan Migrants in Costa Rica 355 that “the migratory restriction produces an illegal per- Spanning the analytical and the normative, one of son as a new illegal political subject, whose inclusion the tasks still pending is to conceive a public policy on within the nation was simultaneously a reality and a le- migration that starts by recognizing the profound in- gal impossibility”. She goes on to say that “being an terdependence between migrants, their relatives, and unauthorized or illegal immigrant is a status conferred the receiving communities. Thousands of people have by the State and is then incorporated into the bodies found employment and residence in Costa Rica, pro- of the migrants, because illegality is both produced viding services to Costa Rican citizens; for example, and experienced” (quoted by Chavez 2008: 23). A law many Costa Ricans can work at paid jobs because a that claims to be inspired in the name of human rights Nicaraguan is caring for their children or for older ends up reducing the practical possibilities of achiev- adults. Some economic activities, such as construc- ing migratory regularization. tion, export agriculture, private security, and of A second set of provisions foreseen by the law re- course paid domestic work structurally depend on the fers to the powers granted to migratory authorities. participation of Nicaraguans. Although, as Benhabib The detentions that the Migration Police may make (2004: 93) notes, “peoples are radically and not are for twenty-four hours, but they can be extended merely episodically interdependent”, she emphasizes with the authorization of the DGME director without that “citizenry and the practices of political member- specifying a limit, as established in articles 12 and 31, ship are the rituals through which the nation spatially points 5a and 5b. In this context, doubt arises as to reproduces itself. The control of territorial borders, whether the detentions could be indeterminate and which is coeval with the sovereignty of the modern prolonged by an administrative authority or are ex- nation state, seeks to ensure the purity of the nation pressly reserved for a judicial authority, as the Political in time through the policing of its contacts and inter- Constitution of Costa Rica makes explicit in its article actions in space” (Benhabib 2004: 18). 37. The provision in article 16 of the existing Law of For normative-cum-transformative work, rather Migration and Alien Affairs must be understood in than suggesting new totalities Boaventura de Sousa the same sense, namely that “the Professional Migra- Santos (2009: 125) favours the work of ‘translation’, tion Police will investigate the trading and trafficking which he specifies as “the procedure that permits the in persons, as well as any infraction of a migratory na- creation of reciprocal intelligibility among the experi- ture”. The administrative police would be given the ences of the world, both the available and the possi- power of making arrests, but this should not be for ble, revealed by the sociology of absences and the so- the purpose of investigating cases, as this would usurp ciology of emergences” (de Sousa Santos 2009: 136). a power of the judicial branch as established in article Translation involves links between various kinds of 153 of the Political Constitution. knowledge, agents, and social practices and is particu- From a more long-range perspective, this discre- larly necessary in the search for links between per- tion granted to administrative authorities coincides spectives of a more analytical kind and those more fo- with changes in the legislation of a large number of cused on regulatory approaches. The importance of countries, which have meant the erosion of a number this link acquires more relevance if one recognizes, as of aspects of the rule of law through the greater dis- Jonathan Rutherford (2007: 19) has noted, that the cretion granted to police authorities and the reduc- predominating theories that emphasize the de- and re- tion of the presumption of innocence and of the sep- construction of social identities, generally related to aration of powers (Bhattacharyya 2008). In the migra- post-structuralism, have lacked the ethical references tory sphere then, changes are taking place whose to generate new, more egalitarian social relations than nature and consequences could be far-reaching. the ones they seek to deconstruct. The emphasis on The construction of links between the different the possibility of reconstruction has not been accom- kinds of knowledge, agents, and social practices panied by a similar impetus in terms of articulating around the demand for justice and rights in the field emerging worlds. of migration requires a search both for ways to articu- Translation also facilitates the configuration of late perspectives of a more analytical type, which for “contact zones” (Sandoval 2009b) between kinds of example describe the increase in policies to control knowledge, perspectives, and actors who do not fre- migratory flows, and for approaches whose main at- quently encounter each other. Law, says de Sousa San- tention is applied to a normative perspective and tos (2010: 12), “can be emancipating when it is used whose priority is to imagine possible modes of trans- counter-hegemonically”. In other words, the lonely ac- formation. ademic critique or the communications from organi- 356 Carlos Sandoval-García zations that recognize discriminations in such law pacity for detailed and informed analysis. In fact, in need to be transcended in order to advance the recog- 2006, the possibility of writing a writ of unconstitu- nition of “citizenries in practice” (Brenes/Fernández/ tionality was unthinkable. Now the possibility of get- Paniagua/Sandoval 2010). The public social sciences, ting together colleagues from the social sciences and in the Burawoy sense, can contribute to this task. law (a social science that is unfortunately usually far It is in this context that the challenge arises to try away from the rest of the camp) is a substantive step to contest some articles of this law in the Constitu- forward. Even though at the time of writing this chap- tional Court on the grounds of unconstitutionality or ter (May 2012), the Court has not provided a final de- because they go against international agreements to cision, this experience is without doubt a step for- which the Costa Rican State is a signatory, arguing, ward both in terms of cooperative work and translat- for example, that some of the requisites, costs, and ing social science findings into legal claims. Following fines violate the principles of reasonableness and pro- de Sousa Santos, the writ of unconstitutionality that portionality which underpin the rule of law, or that was presented in 2011 might be thought of as a team the powers assigned to the DGME and the Migration experience of translating empirical research into a Police violate the principle of independence of the normative perspective through which what was absent branches of government. (a Constitutional claim) was made possible. Although This involves not only systematizing some of the international cooperation in migration research is fre- criticisms of the existing legislation, but also consoli- quent and at times abundant, little is invested in pro- dating capacities to persuasively contest the need to moting advocacy, particularly long-term advocacy. In- make justice and citizens’ rights prevail beyond nation- stead, assessments on diverse themes often overlap. In ality. Based on this concern, the team who worked in response to this certainly limited panorama, the expe- the project Advancing the Rights of Migrant Women rience of analyzing the law introduces more general in Latin America and the Caribbean invited col- questions about what the research and advocacy prior- leagues working in NGOs and churches to reflect on ities on the migration issue should be in a context the scope of the law and on the possibilities of engag- characterized by the hardening of migratory legisla- ing in advocacy. In the framework of these initiatives, tion in various regions of the world. a document with the main concerns was delivered to A second initiative on the issue of rights has been the then director of the DGME, in which it was sug- articulated around the danger that Nicaraguan gested, for example, that the charges for obtaining women with an irregular status do not have access to documents should not be reduced but that the docu- health services except in emergency situations or dur- ments should be valid for longer. As a product of this ing pregnancy. The Costa Rican state is a signatory to initiative, the DGME agreed to extend the validity of the international legislation on sexual and reproduc- residence permits from one year to two at first issue tive rights. As a consequence, what is established in and to three or four years for revalidations, as verified these international regulations is obligatory for the by article 56 of the Regulations of Alien Affairs pub- Costa Rican state. The challenge is how to make com- lished in the official daily La Gaceta in January 2011 pliance with international regulations enforceable at a (Asamblea Legislativa de la República de 2009). national level. A document by the project team Ad- A second stage of the work consisted of conven- vancing the Rights of Migrant Women in Latin Amer- ing a group that met over a longer period for a more ican and the Caribbean has also been prepared. How- careful reflection on the law and on the possibilities ever, just before submitting the proposal to the au- of preparing a writ of unconstitutionality. By Septem- thorities, a number of financial and administrative ber 2011, a final version of the writ was submitted to difficulties at the Public Security System (Caja Costar- the Constitutional Court, which in April 2012 partially ricense de Seguro Social [CCSS]) were revealed which admitted it. Overall, the Court admitted the claims made politically improbable that health provision for against those articles in which the distinctions be- non-documented women would be accepted. The tween faculties of the Judicial and the Executive pow- Minister of Health even suggested that attention to ers were blurred. But it did not accept that serious migrants was one of the factors that explain the finan- criminal charges were a matter of constitutional law. cial crisis (La Nación 27.08.2011). If one compares the work done when the previous Both the writ of unconstitutionality and the pro- law went into effect in 2006 and what happened with posal to extend to migrant women in an irregular con- the current one, an important difference is that this dition the right of access to health care face hard time there is a greater collective critical effort and ca- times due to the conflict over the definition of bor- Public Social Science at Work: Contesting Hostility Towards Nicaraguan Migrants in Costa Rica 357 ders between Nicaragua and Costa Rica (Sandoval losing the status of being an object of the will of the 2012c). This ongoing situation involves a considerable nationalist manager”. step backward in terms of the exercise of migrants’ The literature reports that there is not necessarily rights. The media have represented the conflict as a a correspondence between an increase in immigration confrontation between societies and in Costa Rica and the growth of hostility. It is estimated that inter- flags have even been placed in houses and automo- national migrants make up three per cent of the total biles to underscore the identification of the popula- world population, i.e. some 200 million people. It is tion with the position of President Laura Chinchilla. often considered that such figures correspond to a Thus the border conflict has mobilized nationalist considerable increase in international migration, fre- speeches and increased anti-migrant hostility. That, to- quently explained as a consequence of globalization. gether with the exercise of citizenship in practice, Nonetheless, historians (e.g. Hobsbawn 1998) have al- presents the enormous challenge of debating the so- ready noted that in relative terms, taking into account cial imaginaries around immigration, some of which the population at the time, there was greater immigra- are unquestionably a departure point for the legisla- tion in the nineteenth century than in the twentieth tion that we have discussed in this section. This is the century. If an analysis of internal migration were inte- subject of the following section. grated into this historical perspective, there might also be some surprising results. From the above, it can be concluded that both in historical terms and in con- 20.4 Social Imaginaries around trasting internal-versus-external migration, greater cau- Immigration –The Absence of tion should be used when concluding that we are liv- Recognition of Interdependence ing in an ‘age of migrations’, which is often assumed to be a synonym for international migrations. Very In a context of anti-immigrant hostility, one of the probably the most noteworthy aspect of this period is challenges facing academic research and social organ- the increase in controls by the developed countries, izations is how to respond to it, both in terms of con- particularly the United States and the European Un- tent and in the cultural forms and means used. This ion, to avoid the entry of people seen as racially dif- section examines some of the arguments with which ferent coming from the countries of Latin America, an attempt is made to respond to anti-immigrant hos- Asia, and Africa. tility. A first argument is the ‘numbers game,’ where it The Costa Rican case demonstrates some similari- is often suggested that if the number of immigrants ties to what has been noted in international terms. drops, the hostility will decrease as well. A second While the 1927 census, for example, reported 6.2 per repertoire is instrumental: we must accept the immi- cent foreign population, the 2011 census reported 8.9 grants given that they undertake work the local popu- per cent, which means a slight increase in share of 2.7 lation does not do. A third way of responding, com- per cent in 84 years. As was noted above, the increase mon among the critical social sciences, is to assume of the Nicaraguan share between 2000 and 2011 was that the hostility is a product of unfounded images 0.9 per cent, much less than in the period 1984–2000, about the relationship between the presence of immi- when the increase was 4.1 per cent. In other words, al- grants and insecurity or lack of facilities in the institu- though the local population is falling in Costa Rica, tions. A fourth way of responding refers to the appli- Nicaraguan immigrants are not showing a pro- cation of values such as hospitality and solidarity to nounced increase. Nonetheless, the hostility appears try and transcend the hostility and exclusion associ- not to be decreasing substantially. In this regard, one ated with migratory legislation. of the pending challenges for public social science is The “numbers game” (Hall 1981) is usually used how to undertake and communicate a critical reading from conservative positions, not so much to refute the of the demographic trends with non-specialized audi- hostility as to justify it. Thus the main thesis is that if ences. there weren’t ‘so many migrants’ there would be no Instrumental responses, which stress that Nicara- hostility. That makes the immigrants responsible for guan men and women take jobs that the local popula- their own discrimination. Ghassan Hage (1998: 92) tion does not want (Sandoval 2004), are usually the notes something for the case of Australia that could most frequent and advocate tolerance. This vision is also be said in the Costa Rican case: when it is consid- based on the premise that crucial economic activities, ered that there are ‘many immigrants’, it “repre- such as export agriculture (pineapples, oranges, mel- sents…the possibility of becoming beyond control and ons, bananas, and coffee, for example), as well as con- 358 Carlos Sandoval-García struction or paid domestic work, depend on the Nic- raguan women experience inequalities and misrecog- araguan labour force, and so they must be tolerated. nition in Costa Rica is not a publicly recognized issue. A shortcoming of this concept of tolerance, however, For instance, their employers do not affiliate them to is that those who supposedly propose it retain the the CCSS (it is estimated that only 10 per cent of the right to decide who they exercise their tolerance on; total paid domestic workers are registered in the they do not lose the power that allows them to be tol- CCSS), and so they will not have a chance to obtain erant. As Hage (1998: 85–86) notes, “When those who health provision and/or a pension. are intolerant are asked to be tolerant, their power to Despite the fact that most of migrants are not of be tolerant is not taken away from them. ... the advo- an age at which they require frequent visits to clinics, cacy of tolerance left people empowered to be intol- ‘common sense’ hostility in Costa Rica makes sense erant”. of the decline in public services (including health) as Recognition of the interdependence between the a consequence of the demand from migrants. The receiving society and the migrants could be a step for- ‘Nicaraguan other’ is deeply embedded in jokes, ward from a temporary self-interested ‘tolerance’. emails, interpersonal conversations, blogs, and enter- Nonetheless, Costa Rican society is far from being in tainment programmes. The principal consequence of a condition to recognize how much it depends on this conversion is probably that xenophobia and rac- those it does not accept. The recognition of interde- ism have been turned into ‘common sense’ and few pendence is, in de Sousa Santos’ terms, a structuring respond to it from a critical perspective in daily life. gap in the Migration Law. In other words, that which These mythologies are not justified by the empiri- is not there tends to shape the part that is. In this re- cal evidence and instead respond to prejudices that re- gard, the migratory legislation expresses values rooted search could reveal. For example, the evidence con- in the social imaginary, such that trying to change it is firms that there is no causal relationship between the not merely a legal issue, although that dimension is increase in certain forms of criminality and the mi- very important, but relates to a plane that is more ide- grant population. The percentage of incarcerated Nic- ological. araguan men is close to the total percentage of Nica- The absence of the notion of interdependence raguans in the country. The analysis of the association also refers to the underdevelopment of the possible usually established between the decline in public serv- narrative or genres from which to represent interde- ices and the immigrant population has been refuted pendence. It is symptomatic that in Costa Rica, de- based on the consideration that this decline forms spite the frequency of references to immigration, only part of the reduction of public investment, a typical two novels have been published on this theme (Mar- neo-liberal policy that has been in place for nearly cenaro 2007; Paniagua 2010), even though novels are three decades (Sandoval 2004). possibly the cultural form that best reveals the social In this context, nationalist imaginaries seem to be reality of a period (Bakhtin 1981; Williams 1977; Mora replacing social ones as the main reference for elabo- 2000). Nor is there major participation in the public rating an understanding of institutional changes and debate about immigration by the first generation of social relations. In this context, two tasks are particu- the children of immigrants. They should be among larly difficult. One is how to present to non-special- those best prepared to be aware of the centrality of in- ized audiences how this nationalization of politics terdependence. influences the way in which Costa Ricans in a more In a context in which the ratio of paid jobs under- vulnerable situation perceive Nicaraguans as the ones taken by women is higher than the proportion of re- who are taking away their jobs, services, and rights. productive work done by men at home, a good The second difficulty is that identification with im- number of Costa Rican women recognize that with- ages of a ‘nation threatened’ by immigrants is charac- out the paid domestic work frequently done by Nica- terized by a strong subjective component while expla- raguan women, their participation in the job market nations rooted in ‘hard data’ don’t usually approximate would be impossible. In a certain way, paid domestic the most emotive forms of ascription. Perspectives in- work done by Nicaraguan women has made gender terested in subjectivity, common to psychoanalysis, inequalities less explicit in Costa Rican society. How- deal with hostility as a ‘projective identification’ that ever, such recognition does not translate into publicly condenses around those who are considered ‘others’ shared narratives that can frame social imaginaries the sense of fragility that individuals experience in the and policy-making on immigration in terms of interde- external world (see Rustin 2001; Clarke 2003; Totton pendence. In such a context, the ways in which Nica- 2006). Unfortunately, at least in the case of Costa Public Social Science at Work: Contesting Hostility Towards Nicaraguan Migrants in Costa Rica 359 Rica, these forms of understanding hostility and xen- situated in Costa Rica’s capital. As Mark Goodale ophobia have been more used as an interpretive re- (2007: 21) points out: “...many of the most important source than to guide public intervention strategy. For actors whose encounters with human rights discourse example, we have no experience in translating this no- contribute to its transnationalism never physically tion of ‘identificatory projection’ into public discus- leave their villages or towns, or countries”. Unfortu- sion in daily life. The absence of debate about the pre- nately, the image these communities have in the pub- eminence of nationalism as collective identification lic sphere is of criminalized places. Figuring out how and the limited public reflection about the subjective to legitimize a place for its cosmopolitanism-from-be- dimension leave space for legitimating the right wing. low in public speeches is a challenge that may possibly The 2010 election campaign had as one of its variants require putting it to music, or into literary and audio- the consolidation of a kind of authoritarian populism visual fiction. For the time being, these are largely (Hall 1979), in which the Right, which is never named tasks that have been postponed by those working in as such, promised zero tolerance and maximum pun- universities, NGOs, churches, etc. ishments for those who committed crimes, rather Recognition of how solidarity and hospitality than emphasizing the opening up of markets – the lat- emerge from daily life could be a priority for intellec- ter being a promise that would be unfashionable in tual perspectives that prioritize deconstruction, but, the context of the economic crisis. The framing of the as Jonathan Rutherford (2007: 19) notes, “lacked the campaign drew on a populist repertory in which the ethical resources to generate new, more egalitarian so- icon was a semi-naked man who justified his few be- cial relationships and identities to replace those they longings as the only way to ensure that he wouldn’t be sought to undo”. A far-reaching challenge, particularly robbed (Sandoval 2010). Despite the fact that relevant in the study of the imaginaries of immigra- throughout the years 2010 and 2011 the percentage of tion, is to become more aware of how to articulate ef- homicides and the perception of insecurity have di- forts and horizons of hope. minished, the latter is still considered as the most im- portant problem of the country (Sandoval 2012b). Probably the most important consequence of the 20.5 Seeking Cosmopolitanism-from- legitimization of populist authoritarianism is that it below became the frame around which the political parties organized their campaigns. The Right ended up pre- The cosmopolitan is usually conceptualized as a citi- senting itself as in the centre of the political spectrum. zen of the world (Tomlinson 1999). Although the The centre-left opposition either didn’t try or failed to term is often used as an alternative to the narrow introduce another vocabulary and other imaginaries sense of national or provincial belonging, it has also (Sandoval 2010). been noted that it is mainly framed as a “[Male] A fourth way of addressing xenophobia is rather white/First World take on things” (Massey quoted by more practical and based on communal experiences, Tomlinson 1999: 187). As Jonathan Friedman (1997: especially in impoverished neighbourhoods where 81; quoted by Morley 2000: 239) asks, “who can af- canteens, health clinics, and educational facilities ford a cosmopolitan identity?”. Nonetheless, there are emerge from the links between churches, NGOs, and also “cosmopolitans in spite of themselves” who forge communities. Most of these initiatives began as a con- what might be termed “mundane cosmopolitanism” sequence of cooperative links growing out of the expe- (Hebdige quoted by Morley 2000: 174). Close to the rience of exclusion and the attempt to create institu- latter, cosmopolitanism from below aims to envision tional facilities that help forge a sense of community. In ways of being which emerge from the experiences of fact, impoverished communities where Nicaraguans displacement and forced migration. Cosmopolitanism and Costa Ricans live together do not exhibit a nation- from below emerges from those who do not perceive based divide. Many families in these communities are themselves mainly through narratives of belonging, mixed, and nationality is not an issue in itself. but who are searching for new ways of being. People Despite the conflicts, rivalries, and contradictions living in ‘glocal’ impoverished communities are learn- present in the community projects, a social fabric of ing how to share even when they hold few material re- cosmopolitanism from below is given form around sources and are often criminalized. the eating establishments, clinics, and schools. These The analysis of legislation and media imaginaries are the cases of binational communities such as La would unquestionably remain incomplete if the expe- Carpio, Barrio Nuevo, or El Triángulo de Solidaridad, riences of the migrant community were not simultane- 360 Carlos Sandoval-García ously explored. This experience is often the object of litical’, is nevertheless so. And what is more important external discourses, but is seldom recognized as the is that, without this grounded political culture, efforts subject of its own enunciation. at a national scale cannot go beyond the expression of ‘Giving voice to those who have no voice’, as it the critical middle classes. In the terms of de Sousa was phrased in Latin America thanks particularly to Santos, collective memory emerges as a way of trans- the vitality of Liberation Theology, is being trans- lating experience into narratives that are to be shared formed into the need to listen to these ‘others’, who within the local communities. This process of transla- have always had a voice but are not recognized as tion seems to require cultural forms (music and videos equals. Life stories and other tools of ethnography, among others resources) through which new genera- for example, are indispensable to inscribe part of the tions would probably be able to reflect creatively on life experiences of the millions of men and women their lived experience. forced to leave their countries in search of opportuni- As well as this, more explicit political work, for in- ties. Community work is easily regarded as ‘asisten- stance campaigning for a reform of immigration legis- cialismo’ (a paternalist, dependency-producing hand- lation, needs to be grounded in the local communi- out approach), unable to transcend immediate needs. ties. In her critique of the dichotomy between anti- Sometimes it is suggested that what is required is racist work, which used to take place more locally, more political-oriented work. It has meant a certain and the anti-globalization initiatives that do not main- division of work among those who undertake commu- tain strong links with those displaced by the global nity work and those who have more mainstream polit- forces of capitalism, Alana Lentin (2004: 298) notes: ical priorities. This identification of a local focus with For these writers, the displacement of the localized asistencialismo, contrasted to what we could call refers to the effort to connect local and global which ‘public as political’, has been a damaging dichotomy. seeks a common project of intellectual and activist While the community work could be driven by asist- resistance against consolidated transnational counter- encialismo it also can be an opportunity for those ex- force: globalization. Nevertheless, their failure to con- cluded to forge a grounded political culture. front the immediacy of the extremely localized difficul- The construction of collective memory growing ties faced by the ‘migrant’ – conceptualized as a symbol or a movement rather than as an individual – and the up around community struggles and efforts is an es- negotiations which must take place at the level of the sential task in terms of political culture. Elizabeth Jelin locality in the interests of survival is indicative of the fail- (2002: 2) suggests that memories are subjective proc- ure of anti-racism to be fully included in the new politics esses, anchored in experiences and in symbolic and they describe. material frameworks, and are objects of dispute, con- So, most of the time the everyday efforts made in lo- flict, and struggle. Thus they change over time and cal communities are not perceived by mainstream au- with that the sense of the past varies. “There is an ac- diences as ‘politics’. A major challenge ahead is how tive political struggle around the sense of what oc- to build links between communities through the rec- curred, but also about the sense of memory itself” (Je- ognition that sharing experiences would prompt the lin 2002: 6), she argues. Memory as socio-historical creation of a variety of networks. Currently, local construction is a referent for the construction of col- communities know little of similar efforts in other lective subjectivities and identities. “Identities and communities located not far away. On the other hand, memories are not things we think about, but things proposals to build networks are conceived at national we think with” (Gillis 1994, quoted in Jelin 2002: 25). or regional levels and usually are implemented with lit- As Richard Johnson and his colleagues (2004: 264– tle reference to local communities. A common conse- 265) also point out, we can only know what we are quence is the disposition to ‘speak on behalf of mi- thinking and feeling when we express it to others, giv- grants’ even though migrant communities scarcely ing it a defined cultural form. That is to say, the lived know of the organizations that supposedly represent experience has to be turned into narrative to be com- their interests. municated. This issue of ‘who speaks on behalf of whom’ in- Collective memory – being able to articulate strug- troduces the issue of representation. Most of the rep- gles, efforts, community initiatives – is a precondition ertoires intended to contest xenophobia discussed for the constitution of political subjects, who are of- above are part of initiatives undertaken by institutions ten effaced by the clientelism of traditional political – NGOs, churches, and UN projects, among others – parties and are not considered as peers by the Left. that have weak links with local communities. The few Thus community work, without being named as ‘po- existing organizations of migrants themselves are tiny Public Social Science at Work: Contesting Hostility Towards Nicaraguan Migrants in Costa Rica 361 and are characterized by mutual recriminations. It tive citizenship” (in contrast to formal citizenship, ac- seems that the hostility against migrants and the polit- cording to which people are seen as having an irregu- ical polarization of Nicaraguan society has diminished lar status or are residents, etc.) – initiatives through the possibilities of collective action. Additionally, po- which people can participate in their barrios, making litical parties in Nicaragua do not recognize emigra- use of public spaces, as well as participating in politi- tion as a challenge for their own agendas and, except cal actions on a broader scale. in electoral periods, ignore their co-nationals in Costa Cosmopolitanism from below seems to be essen- Rica. What seem to matter are remittances, not those tial to any larger project of politics, in terms of envi- who produce value. sioning ways of work, content, and form. Cultural The possibility of larger migrant organizations forms through which contestation can take place have able to produce their own ways of demanding recog- so far been barely discussed. The capacity to identify nition and distribution in different forums (Fraser cultural forms that can appeal to people to recognize 2008) seems to depend on the recognition that any what Costa Rica’s most vulnerable groups have in collective action project has to be grounded in the common with the migrant community is a key politi- communities. Rather than a fixed agenda and rigid cal challenge. The possibility of accomplishing this de- ways of working, collective efforts have to be strate- pends, again, on a close relationship with the local gic, based on limits and potentialities. Again, transla- communities. tion, rather than a sort of master plan, seems to be the key. However, translation implies actors who are able to be present at different scales. The intellectual 20.6 Conclusions division of work between community work and na- tional or international advocacy is without reservation For the research team that has been involved in stud- an impediment for translating agendas and the trian- ying Nicaraguan migrants in Costa Rica, various chal- gulation of efforts. In other words, the challenge not lenges have come up in the attempt to intervene in only refers to ideas or proposals but also to the ‘situ- policy formulation, the critique of imaginaries, and atedness’ of academic, social, and political actors. Mi- community work. The first one refers to the ethical di- grant communities are impoverished and share a vast mension, and relates to the responsibility that follows number of limitations, but at the same time they are from listening. In other words, listening does not just vital to a number of key economic activities. In inter- involve attentively following what the migrants are viewing women who work in the pineapple industry – saying, but it also involves raising questions about the Costa Rica is the leading world exporter – they re- ways in which what was said could be translated to de- counted how they stopped a pineapple processing cision-makers. Here there seems to be an important plant because they did not receive a minimum wage. challenge for the social sciences, since needs assess- Instead their income was based on the amount of ments are frequent, and most often agree in their fruit selected, and they received very little money if main conclusions, but there is usually no great willing- the number of fruits selected for export declined. So ness to follow up on the demands that are identified. they wrote a letter to justify their refusal to continue A second challenge consists of the possibilities of working. The managers agreed to change the payment creating work teams in which colleagues with differ- scheme (Sandoval/Brenes/Paniagua 2012). Such expe- ent backgrounds can contribute to the research work riences have to be channelled into a long-term effort and the ways in which the main findings can influence of constituting political subjects, and social science re- public policies, but also to the political work in a search can contribute to this. broader sense. The demands posed by the communi- The key may reside in the articulation of efforts ties recall the tensions that arise from the relations be- and mobilizations rather than in mutual disqualifica- tween those social science perspectives most centred tion. One step in the linking work may consist of fa- on analytical or comprehensive perspectives and those cilitating possibilities for political formation in com- most interested in normative perspectives. Such ten- munities, so that those who participate in community sions become more alive when what they are dealing initiatives may also acquire competencies to partici- with is not so much reproducing the analytical/nor- pate in national or regional networks. In other words, mative distinction, but linking and articulating find- independent of the migratory condition, pedagogical ings and policy-making (or politics) based on concrete processes need to be facilitated that strengthen what situations and cases. Davis, Martínez, and Warner (2010: 87) call “substan- 362 Carlos Sandoval-García A third challenge refers to the possibilities that accumulation of capacities indispensable to future ef- one can advocate public policy formulation based on forts to legitimate new demands. The translation of research. It is not hard to recognize that there is often international law and constitutional law into the anal- mutual resistance between policy formulators and ysis of migration legislation can be mentioned as a those of us who do academic research, above all at case in point. Similarly, ways can be recounted in times like today, when policies maintain an accentu- which social science can call into question public pol- ated orientation in general neo-liberal terms and aca- icies that used to be taken for granted. A last example demic research defends critical analysis. Nonetheless, might be the challenge of articulating community based on the work experience around the Migration projects which give material support to impoverished Law and its regulations, it is worth insisting that advo- communities often inhabited by migrants, and politi- cacy must not be discarded. Although the results are cal education through which those who join the initi- limited, it is even more limiting to assume that the so- atives can recognize the sources of their everyday mis- cial sciences only consist of critically assessing the fortunes. country’s development style without attempting to A fourth challenge, incipient in the experiences use the knowledge gained to influence the course it is narrated here, refers to the ways migrants themselves taking. While it is possible to intervene in the course can join with the institutions in advocacy work so that of processes, it involves recognizing that those possi- the formulation of demands does not fall exclusively bilities are limited in certain topics and institutional to those who work in universities, NGOs, churches, contexts and are greater in others. It is also important and other institutions. 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Williams, Raymond, 1977: Marxism and Literature (Oxford: Sandoval, Carlos; Brenes, Mónica; Masís, Karen; Paniagua, Oxford University Press). Laura, 2010: Un país fragmentado. La Carpio: Cultura, Open Access. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. Part VII Conclusion Chapter 21 ‘Women in Motion’ in a World of Nation- States, Market Forces, and Gender Power Relations Des Gasper and Thanh-Dam Truong 21 ‘Women in Motion’ in a World of Nation-States, Market Forces, and Gender Power Relations Des Gasper and Thanh-Dam Truong Abstract This chapter provides concluding reflections from a set of nineteen case studies of transnational and intra- national migration and mobility. It contrasts the ‘sedentary bias’ present in policy regimes and associated thought centred on nation-states, where movement is seen as exceptional, including normatively exceptional, with the centrality of movement in the processes of socio-economic change and evolution, particularly those promoted under capitalist systems of economic organization. While market capitalist and nation-state principles of organization differ, they combine in hybrid systems, such as those currently being elaborated in policy regimes for temporary migrant workers, to exploit migrant labour. Many of these arrangements mirror the indentured labour regimes of earlier eras. The chapter presents by contrast a perspective based on principles of human rights and human security that uses a global framework both for understanding and for evaluation and then adds an explicit gender-aware enrichment of that perspective, in order to do justice to the special vulner- abilities and exploitation of women’s migrant labour. A human security perspective, in particular, helps to base concern for human rights in an awareness of bodily and emotional needs, of global interconnections, and of the intersecting circumstances in people’s everyday lives; but it requires, and lends itself to, gender-enrichment through partnership with insights from feminist theory, as illustrated in the book’s various case studies. The sys- tems of the nation-state, market capitalism, and gender power that are discussed in this chapter, that structure the experiences of migrant women workers, are very deeply established. The chapter suggests directions for possible re-cognition, to reduce and counter the invisibility and misframing of migration, and of women and their work; it also suggests priority areas for research and networking following the format employed for the book: linking researchers, policy practitioners and migrant advocates, South-South-North. Keywords: Women’s migration, human security, human rights. migration regimes, globalization, women’s labour, intersectionality. 21.1 Themes ment. ‘People on the move’ was the title of the chap- ter on migration in the report Human Security Now This book reflects the great scale and reach of con- (CHS 2003). As counterpart to that phrase we take in- temporary migration and its far-reaching impacts, no- stead ‘women in motion’ (Oishi 2005) for the title of tably the frequently problematic outcomes in terms of this concluding chapter, since ‘women on the move’ quality of life and well-being for many of the more vul- has become mostly used as a catchphrase for upward nerable migrants, especially women. Mobility is a nor- professional mobility, which does not fit the cases ad- mal and necessary component in the processes of eco- dressed in this book. nomic, social and personal development and Contemporary migration is structured, secondly, evolution, and of learning and cultural enrichment by the pull of market power and by largely capital-cen- (section 21.2). Yet in a world structured around, tred policy calculation (section 21.3). Nowadays minis- firstly, a nation-state system and nationalist principles tries of finance and economic affairs often dominate of identity, mobility – at least the mobility of poor migration policy, not ministries of social welfare or la- people – is treated as not normal, and it is assumed bour. Within these market processes, women’s labour that migrants do not have to receive normal treat- is especially in demand. The principles of the capital- T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 367 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_21, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 368 Des Gasper and Thanh-Dam Truong ist market are fundamentally different from those of discourse and even in much research on migration. the nation-state.1 The former is not only open to mi- Women’s work, whether in formal or informal work- gration but actively generates it, and current migra- places or in homes, whether in labour-importing coun- tion is in part a response to greatly increased global tries or labour-exporting countries, remains to a large and intra-national inequality.2 But the two sets of prin- extent ‘invisible’ (section 21.7). Thus, in addition to ciples are widely combined in hybrid policy regimes the structuring roles of legal and policy regimes and which seek to maximize profit while minimizing per- of market forces, structures of gender power are also ceived costs to national identity in richer states. These at play in the huge growth of exploitation of migrant hybrid regimes draw on migrant labour while mini- women’s labour, as we outlined in the Introduction. mizing the rights granted (sections 21.4–21.6). Nowadays, women may even constitute the major- Thirdly, central to the investigations in this book, ity of international migrants, given the scale of de- a remarkably high proportion of migrant labour is mand for their labour in most sectors, reflecting their now women’s labour. Around eighty per cent of Indo- perceived greater docility because of family commit- nesia’s international labour migrants, for example, are ments,3 and especially the demand for their services women (Sukamdi 2008); a similar percentage among as care workers, maids, and providers of sexual serv- Burmese workers in factories in Thailand is reported ices (for pleasure, intimacy and emotional wellbeing in various studies (Pearson/Kusakabe 2012: 78). Yet as well as for biological reproduction). These last this feature is still relatively little considered in policy three roles and more are combined in the case of ar- ranged foreign brides, as illustrated in chapter 5. Enormous numbers of women from low-income 1 This essay adopts the usage ‘nation-state’ rather than countries, and especially from South and South-East ‘nation state’. Historically such terms were originally Asia, now play such roles in richer countries. Many used to help differentiate between types of state: com- chapters in this book address a new global class of pared to a city state or empire a nation state was a “sov- women, who form one of the largest groups of inter- ereign state of which most of the citizens or subjects are united also by factors which define a nation, such as lan- national migrant workers and yet whose labour is not guage or common descent” (Oxford Dictionary of Eng- recognized as ‘real’ ‘work’ by domestic laws and mi- lish 2010). However, in the literatures of political gration regimes, and who thus work with little protec- science new layers of meaning emerged. In the realist tradition of international relations, the terms nation and state have often come to be used interchangeably. Some 2 Economic calculation is, however, never more than part lines of work have explored the meaning of this coinci- of the causes of migration. Goldin, Cameron, Balarajan dence, its fusion of belonging and governance. In the (2011) note that the US mainland has three times the nation-state an apparatus of governance ( ‘the state’) has average income and a quarter of the unemployment of fused with the society it governs, so that the unit of gov- the American territory of Puerto Rico, whose residents ernance is asserted to be also in important respects an have the right to emigrate to the mainland – yet the integrated community and body politic: an identity-area large majority choose not to (p. 100). Worldwide, eco- and not only a governance-area. Use of only a few terms nomic analysis alone cannot explain why still relatively is inevitably imperfect for describing the many situa- few people try to migrate, why emigrants are concen- tions possible. In English, ‘state’ is ambiguous: it some- trated among particular social groups and localities, and times refers to a country and sometimes to its state why even chronically ageing Japan holds out against offi- apparatus, because of the history of partial fusion. cial in-migration. The relevant costs excluded by the ‘Nation’ too is ambiguous: it sometimes refers to a economic analyses include costs of meaning and iden- country but also has strong connotations of cultural tity too; thus Goldin, Cameron and Balarajan (2011), community. However, the term ‘nation’ does not now using economists’ highly restricted notion of welfare imply necessarily a relatively full cultural or ethnic unity; admit that their accounting is purely in ‘economic and any significant degree of shared identity is sufficient, welfare’ terms (p. 269.) and is typically achieved (despite considerable internal 3 Of the Burmese women in Thailand interviewed for heterogeneity) in important part through distinguishing chapter 4, three-quarters ‘related that they had migrated a ‘We’ as against a ‘They’. The disadvantage of the term out of a sense of duty to their parents’ (Pearson/Kusak- ‘nation state’ then is to convey a too simple picture. The abe 2012: 58), and many supported younger siblings. hybrid term ‘nation-state’ is intended here to better sug- They continue their remittances home much longer gest, by its evident artificiality, the social construction of than their male counterparts, including after marriage a system of governance which includes both a notion of (ch. 3). Yet having gone to Thailand to support their civic belonging and citizenship and a culture of national families in Burma, many gradually lose their place and feeling and identity, the latter based on (in Benedict social base in Burma but remain rejected outsiders in Anderson’s term) an ‘imagined community’. Thailand and never achieve much security (chs 6, 7). ‘Women in Motion’ in a World of Nation-States, Market Forces, and Gender Power Relations 369 tion and who are disproportionately subject to abuse. flects his own family history and personal trajectory, In recent times both India and Indonesia, for exam- as a progressive émigré South African of East Euro- ple, have been led in some cases to stop their citizens pean Jewish background. But the perspective remains taking up contracts abroad as domestic servants until the abstracted generalized gaze typical of an econo- conditions were improved (see, for example, TIP 2010 mist. Women migrants receive very little specific men- on one Indonesian proscription on moving to such tion. Only two-thirds of the way through the book – work in Kuwait). But, as observed by Irianto and and two-thirds of the way through a fifty-page chapter Truong in chapter 2, of the 109 articles in Indonesia‘s on the impacts of migration focusing overwhelmingly 2004 law on the placement and protection of migrant on measured economic impacts – do women migrants workers abroad, only eight cover protection. Women at last specifically appear, in one brief mention that are disproportionately affected too by the care bur- they are the most absolutely and relatively disadvan- dens that remain in the country of origin when men taged participants in labour markets compared to the or women leave to work in another country. Largely native workers (p. 194). The treatment of the social similar issues arise in much intra-national migration costs of outmigration more broadly remains remarka- too. bly brief and superficial (e.g. p. 193). In these respects The phrase ‘feminization of migration’ has be- the book is typical of many treatments of migration, come popular to refer to women’s increasing statisti- which underrate the various aspects of societal repro- cal share in various migration streams (internal, duction, including the biological, familial, emotional, South–North, South–South). Studies in this book psychological, and cultural. show the importance of the qualitative dimensions, in The present book has in contrast explored the life- addition to headcounts: how migration practices bear worlds of migrants, especially migrant women, the im- distinct gendered values, norms and characteristics, pacts on migrants’ security and insecurity of the sys- the gender-differentiated treatment of migrants, and tems of nation-state membership and exclusion and of gendered modes of migration and means of migrant global market power, and how migrants seek to cope livelihood. That migration’s patterns and effects are and respond. This concluding chapter reviews and re- strongly gendered should be no surprise: gender is flects on themes arising from these studies, from a not a peripheral decorative feature in social life but a workshop on the draft volume held in Trivandrum in core dimension. Formal migration research has how- February 2013, and from wider literatures.4 It does not ever been dominated by behaviouralist approaches attempt a summary, which has already been offered in that are preoccupied with surface phenomena and chapter 1. Instead it essays an interpretation and com- that try to build generalized models about, for exam- mentary with reference to key issues, of which some ple, when people move and the impacts on economic are specific to women migrants and others common production (for further discussion, see Truong/ to all migration or all international migration. Part of Gasper 2011a, and chapter 1 in this volume). The spec- our analysis will locate migrant women’s problems tacular rise in officially measured international remit- within the context of market-dominated development tances, from an estimated US$31 bn. in 1990 to transformations and nation-state systems (sections US$316 bn. in 2009, has understandably attracted at- 21.2–21.6); and part will highlight the specific and ad- tention. What migrants – especially migrant women – ditional difficulties that millions of migrant women experience and think has been a lower research prior- face, and the shifts of cognition and representation ity, so that many of the realities of social life have that are needed to acknowledge and respond to these, stayed relatively neglected. Yet according to studies re- as well as sister shifts needed to respond to the struc- viewed in one recent survey of global migration (Gol- tural forces that affect all migrants (sections 21.7– din/Cameron/Balarajan 2011: 10–12), these new reali- 21.9). Since the opening chapter has theorized gender ties include accelerated innovation, including innova- dimensions in some depth, this closing chapter pays tion in identities (not least via the movement of brides). considerable attention to the latter forces too. It seeks Even Goldin, Cameron and Balarajan’s prominent to identify causal structures and also their social con- survey still in many ways reflects the slight and unbal- struction, and thus to indicate some spaces for reform anced attention typically given to migrant experience. efforts. The lead author, Ian Goldin, earlier a vice-president of the World Bank, heads the Oxford Martin School of futures studies at Oxford University, and evinces 4 Our thanks go to all the workshop participants, not throughout the book a sympathy for migrants that re- least Indu Agnihotri, Ruth Pearson, and Anita Shah, for helpful and thought-provoking contributions. 370 Des Gasper and Thanh-Dam Truong 21.2 Migration is Major and Normal bias’ (Castles 2009): movement from the location but is Treated as Exceptional and where one was born is presumed to be abnormal, in Ethically Aberrant the normative sense too, and especially when we speak of ‘location’ in terms of the scale of nation- The 2010 World Migration Report reported 214 mil- states. Thus migration studies are not treated as a nec- lion people now living outside their country of birth. essary dimension of all social studies but as a minor Sometimes it is observed that this constitutes only specialism. Moving between locations, and certainly three per cent of the world’s population, a modest moving between nation-states, is often presumed to share that is little or no higher than twenty or a hun- arise from some failing, inadequacy, or sickness in the dred years ago. However, the figure is misleading in outmigration location’s economy or body politic. In, several respects, quite apart from the question of the for example, the leading American philosopher John possible and increasing exclusion of many irregular Rawls’s treatise The Law of Peoples, international out- migrants from the statistics. It does not include chil- migration is taken as proof that the country of ori- dren who have not themselves emigrated but have gin’s government has failed in its duties (see likewise been born in a different country from where their par- the work of Rawls’s prominent pupil Thomas Nagel ents were born and grew up, or have been left behind [2005]). International migration, in contrast to trade and separated from one or both parents who have or short-term travel, is thereby in this view excluded emigrated. And it does not include other persons who from the sphere of matters that governments are mor- are also strongly involved: the other family members ally obligated to regulate amongst themselves by mu- and (former) close associates of the emigrants in their tual agreement; instead, each government can regu- country of origin; people who have moved earlier in late it as it sees fit. Such a perspective matches the their lives but have returned to their country of origin; conflation of migration with pathologies of crime and people who are preparing to emigrate; and others drug smuggling that has arisen in some ‘homeland se- who are strongly affected by emigration, whether in curity’-type thinking. Young people’s migration for the countries of origin or destination or en route. If work is likewise often presented as overwhelmingly we include these groups we talk of a figure several due to the machinations of traffickers. Huijsmans has times larger. Beyond this, and much more than in ear- analysed the prevailing narratives concerning the lier eras, the ‘transnational’ character of much movements of young women from Laos to Thailand present-day movement – that so many people retain (Huijsmans 2011; and chapter 19 in this volume). strong connections with a land (or lands) of personal Movement supposedly destroys an idyll of childhood or family origin, through more frequent visits and and/or rural residence; and young women are pre- communication, cultural exchange and identification, sented as forced to move in order to compensate for strong family links, and even recurrent switches of their drunken fathers’ failure to earn. Huijsmans re- place of residence – has profound implications (see, ports that the young Lao people he studied, not least for example, Truong/Gasper 2008b, 2011b). the girls and young women, often in fact seek to mi- The numbers of intra-national migrants are several grate at an early age as a prestige-raising step towards times higher: estimated at over 300 million in India becoming an adult, and that they cope competently alone, including a large majority of women migrants with the challenges. (whose primary recorded reason for migration is mar- Movement by women is particularly prone to be riage). Most of the themes that arise in the discussion represented as abnormal. Processes of nation forma- of international migration – of the economic impacts tion have often included the strengthening of an im- of remittances and of absences and returns, of the po- age of women as symbols of family, domesticity, litical and psychological impacts of cultural change motherhood, and tradition, as counter-poles to West- and interchange, of social strains and endangered so- ernization, and as requiring male protection (Chatter- cial cohesion, of changed gender roles, of the emer- jee 1993). Migrant women’s lives expose and challenge gence of new identities different from those prior to these hegemonic norms; women who move are then the move, and more – often apply almost equally in in- liable to be treated either as trafficked or as perverted ternal migration. The existential gap between and hence as having forfeited their rights (Kapur Jharkhand and Delhi may well be bigger than that be- 2010). tween Delhi and Dallas or Dubai. Movement is a normal part of life and adaptation, In contrast to the scale of movements, much social as we can see from all human history, implied the science and policy has been marked by ‘sedentary World Migration Report 2008; though it was too cau- ‘Women in Motion’ in a World of Nation-States, Market Forces, and Gender Power Relations 371 tious to say so openly, and so presented this position that had been typically assumed in the social sciences as just one possible perspective (IOM 2008; Campillo- since their origins and codification in the eighteenth Carrete/Gasper 2011). Goldin, Cameron and Balara- and nineteenth centuries (Wallerstein et al. 1996). The jan state the position openly, after a pointed review of assumption that the nation-state, an apparatus of rule human history. First, the human race is one. We all over a given geographical territory, also represents an stem from a core group of perhaps two thousand hu- economic and sociocultural community and exercises mans who lived in East Africa a modest 75,000 years close control in it has come to diverge too far from re- ago (Goldin/Cameron/Balarajan 2011: 12); they/we ality. The present-day scale of flows of messages, then moved, across the world. Second, ‘Migration is ideas, hopes and values, commodities and finance, of not a problem to be solved. It is an intrinsic element longer-term and permanent migrants and refugees, of international society and inextricably bound up and of short-term visitors, pathogens, weapons, and with globalization itself’ (p. 260). Yet while movement technologies, has required changes in social sciences’ is normal, borders make it seem not normal, and lead traditional choice of the boundaries of states as the to special problems for migrants, pushed and pulled main frame for organizing their attention. by the pressures in the world political economy. Rawls’s liberal justice framework uses the idea of a social contract amongst citizens. It reasons in terms 21.3 Global Interconnectedness and of individuals who are tacitly viewed as members of a Global Economic Forces nation-state, which is the frame for the social con- tract, but not as residents of the globe who exist in Methodological nationalism in social science analyses and through global webs of relationships. Extraordi- – automatically taking the nation as the appropriate narily – given its formulation within the USA, a coun- framework – is obsolete. The much discussed ‘tran- try founded on immigration – the framework excludes snational migration’ of the past generation, for exam- migrants and issues of immigration (Gasper 2011). ple, has involved the maintenance of ongoing intense What we can call its Westphalian perspective com- interactions with the area of origin, including through bines a normative nationalism – moral communities trade, movements to and fro of persons, cultural rela- are held to exist only within borders, not across them tions and exchange of ideas, and much more. It is part – with an explanatory nationalism that seeks to ex- of an increased global interconnectedness that gener- plain and allocate responsibility for events within a ates global-wide streams of ‘side effects’ that render country’s borders exclusively within those borders, as nationally-enclosed analyses outdated. This book is do Rawls and Nagel and the governments of some part of an ongoing passage from a conception of ‘in- rich countries. “[R]ich countries that energetically ex- ternational migration’ (a definition based on the na- port arms to troubled poor countries whose manufac- tion-state as a unit and actor in international relations) tured and agricultural exports they at the same time to a conception of ‘transnational migration’ (based on firmly restrict through use of tariff and non-tariff bar- the recognition of a transnational space formed by riers, while also drawing away their best educated per- the trans-boundary activities of a variety of actors, in- sonnel, yet hold the poor countries overwhelmingly cluding but not limited to the nation-state). The responsible for their failed systems of governance and former conception is associated with a primary focus thereby draw no conclusions of moral obligation for on the management of aggregate flows between coun- themselves – obligations to help constructively, to tries (population, goods, finance, skills, etc.). The lat- cease destructive exports, to open economic opportu- ter conception tries to grasp the interactions between nities, and to admit more deserving migrants” the global and local dynamics of migration, and re- (Gasper/Truong 2010a: 345–346). As global economic quires a multi-pronged approach in research, advo- forces feed into local political conflicts and dynamics, cacy, and policy advice. Debates on migration that use the categories of economic migrant and political refu- an ‘international migration’ conception often fall into gee merge in many cases, but this is denied in political a “North versus South” framework which depicts a ge- philosophies grounded on nation-states. ographical divide and a binary opposition of power Castles points out that most social science has (North) versus vulnerability (South). More fruitful for shared the sedentary bias seen in modern nation-state dealing with contemporary realities in migration is to policies. By the late twentieth century, however, we study structures, networks, and relationships that cut could no longer plausibly treat the nation as the natu- across national boundaries, including the practices ral, self-enclosed ‘society’-cum-‘economy’-cum-‘polity’ adopted by migrants and their trans-local networks, in 372 Des Gasper and Thanh-Dam Truong interaction with different state agencies, employers, ang and damage the strong too. Neglecting the educa- migration brokers, and so on. tion and care of some groups of international migrant Kaye (2010) illustrates the interconnectedness by children, within a framework of self-oriented national looking at some of the drivers of outmigration from governance, for example – as in Japan or Thailand, Senegal. Senegalese farmers are out-competed by sub- where often the children of foreign workers have had sidized foreign produce, and many Senegalese fisher- and still have no de facto right to education (chapters men have been displaced by foreign factory trawlers 4 and 17) – may eventually lead to sad and disruptive that exceed their approved catches. Eighty per cent of outcomes. So can their exclusion from health care sys- the country’s rice is now imported. European govern- tems, and the roles of social inequalities in the emer- ments see, or acknowledge, no causal connection be- gence and spread of diseases (Farmer 1996). Under- tween these economic patterns and the presence of mining of local economies and of the care of children European Union Frontex ships off the Senegal coast whose parents work abroad can lead eventually to a to block attempts at migration, sometimes in canoes, next generation of economically and psychologically across the ocean to outlying territories that belong to displaced young people whose actions will not remain Spain and Portugal (Kaye 2010: 232–235). Tandian and confined, in execution and effects, by national bound- Bergh’s chapter in this volume noted how the Spanish aries. Conflicts can spread, just like disease. government in 2008 recruited two thousand (again) In the longer run, legal exclusion but de facto ad- Senegalese ex-fishery workers on permanent con- mission of low-skilled workers creates in some coun- tracts. Kaye quotes the ambassador of Senegal to tries an undereducated marginalized underclass. It Spain – ‘I think if Spain offered employment contracts provides a supply of cheap labour, but can foster a in Senegal, it is because somewhere there is the phe- world of associated illegality and criminality – of nomenon of canoes’ – and shows us how behind the ‘black money’, bribes, and marginalized people who canoes are the factory trawler boats, the European lack qualifications – whose existence then serves in Union’s subsidies to fishers and farmers, and its de the ideological reproduction of a certain sort of sys- facto barriers to many types of processed and manu- tem of rule. It isolates a group or groups who are factured imports. deemed ‘other’ and can be viewed as dangers: ‘they’ To draw these connections has been taboo in must ‘therefore’ be ruled firmly by a tough-minded na- Northern governments and businesses; no global- tional elite. The underclass can fulfil the role of scape- wide social impact assessments of policies and pro- goat and be blamed for various social ills in a way that grammes are undertaken. Kaye adds that the huge In- removes criticism from, indeed mobilizes support for, ternational Organization for Migration (IOM) con- national elites (see chapter 20 by Sandoval-Garcia on tains negligible expertise on local development, these cultural dynamics in Costa Rica, Abella [2013] because its central function has been to shift cheap la- on attitudes to migrants in ASEAN, and De Genova bour into metropolises when it is required and back [2005]). The politics of securitization of borders in again when it is no longer wanted there. Despite various parts of the world has eroded existing protec- IOM’s name, forty per cent of its 2009 budget was tion systems and promoted xenophobic sentiments. funded by one country, the USA (Kaye 2010: 249). These have in turn encouraged ever more stringent The broader picture he presents is of how, being able practices of migration management where thinking is to rely on a huge reserve labour army – from, for ex- in terms of “flows of people” across borders rather ample, the Philippines, thanks partly to the lack of than with understanding of persons having their own land reform there (Kaye 2010: 39) – a footloose global histories, networks, and contributions. capitalism pulls people here and there, whenever con- venient to business, and whatever the formal legality. Intensified global interconnections mean that not 21.4 The Attempted Maintenance of only do the actions of the strong impose ‘externali- Nation-State Projects Through ties’ on the weak worldwide, but also that sometimes Migration Regimes of and increasingly the weak ‘talk back’, whether ‘Temporary’ and ‘Irregular’ through conscious reactions or through ramifying Workers chains of consequences, such as in the fields of envi- ronment, education, and health. Old habits of the In many respects global economic forces act in ways strong – imposing negative ‘externalities’/‘side-ef- that do not respect, and can undermine, a system cen- fects’/‘collateral damage’ on the weak – can boomer- tred on nation-states. The global system of market ‘Women in Motion’ in a World of Nation-States, Market Forces, and Gender Power Relations 373 capitalism causes calculations and decisions to be Lao migrants with an ‘irregular’ status in Thailand are made in the light of worldwide market alternatives part of a highly regulated system, regulated by the and opportunities. However, while globalist in this re- Thai state and Thai employers. Employers prefer ille- gard it is like the system centred on nation-states in gal low-skilled foreign workers, for they are cheaper, another way: it has no inherent respect for universal more vulnerable, more flexible and exploitable, and human rights; its calculations concern profitability. easier to dismiss and expel than legals. Their very ‘ir- Partnerships between the system of market power and regularity’ increases the demand for such labour. the nation-state system have emerged around the ex- Piore (1979) long ago explored this rationale in a ploitative use of migrant labour (Gasper/Truong North American context. Illegal labour has no rights 2010a). Since women’s labour too is a space for inten- and no protection; its secretly sanctioned entry brings sified exploitation, migrant women’s labour is such a no admission of the political sin of polluting the space par excellence. motherland/fatherland through an open-door intro- A ‘migration regime’ is a system of regulation of duction of aliens. Further, such workers have little or migration that covers far more than formal laws and no access to social benefits, and so, given that and written regulations. De facto systems of national and their low wages, they are obliged to have a high rate international regulation of lower-skilled migrant work- of participation in work, often relatively dangerous ers frequently allow additional value to be extracted work (Goldin/Cameron/Balarajan 2011: 206–207). from these workers through their official rejection as The intensity of this rationale has increased since the legal migrants. Huijsmans (2011; see also chapter 19), 1970s as global competition has increased (Chun for example, noted that Laos (the Lao People’s Dem- 2009; Hiemstra 2010): many employers prefer right- ocratic Republic) prohibits the recruitment of Lao less illegals, who have fewer alternatives also because workers for unskilled work in Thailand, and yet all they have less education and less access to education. participants know that this is what the largest group The employers pay little or nothing towards the full of Lao international migrant workers do. Kusakabe cost of the social reproduction of their labour force – and Pearson in chapter 4 demonstrated the impacts of including the costs of bringing up and educating chil- the migration regime for foreign women workers in dren and caring for the old and the sick. These bur- Thailand and the human costs of a blinkered ap- dens fall exclusively on the workers and their families, proach (see also Doneys 2011; Pearson/Kusakabe especially the women. But relatively neglected chil- 2012). Negative impacts are partly deliberately dis- dren may eventually disrupt this short-run market criminatory and partly unintended in countries where logic of cost minimization. economic expansion induces in-migration, particu- Both ‘temporary’ and ‘irregular’ workers are now larly to activities which citizens become unwilling to found worldwide in huge numbers and proportions. undertake, and yet where national identity is a prod- For the USA, Goldin, Cameron and Balarajan (2011) uct in the making or something that is reviving. Many cite recent estimates of twelve million irregular work- migration regimes are attempting to control a transna- ers, who have only a one to two per cent chance of tional phenomenon that is unavoidable, but are doing being caught (pp. 117–119). While border control in so while an exercise in nation-building is still going the USA has grown enormously, the “percentage of on. In such situations Mushakoji (2011) warns against undocumented migrants working on US farms and in attempts to directly enforce universal humanist values low-level service occupations and construction also in order to defend migrants, for migrant rights will rose continually” (p. 119). Kaye (2010) investigates then be reviled as imperialist imposition. He advises how this form of migration regime is constituted in instead seeking creative syntheses of humanist values particular US states, such as in Texas’s alliance be- with compatible strands in the national culture. tween business and migrant groups. Border control A migration regime extends across borders, and schemes do not achieve their objectives, and com- interfaces with and links to other such regimes, as pared to the vast gains realizable potentially for all shown by Irianto and Truong in chapter 2. Many ac- parties by well handled legitimate migration they are tors are involved in the multi-billion-dollar migration an anachronistic waste of resources, conclude Goldin, industry, in both its legal and illegal channels, includ- Cameron and Balarajan (2011: 210). A theatrical appa- ing not only recruitment agents and smugglers and ratus of border checking has been instituted – compa- traffickers of persons, but especially the employers rable to the enforcement apparatus in the era of at- and customers who benefit from the low-cost flexible tempted alcohol Prohibition in the USA – which supply of labour power and goods and services. Even prevents relatively few people from entering (except 374 Des Gasper and Thanh-Dam Truong for asylum seekers), and cannot prevent millions of Many contemporary projects to promote security overstayers. ‘The [high] regulation/[low] enforcement for citizens within labour-importing countries rest on gap in low-skilled sectors represents a political com- the insecurity of the lives of an underclass, those in promise for governments that face pressure to be temporary work and irregular work, whose labour “tough on illegal immigration”, when key sectors of power is wanted but who are not wanted as citizens. the economy depend on the low-skilled labour that Much current temporary labour, legal and illegal, is in they provide’ (Goldin/Cameron/Balarajan 2011: 252). effect indentured labour (see e.g. Pearson/Kusakabe Comparable patterns apply, mutatis mutandis, be- 2012, ch. 2, on the millions of foreign workers in Thai- tween regions within a continental-size country, India, land). The workers are tied to a single employer and where huge numbers of workers are controlled and a single location for a long period; payment is in part exploited in circuits of temporary and circulating la- only at the end of the period and subject to a series bour, as shown by Mazumdar and Agnihotri in chap- of conditions. This is the case in Canada’s seasonal ter 7 (see also Breman 2009). Internal xenophobia worker scheme described by Goldin, Cameron and against internal migrants serves as part of a similar so- Balarajan (2011: 132) that seeks to prevent long-term cial logic of creating and keeping a rightless class to entry; by contrast, a 2008 law allowed foreign gradu- provide cheap labour. An extreme example of such a ates of Canadian universities to stay and work for pattern was apartheid South Africa pre-1994, which three years, in the hope of then culling the best of even tried to turn itself from a single country into a se- them (p. 139). Similarly, Korea and Japan avoid official ries of supposedly separate nation-states, most of in-migration, and draw instead on the labour of ‘train- which would be the ‘national homes’ of the low-wage ees’ and students and overstayers (p. 131). In the Span- labourers, even if many of these had never lived in ish seasonal agricultural work scheme studied by Tan- their supposed ‘national home’. Capital was allowed dian and Bergh (chapter 3), most of the Senegalese to move freely across the new boundaries, while la- workers quickly ‘absconded’ to elsewhere in Spain to bour movements were to be strictly controlled. In seek work with better prospects, particularly work practice, irregular labour was still plentiful and – be- with a longer time horizon. cause irregular – cheap. The same pattern is seen in Historically, indentured labour paralleled and then contemporary practices in the USA and the European replaced slavery. Not only was it the format used to Union. bring South Asian and East Asian workers to the The form of legal migration now put forward by Americas, South Africa, and elsewhere after the aboli- the governments of most rich countries and the mi- tion of slavery, but before then: “of all the colonial gration management organizations that they support white immigrants [to the thirteen colonies that be- is temporary migration. In effect the model country came the USA] between 1580 and 1775, more than half in the contemporary migration order is the Philip- came as indentured servants who had agreed to pro- pines, whose economy revolves around preparing its vide several years of labor in exchange for passage, workers for recurrent temporary emigration, as rela- food, protection, and eventual landownership” (Kaye tively cheap, docile, and supposedly short-term labour 2010: 127). Nowadays, vast numbers of South Asians, to fill slots identified by rich importing countries. The South-East Asians, and Africans working in West Asia Philippines is a demonstrably inferior development are de facto indentured, but, as in many other con- model, socially and economically. As a substitute for temporary cases, they have no path for movement to the sort of land reform and other internal reforms citizenship – unlike in the American case in the seven- that sustained the economic transformation of many teenth and eighteenth centuries. of its neighbours, it recurrently exports its citizens, at considerable personal cost to them and their families and children (see e.g. chapter 12 by Marin and Que- sada).5 It is not gutted by this brain drain in the same way as a country like Malawi, where the large majority of doctors and nurses have left the country (Goldin/ 5 Philippines government induction courses to prepare Cameron/Balarajan 2011: 180), because the Philip- emigrants for international employment as domestic pines specializes in training extra staff who will then servants tell them not to expect more than five hours attempt to emigrate for at least some time. Some Fili- sleep a night, but do not tell them that the contracts pino doctors even retrain as nurses in order to more they sign in the Philippines will often be replaced by far readily gain access to the USA. more unfavourable contracts when they reach their des- tination (Marin 2013). ‘Women in Motion’ in a World of Nation-States, Market Forces, and Gender Power Relations 375 Table 21.1: Viewpoints in Global Ethics. Source: Adapted from Gasper (2005a). Viewpoints In Global Ethics Extent of Values and Responsibilities With Global Scope Extensive Modest / Slight None Very important 1. ‘Scandinavian’ 2. ‘Inter-nationalist’ (which 3. ‘International sceptic’ includes some communi- Plus some communitari- Are tarians) ans & post-modernists Intermediate 4. ‘Solidarist- plural- 5. Transnational corporations 6. Typical domestic corpo- national importance ist’ with national loyalties/ pri- ration (and regional) orities but some accepted global duties boundaries Not important 7. Full cosmopoli- 8. ‘Libertarian-minimalist’ I: 9. ‘Libertarian-minimalist’ ethically tans (‘solidarist- e.g. transnational corpora- II: globalist’) e.g. tions without national loy- 9a Business-only corporati- important ? pure utilitarians alties but with some ons accepted necessary global 9b Robber-baron businesses duties 21.5 Who Counts? National Versus ian-minimalists deny having significant responsibilities Market Versus Humanist Frames to almost any others, not only to foreigners. The formal analysis reveals more positions besides This book has explored the forms of insecurity expe- the three corner positions (3, 7, 9) that we have men- rienced by “people on the move” (CHS 2003) who tioned. ‘Scandinavian’ positions combine strong na- straddle different jurisdictions and systems of social tional feelings and strongly felt global obligations protection. The two stances we have just highlighted (#1). Position 2 is an ‘inter-nationalism’: while coun- – a nationalist stance that gives weight only to the in- tries are the primary units, held together internally as terests of citizens of one’s own nation, and a market- established communities, a community of countries is oriented stance that gives weight only to the expan- held to have emerged to some degree, for and sion of economic profit – represent two of the poles through the regulation of their interactions; and this within the political landscape. A more formal analysis inter-national community produces agreements which helps to clarify this. Table 21.1 uses two dimensions must be respected. In a solidarism-pluralism variant of for classification: 1. how far is global community – the cosmopolitanism (#4; Dower 1998), global-wide con- existence of values and responsibilities of global cerns and obligations are emphasized but with accept- scope – accepted? and 2. how important are national ance of considerable variation in values and behaviour community and national boundaries deemed to be? between settings. And towards the bottom right of the Cosmopolitan positions hold that: all humanity is the table are a range of positions held by business actors reference group in ethical discussions, some important (5, 6, 8), that represent variants around the full ‘liber- common values apply across humanity, and some re- tarian-minimalist’ category (9a, 9b). Market perspec- sponsibilities exist across all humanity. In full cosmo- tives can seek to turn almost everything into a com- politanism (#7), an extensive set of values is deemed modity, including human life, human organs, the universally appropriate and to be promoted. In con- human genome, even (in position 9b) legal rulings trast, ‘international scepticism’ (#3) holds that coun- and police services. But other market-based perspec- tries do and should pursue only their own interests. tives include a greater acknowledgement of the pru- These sceptics concerning inter-national morality are, dence and/or appropriateness of accepting certain el- however, believers in intra-national morality (unlike po- ements of obligation in relation to compatriots or sition #9b). In contrast, libertarian-minimalist positions even to all fellow humans (positions 5, 6, 8). (#9 especially) first assign no special priority to na- In the era when Europeans wanted to spread out tional boundaries: individuals and their liberties are all and trade as they wished, in China, India, and the that matter worldwide, not nations/states, which must Americas, they put forward cosmopolitan doctrines not interfere with those liberties; and second, libertar- which gave people a natural right to move in this way. 376 Des Gasper and Thanh-Dam Truong Francesco de Vitoria (1492–1546), considered by many not be relocated to low-wage countries, in particular to be the founder of international law, wrote that “[i]t many tasks in the agriculture, construction, personal was permissible from the beginning of the world, when services, and care sectors – some in legally approved everything was in common, for anyone to set forth and temporary arrangements and some in formally irregu- travel wheresoever he would.” Similar ideas appeared in the works of other great jurists of the time, including lar but tolerated shadow zones; and 3. marginalizing Hugo Grotius (1583–1645), Samuel von Pufendorf and excluding other groups, both within and outside (1634–1692), and Christian Wolff (1679–1754), who a country, as part of the ideological legitimation of argued that the state possessed a duty to allow the tran- rule by a national elite. For asylum seekers, “the three sit (and sometimes residence) of migrants (Goldin/ Ds” are deployed – the instruments of destitution, de- Cameron/Balarajan 2011: 42). tention, and deportation (Hintjens/Kumar/Puri By the late nineteenth century in Europe passports 2011). Overall, the layered system of privilege, exclu- had come to be seen as feudal relics, only still used in- sion, and deportation has thought-provoking resem- ternally by feudal states such as Russia. In 1892, the In- blances to what was pioneered by apartheid-era South stitute of International Law declared that free entry Africa, and is seen by some as a system of global was the norm and should only be curtailed for special apartheid (Hintjens/Kumar/Puri 2011; Mine 2011). As and very weighty reasons (Goldin/Cameron/Balara- with apartheid South Africa, reforming such a system jan 2011: 71). However, passports re-emerged in the requires looking in a differentiated and empathetic run-up to the First World War, and by the 1930s the way at the concerns of all parties, taking into account norm had been reversed. The Netherlands refused to their psychological as well as economic insecurities. admit Jews in the 1930s unless they could prove that A possibly enlightening parallel emerged in chap- they faced an “immediate danger to life” (p. 83). This ter 8 in this volume by Zhu and Lin on China. In this principle is now widely applied by rich countries. The subcontinental-size country, perhaps the largest migra- ranking of the liberal principles of securing individual tion flows for employment in world history have been freedom and allowing individual endeavour versus the under way during the past generation. There have nationalist principles of restricting rights and respon- been very high average income differentials between sibilities to only those people within national borders the main in-migration areas, mostly in the coastal has been inverted. Within liberal countries people provinces, and the main outmigration areas, mainly in have the right to move, and cannot be legally pre- the interior. The majority of migrants do not make a vented from entering a community by the local com- once-for-all transfer to in-migration areas. They con- munity itself, but between countries these rights have tinue moving to and fro, and/or plan to return even- disappeared (Goldin/Cameron/Balarajan 2011: 266– tually to their area of origin (if not necessarily to their 267). To a full cosmopolitan these are feudal attempts place of origin), for reasons of family loyalty, senti- to protect unjust privilege (Carens 1987); and for Gol- ment, access to land, and/or lack of access to many din et al., given their perspective that all humankind is registration-based rights and privileges in the place of a relatively new enterprise by two thousand African mi- in-migration, but also because of lack of access to sta- grants, ‘the earth is one country and all of humanity its ble urban employment. A large proportion of urban citizens’ (Goldin/Cameron/Balarajan 2011: 285). jobs are in rapidly changing sectors in which firms’ Nowadays, the global neo-liberal governance re- workloads fluctuate markedly, and lay-offs are as fre- gime is a hybrid that asserts that national boundaries quent as hirings. From their own studies of internal have high ethical status in respect of people – foreign- migrants and review of many related studies, Zhu and ers will be kept out – but have no status in respect of Lin (p. 167) recommend that “the protection of the capital: commodities and finance must flow without rights of migrants should not rely on ‘urban citizen- hindrance. This version of neo-liberalism is far from ship’, and the whole society (rather than the destina- textbook nineteenth-century liberalism and market tion cities) should bear the responsibility for protect- doctrine, and is not a pure position. It is laced with ing the rights of all citizens, including female and male rich-country chauvinism, and aims to marry the pos- migrants, no matter where they live.” sessive individualism of market thinking with the The policy in many in-migration countries is now pseudo-communalism of nationalism. Different ar- to promote regulated temporary and circular migra- rangements are then constructed for: 1. drawing on tion and to exclude the migrant ‘denizens’ from full high-skilled workers from poorer countries; 2. making rights. That stance has been defended (for example by use of but socially excluding low-cost lesser-skilled for- Gerhard Leers, the Netherlands minister for immigra- eign labour, in those labour-intensive tasks which can- tion and integration in 2010–12) on the grounds that ‘Women in Motion’ in a World of Nation-States, Market Forces, and Gender Power Relations 377 rich countries do not wish to have any second-class dividualistic than unnuanced human rights thinking, residents and ‘so’ insist on having only temporary reg- while encouraging sensitivity to subjectivities (Burgess ulated in-migrants rather than long-term irregular in- 2007; Gasper/Truong, 2005, 2010b). It strengthens migrants. A third option – permanent in-migrants who the basis for taking human rights seriously (Oberoi acquire citizenship – is very largely closed. Principles 2010). By looking at the capability of people and of reciprocity and solidarity apply amongst citizens, groups to maintain, restore, and promote their own but supposedly ‘win-win’ deals will be negotiated with security – ‘securitability’ (UNDP 2003) – it partners, non-citizens, such as redundant Senegalese fishermen and helps to set priorities within, work on ‘human de- or young Burmese women seeking to support their velopment’. Reflecting the realities of a transnational struggling families, that take advantage of their mar- and interpenetrated system, it goes beyond the West- ginalized position. In contrast, the proposal for China phalian conception of states and citizenship. ‘Non-cit- is to move to a ‘whole society’ approach with special izens are not viewed as non-persons or “outsiders”, as attention to the interests of temporary and circular they are under the state-centric system of interna- migrants, so that they accumulate rights from their tional relations, but as equal citizens in the global years of work that are later transferable elsewhere. community facing interdependent and universally rel- evant threats’ (Edwards/Ferstman 2010: 40). Overall, it offers a commodious framework that respects the 21.6 A Human Development and richness of listening-oriented fieldwork about daily liv- Human Security Perspective ing, the style of research seen in nearly all the chapters in this book, and that at the same time connects well A human development and human security approach, with themes of global interconnection. The book has as articulated by, for example, Mahbub ul Haq, insti- followed this agenda, as well as paying attention to gator of the work on Human Development Reports, the influence, in combination with other factors, of attempts to apply a global, humanist perspective both gender norms, including forms of gender blindness.6 in descriptive and explanatory work and in normative Rich countries have sought to enforce a global or- and policy work (UNDP 1990, 1994; Haq 1999). It der of open trade and capital flows, but with close uses a wide-angle lens that leads us beyond the regulation and restriction of flows of people, or to be bounds to analysis conventionally set by national fron- more exact, of poor people. Some at least amongst tiers and disciplinary divisions. At the same time it their leading decision-makers know that the full logic uses a zoom lens, to look at how particular people ac- of economic benefit from free trade applies only tually live and can live: at their opportunities that are when all factors of production can move; but they attainable and valued through reason – this is the ‘hu- have calculated that stronger actors can reap most of man development’ reconceptualization of ‘develop- their own potential benefits without (officially) allow- ment’ – and at the risks and pressures to which peo- ing poorer people to move, and they do not feel in- ple’s lives are subject within global, transdisciplinary clined to increase the dissatisfaction of some groups systems of interconnection: the ‘human security’ focus in rich countries by openly imposing upon them cul- within the ‘human development’ agenda (Brauch tural stresses from immigration in addition to the eco- 2009; Gasper 2005b, 2009, 2010; Truong/Gasper nomic stresses engendered by free trade and free 2011b; UNESCO 2008). The concept of human secu- movement of capital. Ignoring the principle of com- rity focuses on ‘critical, severe or pervasive threats to mon (shared) security, they have calculated that ghet- the vital interests of human life, livelihood or dignity, tos of frustration created in pockets such as the where the harm caused can be prevented or mitigated driven-out fishing communities of Senegal can be se- by human action’ (Lester 2010: 322). A concern with the meanings and sources of peo- ple’s security and insecurity helps us to think about 6 Whereas a significant body of work has now appeared what matters most in their lives and how they are af- that looks at migration in human security terms, the fected by the intersections of different factors – gen- national framing inherent in National Human Develop-ment Reports has meant that none of the many such der, class, race, religion, sexual identity, age, national- Reports that have explicitly investigated human security ity, chance events – that structure and affect their have taken migration as a lead theme (Gomez/Gasper/ lives, their opportunities and risks, rises and falls Mine 2013). In contrast, the Commission on Human (Leichenko/O’Brien 2008; Gasper 2013). By situating Security (CHS 2003) used a global framing and treated individuals socially, such an approach becomes less in- migration in detail in its chapter ‘People on the Move’; for an evaluation, see Oberoi (2010). 378 Des Gasper and Thanh-Dam Truong questered, or they do not even consider such conse- bour and so do not significantly reduce domestic quences and the possible knock-on effects. The prin- wages in in-migration countries (Goldin/Cameron/ ciple of common security holds instead that no Balarajan 2011: 166) but do significantly reduce the sustained security can be obtained through undermin- cost of wage-goods and services. ing the security of those with whom one interacts This sort of economic accounting is not sufficient (Lester 2010; Mushakoji 2011). for understanding the life impacts, including felt im- The social order in much of Europe and in Japan pacts and impacts not measured in money terms, for and perhaps some other countries, their human secu- both immigrants and in-migration country residents; rity in the long run, may also not be sustainable as the and consequently is not sufficient for devising and proportion of old people rises dramatically and care managing relevant, workable and just policy regimes. burdens are not absorbed by succeeding generations Widespread resistance and antipathy to immigrants is (UN Report on Replacement Migration 2001). The common: in Assam, Malaysia, South Africa, and Thai- widespread pattern of continually increasing orienta- land, for example, not only in Italy, Japan, and the tion to earn, spend, and consume; declining family Netherlands; even, as seen in this book, to Nicara- care of the absolutely and relatively increasingly nu- guans in Costa Rica, despite their major contributions merous elderly; and fewer women (let alone men) in- to the country’s agricultural exports and to freeing its terested in bearing and caring for families that are on middle-class women (and men) for paid employment. average of replacement size, let alone in caring for the National identity and the nationally specific notion of previous generations, while at the same time coping citizenship are constructed in contrast to marginalized with – or forgoing – the pressures and challenges of or excluded Others. The contemporary Indian state paid employment, might constitute in total one of sometimes demonizes Bangladeshis, former fellow- what Daniel Bell (1996) called ‘the cultural contradic- residents of unpartitioned India, to the extent of peri- tions of capitalism’. The sheer extent of demographic odically shooting some of them along the now partly imbalance in much of Europe and in Japan makes it fenced border as they continue to cross as always difficult politically and socially, however, for these (Human Rights Watch 2010). Their exclusion helps to countries to swallow the scale of immigration re- define something non-Indian, and hence to define ‘In- quired to counterbalance the consequences of wide- dia’ (Kapur 2010: 200–1). In the Netherlands the prin- spread – sexist, individualist, consumerist – cultural ciple of shared membership of ‘ons land’ (our country) proclivities. conflicts with continuing race-based identification, in Goldin, Cameron and Balarajan propose (2011: which the descendants of immigrants from some coun- 253) that the huge and growing gaps in the market for tries remain classified as allochtoon (from another lower-skilled labour in rich countries cannot be soil), generation after generation. bridged by the various subterfuges of undocumented Temporary-migration programmes plus the twi- migration; nor will permanently circulating work- light status of de facto tolerated ‘irregulars’ seem de- forces from South to North, Philippines-style, make signed to prevent any impression that a government sufficient economic or functional sense or be sustain- treats new immigrants better than long-standing resi- able. For highly-skilled labour, they project that pres- dents, but whether they will satisfy traditional resi- sures to import will mount, and will collide with do- dents, when these are exposed to exclusivist ideolo- mestic resistance, at least in unprepared and fearful gies and a perpetual stream of transient foreigners low-trust countries. They present a picture of vast po- rather than to emergent fellow-citizens, remains ques- tential economic gains from bringing labour to where tionable. Further, major programmes of this type in demand for it exists, and cite World Bank estimates the past in Germany and the USA have in reality still that economic benefits for countries of origin from largely led to permanent settlement; they on balance expanded migration – of which a very large share discourage return to country of origin since migrants would be by women – would vastly exceed those from realise they cannot readily come back again (de Haas full free trade or doubled international aid (Goldin/ 2012). Similarly, felt security is not furthered by the Cameron/Balarajan 2011: 163). Recipient countries, parallel system of de facto tolerated irregular migra- too, could benefit hugely, for example by releasing tion, but rather by the building of migrant loyalty to skilled women into the labour market, as described by the country of in-migration by providing legal chan- Sandoval-Garcia for Costa Rica in chapter 20. Given nels for entry and channels for legalization. labour market stratification, the evidence is that most immigrant workers do not compete with domestic la- ‘Women in Motion’ in a World of Nation-States, Market Forces, and Gender Power Relations 379 21.7 A Gender-enriched Human (chapter 4), for example, recount how the overwhelm- Security Perspective ingly female Burmese work force in the Thai border factories they studied face peculiarly harsh workplace Let us review our arguments up to this point. We have conditions and must also struggle and improvise to identified and contrasted, first, “a nationalist perspec- fulfil the needs of social reproduction (material, gen- tive that adopts only the nation as its ethical space, erational, cultural), including care work, cooking, eco- and typically adopts a national frame in explanation nomic support of a wider family, and especially the too; and second, a capitalist perspective that adopts a bearing and upbringing of small children. Support global frame in both evaluation and explanation, but from the state (whether Thai or Burmese) and from with enormous exclusions in concern for poor people” employers is almost entirely absent. Kusakabe (2013) since its measures in evaluation are purchasing power notes with irony how employers recurrently used the and completed monetary transactions (Gasper/Truong phrase ‘We treat workers like family’, as an attempted 2010a: 348-9). We contrast both these with the ‘human justification for employees’ lack of enforceable formal discourses’ fostered in the United Nations system: hu- rights and being always on call for more work rather man development and more especially human rights than having fixed maximum working hours. The and human security. These adopt “a global normative women improvise responses using community groups, frame, in two senses – a comprehensive interest in the hired services, and family members, in addition to contents of people’s lives, and a concern for people their own efforts; for example, paying a ‘baby agent’ everywhere, grounded in perceptions of human dignity who transfers a batch of sedated babies back to their and fundamental rights” (Gasper/Truong 2010a: 349). mothers’ home places in Burma. None of these Work on human security in particular combines means is highly satisfactory, stable and sustainable, so “‘joined-up thinking’ in explanation – a tracing the methods of coping change frequently. through of fundamental interlinkages that cross na- Women’s relative invisibility within discussions of tional borders and conventional disciplinary bounda- international relations and social justice is unaccepta- ries – with cosmopolitan ‘joined-up feeling’ in valua- ble. This volume and its predecessor (Truong/Gasper tion, giving priority to basic needs everywhere” (ibid.: 2011b) attempt to contribute in countering lack of 349). These human discourses, while open to differ- gender awareness in regard to migration. They try to ent versions and emphases, are close partners and are describe, explain and evaluate the gendered structures readily and desirably combined. For our purposes, it of intra- and especially inter-national migration and to matters relatively little whether the perspective is elab- identify directions for countering the major injustices, orated into an ethical viewpoint that corresponds to both those common to all migrants and those espe- position 1 or 4 or 7 in table 21.1, for each of those po- cially affecting women. While many of women mi- sitions incorporates extensive values and responsibili- grants’ problems and needs are the same as men’s, ties with global scope. some are distinctive, though those too can be fruit- Of central significance for our purposes, by con- fully addressed if we harness and enrich the human trast, is that like all the standpoints in social philoso- discourses in order to advance women’s rights, secu- phy that we have mentioned so far these discourses rity and development, rather than seek to build sepa- are not explicitly gendered. The emphases in human rate approaches. security thinking on human bodies, subjectivities, and For decades, the framework for international mi- human relationships make it a welcoming partner for gration studies (as well as that of refugee studies) has gender analysis; but while fully relevant to women, reflected mainly the experiences of men of productive there is no special emphasis on the distinctive pres- age, while the framework of human trafficking has sures, discriminations and disadvantages faced by predominated in representations of the experience of many women, especially women migrants, and how young and unmarried women. In recent years, espe- they serve as social and economic ‘shock absorbers’ cially around and since the High-Level Dialogue on (Gasper/Truong 2005).7 Yet Kusakabe and Pearson International Migration and Development initiated by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan (2006), there has been growing recognition of the increased 7 Even an authoritative collection by human rights lawyers presence of women in migration streams – now at par- on Human Security and Non-Citizens, edited by Alice ity with men’s – and of the factors behind it. We must Edwards and Carla Ferstman, has little to say on go further though, to undo biased assumptions linked women. The 26-page index has no entries for ‘women’ to gender that have been built into research concepts or ‘gender’. 380 Des Gasper and Thanh-Dam Truong and methods of data collection and interpretation. three facets above interface and are acted out in eve- The biases have important consequences for policy ryday social interactions in specific contexts: among choices in matters related to migration. Invisibility, and between the migrants, the local communities, misrecognition, and inappropriate framing of gender support groups, and bureaucracies. The framework concerns are key issues for research on and advocacy helps to bring out the practical challenges for advo- for social justice in migration. cacy for inclusive citizenship, due to the intersecting The Migration, Gender and Social Justice (MGSJ) forms of subordination and of legal liminality. research project from which this book emerged has The framework helps us also in avoiding overgen- adapted Collins’s four-facetted ‘matrix of domination’ eralizations about the relationship between gender designed for Black studies to provide a framework for and migration. It is essential to recognize the impor- studying the relations of gender subordination in mi- tance of contexts and their particularities, the layers gration (Collins 2000: 277; Truong/Gasper 2011a: 4). of factors involved, and the interactions of gender The four facets, or levels, are as follows. First, the he- with other social statuses (legal identity as migrants; gemonic level consists of entrenched ruling ideas, in- class; race/ethnicity; age). Overgeneralizations hide cluding the dominant idea of the bounded nation- the various ways in which institutional power dynam- state that has enforceable borders and a relatively ics circumscribe the space for women migrants to clear set of norms and rules to determine member- claim rights. Discussion of social justice in relation to ship. Cross-border migration has typically been under- migration needs to be informed by understanding of stood in terms of a series of dichotomies: ‘economic the locally specific dynamics of migration and of or- migrants’ versus ‘refugees’, ‘free choice’ versus ‘force’, ganizational practices and legal regulations. We need men as ‘autonomous migrants’ versus women as ‘de- also to recognise, besides the material circumstances pendants’. These dichotomies give legitimacy to prac- that drive migration, the patterns of differentiation tices that have consequences for (un)fair treatment. among migrants, the sense of prestige that people at- They also fail to show the cumulative effects of inter- tach to ‘being mobile’, and the role of social networks sectionality and the spiral of discrimination caused by in the diffusion of images and norms regarding mobil- multiple inequalities based on gender, ethnicity, and ity within and across borders. migrant status. Second, the bureaucratic level con- Through exploration of the contemporary forms cerns state structures and the articulation and applica- of circular, temporary, and transient migration and tion of regulations, norms, standards, and procedures their gendered features, the studies in this volume for specific groups of migrants, including the use of have revealed the multi-layered meanings of ‘gender’ surveillance practices.8 Third, the institutional level and their intersectional expression in all stages of mi- concerns how migration institutions (organizations of gration. The traditional framework for considering the state, migrant recruiting agencies, etc.) interact women’s rights in terms of citizenship may be applica- with each other in gendered ways that can (re-)pro- ble specifically to immigration (migration for perma- duce the series of dichotomous classifications of peo- nent settlement). In other migration forms, the tran- ple on the move (skilled–unskilled, legal–illegal, auton- snational character of power relations as well as their omous–dependent, etc.) with consequences for the local expressions and affiliated practices of gender- subordination of women as a group of migrants. based discrimination need to be analysed as a series Fourth, the interpersonal level concerns how the of interconnections between different institutions and systems (households, communities, market-based re- cruitment agencies, relations between sending and re- 8 Migrants are affected not only by the framework of clas- ceiving states, work placement practices). A new ap- sification of identities that separates them from nation- proach to rights is necessary that recognizes the role als, but also by a hierarchy of identities within the of multiple actors in multiple locations and that can population of foreigners (as we see in chapter 13 on discern the different aspects of structural vulnerability Libya). Though the specific features of this hierarchy of identities may differ according to the particularities of at each point in the entire migration process and de- geopolitical contexts, often the management of ‘flows’ velop a corresponding picture of accountability. The (of people on the move) misframe some groups of model presented in chapter 2 (table 2.2) is relevant migrants and their identities into a ‘social problem’ that here in combination with the four-part framework just supposedly requires a solution. This misframing can described.9 They help us to examine the realities of conceal the need to examine dysfunctional aspects of migrants’ lives. the management of migratory flows by the state and by non-state actors. ‘Women in Motion’ in a World of Nation-States, Market Forces, and Gender Power Relations 381 21.8 Invisibility and Re-Cognition of then motivate strategic invisibility. Attaining institu- Women’s Migration: Promoting tional recognition requires re-cognition. Human Rights and Security The multiple layers of invisibility have implications for migrants’ economic and sociocultural security in The ‘invisibility’ and misframing of ‘migration’, mi- their daily lives and in their relationship with agents of grants, ‘gender’, and women’s work have conse- the state. Invisibility (including the non-recognition of quences for social justice, as seen throughout the migrants’ diplomas) and misframing (e.g. misuse of book. There are great limits to what one can achieve the notion of ‘family’ to license unlimited calls on oth- by trying to reform policies, official rules, and actual ers’ labour) are functional for powerful groups. We practices that violate migrants’ rights and human secu- are dealing here with social fields of power, not just rity, especially for women migrants, if one does not cognitive error. The struggles for rethinking are not significantly alter the realm of cognitions about migra- just cognitive struggles. tion (including those we referred to above as ‘seden- The social invisibility or scant recognition of much tary bias’ and ‘the hegemonic level’ or nation-centred of women’s work within a country makes it hard for perspective) and about masculinities and femininities that country to make credible claims in support of its (ideas about appropriate behaviours, roles, and rights own women emigrants who do such work – if the for males and females). country perceives and values their work at all. Coun- The concept of ‘invisibility’ has arisen in several tries which treat domestic workers within their bor- different ways: ders as not ‘workers’ have little credibility when seek- ing to defend such workers against abusive conditions a) statistical invisibility, which leads to the invisibility abroad. Indonesia’s Domestic Workers Protection of women migrants in the eyes of planners, and Bill, for example, remains unadopted, after years of thus their exclusion from policy attention and discussion of the issue. Similarly, countries which treat from activities for social protection (for example, in-migrants (and their own women workers) badly see chapter 7 on India); have less clout when seeking to defend their own out- b) institutional invisibility (the fact of having no for- migrant citizens (especially outmigrant women work- mal status, or an unauthorized status), which ers). Cholewinski (2010) identifies the feminization of derives from the rigidity of tacit presumptions and migration (meaning here the increased proportion of institutional settings, and excludes some migrants women) as one reason why migrant rights have not from programmes that might benefit them (seen been taken seriously by the governments of in-migra- in most chapters); tion countries, nor sometimes by the countries of out- c) strategic invisibility, chosen by migrants in order to migration. evade discriminatory practices by the state or abu- Invisibility, screening-out, is an extreme example sive behaviours at inter-group level or both (see, of misframing. Discussions about domestic labour for example, chapters 4, 6, 10); and domestic workers frequently involve other forms d) most importantly, invisibility in the sense of being of misframing, such as failure to connect the mass mi- outside the realm of cognition as formal knowl- gration of women domestic workers to the ongoing edge and sometimes even as tacit knowledge; for transformation in the organization of social reproduc- example, chapter 14 showed that the girl compan- tion for affluent groups, especially in rich countries. ions of blind beggars in Senegal and Mali are Persistent misframing can contribute to eventual cri- socially invisible, simply not noticed; more widely, sis, which may then provide opportunity for refram- much of the work done by women in caring for ing, recognition, and affirmation of certain categories dependants and in household management is not of migrants whose presence and contributions to so- perceived as real work. ciety have been left invisible. Cognitive invisibility is the most important, for it un- Invisibility and misframing in terms of systems of derlies statistical and institutional invisibility which classification of work, workers and migrants must be taken on board as issues of social justice. The systems must not be taken as given. They are based on specific knowledge frames which are time-bound and vulnera- 9 The model in chapter 2 can be seen as an elaboration ble to errors and to institutional rigidity. Similarly, the for migration of the questions raised by the ‘Institu- inherited legal approach to women’s rights in migra- tional Responsibility Matrix’ developed by Geof Wood; tion is partly embedded in a dated framework of see, for example, Gough and Wood (2004). 382 Des Gasper and Thanh-Dam Truong group rights built on the rationale of protecting mi- the world over, agreement is reached that it is the mi- nority groups and minors. grant who is to blame for the chaotic state of contem- More widely, tacit social constructions of ‘mascu- porary migration, it is the migrant who is a terrorist, linities’ and ‘femininities’ affect subjectivities as well a queue jumper, a criminal; he or she is barred from as codified practices, and exercise great influence the rooms in which migration policy is being dis- both on how women, men, and young people become cussed’ and where rules are established and rein- involved in migration processes, and on how policies forced that render people on the move marginal and of social protection are designed. The role frequently illegal (Oberoi 2010: 272). accorded to women is that of the human shock ab- Research and advocacy guided by a human secu- sorber, the nurturing human environment for the ac- rity perspective can help expose what is kept invisible, tivities of others. Like shock absorbers and the physi- and so help to strengthen the perceptual, affective, cal environment they are taken for granted. and political basis for giving serious attention to for- The frameworks of human rights – for women, for mal human rights. Ethnographic research can present migrants, and for all persons – are nowadays elaborate migrants’ voices on their experiences of being invisi- and quite clear; but they are not self-enforcing, and ble, of the multiple and interconnected layers of inse- their adoption and implementation is highly discre- curity, and of negotiating recognition (such as success- tionary and very frequently absent (see, for example, fully achieved by some of the Vietnamese brides in the reviews by Cholewinski 2010 and Lester 2010 for Korea and Taiwan seen in chapter 5). Direct testimony migrant rights). Application of the frameworks to may counteract streams of misrepresentation and poi- cases of international migration depends on collabo- son in parts of the mass media and ‘give a voice to ration between nation-states, and thus also on the per- some of the migrant women’, observe Pearson and ceptions of and pressures from the public in those Kusakabe (2012: 176), who themselves use the states. Hierarchical relations between nation-states, method to good effect. economic and political agendas, and rigidity in admin- These voices also direct attention to the ways in istration make this collaboration ineffective. Parts of which the control of migrant workers is carried out. civil society play an important role in the defence of Studying migration means studying not only migrants’ migrant rights, but civic actors too are embedded in everyday lives but the systems of creating and control- the national sphere of politics that is influenced by na- ling borders (legal, social, economic, and cultural) tionalist sentiments that often do not favour such that shape their life-worlds and restrict their agency. rights. A large number of studies in this volume have This can help to bridge the gap of understanding be- documented social processes of ‘racialization’ or tween a state-centric notion of ‘national security’ and other types of social construction that present mi- a notion of how security is produced or undermined grant workers as inferior (and dangerous) beings. locally by social interactions. Countering such processes is an essential task for in- Many people fear that the language of security is creasing the likelihood of the implementation of legal “a double-edged sword. …it can label the subjects of declarations of migrants’ rights. Chapter 20 by San- this security discourse as threats to security, rather doval-Garcia, in particular, describes several relevant than being victims at risk of insecurity” (Edwards/Fer- avenues for this work. stman 2010: 40). A language of ‘human security’ in Cholewinski (2010) lists, over very many pages, particular is sometimes adapted to serve forms of dis- the years of meetings and reports on migrant rights, cipline and control over migrant populations. How- but can unfortunately provide little evidence of im- ever, similar types of labelling and control have hap- pact. Oberoi (2010) and Lester (2010) fear that the pened for centuries and are not generated by a human meetings are another form of theatre, for the more security perspective that specifically offers resistance general conventions on human rights, if taken more to racialization and related forms of othering and seriously, would already accord major protection to scapegoating. Ensuring the rights of ‘people on the migrants. Apart from the power of groups that bene- move’ requires as the first step addressing the forms fit from the invisibility of migrant workers, Oberoi of structural injustice they face. Human security anal- notes another explanation, another type of invisibility ysis enters the life-worlds, constraints, opportunities, which is produced by the absence of migrant repre- and subjectivities of all participants and considers sentation. The meetings and negotiations are con- how these are interlinked. As illustrated in this book, ducted in closed chambers, with migrants’ own repre- it can help shift thinking about ‘security’ from border sentatives excluded. Thus ‘in inter-state discussions control towards the notion of positive freedom for ‘Women in Motion’ in a World of Nation-States, Market Forces, and Gender Power Relations 383 those who migrate or return. Eve Lester argues thus society. Migrant organizations, social movements, and that “the application of a human security lens to the migration research bodies monitor, parallel, and social and economic rights framework…may serve as lobby the Forum’s activities. The spirit is consistent a counterweight to the forces of national security and with that in Sen’s approach to justice (2009): not a sovereignty that have historically dominated legal and perfectionist model but focused on relevant ameliora- political discourse, often at the expense of justice” tions from real starting points. Within such a forum (Lester 2010: 317). Human security analysis is an es- and similar channels, and partnered by pressure from sential partner to a human rights approach, not a di- civil society, progress is perhaps possible in some im- version or competitor (Lester 2010). portant areas.11 The structures, institutional and mental, which we have identified and discussed are not subject to over- night change. Goldin, Cameron and Balarajan, as we 21.9 Next Steps saw, closed their book with a cosmopolitan clarion call in respect of free movement. But in terms of next We conclude with an indication of some of the key ar- steps they presented a more modest proposal: to cre- eas for research and networking. Existing work could ate a global migration body that is divorced from the be deepened by using a human security perspective direct control of rich in-migration countries, and that that incorporates a gender framework as suggested can counter the policy patterns in which party politi- above. cians appear largely trapped. They consider that such First, transformations of borders: borders are an international lead agency can coordinate a long- transforming in various ways: physically, the gatekeep- run agenda for increased international migration, ing functions to control and exclude migrants are now given its unavoidability. Reflecting its size and experi- dispersed across numerous locations, including within ence, the International Organization for Migration ap- the routines of daily life in the countries of in-migra- pears to them and to many as the logical choice, if tion and even the countries of outmigration; legally, converted into a United Nations agency and thus with there are now huge grey zones of ‘legal liminality’; cul- an authority beyond the short-term political wishes of turally and psychologically, borders of various sorts rich countries that fund it (Goldin/Cameron/Balara- are being constructed and deconstructed. Illumina- jan 2011: 282). This was the recommendation of the tion of the new meanings and practices of borders is 2005 Global Commission on International Migration; a research priority, to update the conceptual appara- it was blocked by in-migration countries. tus that we bring to considering migration and mobil- The next best next step brokered by Kofi Annan in 2006 – the Global Forum for Migration and Develop- 11 In terms of table 21.1, different starting points and dif- ment – is purely a non-binding discussion forum. But ferent potential paths can apply to, and within, different Annan framed and launched it within a longer-term constituencies: businesspeople and workers, politicians perspective and with an attractive boldness of spirit. and administrators, elites, marginal groups. Countries For Annan, the rationale of the Forum was to gradu- that are presently strongly marked by business-centred ally build awareness of patterns of interconnectedness positions (6, 9) might gradually move towards positions and progressively reduce the fears and misperceptions 5 and 8, with growing recognition and acceptance of the 10 necessity and appropriateness of various duties thatof in-migration countries and more generally. While cross national borders (and that apply within national the Forum conducts its business in closed chambers it borders too). Roughly speaking, an author like Scheffer has become a prominent target of attention for civil (2007, 2011), reasoning within a world of nation-states and of local communities, proposes a gradual progres- sion of global awareness and trust, moving thus across 10 Annan’s ‘program logic’, as diagnosed by Gasper and the top row in the diagram, from 3 to 2 to 1. He argues Roldan (2011), was as follows: We should go ahead with that only by the promotion of healthy local interactions, the Global Forum for Migration and Development, including a recognition of the historical and geographi- given that: 1. We must manage migration, 2. in a con- cal strands that have contributed and continue to con- text where major disagreements exist, and a heritage of tribute to the cooperative life in a locality, is the casual, non-thoughtful, non-constructive behaviour; 3. required basis established for more trusting broader The alternatives are not feasible at present, whereas 4. interaction. Mushakoji (2011) proposes a fuller trajec- GFMD is feasible and 5. can be fruitful since controver- tory, 3 2 1 4. He is at the same time strongly aware sial emotive problems require calm, structured commu- of the dangers residing in positions on the right side of nication. This underlying set of ideas is open to critical the table, which can grow in reaction to premature assessment and possible improvement. attempts to fulfil a cosmopolitan ideal of position 7. 384 Des Gasper and Thanh-Dam Truong ity and thus to reorient subsequent research in a way growing research on climate change and migration, that does fuller justice to contemporary and emerging relatively little has yet connected closely to the issues systems. The emergence of new forms of female mi- of differential impacts on men, women, children, fam- gration, temporary, circular, and transient, and how ily organization, etc. these forms can produce conditions of insecurity not Thirdly, for both South–South and South–North experienced by settled migrants, needs research and movements, and intra-national migration, portability policy attention. The implications of border transfor- of social protection is a key transformative reform mation and female migration for, not least, children (as needed to respect the human rights of the migrants stay-behinds, or co-migrants, or born during migration, whom the global economic system requires and gen- or as returnees) have been noted here in the chapters erates. The theme emerges strongly from the case on Mexico, Mali, and Thailand. The existing group studies in this volume, for example those on China, rights approaches (e.g. women’s rights, children’s the Gulf, the Philippines, and Thailand. They reveal rights, indigenous people’s rights) to migration seem the central tension between the mobility of labour more applicable to the integration of settled migrants and the non-mobility of entitlements for most mi- in the host society than to the increasing number of cir- grants. For migrants whose movements are tempo- cular, temporary, and transient migrant communities. rary, circular, or transient, social protection schemes Second, South–South migration has already be- that can be made portable are vital. For example, In- come equal in scale to South–North migration (as donesian migrant domestic workers pay for their conventionally measured) some years ago (UNDP health and social insurance before departure, but they 2009), and is likely to rapidly exceed it. Women are cannot access this support when in need because of very prominent in such movements. The large major- institutional rigidity in the administration of labour ity of the component studies in the MGSJ project and migration policy in Indonesia, as well as in the receiv- in this book address South–South migration, though ing country. Special attention needs to be paid to the the original scheme of work was not formulated in particular situations and needs of various categories these terms. This trend throws up new questions. of women migrants, and to the role of organization of However, because of the domination of research and by migrant workers themselves to engage in cam- agendas by the concerns and perspectives of North- paigns for portable protection and for acquisition and ern funders, South–South migration remains relatively then implementation of accorded rights. speaking less studied. The experience of the MGSJ project and the char- One of the largest components of especially acter of these concluding suggestions underscore the South–South migration during the coming decades is need for the cross-fertilization of ideas between re- likely to be induced by climate change, given the gional research networks, South–South–North. 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Abbreviations Abvakabo FNV Algemene Bond van Ambtenaren CONAPRED Consejo Nacional para Prevenir la Katholieke Bond van Overheidspersoneel Discriminación (National Council to en Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging Prevent Discrimination) (Federation of Dutch Trade Unions) CPA China Population Association ACHIEVE Action for Health Initiatives (Philippines) CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child ACMECS Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic CRIM Centro Regional de Investigaciones Cooperation Strategy Multidisciplinarias (Regional Centre for AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Multidisciplinary Research) AIDWA All India Democratic Women’s Association CWDS Centre for Women’s Development Studies AJ Al-Jazeera English News ANEJ Agence Nationale pour l’Emploi des Jeunes DFA Department of Foreign Affairs (National Agency for Youth Employment) DGME Division of Migration and Alien Affairs APPO Assamblea Popular de los Pueblos de DNT Denotified Tribes Oaxaca (Popular Assembly of the People of DRDA District Rural Development Agencies Oaxaca) DREAM Development, Relief, and Education for APS Australian Psychological Society Alien Minors APWLD Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development ECOSUR El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (The College ARCM Asian Research Center for Migration of the Southern Border) ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States BIT Bureau International du Travail EDP Everyday Politics (International Labour Office) EMIF-Sur Encuesta sobre Migración en la Frontera BT Bacillus thuringiensis (species of bacteria Sur (Southern Border Migratory Survey) which gives its name to a kind of crop and EMN European Migration Network pesticides) EU European Union EXIM Export-Import Bank of Thailand CARIM Consortium for Applied Research on International Migration FDW Filipina Domestic Workers CBCP Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the FGDs Focus Group Discussions Philippines FM2 Forma Migratoria 2 (Immigration Form 2) CCSS Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (Costa FM3 Forma Migratoria 3 (Immigration Form 3) Rican Social Security Bank) FMP Federación Mujeres Progresistas CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All (Progressive Women’s Federation) Forms of Discrimination Against Women FMTF Forma Migratoria de Trabajador Fronterizo CEDEM Centre for Ethnic and Migration Studies, (Immigration Form for Frontier Workers) University of Liège, Belgium FMVL Forma Migratoria de Visitante Local CEPS Centre for European Policy Studies (Migratory Form for Local Visitors) CFA Communauté Française d’Afrique (French FNV Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging Community of Africa) (Federation of Dutch Trade Unions) CFA Communauté Financière Africaine (African FRY Foundation for Rural Youth Financial Community) FTUB Federation of Trade Unions Burma CFE Critical Feminist Ethnography CGIAR Consultative Group on International GCC Gulf Cooperation Council Agricultural Research GDP Gross Domestic Product CHS Commission on Human Security GERM Groupe d’Etudes et de Recherches sur les CLAIP Consejo Latinoamericano de Investigación Migrations (Research and Study Group on para la Paz (Latin American Council for Migrations) Peace Research) GMS Greater Mekong Sub-Region COLEF Colegio de la Frontera Norte (The College GREFELS Groupe de Recherche Femmes et Lois au of the Northern Border) Sénégal (Research Group on Women and CONAPO Consejo Nacional de Población (National the Law in Senegal) Population Council) T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 387 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 388 Abbreviations H1N1 Hemagglutinin 1 and Neuraminidase 1 MGNREGS Mahatma Gandhi National Rural (Virus Influenza A-2009) Employment Guarantee Scheme HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus MOE Ministry of Education HIV-AIDS Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Acquired MOI Ministry of Interior Immune Deficiency Syndrome MOL Ministry of Labour MoLSW Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (Lao ICPD International Conference on Population PDR) and Development MOU Memorandum of Understanding ICRtoP International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement ID Identification Document NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization IDRC International Development Research NCEUS National Commission for Enterprises in the Centre (Canada) Unorganised Sector IDWN International Domestic Workers’ Network NCRL National Commission on Rural Labour ILC International Law Conference NCT National Capital Territory ILO International Labour Office NGO Non-Governmental Organization ILO-IPEC International Labour Office’s International NICs Newly Industrialized Countries Programme on the Elimination of Child NL The Netherlands Labour NSS National Sample Survey IMI International Migration Institute (University NSSO National Sample Survey Office of Oxford) NYT New York Times News INDH Initiative Nationale pour le Développement Humain (National Initiative for Human OBCs Other Backward Classes/Castes Development) OEC Office of Education Council INEC Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation (National Institute of Statistics and Census) and Development INEGI Instituto Nacional de Estadística y OFWs Overseas Filipino Workers Geografía (National Institute of Statistics and Geography) POEA Philippine Overseas Employment INM Instituto Nacional de Migración (National Administration Migration Institute) PPS Probability Proportional to Size (sampling IOM International Organization for Migration technique) IPEC International Programme on the PRC People’s Republic of China Elimination of Child Labour RTI Respiratory Tract Infection IPSR Institute for Population and Social Research RtoP Responsibility to Protect IRENE International Restructuring Education Network Europe SARS Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome IRP Integrated Resource Package SC Scheduled Castes ISA Institute of Asian Studies SEGEPLAN Secretaría de Planificación y Programación ISDS Institute for Social Development Studies (Guatemalan Secretariat of Planning and ISS International Institute of Social Studies of Programming) Erasmus University Rotterdam SPA Social Protection in Asia IUF International Union of Food, Agricultural, SRE Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores (Foreign Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Ministry of Mexico) Allied Workers’ Associations SRH Sexual and Reproductive Health IUSSP International Union for the Scientific Study SRT Social Representations Theory of Population ST Scheduled Tribes STD Sexually Transmitted Disease km kilometres STI Sexually Transmitted Illness Lao PDR Lao People’s Democratic Republic STyPS Secretaría de Trabajo y Previsión Social LGBT Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (Ministry of Labour and Social Security) LPN Labour Rights Promotion Network TDRI Thailand Development Research Institute LUTRENA Programme to combat the trafficking of TG The Guardian News children for labour exploitation in West Africa and Central Africa (ILO) TICW Mekong Project to Combat Trafficking in Children and Women MAFE Migrations between Africa and Europe TIP Trafficking in Persons MBC Most Backward Castes TPS Temporary Protected Status MFA Ministry of Foreign Affairs TSR Theory of Social Representations Abbreviations 389 TWC2 Transient Workers Count Too UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UAE United Arab Emirates UNIAP United Nations Inter-Agency Project UCI University of California, Irvine UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund UCR University of Costa Rica UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for UCW Understanding Children’s Work (project) Women UK United Kingdom UN Women United Nations Entity for Gender Equality UN United Nations and the Empowerment of Women UNAM Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México UPR Usual Place of Residence (National Autonomous University of UPSS Usual Status Principal+subsidiary workers Mexico) USA United States of America UNCTOC United Nations Convention on USD United States Dollar Transnational Organized Crime USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics UNDP United Nations Development Programme UN–ESCAP United Nations Economic and Social WHO World Health Organisation Commission for Asia and the Pacific UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and YCOWA Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association Cultural Organization Biographies of Contributors Indu Agnihotri (India) is a professor and the director of cy experience, including for the United Nations Develop- the Centre for Women’s Development Studies (CWDS), the ment Fund for Women (UNIFEM) involving an evaluation Indian Council of Social Science Research. She holds a of the Gender-Responsive Budgeting Programme in Moroc- Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, and has a keen in- co, for Dutch non-governmental organizations. She has a terest in the following areas: Gender and History; the keen interest in the research-policy nexus. Among her key Women’s Movement in India; Curriculum development in publications are: “Assessing the Scope for Partnerships Be- Women’s Studies. Her publications include: “Globalization, tween Local Governments and Community-Based Organiza- Resistance and Change: Reflections on South Asian Wom- tions: Findings from Rural Morocco” in: International en’s Experiences”, in: Bhatia, Manjeet; Bhanot, Deepali; Sa- Journal of Public Administration, 33,12–13 (2010): 740–751; manta, Nirmalya (Eds.): Gender Concerns in South Asia: “Introduction: Researching the effects of neoliberal re- Some Perspectives (Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 2008); forms on local governance in the Southern Mediterrane- “Women’s Movement and Governance: Issues and Chal- an”, in: Mediterranean Politics, 17,3 (2012): 303–321; “‘Inclu- lenges”, in: Mishra-Panda, Smita (Ed.): Engendering Gov- sive’ Neoliberalism, Local Governance Reforms and the ernance Institutions: State, Market and Civil Society (New Redeployment of State Power: The Case of the National Delhi: Sage, 2008); (co-author with Indrani Mazumdar): Initiative for Human Development (INDH) in Morocco”, “Dusty Trails and Unsettled Lives: Notes on Women’s La- in: Mediterranean Politics, 17,3 (2012): 410–426; “Govern- bour Migration in Rural India”, in: Indian Journal of Gen- ance Reforms in Morocco – Beyond Electoral Authoritari- der Studies, 16,3 (2009): 375–399; (co-author with Vina Maz- anism?”, in: Kadhim, Abbas (Ed.): Governance in the Mid- umdar): “Changing Terms of Political Discourse: Women’s dle East and North Africa: A Handbook (London: Movement in India, 1970s–1990s”, in: Oommen, T.K. (Ed.): Routledge, 2012). Social Movements II: A Reader, Concerns of Equity and Address: Dr. Sylvia I. Bergh, International Institute of Social Security (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2010); (co- Studies, P.O. Box 29776, 2502 LT The Hague, The Nether- author with Vina Mazumdar): “Democracy, Freedom and lands. Development: The Struggle for Women’s Emancipation in Email: . India”, in: Bijayalakshmi, Nanda (Ed.) Understanding So- Website: . cial Inequality: Concerns of Human Rights, Gender and Environment (New Delhi: Macmillan, 2010); (co-author Codou Bop (Senegal) is a scholar and activist on women’s with Indrani Mazumdar, Neetha N. Pillai): “Gender and rights and human rights. A member of the African Feminist Migration in India”, in: The Report of the National Work- Forum, she is also linked to many feminist movements in shop on Internal Migration and Human Development in the region and at the international level. Based in Dakar, India (New Delhi: UNESCO/UNICEF, 2011); at: . Recherche sur les Femmes et les Lois au Senegal (GRE- Address: Prof. Dr. Indu Agnihotri, 25, Bhai Vir Singh Marg FELS). For the last two decades she has worked on sexuali- (Gole Market) New Delhi – 11 0001, India. ty, sexual orientation, women with disability, citizens’ Email: , . rights, migrations and trafficking in women, women’s rights Website: . in customary and religious laws, and gender violence justi- fied by customs or religion. She holds a doctorate in Scienc- Sylvia I. Bergh (Sweden) is Senior Lecturer in Development es of Information from the University of Paris II Assas Management and Governance at the International Institute Sorbonne, France. She has published widely on a variety of of Social Studies (ISS), Erasmus University Rotterdam. She themes, including: women’s reproductive health and sexual- obtained an MA (First Class Honours) in Arabic and Inter- ity; homophobia; women’s access to land; gender-based vio- national Relations from the University of St Andrews in lence; migration and citizenship. Her latest publications in- Scotland, followed by an M.Phil. in Modern Middle East- clude: (co-author with Fatou Sow): Notre Corps, Notre ern Studies from the University of Oxford. After a two-year Santé, Un livre sur la santé et la sexualité des femmes en posting with the World Bank in Washington DC and in Afrique Subsaharienne (Paris—Budapest—Torino: L’Harmat- Morocco, she undertook doctoral research on local govern- tan, 2004); “Roles and Position of Women in Sufi Brother- ance in Morocco, including grass-roots and transnational hoods in Senegal”, in: Journal of the American Academy of migrants’ associations, rural-urban migration, and return Religion, 73,4 (2005): 1099–1119; “I killed her because she migration, earning a D.Phil. in Development Studies from disobeyed me in wearing this new hairstyle: Gender-Based the University of Oxford. She also has extensive consultan- violence, Law, and Impunity in Senegal”, in: Burril, Emily T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 391 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 392 Biographies of Contributors S.; Roberts, Richard L.; Thornberry, Elizabeth (Eds.): Do- Rotterdam. Her main research project focuses on migra- mestic Violence and the Law in Colonial and Postcolonial tion, feminism, and social movements. She received her BA Africa (Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2010). with distinction from the Faculty of Political Sciences, Uni- Address: Dr. Codou Bop, PO Box 15275, Dakar, Fann, Sen- versity of Bologna (2007). During that study period, she re- egal. ceived an overseas scholarship to study for one year at the Email: , . Universidad Nacional Autónoma of México (UNAM). In Website: . 2009 she graduated with distinction from the ISS, after completing an MA in Politics of Alternative Development. Susan Bibler Coutin (USA) is Professor in the Departments Her MA thesis on feminist representations of rape won the of Criminology, Law and Society and Anthropology at the ISS MA Research Award and was published as a working University of California, Irvine (UCI), where she is also As- paper. Currently she is working as a research assistant. sociate Dean of the Graduate Division. She holds a Ph.D. Address: Ms Stefania Donzelli, International Institute of in sociocultural anthropology from the University of Cali- Social Studies, P.O. Box 29776, 2502 LT The Hague, The fornia, Irvine. Her research has examined legal and politi- Netherlands. cal advocacy by and on behalf of Central American immi- Email: . grants in the US. Her publications include: Nations of Website: . Emigrants: Shifting Boundaries of Citizenship in El Salva- dor and the United States (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, Des Gasper (United Kingdom/The Netherlands) works at 2007); “Confined Within: National Territories as Zones of the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Erasmus Confinement”, in: Political Geography, 29,4 (2010): 200– University Rotterdam, on topics in public policy analysis, 208; “Falling Outside: Excavating the History of Central discourse analysis, development ethics, human develop- American Asylum Seekers”, in: Law & Social Inquiry, 36,3 ment, and human security. After studies in economics, in- (2011): 569–596; “Legal Exclusion and Dislocated Subjectivi- ternational development, and policy analysis at the Univer- ties: The Deportation of Salvadoran Youth from the United sities of Cambridge and East Anglia, he worked for many States”, in: Squire, Vicki. J. (Ed.): The Contested Politics of years in Southern Africa before coming to ISS. In recent Mobility: Border Zones and Irregularity (London: years his empirical focus has been on migration, and in- Routledge, 2011): 169–183. creasingly also on climate change. Selected publications: Address: Prof. Dr. Susan Bibler Coutin, University of Cali- The Ethics of Development—From Economism to Human fornia, Irvine, 5300 Social and Behavioral Sciences Gate- Development (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, way, Irvine, CA 92697–7050, USA. 2004); “What is the Capability Approach? Its Core, Ratio- Email: . nale, Partners and Dangers”, Journal of Socio-Economics, Website: . 36,3 (2007): 335–359; (co-author with Thanh-Dam Truong): “Movements Of The ‘We’: International and Transnational Maria C. DeVargas (Colombia/Spain) has extensive field Migration and the Capabilities Approach”, in: Journal of experience on development projects from 1994 through her Human Development and Capabilities, 11,2 (2010): 339– work with non-governmental organizations, the academic 357; “Development Ethics – Why? What? How? A formula- community, and the private sector. She holds a BA in Psy- tion of the field”, in: Journal of Global Ethics, 8,1 chology from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Co- (2012):117–135; “Climate Change – The Need For A Human lombia; a specialization in Socio-Cognitive Psychotherapy Rights Agenda Within A Framework Of Shared Human Se- from University of Barcelona, and an MA in Development curity”, in: Social Research: An International Quarterly of Studies with a specialization in the Politics of Alternative the Social Sciences, 79,4 (2012): 983–1014. Development from the International Institute of Social Address: Prof. Dr. Des Gasper, International Institute of Studies. Her research interest and previous work focus on Social Studies, P.O. Box 29776, 2502 LT The Hague, The themes of agency, gender, social change, resilience, and sus- Netherlands. tainable livelihoods. She has worked for more than two Email: . years as Researcher and Project Officer for the IDRC–ISS Website: . project Migration, Gender and Social Justice at the Interna- tional Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotter- Aster Georgo Haile (Eritrea) conducted the empirical re- dam. In addition she also provides research assistance for search for this chapter in the context of her MA thesis at other projects and teaching assistance for MA courses at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Eras- the International Institute of Social Studies. mus University Rotterdam. In 2011, she graduated from the Address: Ms Maria C. DeVargas, International Institute of ISS with an MA in Development Studies, specializing in Social Studies, P.O. Box 29776, 2502 LT The Hague, The Women, Gender, and Development. Currently, she is a Netherlands. graduate student in the Africana Studies Department at the Email: , . University at Albany, State University of New York. Website: . Address: Ms Aster Georgo Haile, Africana Studies BA 115, 1400 Washington Avenue, The University at Albany, Albany, Stefania Donzelli (Italy) is a Ph.D. candidate at the Interna- New York 12222, USA. tional Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Erasmus University Email: . Biographies of Contributors 393 Jeff Handmaker (United Kingdom/USA) is a senior lectur- ogy” and “Women and Law”. She has strong interests in the er in Law, Human Rights, and Development at the Interna- fields of legal pluralism and gender and the law. Her latest tional Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University research projects include: Access to Justice and Global Mi- Rotterdam and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the gration: Stories of Indonesian Women Domestic Migrant School of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand in Workers in the United Arab Emirates (2008–2011); Negoti- South Africa. Before joining the ISS in 2007, he studied law ating and Contesting Inheritance Law: Socio-Legal Position and was called to the English bar in 1995. He obtained a of Indonesian Moslem Women (2009–2012). Among her Ph.D. in the Sociology of Law from Utrecht University. major publications are: (co-editor with Shidarta Sakirno): From the early 1990s he worked for the South African or- Penelitian Hukum: Konstelasi dan Refleksi (Legal Re- ganization Lawyers for Human Rights and from 2000 he search Methods: Constellation and Reflection) (Jakarta: Ya- was based in The Hague as a freelance consultant, trainer, yasan Obor, 2010); Akses Keadilan dan Migrasi Global: and researcher for projects mainly in Southern Africa and Kisah Perempuan Indonesia Pekerja Domestik di Uni Arab the Middle East. He has published scholarly work on hu- Emirates (Access to Justice and Global Migration: Stories man rights, refugee law, and civic-state interactions to hold of Indonesian Women Domestic Migrant Workers in the states accountable to their international legal obligations, United Arab Emirates), (Jakarta: Yayasan Obor, 2011); “The with a primary geographical focus on South Africa. His Changing Socio-Legal Position of Women in Inheritance: A publications include: (co-editor with Lee Anne de la Hunt, Case Study of Batak Women in Indonesia dalam”, in: Haya- Jonathan Klaaren): Advancing Refugee Protection in South mi, Yoko; Koizumi, Junko; Songsamphan, Chalidaporn; To- Africa, (New York, Oxford: Berghahn, 2008); Advocating sakul. Ratana (Eds.): The Family in Flux in Southeast Asia: for Accountability: Civic-State Interactions to Protect Refu- Institution, Ideology, and Practice (Kyoto—Chiang Mai: gees in South Africa (Antwerp: Intersentia, 2009): “Public Kyoto University Press – Silkworms Books, 2012). Interest Litigation for Refugees in South Africa and the Po- Address: Prof. Dr. Sulistyowati Irianto, University of Indo- tential for Structural Change”, in: South African Journal of nesia, Faculty of Law, UI Campus Depok 16424 – Indone- Human Rights, 27,1 (2011): 65–81. sia. Address: Dr. Jeff Handmaker, International Institute of Email: . Social Studies, P.O. Box 29776, 2502 LT The Hague, The Website: . Netherlands. Email: . Thu Hong Khuat (Vietnam) is the founder and Co-Direc- Website: . tor of the Institute for Social Development Studies (ISDS), a non-governmental research organization located in Ha- Roy B. C. Huijsmans (The Netherlands) is lecturer in Chil- noi, Vietnam. She has a BA in Psychology from Moscow dren and Youth Studies at the International Institute of So- State University in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Re- cial Studies (ISS) in The Hague, The Netherlands . His research interests cover questions of Sociology, Hanoi. Before establishing ISDS, she worked concerning children and young people in the context of de- for the Institute of Sociology, Vietnam Academy of Social velopment. This includes work on young people and migra- Sciences for sixteen years and for United Nations Develop- tion which he has studied in relation to gender and genera- ment Programme (UNDP) as a gender specialist from tion, migration regimes, constructs of childhood and youth, 2000 to 2001. Her major fields of study include gender, se- rural transformation, migration discourses, and intra-house- xuality, reproductive and sexual health, and HIV/AIDS. Re- hold dynamics. He has written on this topic in the context cent publications on migration include: (co-editor with Le of the EU and South-East Asia. His publications include: Bach Duong): Market Transformation, Migration and So- “Child Migration and Questions of Agency”, in: Develop- cial Protection in a Transitioning Vietnam (Hanoi: World ment and Change, 42,5 (2011): 1307–1321; “The Theatre of Publisher, 2008); (co-author with Danièle Bélanger, Kayoko Human Trafficking: A global discourse on Lao stages”, in: Ueno, Emiko Ochiai): “From Foreign Trainees to Unautho- International Journal of Social Quality, 1,2 (2012): 66–84. rized Workers: Vietnamese Migrant Workers in Japan”, Address: Dr. Roy B. C. Huijsmans, International Institute of Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 20,1 (2011): 31–53. Social Studies, P.O. Box 29776, 2502 LT The Hague, The Address: Dr. Thu Hong Khuat, Institute for Social Develop- Netherlands. ment Studies, Suite 225, CT5 Building, Tran Van Lai Street, Email: , . Me Tri-My Dinh Area, Pham Hung Road, Hanoi, Vietnam. Website: . Email: . Website: . Sulistyowati Irianto (Indonesia) is Professor of the Anthro- pology of Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Indone- Kyoko Kusakabe (Japan/Thailand) is Associate Professor sia. She holds Master’s degrees in the Anthropology of Law of Gender and Development Studies, School of Environ- from Leiden University and the University of Indonesia, ment, Resources, and Development, Asian Institute of and a Doctoral degree on the same subject from the Uni- Technology, Thailand. Her research focuses on gender issu- versity of Indonesia. She is chair of the Centre for Women es in mobility in the Greater Mekong Subregion and she and Gender Studies, University of Indonesia, and has been studies the effect of regional economic integration on wo- a board member of the International Commission on Legal men’s work and employment. In 2012–2013 she was a vi- Pluralism since 2006, and she teaches on “Legal Anthropol- siting professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies 394 Biographies of Contributors (Sciences Po). She is a member of the Programme Over- ban migrants in China. She earned her B.Sc. in geography sight Panel for the Consultative Group on International and her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in human geography from Fujian Agricultural (CGIAR) Research Programme on Aquatic Ag- Normal University. She has published several papers in ricultural Systems. She has carried out empirical work in leading demographic journals in China as well as in interna- Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, and has a special interest in tional journals, and has presented papers at several interna- women in trans-border trade. Her recent publications inclu- tional conferences, including: (co-author with Yu Zhu): de: (co-author with Prak Sereyvath, Ubolratana Suntornra- “The diverse housing needs of rural to urban migrants and tana, Napaporn Sriputinibondh): “Gendering border spa- policy responses in China: Insights from a survey in ces: Impact of open border policy between Cambodia– Fuzhou”, in: IDS Bulletin, 41,4 (2010): 12–21; “An analysis Thailand on small-scale women fish traders” in: African on the factors affecting social insurance participation of the and Asian Studies, 7,1 (2008): 1–17; (co-author with Ruth floating population based on a survey in six cities of Fujian Pearson): “Transborder Migration, Social Reproduction Province” (in Chinese), in Population and Economics, No. and Economic Development: A Case Study of Burmese 3 (2009): 89–95; “Housing conditions of the floating popu- Women Workers in Thailand”, in: International Migration, lation under the status of circulation: A case study of Fujian 48,6 (2010): 13–43; (co-author with Ruth Pearson): “Who Province” (in Chinese), in: Population Research, 32,3 Cares? Gender, Reproduction, and Care Chains of Burme- (2008): 48–56. se Migrant Workers in Thailand”, in: Feminist Economics, Address: Dr. Liyue Lin, School of Geography, Fujian Nor- 18,2 (2012): 149–175; (co-author with Ruth Pearson): Thai- mal University, Fuzhou, Fujian Province 350007, People’s land’s Hidden Workforce: Burmese Migrant Women Facto- Republic of China. ry (London: Zed Books, 2012); Gender, Roads and Mobili- Email: . ty in Asia (Rugby, Warwickshire: Practical Action Publishing, 2012). Maria Lourdes S. Marin (Philippines) is the Executive Di- Address: Prof. Dr. Kyoko Kusakabe, Asian Institute of Tech- rector of Action for Health Initiatives (ACHIEVE), Inc., a nology – Gender and Development Studies, School of Envi- Philippines-based organization working on migration, gen- ronment, Resources, and Development P.O. Box 4, Klong der, and health issues. She is a trainer, writer, and pro- Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand. gramme specialist on issues related to migration, gender, sexuality, and HIV and AIDS. She has been involved in Email: . health and migration work since 2000. She is also actively Website: . engaged in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LG- Bach Duong Le (Vietnam) is the Director of the Institute BT) rights advocacy, both nationally and internationally. for Social Development Studies (ISDS), an independent re- Some of her publications include: Women and Migration: search and advocacy institute based in Hanoi, Vietnam. Pre- The Mental Health Nexus—A Research on Individual and viously, he worked as senior researcher for the Institute of Structural Determinants of Stress and Mental Health Prob- Sociology and the Institute for South-East Asian Studies of lems of Filipino Women Migrant Domestic Workers (Que- the Vietnam Academy for Social Sciences. He has consul- zon City: Action for Health Initiatives [ACHIEVE Inc.], ted for key donors and international organizations inclu- 2011); (co-author with Amara Quesada): Unveiling HIV Vul- ding the World Bank, International Labour Office (ILO), nerabilities: Filipino Women Migrant Workers in the Arab and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), as States (Quezon City: Action for Health Initiatives well as many international non-governmental organizations [ACHIEVE, Inc.], 2009); (co-author with Lia van der Ham): (NGOs). His major areas of research include migration, de- Addressing Stress and Psychosocial Issues of Women Mi- velopment studies, and sexuality. He earned his Ph.D. in so- grant Domestic Workers: An Intervention Framework (Qu- ciology from the State University of New York at Bingh- ezon City: Action for Health Initiatives [ACHIEVE, Inc.], amton in 1998. Recent publications on migration include: 2011). (co-author with Nguyen Thanh Liem): From Villages to Ci- Address: Ms Maria Lourdes S. Marin. Action for Health ties: Impact of Migration on Sending and Receiving Areas Initiatives (ACHIEVE), Inc., 162-A Scout Fuentebella Ext., in Vietnam (Hanoi: Youth Publisher, 2011); (co-editor with Quezon City, 1103 Philippines. Khuat Thu Hong): Market Transformation, Migration and Email: . Social Protection in a Transitioning Vietnam (Hanoi: Website: . World Publisher, 2008); (co-author with Danièle Bélanger, Tran Giang Linh): “Marriage Migrants as Emigrants” Asian Indrani Mazumdar (India) is a senior researcher at the Population Studies, 7,2 (2011:): 89–105. Centre for Women’s Development Studies (CWDS), the In- dian Council of Social Science Research. She holds an MA Address: Dr. Bach Duong Le, Institute for Social Develop- in History from Delhi University. Her selected publications ment Studies, Suite 225, CT5 Building, Tran Van Lai Street, include: Women Workers and Globalization: Emergent Me Tri-My Dinh Area, Pham Hung Road, Hanoi, Vietnam. Contradictions in India (Kolkata: Stree, 2007); “Public-Pri- Email: . vate Partnership in Integrated Child Development Services: Website: . Privatisation vs. Universalisation”, in: Labour File, 6,4–5 Liyue Lin (China) is a Lecturer at the School of Geography, (2008); 2008: “Women’s Unpaid Labour in Neo-liberal In- Fujian Normal University in China. She is currently working dia”, The Indian Historical Review, 35, 2; “Missing the on the mobility patterns and social protection of rural-ur- Wood for the Trees, The Human Development Report Biographies of Contributors 395 2009”, in: Women’s Equality, 1 (2010); (co-author with Email: . Indu Agnihotri, Neetha N. Pillai): Gender and Migration in Website: . India, in: Report of the National Workshop on Internal Migration and Human Development in India (New Delhi: Ruth Pearson (United Kingdom) is Professor of Interna- UNESCO UNICEF, 2011); at: . search over some thirty years has been centred on women’s work in the global economy, focusing recently on migrant Address: Dr. Indrani Mazumdar, 25, Bhai Vir Singh Marg workers and gendered globalization. She has undertaken (Gole Market), New Delhi – 11 0001, India. empirical work in Latin America, including Mexico, Argen- Email: , . tina, Bolivia, and Cuba, as well as in Thailand and Europe. Website: . She has a particular interest in the intersection of women’s Cecilia Menjívar (USA) is Cowden Distinguished Professor productive and reproductive roles and its implications for in the School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona understanding globalization and crisis in the contemporary State University. Her research has examined social aspects economy. She is Associate Editor of the Oxfam journal of migration, including social networks, gender and inter- Gender and Development. Her recent publications include: generational relations, families across borders, and religion “Beyond Women Workers: Gendering Corporate Social Re- and religious communities, focusing on the effects of immi- sponsibility”, in: Third World Quarterly, 28,4 (2007): 731– gration laws on these spheres. Though most of her work 749; (co-author with Kyoko Kusakabe): “Transborder Mi- has centred on Guatemalans, Hondurans and Salvadorans gration, Social Reproduction and Economic Development: in the USA, recently she has conducted research on Mo- A Case Study of Burmese Women Workers in Thailand”, in: zambican and Russian migration, examining the effects of International Migration, 48,6 (2010): 13–43; (co-author with migration on non-migrants. She is the author of: Enduring Anitha Sundari, Linda McDowell): “Striking lives: Multiple Violence: Ladina Women’s Lives in Guatemala (Berkeley: narratives of South Asian women’s employment, identity University of California Press, 2011); Fragmented Ties: Sal- and protest in the UK, in: Ethnicities March, 2–22 (2012); vadoran Immigrant Networks in America (Berkeley: Uni- (co-author with Kyoko Kusakabe): “Who Cares? Gender, versity of California Press, 2000). Reproduction, and Care Chains of Burmese Migrant Work- ers in Thailand”, in: Feminist Economics, 18,2 (2012): 149– Address: Prof. Dr. Cecilia Menjívar, School of Social and 175; (co-author with Kyoko Kusakabe): Thailand’s Hidden Family Dynamics, Program in Sociology, Arizona State Uni- Workforce: Burmese Migrant Women Factory Workers versity, Tempe, AZ 85287-3701, USA. (London – New York: Zed Books). Email: . Website: . Address: Prof. Dr. Ruth Pearson, University of Leeds, Cen- tre for Global Development, School of Politics and Interna- Claudia Mora (Chile) holds a Ph.D. in Sociology and is tional Studies, Woodhouse Road, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK. currently a faculty member in the Department of Sociology Email: . at Universidad Alberto Hurtado in Santiago, Chile, where she conducts social research and teaches on gender and so- Kamonwan Petchot (Thailand) holds an MA in Develop- cial stratification, migration, and globalization. Her ment Studies, majoring in Human Rights, Development, projects have explored Latin American intraregional migra- and Social Justice from the International Institute of Social tion, specifically the labour market insertion of Peruvian mi- Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam, where she grants in Chile, social exclusion, and migrants’ citizenship. has conducted research on rights to education for migrant Her latest project inquires into the gender and social class children in Thailand. She is currently serving as a consult- dynamics of exclusion in the labour market through a quali- ant to the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Devel- tative approach to the understanding of gender/class cate- opment (APWLD) in an action entitled “Grounding the gories underlying workers’ trajectories in Chile. Most re- Global” which aims to enhance women’s human rights in cent publications include: “Global Inequalities—Local the Asia-Pacific region by engaging with regional and inter- Hierarchies: “Peruvian Migrants’ Labor Niches and Occu- national mechanisms. pational Mobility in Chile”, in: Rehbein, Boike (Ed.): Glo- Address: Ms Kamonwan Petchot, 145, Moo 3, Tombon balization and Inequality in Emerging Societies (Basing- Tamiram, Amphur Muang, Phattalung Province 93000, stoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011); (co-author with Nicola Thailand. Piper): “Notions of Rights and Entitlements Among Peruvi- Email: . an Female Workers in Chile” in: Diversities Journal, 13,1 (2011); (co-author with Ignacio Madero): “Capital Social e Amara Quesada-Bondad (Philippines) has been the Pro- Inclusión Laboral: Una aproximación a las trayectorias de gramme Officer of Action for Health Initiatives, Inc. ascendencia laboral de migrantes Peruanos en Chile”, in: (ACHIEVE) since 2001. She graduated with a Bachelor of Polis [En linea], 29 (2011). She is a member of the Social Arts degree in Public Administration from the University of and Political Theory Laboratory, Lab_TSP, Chile. the Philippines-Diliman. She has so far earned twelve units in Master of Science in Bioethics from the College of Med- Address: Prof. Dr. Claudia Mora, Universidad Alberto Hur- icine in the University of Philippines-Manila. She has exten- tado, Departamento de Sociología, Cienfuegos 46, San- sive experience in conducting action research on the sexual tiago, Chile. and reproductive health issues of Overseas Filipino Work- 396 Biographies of Contributors ers (OFWs) in destination countries, including HIV vulnera- Rica. He has been working on the relationship between mi- bility and mandatory HIV testing among migrant workers. gration, rights, and justice. Currently he is editor of the An- She has conducted numerous seminars and workshops on uario de Estudios Centroamericanos (). He is a member of a number of migrant rights sues for various groups, civil society organizations, govern- initiatives. His books published in English include: Threat- ment departments, and academic institutions. She has con- ening Others. Nicaraguans and the Formation of National ducted skills building workshops on participatory action Identities in Costa Rica (Athens, Ohio: Ohio University research, facilitation, and advocacy skills. Among her publi- Press, 2004); Shattering Myths on Immigration and Emi- cations are: (co-author with Maria Lourdes S. Marin): Un- gration in Costa Rica (Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, veiling HIV Vulnerabilities: Filipino Women Migrant Work- 2011). ers in Arab States (Quezon City: Action for Health Address: Prof. Dr. Carlos Sandoval-García, Instituto de Initiatives [ACHIEVE, Inc.], 2008); (co-author with Lisa Investigaciones Sociales, Universidad de Costa Rica, Apar- Garcia): Fit to Work?: Consequences of Mandatory Health tado Postal 4920-60, Ciudad Rodrigo Facio, San José, Testing Among Overseas Filipino Worker (Quezon City: Costa Rica. Action for Health Initiatives [ACHIEVE, Inc.], 2008); (co- Email: . author with Carolyn I. Sobritchea, Dino Alberto Subingsub- Website: . ing): Health of our Heroes: Access to Sexual and Reproduc- tive Health Services and Information of Women Migrant Serena Eréndira Serrano Oswald (Mexico) is an academic, Domestic Workers (Quezon City: Action for Health Initia- lecturer, clinical therapist, and consultant. She is a postdoc- tives [ACHIEVE, Inc.], 2010). toral research fellow in Sociology and Gender at the Re- Address: Ms Amara Quesada-Bondad, Action for Health gional Centre for Multidisciplinary Research (CRIM), Na- Initiatives (ACHIEVE), Inc., 162-A Scout Fuentebella Ext., tional Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She Quezon City, 1103, Philippines. holds a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology (UNAM), an M.Sc. in Email: . Social Psychology (LSE), an MFT in Systemic Family Thera- Website: . py (CRISOL Institute), a BA (Hons) in Political Studies and History (SOAS), and a professional diploma in translation Martha Luz Rojas-Wiesner (Colombia/Mexico) has been and interpreting (Institute of Linguists, UK). She lectures senior researcher in the area of Society, Culture, and on psychology, social sciences, and humanities in public Health at El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR) in Tap- and private universities (UNAM; UAEM; UVM; CEPS; CE- achula, Chiapas since 1998. She conducts studies on female SNAV; Crisol) and has collaborated on several research migration on Mexico’s southern border. In particular, she projects. She has thirty peer-reviewed publications on gen- has studied the mechanisms of social exclusion affecting der, social representations, identities, peace, motherhood, Guatemalan women in Mexico. She has focused on the im- regional development, and migration. An active feminist pact of exclusion on their daily lives and the circumstances and leader of young people, she is vice-president of the that make their attempts to register and obtain regular sta- Mexican Association of Regional Development (AMECID- tus in Mexico very challenging. Some of her recent publica- ER–RSAI). Among her major publications are: “The impos- tions are: (co-author with Hugo Angeles Cruz): “Gendered sibility of Securitizing Gender vis à vis Engendering Securi- migrations in the Americas: Mexico as country of origin, ty”, in: Brauch, Hans Günter et al. (Eds.), 2009: Facing destination, and transit”, in: Piper, Nicola (Ed.): New Per- Global Environmental Change (Heidelberg: Springer): spectives on Gender and Migration. Livelihood, rights and 1151–1164; (co-author with Fátima Flores Palacios): “Process entitlements (New York—London: Routledge—UNRISD, analysis of the impact of HIV/AIDS and its representations 2008): 189–245; “Migration and education in border re- in seropositive people in Mexico”, in: Journal of Research gions. The case of Central American migrants in Chiapas, in Peace, Gender and Development, 13,2 (2012): 304–310; Mexico, a pending issue”, in: Higher Education and Society “Social Representations Theory: A Potential for Gender 15,2 (2010): 133–161; (co-author with Hugo Angeles Cruz): Sensitive Latin American Social Science Regional Studies”, “Female migration and rights: the situation of Guatemalan and: “Engendered Identities in San Martín Tilcajete: A Case migrants in Mexico”, in: Jorge Martinez Pizarro (Ed.): A Study”, in: Sánchez Almanza, Adolfo (Ed.): El futuro del collection of essays on population and human rights Latin desarrollo regional Iberoamericano: Posicionamiento America (Rio de Janeiro: American Association of Popula- Mundial y Estrategias (Mexico: AMECIDER—UNAM, tion, 2011): 221–249. IIEc, 2012). She has translated several books, book Address: Dr. Martha Luz Rojas-Wiesner, Carretera Antiguo chapters, and articles into English and Spanish. Aeropuerto km 2.5 s/n, C.P. 30700, Tapachula, Chiapas, Address: Dr. Serena Eréndira Serrano Oswald, CRIM- México. UNAM Av. Universidad s/n, Circuito 2, Col. Chamilpa, Email: . Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico CP 62210 Website: . Email: . Website: . Carlos Sandoval-García (Costa Rica) obtained his Ph.D. in Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK. He Karin Astrid Siegmann (Germany) is a Senior Lecturer in is a professor in the Media Studies School and in the Insti- Labour and Gender Economics at the International Insti- tute for Social Research, both at the University of Costa tute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotter- Biographies of Contributors 397 dam in The Hague, The Netherlands. She holds a Ph.D. in Address: Dr. Giulia Sinatti, International Institute of Social Agricultural Economics. For the past decade, her research Studies, P.O. Box 29776, 2502 LT The Hague, The Nether- has been concerned with the intersection of global eco- lands. nomic processes with local labour markets, stratified by var- Email: , . ying degrees of formality of work and gender, as well as Website: . other axes of identity. Her work has identified gendered la- bour dimensions in a number of critical fields such as inter- Aly Tandian (Senegal) obtained a Ph.D. in Sociology at the national migration, global production networks, and finan- University of Toulouse 2-Le Mirail, in France where he also cial crises. The geographical focus of her work has been taught for several years in the Sociology Department. He South Asia, and Pakistan in particular. Her major publica- has conducted postdoctoral research at the Center for Eth- tions include: (co-author with J. Lee Pegler, Sietze Vellema): nic and Migration Studies (CEDEM) at the University of “Labour in Globalized Agricultural Value Chains”, in: Liège in Belgium. Since 2006, he has been teaching and re- Helmsing, A.H.J.; Vellema, Sietze (Eds): Value Chains, So- search professor in Sociology at the University Gaston Berg- cial Inclusion and Economic Development: Contrasting er where he leads the Study and Research Group on Migra- Theories and Realities (Milton Park—New York: Routledge, tion and Social Phenomena (Groupe d’Etudes et de 2011); “Strengthening whom? The role of international mi- Recherches sur les Migrations & Faits de Sociétés [GERM]). gration for women and men in Northwest Pakistan”, in: He is an Associated Researcher with the Centre for Anthro- Progress in Development Studies, 10,4 (2010): 345–361; (co- pology (Centre d’Anthropologie, EHESS-CNRS) in Tou- author with Susan Thieme): “Coping on women’s back: so- louse, scientific partner of CEDEM, member of the Trans- cial capital vulnerability links though a gender lens”, in: atlantic Forum on Migration and Integration (USA), and a Current Sociology, 58,5 (2010): 715–737. member of the Consultative Committee of the ACP Ob- servatory on Migration in Brussels. His recent publications Address: Dr. Karin Astrid Siegmann, International Institute include: “Barça ou Barsaax (Aller à Barcelone ou mourir): le of Social Studies, P.O. Box 29776, 2502 LT The Hague, The désenchantement des familles et des candidats à la migra- Netherlands. tion”, in: DIASPORAS, Histoire et Sociétés, No. 9 (2007): Email: . 124–137; “Las technologias de la information y la comunica- Website: . cion: in: Relaciones Internacionales, 14,14 (2010): 75–92. Giulia Sinatti (Italy/United Kingdom) joined the Interna- Address: Dr. Aly Tandian, Département de Sociologie, tional Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Erasmus University Coordonnateur du GERM & Faits de Sociétés, Université Rotterdam as a Research Fellow in 2011. She has a back- Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis BP 5751 Saint-Louis, Sénégal. ground in sociology and holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Ur- Email: . ban and Local Studies from the University of Milan-Bicocca Website: . (2006). She has previously also worked at the Institut Fon- damental d’Afrique Noire (Senegal), London School of Thanh-Dam Truong (Vietnam/The Netherlands) is Associ- Economics, and Goldsmiths College (United Kingdom). ate Professor in Women/Gender and Development Studies Her research is concerned with patterns of migrant mobili- at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Eras- ty and their local effects in sending and receiving societies, mus University Rotterdam. One of the first scholars to have with a particular focus on migrant transnationalism and its provided an academic analysis of the problem of sex tour- relation to social integration in countries of residence and ism in South-East Asia from the perspective of international to transformations in countries of origin. She has spent political economy, she has published widely on subjects many years researching migration between Africa and Eu- such as human development, gender aspects of research, in- rope, covering migrant communities from West and East ternational migration, human trafficking and organized Africa established in different countries of destination. She crime, and the gender dimensions of transition. Her work strives for her work to be policy-relevant and regularly col- has been translated into several languages (Dutch, Japanese, laborates with policymakers in national governments and Indonesian, and Spanish). Her current work addresses the international agencies. Her work has focused on various intersection between transnationalized human security, de- topics, including: migrant identification and belonging; di- velopment ethics, and the ethics of care. Some recent publi- aspora formation, nationalism and transnationalism; migra- cations on the theme of migration include: “Governance tion–development linkages; diaspora engagement in home- and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: Rethinking Best Practic- land development and peace-building; return and circular es in Migration Management”, in: International Social Sci- migration; cohabitation and conflict in ethnically diverse ence Journal, 58,190 (2006): 697–714; (co-editor with Des societies. Some of her recent publications include: “‘Mobile Gasper): “Trans-local Livelihoods and Connections: Em- Transmigrants’ or ‘Unsettled Returnees’? Myth of Return bedding a Gender Perspective into Migration Studies”, Spe- and Permanent Resettlement among Senegalese Migrants”, cial Issue, Gender, Technology and Development, 12,3 in: Population, Space and Place, 17,1 (2011): 153–166; (co-au- (2008); “Feminist Knowledge and Human Security: Bridg- thor with Sandra Paola Alvarez Tinajero): Migration for De- ing Rifts through the Epistemology of Care”, in: Young, velopment: A Bottom-up Approach: A Handbook for Practi- Brigitte; Scherrer, Christopher (Eds.): Gender Knowledge tioners and Policymakers (Brussels: European Commission – Networks in International Political Economy (Baden- UNDP Brussels Office, 2012). Baden: Nomos, 2010): 160–182; (co-author with Amrita Chhachhi): “Gender, poverty, and social justice”, in: R.A. 398 Biographies of Contributors Denemark (Ed.), The International Studies Encyclopedia Yu Zhu (China) is Professor in the School of Geography (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010): 2732–2751; (co-editor and Director of the Centre for Population and Develop- with Des Gasper): Transnational Migration and Human ment Research, Fujian Normal University in China. He is Security: The Migration–Security–Development Nexus (Hei- also Chair of the International Union for the Scientific delberg: Springer, 2011). Study of Population’s (IUSSP) Scientific Panel on the Im- Address: Dr. Thanh-Dam Truong, International Institute of pact of Internal Migration and Urbanization in Developing Social Studies, P.O. Box 29776, 2502 LT The Hague, The Countries; Chair of Asia and Pacific Migration Research Netherlands. Network, Member of the International Advisory Board of Email: . UN Habitat State of the World’s Cities Report 2012/2013, Website: . Member of the first International Advisory Group of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Research Antoinette Vlieger (The Netherlands) completed a Master’s and Training Centre; Council Member of China Population degree in both Dutch law and international law. In addi- Association, Member of the China Population Associa- tion, she completed a minor degree (propedeuse) in cultur- tion’s (CPA) Committee on Migration and Urbanization; al anthropology and the sociology of the non-Western and Deputy Director of the Committee on Population Ge- world. She followed one year of courses in Arabic and the ography, the Geographical Society of China. He received politics of the Middle East, in economics (including devel- his Ph.D. from the Demography Programme at the Austral- opment economics), and in language studies, focusing on ian National University, and his research interests straddle argumentation theory. She worked on corporate law for the two disciplines of demography and human geography, several years before she returned in 2005 to the University focusing on issues relating to migration and urbanization. of Amsterdam. Since then, she has lectured on corporate His recent international publications include: “The settle- law, introduction to law, argumentation theory, contract ment intention of China’s floating population in the cities: law and penal law from meta-legal perspectives, and liability Recent changes and multifaceted individual-level determi- law. Since December 2006 she has worked on a research nants”, in: Population Space and Place, 16,4 (2010): 253– project within the Hugo Sinzheimer Institute of Labour 267; Urban Population–Development–Environment Dy- Law. In 2011 she publicly defended her doctoral disserta- namics in the Developing World: Case Studies and Lessons tion. Her main publications include: “Sharia on domestic Learned (Paris: Committee for International Cooperation workers: legal pluralism and strategic maneuvering in Saudi in National Research in Demography, 2009); “China’s float- Arabia and the Emirates”, in: Journal for Islamic Law and ing population and their settlement intention in the cities: Culture, 12,2 (2010): 166–182; “Dienstbodes in Saoedi-Ara- Beyond the Hukou reform”, in: Habitat International, 31,1 bië; intersectionaliteit en toegang tot het recht”, in: Recht (2007): 65–76; “Patterns of population and employment der Werkelijkheid 32,2 (2011): 47–64; “Domestic Workers in changes in Shanghai in the 1990s: A zonal analysis with in- Saudi Arabia and the Emirates: Trafficking Victims?”, in: In- ternational comparisons”, in: International Development ternational Migration, 50,6 (2012): 180–194; Domestic Planning Review, 28,3 (2006): 287–309. workers in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates: a Socio-Legal Address: Prof. Dr. Yu Zhu, School of Geography, Fujian Study on Conflicts (New Orleans: Quid Pro Books, 2012). Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian Province 350007, Peo- Address: Dr. Antoinette Vlieger, University of Amsterdam, ple’s Republic of China. Oudemanhuispoort 4-6, 1012 CN Amsterdam, The Nether- Email: . lands. Website: . 1078>. Website: . Index A anti-trafficking policy 333, 338 care centres 95 abortion 78, 79, 230, 231, 234, 236 Arab Declaration of Human care chain 33, 70, 88, 106, 107, 217 Abu Dhabi 31, 39, 43, 298 Rights 298 care for elderly 94 access to education Arendt, Hannah 259, 295, 300, 304 care provision 32, 83, 90, 92, 97, 98 liminal legality and migrant Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants 235 care regimes 31, 32, 91 children 313, 314 asistencialismo 360 caste hierarchies (India) 138–140 access to justice 291, 293, 299, 300, Association of Southeast Asian Na- Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the 303, 304 tions (ASEAN) 337 Philippines (CBCP) 230 concept of 297, 299 asylum seekers 11, 248, 249, 255, 329, Central American Jesuit Migration domestic workers 297–299 374, 376 Service 352 Acquired Immune Deficiency Syn- Australia 357 Centre for Population and Develop- drome (AIDS)/ Human Immuno- ment Research at Fujian Normal deficiency Virus (HIV) 95, 182, B University 157 188, 233, 238, 242 Baan Naam 335, 336, 339, 342–346 Centre for Women’s Development Advancing the Rights of Migrant Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) 142 Studies (CWDS) 124, 126, 133, 134, Women in Latin America and the Bamako 267, 268, 270, 271 136, 137, 139, 141, 142, 145–149 Caribbean project 352, 356 Bangkok Declaration on Irregular Mi- Chad 246 advocacy (see also social movements) gration of April 1999 337 Chiapas 194, 195, 198–200, 202, 204 19–22, 205, 229, 231, 233, 244, 275, Bangladesh 378, 384 child beggars 274, 275 281, 285, 286, 288, 352, 361, 370, 380 Bedouin culture 37 child care provision 14, 32, 61, 70, 80, in/visibility of migrants 205–207 begging 266, 268, 270– 276 82, 92, 107, 109, 291, 293 Nicaraguan migrants in Costa Rica circular migrations 267–273 child labour 274, 311, 315, 320 352, 356, 361 multiple conditions of disability and child labour migration 265, 266, 274 Peruvian migrants in Chile 281, 282, migration 270, 271 child migrants/migration 266 285 behaviouralist approaches 369 challenges of accessing education in political intersectionality 244 Beijing Plan of Action, 1995 32 Thailand 309–321 research and advocacy 352, 356, 380, beru 220 legal and institutional frameworks 381 biological reproduction 71, 78, 90, 97, for protection in Mali and sexual and reproductive health 100, 368 Senegal 273–277 (SRH) 229, 230 bokk 219 child trafficking 265, 273–276 Wahhabism movement 297 bonded labour 143 childcare 92, 93 women's movement 124–126, 130, Boonyaratkalin, Sonthi 82 Thailand 80, 81 131, 139, 146, 149, 243, 244 border factories Chile African Charter on the Rights and Wel- regulation and control of migrant Catholic Church 286, 287 fare of the Child, 1999 274 factory workers in Thailand 73–77 civic agency 287, 288 agricultural labour 53–57, 133, 136, 142, boroom kër 220, 222 civil society organizations 281, 285– 144, 178–180, 201 boroom sarret 221 288 agricultural migration 48, 53–57, 63, Bourdieu, Pierre 243, 257 Immigration Department 282 133, 142, 178, 201, 221, 265, 309, 374 Bracero Programme (1944–1964) 178, migration policy and agriculture 48, 51–53, 55, 56, 63, 126, 179 role of NGOs 282, 285–289 129, 132, 133, 140, 142, 144, 145, 148, breadwinner 107, 108, 216, 217, 219, Peruvian migration to 281, 282, 286– 173, 178, 180, 267, 376 335, 338 289, 326–328 Ajia no hanayome (brides from Burma (see Myanmar) China 74, 338, 375–377 Asia) 89 Department of Construction and Al Jazeera English 243, 251, 253–256, 259 C Housing of Fujian Province 157 alebrije 180–181, 185 Calcutta 108 Department of Education of Fuzhou allochtoon 378 Cambodia 307, 311 Municipality 157 Amnesty International 35 Campeche 199, 200, 204 Departments for Labour and Social Annan, Kofi 379 Canada 195 Insurance of Fujian Province 157 anti-immigration policy regimes 384 capitalism 128 T.D. Truong et al. (eds.), Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity, Hexagon Series on Human 399 and Environmental Security and Peace 9, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2, © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. 400 Index Fujian Provincial Population and collective memory 360 Nicaraguan migrants as threatening Family Planning Commission 157 colonialism 29 others 353, 354 internal migrant population 153 colonization 266 Regulations of Alien Affairs 356 Ministry of Construction 156 commercially arranged transnational scope and limitations of social re- Ministry of Finance 156 marriage (CATM) 88 searchers and social activists to People’s Bank of China 156 earning pofits, and constructing intervene 351, 352 Rural Cooperative Medical modernity 94–97 seeking cosmopolitanism-from- Schemes 166 reproductive bargaining below 359–361 China, migration policy process 97–100 critical feminist ethnography 174, 177 developing a clear legal and institu- social reproduction perspective 89– cultural identity 7, 87, 203 tional framework 168, 169 91 Cytotec 236 Fujian Province and women Committee on the Rights of Migrant migrants 156–169 Workers 285 D policy suggestions and approaches common security 378 daaras 274 for the protection of women mi- community work 352, 360, 361 daily/weekly commuters 139 grants’ rights 167–169 complicit masculinity 258 Dakar 50, 55, 220–223, 266–272, 274, progress in migrants’ rights protec- Condet 39, 40 275 tion within the current urban-cen- Confucian family 88, 91–93, 97 decent work 13, 30, 31, 43, 48, 117, 283, tred and residence-based Confucian family ideology 87 300, 310 approach 154–156 Confucian family welfare model 89, demographic crisis 100 survival-oriented to a development- 97 denotified tribes (DNT), India 143 oriented approach shift 168 Confucian values 100 development principle of the hukou 153–155, 158, contemporary migration 367, 374, 382 reconceptualization 377 162–164, 167, 168 Convention Concerning Decent Work Development, Relief, and Education women migrants’ rights and aspects for Domestic Workers 117 for Alien Minors (DREAM) 326 of gender differences 154, 157–162 Convention on the Elimination of All disability 266, 267, 269, 270, 276 women migrants’ complex and di- Forms of Discrimination against district rural development agencies verse migration flows 162–167 Women (CEDAW) 32, 274 (DRDAs), India 143 Chosnjok brides 89 Convention on the Elimination of All domestic labour 106 circular migration 137, 139, 265 Forms of Racial Discrimination domestic labour/work 47, 48, 51–53, begging 267–273 (1965) 284 57–63, 106 longer duration 139 Convention on the Protection of the Filipino men’s and Filipina women’s shorter duration 139 Rights of All Migrant Workers and experience in the Netherlands 106– citizenship 71, 282, 284, 285, 288, 295, Members of Their Families 117 296, 327, 328 (1990) 283, 284, 286 gender identity 110–113 concept of 9, 312 Convention on the Rights of the Child gender politics of social equality 31– connections between social and def- (CRC), 1989 274, 284, 308, 328 33 inition of 283, 299 cosmopolitan identity 359 Hong Kong, Singapore, and Qatar globalized world 282, 283, 286 cosmopolitanism 9, 22, 359, 361, 375 and the implications for workers’ restrictiveness of citizens’ Costa Rica 378 SRH 231–234 inclusion 283, 284 Constitutional Court 351, 356 intersection of class, race, and rights 73 General Division of Migration and gender 113–116 rights and social justice 284, 285 Alien Affairs (DGME) 354–356 production of migrant Saudi and Emirati Employers 300– Political Constitution 355 identities 107, 108 302 Public Security System (Caja Costar- race as social division 108 Thai 74 ricense de Seguro Social role in industrial society 105–107 types of 295, 296 (CCSS)) 356, 358 Senegalese women with irregular sta- civic actors 282, 286, 288, 289 Social Security reports 354 tus in Spain 57–64 translators 286 Costa Rica, immigration policy Sexual and Reproductive Health civic agency 287, 288 2011 census 357 (SRH) and structural civil citizenship 293 absence of recognition of vulnerability 230–234 concept of 302–304 interdependences 357–359 domestic workers domestic workers 299, 300 analytical, normative, and transla- access to justice 297–299 civil movement 302 tion research 354–357 citizenship of 295, 296 civil society 19, 33, 35, 91, 100, 205, anti-immigrant hostility 357–359 civil citizenship 299, 300 208, 227, 230, 231, 267, 275, 281, challenges and evaluation 361, 362 facing conflicts 293 285–288, 328, 382 Migration and Alien Affairs Law, female migrants in United Arab organizations 281, 285–288 2010 351, 354, 355 Emirates 291–304, 325, 326 class 380 Migration Police 356 cognitive invisibility 381 Index 401 female migrants in Saudi F Global Forum on International Migra- Arabia 291–304, 325–328 family labour 127, 181 tion and Development 11 Indonesian migrants in the United family welfare 89, 91, 97 global hypergamy 87 Arab Emirates 30, 31, 33, 34, 36–39, female identity 126, 187 global migration 238, 369, 383 41–43 female migrants (see women migrants) globalization 6, 30, 69, 371 legal status in Hong Kong, Singa- feminine 15, 30, 106, 110–114, 116, 117, citizenship 282–286 pore, and Qatar 232, 233 176, 246, 256, 336, 342 goorgoorlu 220 Dubai 43, 294, 296, 298 femininities 4, 9, 111, 112, 242, 381, 382 governmentality concept 3, 34 Dubai Court of Cassation 296 femininity 106, 107, 111, 112, 346 graduated sovereignty 76 Feminist Critical Ethnography Greater Mekong Subregion E Social Representations Theory (GMS) 333, 334, 337 East Africa 371 (SRT) 176, 177 gross domestic product (GDP) East Asian capitalism 100 feminist research 5, 6, 8, 182 India 133, 148 East Asian family-based welfare regime feminization of migration 369, 381 Thailand 307 transnational marriage 87, 91–94 feminization of survival 30 Guardian, The 243, 251, 253–256, 260 East Asian Miracle 88 focus group discussions (FGDs) 39, Guatemala Economic Community of West African 234, 237 women migrants at Mexico’s south- States (ECOWAS) formal statelessness 328, 329 ern border 194–208 Declaration to fight against Traffick- fosterage 265 Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) 30, ing in Persons (2001) 274 Foucault, Michel 3, 34 33, 34, 36, 39 economic migrants 4, 135, 194, 196, Foundation for Rural Youth 201, 202, 329, 380 (FRY) 308 H ECOSUR (El Colegio de la Frontera France 50, 216 H1N1 virus 238 Sur (The College of the Southern Fujian Provincial Population and Fam- Habermas, Jürgen 174 Border)), Mexico 199 ily Planning Commission, health care 203, 228, 230, 231, 237, 249, egalitarianism 175 China 157 270, 285, 301, 310, 312, 314, 327, 328, Egypt 249, 254, 296, 297, 328 344, 356, 372 El Salvador 329 G health control international embodied labour 32 Gaddafi, Muammar 247, 248, 250– migration 227, 228 employment agencies 256, 258 hegemonic femininity 107, 111, 337 changing political economy of gender hegemonic gender identities migration 338, 339 feminist approaches 3–5 concept and context 107 Laos 335, 338, 346 social structure and structuring hegemonic masculinity 106–108, 110, Enlightenment 9 process 8, 9 111, 114, 217, 223, 224, 245, 246, 255, environmental change 178, 238 gender-enriched perspective on human 256, 258, 334, 346 equality 6, 7, 9, 10, 31, 32, 93, 125, 130, security 379–384 concept of 107, 218 139, 168, 189, 215 gender equality 6, 7, 9, 33, 53, 88, 91, heterosexual family 107 Ethiopia 292 92, 126 High-Level Dialogue on International ethnic cleansing 241 gender identity 8, 31, 34, 106, 107, 109, Migration and Development, ethnic identity 315 112–114, 190, 203, 216, 218 2006 379 ethnicity 12, 17, 61, 73, 76, 89, 90, 100, domestic work 110–113 Ho Chi Minh City 94, 95 154, 199, 206, 208, 221, 224, 229, gender inequalitiy 106, 107, 133 Hong Kong 30, 33, 236 230, 233, 243–245, 380 gendering macro-view on labour domestic workers from the European Migration Network migration 130–134, 147, 148 Philippines 228, 231–237 (EMN) 51 gendering meso-level view on labour Family Planning Programme 233 European Union (EU) 12, 48, 357 migration 134–136, 148 Filipina domestic workers 234 border control 259 gender justice 106, 116, 117 Identification Card (ID) 236 debates on migration and gender relations Occupational Health and Safety citizenship 9 intersectionality and hegemonic Ordinance 232 externalization of migration masculinity 218 Race Discrimination Bill 232 controls 248 transnational families 217, 224 Racial Discrimination Libya 247, 248 gender research 4, 9, 34 Ordinance 237 migration control policies 255 labour migration 34 Sex Discrimination Ordinance 232 regime of migration control 259 gender regime 90 horticulture 55 Schengen Agreement 50 genocides 241 hukou principle (China) 153–155, 158, Senegalese migration 50–53 Germany 378 162–164, 167, 168 Everyday Politics (EDP) 195, 205 Ghana 246 human development 377, 379 in/visibility as a form of 205–208 global care chain 33, 70 Human Development Report of external border regime 12 global ethics 375 1994 11, 12, 377 402 Index human life with dignity 259 India, migration policy 145 international legal norms human reproduction 88, 89, 100 caste hierarchies 138–140 international migration 284–286, human rights 174, 193, 284, 286, 292, changes in women’s migration 140– 289, 338, 339, 362 373, 377–379, 382, 383 149 protection of child migrants in Mali regime of 326 gendering macro-view on labour and Senegal 273–277 Human Rights Commission migration 130–134, 147, 148 international migration Universal Periodic Review of gendering meso-level view on labour adult blind beggars 267 2009 298 migration 134–136, 148 Burmese migrant women workers in human rights law 283 macro-survey 123, 124 Thailand 70–83 Human Rights Watch 293 typology of migration 136–140 Burmese migrant workers in Samut human security 4, 11, 12, 238, 241–244, Indonesia 292, 293, 294, 384 Sakhon 312–315, 318, 319, 325, 327 248, 251, 257 Domestic Workers’ Protection children of migrants in Thailand and gender-enriched perspective 379– Bill 35 challenges of accessing 384 Law No. 39/2004 on the Placement education 309–321, 325 international migration 377–384 and Protection of Indonesian Man- circular migrations for social justice 174, 175 power Abroad 34–36, 39 begging 267–273 Human Security Now report 241, 367 national law on labour migration citizenship in a globalized human trafficking 5, 12, 196, 197, 266, and domestic work 34–36 world 282–286 267, 273, 275, 308, 333, 334, 379 New Order of Suharto 34 Costa Rica debate and Nicaraguan UN definition of 274 Provincial Parliament of migrants 351–362 humanitarian intervention 250, 255 Yogyakarta 35 different regulatory regimes 284– women migrant domestic workers 286 I in the United Arab Emirates 30, 31, factors facilitating or precluding mi- identity card (ID) 33, 51, 202, 236, 317 34–36, 38–43 grants’ mobilization 326, 327 identificatory projection 359 industrialization 32, 33, 91, 303, 304 female migrant domestic workers in identity construction 106, 244, 250 information and communications tech- Saudi Arabia 291–304, 325–328 identity document 77, 81, 197, 201 nology (ICT) 91, 96 female migrant domestic workers in identity formation 6 Institute for Population and Social Re- United Arab Emirates 291–304, 325, in/visibility 204 search (IPSR) 82 326 Everyday Politics (EDP) 205–208 Institute for Social Research at the Filipino men’s and Filipina women’s understanding strategic 203–205 University of Costa Rica 352 experience with domestic work in India 292, 375, 384 Institute of Asian Studies (ISA) 82 the Netherlands 106–117 agrarian crisis 124 institutional discrimination 228, 230 global interconnectedness and glo- constitution, 1950 138 institutional invisibility 381 bal economic forces 371, 372 denotified tribes (DNT) 143 intercontinental migration 216, 218 health control 227, 228 district rural development agencies intergenerational care 88–92, 100 Indonesian migrant domestic work- (DRDAs) 143 International Conference on Popula- ers in the United Arab Emirate 30, gross domestic product (GDP) 133, tion and Development (ICPD), Re- 31, 33, 34, 36–39, 41–43 148 port, Cairo 1994 228 international legal regimes 282, 362 Mahatma Gandhi National Rural International Development Research irregular status 106, 108–117 Employment Guarantee Scheme Center (IDRC) IX, XI, XII, 29, 49, irregular status of Senegalese wom- (MGNREGS) 144 69, 87, 123, 124, 153, 157, 159, 160, en in Spain 48, 49, 51, 52, 57–62, 64 National Industrial Classification 193, 199, 200, 228, 265, 281, 351, 352 Lao-Thai migration in the middle (NIC) 142 International Labour Conference Mekong Valley and the role of em- National Rural Employment Guar- (ILC) 117 ployment agencies 334–346 antee Act, 2005 129 International Labour Organization Latin America 281 National Sample Survey (NSS) 123, (ILO) 48, 274, 284, 285, 296, 307, Malian girls and young women from 124, 128, 129, 131–133, 137, 138, 144 311, 334, 335, 339 rural and peri-urban areas to Dakar National Sample Survey Office 126, Convention 181 on Private Employ- (Senegal) 266–276 127 ment Agencies (1997) 339 national versus market versus hu- other backward classes/castes Convention 97 on Migration for manist frames 375–377 (OBCs) 139, 140, 143 Employment (1949) 338 Peruvian migration to Chile 281, Scheduled Castes (SC) 134, 138– Convention Concerning Decent 282, 286–289, 326–328 140, 143, 145 Work for Domestic Workers 29, 30, Senegalese migrants 216, 218–224 Scheduled Tribes (ST) 134, 138–140, 37 Senegalese women migrants’ eco- 143, 145 International Programme on the nomic and social situation in Elimination of Child Labour 315 Spain 47–64 Index 403 SRH situations of domestic workers K media representations and construc- from the Philippines in Hong Kong, Kafala system 34, 36, 37, 38, 232 tion of masculinities of sub-Saharan Singapore, and Qatar 228, 230–238 khulwa (gender segregation) African migrants 242–259 transnational marriage and the East concept 299, 304 liminal legality IX, 9, 10, 17, 19–21, 189, Asian welfare regime in Taiwan, knowledge migrants 286 282, 293, 300, 304, 312, 318, 320, South Korea, and Vietnam 88–100 Kuwait 294 321, 329, 380, 383 transnational mobility 5, 6 concept 19, 312, 313 treated as exceptional and ethically L domestic workers 300, 304, 325, 326 aberrant 370, 371 experience of migrant children in West Africa 265–269, 273, 274, 276 La Carpio community/project 352 the Thai education system 318–321, Wolof migrants 216, 219, 221, 224 La Gaceta daily 356 325 International Organization for Migra- labour law 297, 299, 303 migrant children and tion (IOM) 30, 246, 308, 315, 372 labour market 48, 50–52, 54, 60–64 education 327, 328 intersectionality (concept of) 106, 217, labour migration 124, 126–134, 136– migrant children’s access to 218, 223, 230, 243, 244, 257 138, 142, 144–149 education 313, 314 key concept to the study of male ex- Burmese workers in Thailand 77–81 Peruvian migrants and 282, 326 periences in migration 224 India 130–149 socio-legal perspective 10 masculinities 243–246 qualitative gender research 34 transnational context 10 meso-dimension 250 Labour Rights Promotion Network vulnerability 312, 313 Sexual and Reproductive Health (LPN) 314, 315, 318 livelihood (SRH) and structural Laos 307, 311, 373 multiple conditions of disability and vulnerability 228–230 emergence of a migration migration for begging 270, 271 intra-national migration 15, 16, 178, regime 337–339 long-distance commuters 137 179, 369, 370, 384 employment agencies 335, 338– 340, long-term migrant 137, 139, 285 intraregional migration 281, 282 342–346 longue durée 5 invisibility Memorandum of Understanding cognitive 381 (MoU) on Employment M concept of 381, 382 Cooperation 337–339 institutional 381 migration in the middle Mekong Mae Sot (Thai province of Tak) 72–83 Valley 334–346 Mae Tao Clinic 78, 79, 81multiple layers 381, 382 social 381 Lebanon 294 Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Em- statistical 381 legal culturalism 301 ployment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), India 144 strategic 381 legal identity 31, 380 legal liminality (see liminal legality) Mahbub ul Haq 377women migrants 204 women’s migration 381–384 legal non-existence concept 313 mahram 299 legal sociology 292 Malaysia 30, 33, 34, 378irregular immigration status 372–374 male femininities 107, 110, 112, 114, 116 Filipino men and Filipina woman in legal status 312, 313 the Netherlands 106, 108–117 developing a clear framework in male migrants 15, 19, 21, 82, 106, 108, 110, 116, 133, 134, 137, 138, 158, 159, Guatemalan migrant workers in China 168, 169 161–164, 167, 169, 203, 216, 217, Mexico 208 migration regime in Laos 337–339 Senegalese women in Spain 48, 49, migrant domestic workers in Hong 265, 333–335, 340, 341, 343, 346, 376 masculinity and the limitations of 51, 52, 57–62, 64 Kong, Singapore, and Qatar 232, 233 male privilege 343–346Thailand 82 irregular short-term migrant 137, 139 national law on labour migration San Martín Tilcajete, Mexico 179, and domestic work in 180Islamic brotherhoods 219, 223 Indonesia 34–36 transnational families, intersection-Islamic education 274 Islamic gentrification 39 national law on labour migration ality, and hegemonic and domestic work in United Arab masculinity 217, 218, 223, 224Islamic law 296 Emirates (UAE) 34–39 vulnerability of 333, 334Italy 33, 216, 248, 249, 378 liberalism 376 Mali 246, 384 Libya migration of girls and young women J Friendship, Partnership and Cooper- from rural and peri-urban areas to Jakarta 39 ation Treaty, 2008 248 Dakar 266–276 Japan 33, 88, 372, 378 migration regime 246–249 Malta 249 migrant sex workers 78 rentier state 245 manhood 217–222 jus sanguinis 9 transnational mass migration 247 marginalized masculinities 246, 256, jus soli 9 Libya, conflict/war, 2011 258 media and the creation of human in- marriage migration 127, 128, 129 security and information 251–257 literature on 89 media narratives 255 Marxist theory 301 404 Index masculine hegemonic power 100 USA 178, 179, 329 migration regime 249, 259, 283, 285, masculine identity 110 women migration in San Martín 286, 288, 326, 328, 368, 373, 384 masculinities 4, 9, 19, 107, 188, 216, Tilcajete 181–190 Lao 337–339 242, 245, 246, 251, 252, 256, 257, migrant advocacy (see advocacy) Libya 246–249 334–336, 381, 382 migrant children 20, 80–82, 155, 275, nation-state projects and temporary construction of 335, 336 308 and irregular workers 372–374 intersectionality concept 243–246 education and liminal legality 327, migration research 4–6, 369, 383 limitations of male privilege 343, 328 future tasks 383, 384 346 education in Samut Sakhon 314–318 Sexual and Reproductive Health sub-Saharan black African migrants liminal legality and the Thai educa- (SRH) 228–231, 233–238 and the Libya war, 2011 242–259 tion system 318–321 migration streams 369 mass migration 247 liminal legality and access to migration theories/approaches Mauritania 267 education 313, 314 behaviouralist 369 mbaraan 222 providing education in conceptualization 3–5 mbokk 219 Thailand 308, 309 development paradigms and media representations Thai policy 311 gender 126–130 construction of masculinities of sub- migrant domestic work feminist approaches 3–5 Saharan black African migrants and literature on 295, 296 feminist critique of 335 the Libya war, 2011 242–259 migrant for family care 139 gender impacts 3–5 medium-term migration 137–139 migrant identity human development and human se- memory domestic work 107, 108 curity perspective 377–384 socio-historical construction 360 race and gender relationship 108 New Economics of Labour 217, 218 Mexico 73, 384 migrant labour organization 34 state-centric 5 ECOSUR (El Colegio de la Frontera migrant men (see male migrants) structural inequality, vulnerability Sur) 199 migrant safety 333, 334, 337, 338, 340, and North-South relations 4 EMIF-Sur survey (Encuesta sobre 343, 346 transnational 5, 6 Migración en la Frontera Sur (South- migrant vulnerability 21, 70, 114, 130, migration typology ern Border Migratory Survey) 199 158, 203, 208, 238, 242, 248, 276, caste hierarchies in India 138–140 Guatemalan women migrants 194– 286, 333, 337, 338, 345, 346 developing of 136– 138 208 Burmese migrant women Migration, Gender and Social Justice Migratory Form for Frontier Work- workers 70, 73 (MGSJ) research project 380, 384 ers (FMTF) 197 concept 4, 11, 257 Migratory Form for Frontier Workers Migratory Form for Local Visitors domestic workers 62, 109, 114, 228 (FMTF) 197 (FMVL) 197 employment and income 158 Migratory Form for Local Visitors National Institute of Migration’s Re- female migrants 343 (FMVL) 197 gional Delegation 198 gendered differences 242, 346 migratory movements National Migration Institute intersectionality and 244, 245, 266, complexity of 265 (INM) 198 285 misrecognition concept 327 national security 197 irregular immigration status 114 mobility 367, 380, 383, 384 National Security Council 198 liminal legal status 312, 313, 328 Morocco 52, 54, 292 National Survey on Malian guides of beggars 273, 275, mujeridades 190 Discrimination 198 285 murder of migrants 198 Mexican Revolution 178 North versus South 371 Myanmar 307, 311 South Beta Group of Migrant masculinity and 21, 334, 337 migrant women workers in Protection 198 migrant students 315 Thailand 70 Southern Border Migratory Netherlands 109, 114 migrant workers in Samut Survey 199 sexual and reproductive health Sakhon 312–315, 318, 319, 325, 327 Zapatista movement 195 (SRH) 230, 238 Mexico City 199 structural vulnerability 228–230, 380 N Mexico, migration policy violent conflicts 243, 245–249 Nasser, Gamal Abdel 247 Bracero Programme (1944– workers 13, 36 nation 1964) 178, 179 migrant women (see women migrants) definition 4 gender and woodcarving in San migrants for family care 138 National Domestic Workers Alliance, Martín Tilcajete 177–181 migration business 10 USA 29 male migration in San Martín migration chains 6, 8, 12 national identity 34, 368, 373, 378 Tilcajete 179, 180 migration crisis 253, 255 National Industrial Classification Mexican Experiences of Immigra- migration management 195, 337, 338, (NIC), India 142 tion study, 1994 189 372 national labour movements 117 Mexican Women and the Other migration process 5, 10 Side of Immigration study 189 Index 405 National Sample Survey (NSS), P reproductive health 231, 234, 238 India 123, 124, 128, 129, 131, 133, Pakistan 296 definition of 228, 230, 231 137, 138, 144 pan-Arabism 247 Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) national security 194, 196, 198, 208, patriarchal family 130 principle 12, 241, 242, 248, 257, 259 308–311, 314, 382 permanent migration 136 right to education 308, 309, 311, 321 nationalism 10, 359, 371, 376 permanent migratory circulation 142 right to have rights approach 259 nationality 9, 36, 38, 74, 76, 80, 82, 116, permanent settlement paradigm 127, river blindness 266, 267, 270, 276 189, 233, 243, 285, 308, 313, 315, 321, 128, 147 rural-to-urban migration 30, 126, 144, 356, 359, 377 personal security 272, 273, 276 148 nationality verification process 74, 75 Philippines 292–294, 384 Russia 376 nation-state 3, 5, 6, 11, 22, 281–285, 288, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the 368-374, 380, 382, 383 Philippines (CBCP) 230 S usage 368 hegemonic masculinity of urban Samut Sakhon Educational Service NATO middle-class men 107 Area 315 humanitarian intervention 250 political refugees 329 Samut Sakhon province Libya conflict, 2011 249, 250 Poo, Ai-Jen 29 (Thailand) 309, 311, 312, 314–316, Navetanat system (Senegal) 267 Portugal 372 318 neo-liberalism 376 postcolonial theory 301 SARS 238 Nepal 292 postmodernism 301 Saudi Arabia 30, 39 Netherlands 105, 206, 376, 378 post-structuralism 355 female migrant domestic Filipino men’s and Filipina women’s privi-legium concept 295, 304 workers 291–304, 325–328 experience with domestic probability proportional to size Governor’s Office in Riyadh 294 work 106–117 (PPS) 157 Human Rights Commission 301 migrant domestic workers’ proliferation of weapons of mass labour law 297, 301 experiences 108, 109 destruction 12 legal systems 297 migrants with irregular status 106, projective identification 358 National Society for Human 108–117 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Pun- Rights 298 paid labour market 109 ish Traffic in Persons Especially Saudi Basic Governance 298 New Economics of Labour Migration Women and Children 273 Universal Periodic Review of theory 217, 218 Protocol to the African Charter on Hu- 2009 298 New York Times 243, 251, 253–256, 260 man and Peoples’ Rights on the Save the Children 315 Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs) Rights of Women in Africa, Scheduled Castes (SC), India 134, 138– in Asia 73 2003 274 140, 143, 145 Nicaragua 378 public community 300, 303, 304 Scheduled Tribes (ST), India 134, 138, Niger river 270 public sociology 22, 352 139, 140, 143, 145, 148 Nigeria 246 securitability 377 non-governmental organizations Q segmented assimilation 312 (NGOs) 5, 57, 72, 81, 233, 257, 275, Senegal 372 282, 285–289, 294, 297, 308, 309, Qatar 314, 315, 326, 327, 356, 360, 362 Filipina domestic workers 228, 231– challenges to manhood and emerg- North American Free Trade Agree- 235, 237 ing masculinities 221–224 Interior Ministry 233 emigration 216ment (NAFTA) 194, 196 kafala system 232 Labour Directorate 49 Sponsorship Law, 1963 232 markers of manhood and migrants O Quintana Roo 199, 200, 203 within their transnational Oaxaca 177–179, 189 families 218–221 Obama administration 329 R migration of Malian girls and young Office of Education Council (OEC) women from rural and peri-urban ar- Education Provision for Disadvan- race 3, 7, 76, 89, 100, 106, 107, 116, 117, eas to Dakar 266–276 taged Children 308 216, 218, 232, 243, 245, 380 Ministry of the Interior 49 Oman 42 Rak Thai Foundation 315 National Youth Employment Onchocerciasis 266 Rawls, John 370, 371 Agency 49 Organisation for Economic Co-opera- Reagan Administration 353 Navetanat system 267 tion and Development reproductive bargain 14, 70, 83, 89, 94, Structural Adjustment (OECD) 50, 52 100 Programme 50 organized crime 12, 194, 197, 273 commercially arranged transnational Wolof 216, 219, 221, 224 other backward classes/castes (OBCs), marriage (CATM) 97–100 women migrants’ economic and so- India 139, 140, 143 concept of 90 cial situation in Spain 47–64 reproductive care labour 92 settled migrants 384 sexual abuse 202 406 Index Sexual and Reproductive Health Social Representations Theory sub-Saharan Africans’ migrants (SRH) 18 (SRT) 174, 176 media representations of construc- domestic workers and structural concept 175, 176 tion of masculinities in the Libya vulnerability 230–234, 238 Feminist Critical Ethnography 176, conflict, 2011 242–259 individual problems and intersecting 177 Sudan 296 power relations 234–238 social reproduction 8, 70, 71, 89, 90, Suharto, Haji Mohamed 34 perspective of intersectionality and 91, 93, 100 symbolic violence 251, 257, 258 structural vulnerability 228–230 commercially arranged transnational concept 243 sexual ethics 229 marriage (CATM) 89–91 media representations of the Libyan sexual exploitation 308 crisis in Vietnam 92–94 Conflict, 2011 249–251 sexual harassment 76 social rights 326 sexual health 228 social stratification 282, 283 T sexual identity 31, 377 societal integration 167 Tabasco 195, 199 sexual industry 311 societal reproduction 369 Taiwan 33 sexual labour 8 Somalia 292 arranged transnational marriage in sexual orientation 17 South Africa 378 the context of the East Asian welfare sexual politics 187 South Korea 33 regime 88, 89, 91, 92, 94–100 sexual services 8, 265, 368 arranged transnational marriage in talibés 274 sexual violence 206, 244, 246, 273, 293 the context of the East Asian welfare temporary legality 313 sexuality 90, 97, 100, 115, 188, 218, 227, regime 88, 89, 91, 92–100 temporary migration 124, 127, 133, 136, 230, 231, 233–235, 238, 337 South–South migration 384 137, 147 Sexually Transmitted Diseases Spain 216, 372 Temporary Protected Status (STDs) 233 agricultural work scheme, process (TPS) 329 Sharia court 298 and outcomes 53–57 temporary workers 372–374 Sharia/Islamic law 292, 296–298, 301, Contingente de Trabajadores terrorism 12 302 Extranjeros 53 Thailand 372, 373, 378, 384 short-term migrants 127, 131–137 Foreigners Acts 52–54 administration of labour migration short-term seasonal migrants 137, 139 labour market 53, 61 policy 310, 311 Singapore 30, 33, 88 legislation for seasonal workers 54, Burmese migrant women domestic Filipina workers 228, 231– 55 workers 70–83 234, 236, 237 Ministry of Labour 64 childcare 80, 81 slavery 29, 218, 374 Ministry of Youth 55 children of migrants and challenges social citizenship 302–304 Moroccan migration 52, 64 of accessing education 309–321, 325 social equality 31 National Agency for Youth Employ- creating ‘cheap labour’ for export social factory 31, 32, 39 ment (ANEJ) 55 industries 73–76 social identity 228, 355 National Commission for Manage- economic situation 82 social imaginaries 352, 357, 358 ment and Monitoring of Job Education for All Cabinet Resolu- Nicaraguan migrants in Costa Offers 55 tion of 2005 308, 315 Rica 353, 354, 357–359 Plan Estratégico de Ciudadanía e In- expansion of economy and large na- social inclusion tegración (Strategic Plan for Citizen- tional demand for labour 307 concept of 283 ship and Integration), 2007-2010 64 Foreign Employment Acts 309 social invisibility 381 Senegalese women migrants’ eco- gross domestic product (GDP) 307 social justice 3, 4, 9–12, 17, 19–21, 117, nomic and social situation 47–64 Immigration Act 1979 309 174–176, 180, 181, 187, 189, 215, 276, welfare system 52 irregular migrant workers 82 283, 284–288, 379–381 Work Departments and Provincial Labour Protection Act of 1998 309 all-affected principle 11 Labour Inspectorate 54 Labour Rights Promotion Network human security 174, 175 Sri Lanka 292 (LPN) 314, 315, 318 humanity principle 10 state security 241 memoranda of understanding migration needs 380 statistical invisibility 381 (MOU) with neighbouring reflexive and dialogical approach 10 strategic invisibility 381 countries 71, 74, 311 social movements 8, 10, 12, 117, 125, stratification 282, 283 migrant children policy 311 194, 207, 253, 297, 302, 326, 329, structural inequality vulnerability 4 migrant labour in Samut Sakhon 383 structural vulnerability 228–230, 238 Province 311, 312 social policy 89, 100 domestic workers and Sexual and migration in the middle Mekong social positioning 89, 97, 99, 100 Reproductive Health (SRH) Valley 334–346 social representations problems 230–234, 238 Ministry of Education (MOE) 311, virility 188 Sexual and Reproductive Health 315, 316 (SRH) and intersectionality 228– Ministry of the Interior (MOI) 311, 230 315, 320, subordinated masculinity 258 Index 407 Ministry of Labour (MOL) 310, 314, transnational migration/migrants (see United Nations Educational, Scientific 315, 317 also international migration) 5, 6, and Cultural Organization Mon-Thai community 315 9, 10, 17, 20, 21, 43, 48, 64, 175, 216, (UNESCO) 4, 180 policy on labour migration 309–312 219, 221, 223, 224, 287, 288, 354 ‘Education for All’ campaign 308 providing education to migrant conception of 371 United States of America (USA) 33, children 308, 309 West African 219 195, 327, 357, 372, 378 regulation and control of migrant women 107 debates on migration and factory workers 73–77 transnational migratory practices 216 citizenship 9, 10 restricting women migrant workers’ transnational mobility 5, 6 Deferred Action programme and mobility 76, 77 transnational motherhood 217 refugees from El Salvador 329 Royal Thai Government 337 transnational relations National Domestic Workers Royal Thai Police 315 equality and social justice Alliance 29 Special Economic Zone in Mae implications 215 Universal Declaration of Human Sot 75 transnational reproductive labour 71 Rights (1948) 284 Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association transnational spaces 217, 288 urban- and residence-based (YCOWA) 72 transnationalism 34, 216, 359 approach 153, 155, 162 Thailand Development Research Insti- Tunisia 249 urban citizenship 153 tute (TDRI) 82 urban integration 153, 167 tileño 179, 186, 190 U urban migration 145 Trachoma 266 Understanding Children’s Work 68 transnational care 217 (UCW) 274 urbanization 126, 173, 266 transnational cooperation 34 United Arab Emirates (UAE) 12, 13, usual place of residence (UPR) 123, transnational crime 196, 273, 276 20, 29–45, 291-306, 328 127, 131–133 transnational economy of care 33 Federal Law No. 8 on labour 34, transnational families 17, 20, 34, 43, 36–38 V 89, 90, 100, 218, 221–224 female migrant domestic Vietnam 74 challenges to manhood for Senega- workers 291–304, 325, 326 Agricultural Decision No. 10 in lese migrants 221–224 Immigration Office 38 1988 93 Confucian (East Asian) family 88– Indonesian migrant domestic arranged transnational marriage in 92, 100 workers 30, 31, 33, 34, 36–39, 41– 43 the context of the East Asian welfare gender relations 217, 224 Kafala system 34, 36–38 regime 88, 89, 91–100 intersectionality and hegemonic labour law 296 Chinese Codes 92 masculinity 217, 218, 223, 224 legal systems 296, 297 Civil Codes 92, 93 markers of manhood for Senegalese Ministry of the Interior 298 Doi Moi reform 93 migrants 218–221 national law on labour migration Family Law 92–94 Spain and Morocco 52, 53 and domestic work 34–39 Hong Duc Code 92 Spain and Senegal 59 United Kingdom 206 household contract-based system study/research of 215–217 United Nation Children’s Fund (khoan ho) 93 transnational migration regime 31, (UNICEF) 308 rural sector 92–94 34 United Nations (UN) social reproduction crisis 92–94 transnational father 223 human security 4 virility 188 transnational health challenges 238 Human Security Now report 241 transnational justice 10 Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) W transnational labour markets 339 principle 241, 242, 248, 257, 259 Waiji/dalu Xinniang (foreign/main- transnational labour migration 31, 35, Security Council 248 land brides) in Taiwan 89 43 United Nations Charter 11 war crimes 241 transnational labour movements 117 United Nations Children’s Fund wasta concept 302, 303 transnational marriages 89, 91, 94, 96, (UNICEF) 274 welfare regimes 16, 87, 88, 91, 93, 100 100 United Nations Convention on Trans- gender 90 definition 89, 90 national Organized Crime Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthro- East Asian family-based welfare (UNCTOC) 273 pological Research 352 regime 91–94 Protocols on Human Trafficking West Africa social reproduction and the repro- and Human 196 international migration 265–267, ductive bargain 90, 91 United Nations Development Fund 269, 273, 274, 276 Taiwan, South Korea, and Vietnam for Women (UNIFEM) 335 Wolof 216, 219, 221, 224 and the East Asian welfare United Nations Development Pro- women migrants/migration 6–9, 124, regime 88–100 gramme (UNDP) 164, 369, 370, 379–381, 384 Human Development Report of changes in India 140–149 1994 11, 12 Everyday Politics (EDP) 205–208 408 Index Fujian Province (China) 156–169 gender equality and rights 6–8 living in situations of invisibility 204 in/visibility of 203–205 invisibility and re-cognition 381–384 policy suggestions and approaches for the protection of rights in China 167–169 rights and aspects of gender differ- ences in China 157–162 San Martín Tilcajete, Mexico 181– 190 women’s movement 124–126, 128–131, 137, 139, 146, 149 woodcarving 173, 174, 177, 180, 181, 186, 188–190 World Bank 339, 378 World Health Organization (WHO) 229 World Heritage Site 180 World Migration Report 370 World Social Forum 11 X xenophobia 4, 199, 358–360, 372, 374 Y Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association (YCOWA), Thailand 72 Z Zapatista movement 195 Zapotec language 177 Zapotec origin 177 Zapotec world outlook 189 Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace (HESP) This book series includes monographs and edited volumes that cross scientific disciplines and develop common ground among scientists from the natural and social sciences, as well as from North and South, addressing common challenges and risks for humankind in the 21st century. The ‘hexagon’ represents six key factors contributing to global environmental change – three nature-induced or supply factors: soil, water and air (atmosphere and climate), and three human-induced or demand factors: population (growth), urban systems (habitat, pollution) and rural systems (agriculture, food). Throughout the history of the earth and of homo sapiens these six factors have interacted. The supply factors have created the pre- conditions for life while human behaviour and economic consumption patterns have also contributed to its challenges (increase in extreme weather events) and fatal outcomes for human beings and society. The series covers the complex interactions among these six fac- tors and their often extreme and in a few cases fatal outcomes (hazards/disasters, internal displacement and migrations, crises and conflicts), as well as crucial social science con- cepts relevant for their analysis. Further issues related to three basic areas of research: approaches and schools of environ- ment, security, and peace, especially in the environmental security realm and from a human security perspective, will be addressed. The goal of this book series is to contribute to a fourth phase of research on environmental security from a normative peace research and/ or human security perspective. In this series, the editor welcomes books by natural and so- cial scientists, as well as by multidisciplinary teams of authors. The material should address issues of global change (including climate change, desertification, deforestation), and its impacts on humankind (natural hazards and disasters), on environmentally-induced migra- tion, on crises and conflicts, as well as for cooperative strategies to cope with these chal- lenges either locally or in the framework of international organizations and regimes. From a human-centred perspective, this book series offers a platform for scientific commu- nities dealing with global environmental and climate change, disaster reduction, human, en- vironmental and gender security, peace and conflict research, as well as for the humanitar- ian aid and the policy community in national governments and international organizations. The series editor welcomes brief concept outlines and original manuscripts as proposals. If they are considered of relevance, these proposals will be peer-reviewed by specialists in the field from the natural and the social sciences. Inclusion in this series will also require a pos- itive decision by the publisher’s international editorial conference. Prior to publication, the manuscripts will be assessed by the series editor and external peer reviewers. Mosbach, Germany, May 2013 Hans Günter Brauch, Free University of Berlin and AFES-PRESS Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace (HESP) Edited by Hans Günter Brauch, Free University of Berlin, UNU-EHS and AFES-PRESS Vol. 1: Hans Günter Brauch, P. H. Liotta, Antonio Marquina, Paul Rogers, Mohammad El-Sayed Selim (Eds.): Security and Environment in the Mediterranean - Concep- tualising Security and Environmental Conflicts. With Forewords by the Hon. Lord Robertson, Secretary General of NATO, and the Hon. Amre Moussa, Secre- tary General of the League of Arab States (Berlin – Heidelberg – New York: Sprin- ger, 2003). ISBN: 978-3-540-40107-0 (Print) ISBN: 978-3-642-55854--2 (Online) DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-55854-2 Vol. 2: Hillel Shuval, Hassan Dweik (Eds.): Water Resources in the Middle East: Israel- Palestinian Water Issues – from Conflict to Cooperation (Berlin – Heidelberg – New York: Springer-Verlag, 2007). ISBN: 978-3-540-69508-0 (Print) ISBN: 978-3-540-69509-7 (Online) DOI 10.1007/978-3-540-69509-7 Vol. 3: Hans Günter Brauch, Úrsula Oswald Spring, Czeslaw Mesjasz, John Grin, Pál Dunay, Navnita Chadha Behera, Béchir Chourou, Patricia Kameri-Mbote, P.H. Liotta (Eds.): Globalization and Environmental Challenges: Reconceptualizing Security in the 21st Century (Berlin – Heidelberg – New York: Springer-Verlag, 2008). ISBN : 978-3-540-75976-8 (Print) ISBN : 978-3-540-75977-5 (Online) DOI 10.1007/978-3-540-75977-5 Vol. 4: Hans Günter Brauch, Úrsula Oswald Spring, John Grin, Czeslaw Mesjasz, Patricia Kameri-Mbote, Navnita Chadha Behera, Béchir Chourou, Heinz Krummenacher (Eds.): Facing Global Environmental Change: Environmental, Human, Energy, Food, Health and Water Security Concepts (Berlin – Heidelberg – New York: Sprin- ger-Verlag, 2009). ISBN: 978-3-540-68487-9 (Print) ISBN: 978-3-540-68488-6 (Online) DOI 10.1007/978-3-540-68488-6 Vol. 5: Hans Günter Brauch, Úrsula Oswald Spring, Czeslaw Mesjasz, John Grin, Patricia Kameri-Mbote, Béchir Chourou, Pal Dunay, Jörn Birkmann (Eds.): Coping with Global Environmental Change, Disasters and Security - Threats, Challenges, Vul- nerabilities and Risks (Berlin - Heidelberg - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2011). ISBN: 978-3-642-17775-0 (Print) ISBN: 978-3-642-17776-7 (Online) DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-17776-7 Vol. 6: Thanh-Dam Truong, Des Gasper (Eds.): Transnational Migration and Human Security: The Migration - Development - Security Nexus. Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace, vol. 6 (Heidelberg – Dordrecht – London – New York: Springer, 2011). ISBN 978-3-642-12756-4 (Print) ISBN 978-3-642-12757-1 (Online) DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-12757-1 Vol. 7: Úrsula Oswald Spring (Ed.): Water Resources in Mexico. Scarcity, Degradation, Stress, Conflicts, Management, and Policy. Hexagon Series on Human and Envi- ronmental Security and Peace, vol. 7 (Heidelberg – Dordrecht – London – New York: Springer, 2011). ISBN: 978-3-642-05431-0 (Print) ISBN 978-3-642-05432-7 (Online) DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-05432-7 Vol. 8: Jürgen Scheffran; Michael Brzoska; Hans Günter Brauch; Peter Michael Link; Janpeter Schilling (Eds.): Climate Change, Human Security and Violent Conflict: Challenges for Societal Stability. Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace, vol. 8 (Berlin - Heidelberg - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2012). ISBN: 978-3-642-28625-4 (Print) ISBN 978-3-642-28626-1 (Online) DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28626-1 Vol. 9: ThanhDam Truong, Des Gasper, Jeff Handmaker, Sylvia I. Bergh, (Eds.): Migra- tion, Gender and Social Justice – Perspectives on Human Insecurity. Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace, vol. 9 (Heidelberg – Dor- drecht – London – New York: Springer-Verlag, 2013). ISBN: 978-3-642-28011-5 (Print) ISBN 978-3-642-28012-2 (Online) DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2 In Planning Vol. 10: Hans Günter Brauch, Úrsula Oswald Spring, John Grin, Jürgen Scheffran (Eds.): Sustainability Transition and Sustainable Peace Handbook. Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace 10 (Heidelberg - New York - Dor- drecht - London: Springer-Verlag, 2014). Vol. 11: Czeslaw Mesjasz: Stability, Turbulence or Chaos? Systems Thinking and Security. Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace, vol. 11 (Berlin - Heidelberg - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2014). Authors or editors who would like to have their publication project considered for inclu- sion in this series should contact both the series editor: PD Dr. phil. habil. Hans Günter Brauch, Alte Bergsteige 47, 74821 Mosbach, Germany Phone: 49-6261-12912 FAX: 49-6261-15695 Email afes@afes-press.de http://www.afes-press.de and http://www.afes-press-books.de/html/hexagon.htm and the publisher: Dr. Christian Witschel, Editorial Director, Earth Sciences, Geosciences Editorial, Springer-Verlag Tiergartenstraße 17, 69121 Heidelberg, Germany Email Christian.Witschel@springer.com http://www.springer.com Springer: AFES-PRESS: • • SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace Edited by Hans Günter Brauch, Free University of Berlin, UNU-EHS and AFES-PRESS Vol. 1: Mely Caballero-Anthony, Youngho Chang and Nur Azha Putra (Eds.): Energy and Non-Traditional Security (NTS) in Asia. SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace, vol. 1 (Heidelberg - Dordrecht - London - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2012). Vol. 2: Mely Caballero-Anthony, Youngho Chang and Nur Azha Putra (Eds.): Rethinking Energy Security in Asia: A Non-Traditional View of Human Security. Springer- Briefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace, vol. 2 (Heidelberg – Dordrecht - London - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2012). Vol. 3: Philip Jan Schäfer: Human and Water Security in Israel and Jordan. SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace, vol. 3 (Heidelberg - Dordrecht - London - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2013). Vol. 4: Gamal M. Selim: Euro-American Approaches to Arms Control and Confidence- Building Measures in the Middle East: A Critical Assessment from the South. SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace, vol. 4 – Mediter- ranean Studies Subseries No. 1 (Heidelberg - Dordrecht - London - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2013). Vol. 5: Charlène Cabot: Climate Change and Security Risks in Africa. A Case Study of Farmer-Herder Conflicts over Natural Resources in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Burkina Faso. SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace, vol. 5 – (Heidelberg - Dordrecht - London - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2013). Vol. 6: Lourdes Arizpe, Cristina Amescua: Anthropological Perspectives on Intangible Cul- tural Heritage. SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace, vol. 6 (Heidelberg - Dordrecht - London - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2013). Vol. 7: Ebru Gencer: Natural Disasters and Risk Management in Urban Areas: A Case Study of the Istanbul Metropolitan Area. SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace, vol. 7 – Mediterranean Studies Subseries No. 2 (Heidel- berg - Dordrecht - London - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2013). Vol. 8: Selim Kapur, Sabit Er ahin (Eds.): Soil Security for Eco-system Management Sprin- gerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace, vol. 8 – Mediterra- nean Studies Subseries No. 3 (Heidelberg - Dordrecht - London - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2013). Vol. 9: Zairina Othman, Sity Daud, Rashila Ramli: Human Security and Peace in Archipe- lagicSoutheast Asia. SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace, vol. 9, ASEAN Studies Subseries No. 1 (Heidelberg - Dordrecht - London - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2014). Vol. 10: Nur Azha Putra, Aulalia Han (Eds.): Governments Responses to Climate Change: Selected Examples from Asia-Pacific. SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace, vol. 10 – ASEAN Studies Subseries No. 1 (Heidelberg - Dordrecht - London - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2014). Vol. 11: Sara Hellmüller, Martina Santschi (Eds.): Is Local Beautiful? Peacebuilding between International Interventions and Locally Led Initiatives. SpringerBriefs in Environ- ment, Security, Development and Peace, vol. 11 - Peace and Security Studies Subseries No. 1. (Heidelberg - Dordrecht - London - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2014). Vol. 12: Úrsula Oswald Spring, Hans Günter Brauch, Keith G. Tidball (Eds.): Expanding Peace Ecology: Security, Sustainability, Equity and Peace: Perspectives of IPRA's Ecology and Peace Commission. SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Develop- ment and Peace, vol. 12 – Peace and Security Studies Subseries No. 2 (Heidelberg - Dordrecht - London - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2014). Vol. 13: Lourdes Arizpe: Beyond Culture: Conviviability and the Sustainable Transition. SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace, vol. 13 (Heidel- berg - Dordrecht - London - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2014). Vol. 14: Liliana Rivera-Sánchez, Fernando Lozano-Ascencio (Eds.): The Practice of Research on Migration and Mobilities. SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace, vol. 14 - Migration Studies Subseries No. 1 (Heidelberg - Dordrecht - London - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2014). Vol. 15: Yongyuth Chalamwong - Naruemon Thabchumpon (Eds.): Livelihood Opportuni- ties, Labour Market, Social Welfare and Social Security in Temporary Sheltered and Surrounding Communities. SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Develop- ment and Peace, vol. 15 - Migration Studies Subseries No. 2 (Heidelberg - Dor- drecht - London - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2014). Vol. 16: Suwattana Thadaniti (Ed.): The Impact of Displaced People's Temporary Shelters on their Surrounding Environment. SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace, vol. 16 - Migration Studies Subseries No. 3 (Heidelberg - Dordrecht - London - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2014). Vol. 17: Premjai Vungsiriphisal and Dares Chusri (Eds.): Royal Thai Government Policy and Donor, INGO/NGO and UN Agency Delivery of Humanitarian Assistance for Displaced Persons from Myanmar. SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace, vol. 17 - Migration Studies Subseries No. 4 (Heidelberg - Dordrecht - London - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2014). Vol. 18: Ben Harkins, Nawita Direkwut, Aungkana Kamonpetch (Eds.): Resettlement of Displaced Persons on the Thai-Myanmar Border – Executive Summary and Recommendations. SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace, vol. 18 – Migration Studies Subseries No. 5 (Heidelberg - Dordrecht - Lon- don - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2014). Authors or editors who would like to have their publication project considered for inclu- sion in this series should contact both the series editor: PD Dr. phil. habil. Hans Günter Brauch, Alte Bergsteige 47, 74821 Mosbach, Germany Phone: 49-6261-12912 – FAX: 49-6261-15695 – Email: afes@afes-press.de http://www.afes-press.de and http://www.afes-press-books.de and the publisher: Dr. Johanna Schwarz, Editor, Earth Sciences, Geosciences Editorial, Springer-Verlag Tiergartenstraße 17, 69121 Heidelberg, Germany Email: Johanna.Schwarz@springer.com and http://www.springer.com Springer: AFES-PRESS: Springer Briefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice (PSP) Edited by Hans Günter Brauch, Free University of Berlin, UNU-EHS and AFES-PRESS Vol. 1: Arthur H. Westing: Arthur H. Westing: Pioneer on the Environmental Impact of War. SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice No. 1 - presented by Hans Günter Brauch (Heidelberg - New York - Dordrecht - London: Springer-Verlag, 2013). Vol. 2: Rodolfo Stavenhagen: Pioneer on Indigenous Rights. Springer Briefs in Pioneers in Science and Practice No. 2 - presented by Ursula Oswald Spring (Heidelberg - Dor- drecht - London - New York: Springer-Verlag, 2013). Vol. 3: Rodolfo Stavenhagen: The Emergence of Indigenous Peoples. Springer Briefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice, vol. 3, Subseries with Texts and Protocols, vol. 1 (Heidelberg - New York - Dordrecht - London: Springer-Verlag, 2013). Vol. 4: Rodolfo Stavenhagen: Peasants, Culture and Indigenous Peoples: Critical Issues. Springer Briefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice, vol. 4, Subseries with Texts and Protocols, vol. 2 (Heidelberg - New York - Dordrecht - London: Springer-Verlag, 2013). Vol. 5: Johan Galtung: Pioneer of Peace Research. SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice No. 5 - presented by Dietrich Fischer [Switzerland] (Heidelberg - New York - Dordrecht - London: Springer-Verlag, 2013). Vol. 6: Dieter Senghaas: Pioneer of Peace and Development Research. SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice No. 6 - presented by Michael Zürn (Heidelberg - New York - Dordrecht - London: Springer-Verlag, 2013). Vol. 7: Chadwick Alger: Pioneer in the Study of the Political Process and on NGO Partici- pation in the United Nations. Springer Briefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice No. 7 - presented by Carolyn Stephenson (Heidelberg - New York - Dordrecht - London: Springer-Verlag, 2014). Vol. 8: Chadwick F. Alger: The UN System and Cities in Global Governance. Springer Briefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice No. 8. Subseries Texts and Protocols No. 3 (Heidelberg - New York - Dordrecht - London: Springer-Verlag, 2014). Vol. 9: Chadwick F. Alger: Peace Research and Peacebuilding. Springer Briefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice No. 9. Subseries Texts and Protocols No. 4 (Heidelberg - New York - Dordrecht - London: Springer-Verlag, 2014). Vol. 10: Lourdes Arizpe: Lourdes Arizpe Schlosser: A Mexican Pioneer in Anthropology. Springer Briefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice No. 10 - presented by Marga- rita Velázquez Gutiérrez (Heidelberg - New York - Dordrecht - London: Springer- Verlag, 2014). Vol. 11: Lourdes Arizpe: Migration, Women and Social Development: Key Issues. Springer Briefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice No. 11. Subseries Texts and Protocols No. 5 (Heidelberg - New York - Dordrecht - London: Springer-Verlag, 2014). Vol. 12: Lourdes Arizpe: Culture, Diversity and Heritage: Major Studies. Springer Briefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice No. 12. Subseries Texts and Protocols No. 6 (Heidelberg - New York - Dordrecht - London: Springer-Verlag, 2014). Vol. 13: Arthur H. Westing: Texts on Environmental and Comprehensive Security. Sprin- gerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice No. 13 - Subseries Texts and Proto- cols No. 7 (Heidelberg - New York - Dordrecht - London: Springer-Verlag, 2014). Vol. 14: Klaus von Beyme: Pioneer in the Study of Political Theory and Comparative Poli- tics. SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice No. 14 - Presented by Rai- ner Eisfeld (Heidelberg - New York - Dordrecht - London: Springer-Verlag, 2013). Vol. 15: Klaus von Beyme: On Political Culture, Culture, Art and Politics. SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice No. 15 - Subseries Texts and Protocols No. 7 (Heidelberg - New York - Dordrecht - London: Springer-Verlag, 2014). Vol. 16: Samir Amin: Pioneer on the Rise of the South – Presented by Dieter Senghaas. SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice No. 16 (Heidelberg - New York - Dordrecht - London: Springer-Verlag, 2014). Authors or editors who would like to have their publication project considered for inclu- sion in this Springer Briefs in PSP series should contact both the series editor: PD Dr. phil. habil. Hans Günter Brauch, Alte Bergsteige 47, 74821 Mosbach, Germany Phone: 49-6261-12912 – FAX: 49-6261-15695 – Email afes@afes-press.de http://www.afes-press.de and http://www.afes-press-books.de and the publisher: Dr. Johanna Schwarz, Editor, Earth Sciences, Geosciences Editorial, Springer-Verlag Tiergartenstraße 17, 69121 Heidelberg, Germany Email: Johanna.Schwarz@springer.com and http://www.springer.com Springer: AFES-PRESS: