Female labour migration to Bangkok: Transforming rural-urban interactions and social networks through globalization

With the increase in female migration, especially in the domestic sector, and accompanying reports of worker exploitation and abuse, labour-sending countries are grappling with the question of how to protect these workers. Drawing on a critical feminist policy analysis framework, this article analyses the policy and regulatory frameworks of Nepal related to female labour migration and examines their implications. Our analysis indicates that Nepal’s policy regime consist of a set of measures which are simultaneously liberal, protective and restrictive, and as such, they have not altered the structural conditions and economic reasons for women’s migration. Instead, women appear to be largely uninformed about government regulations, and most importantly, working conditions abroad are not affected by sending country policies, including the various migration bans put in place to protect women.

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Perilous Wages: Predicaments of Female Labour Migration from Bangladesh to the Middle East

Issues in Social Science ◽

10.5296/iss.v6i1.14933 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 61

Author(s):

M. Saiful Islam

Keyword(s):

Migrant Workers ◽

Cultural Context ◽

Labour Force ◽

Domestic Workers ◽

Vital Role ◽

Labour Migration ◽

Female Labour ◽

Domestic Migration ◽

Awareness Programs ◽

Middle Man

The recent bilateral agreement between Bangladesh and the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) has facilitated migration of female domestic workers, which has opened up an opportunity as well as challenge for Bangladesh. Opportunities are quite significant in a sense that male migration has already been saturated in the GCC countries which has a major impact on the flow of remittances. The abundant and employable female labour force in Bangladesh could easily contribute to this international labour migration, and thereby add to the national economic development. There are serious problems as well since many Bangladeshi female domestic workers are reported to be exploited, sexually abused and raped by the middle man, recruiting agents, and the overseas employers. Many women fled from their employer and sought shelter at the Bangladesh consulate in Jeddah and Riyadh, alleging that they are either being tortured, not properly fed, paid, or not given job as promised. Many female migrants left their family members and young children at home in Bangladesh, which created further social problems as women are still considered as homemakers and childcare providers in the Bangladeshi cultural context. At this backdrop, the time is up to find out ways to make female domestic migration safe and secure. Both the sending and receiving countries must come up with policies and awareness programs that would ensure safety for the female domestic workers. It requires a strong commitment from both the sending and receiving countries that the policies, acts and laws are in favour of female migrant workers. National and international NGOs, civil society and media could play vital role to adopt and implement appropriate policies for safe and sound migration of the female domestic workers.

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Seeing Migration like a State: The case of irregular Indonesian migrant workers deported from Malaysia

Anti-Trafficking Review ◽

10.14197/atr.201218113 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Benny Hari Juliawan

Keyword(s):

Social Networks ◽

Migrant Workers ◽

Large Scale ◽

Labour Migration ◽

Undocumented Migrants ◽

Regulatory State ◽

Migration Flows ◽

State Actors ◽

Migration Regimes

The corridor linking Indonesia with Malaysia is particularly rife with transborder mobility, including large-scale labour migration. While irregularity has long been a major feature of these flows, much of the movement now falls under the migration regimes adopted by Malaysia and Indonesia. Long-established casual migration flows collide with recently codified norms and, as a result, oscillate between regularity and irregularity. This paper explores the following questions: How does the regulatory state view and handle undocumented migrants? How does it interact with established social networks that have facilitated irregular labour migration? Particular attention is given to the distinction between the categories of deportable criminals and victims deserving protection, as ascribed by state actors to certain groups of migrants. Based on interviews with twelve deported Florenese migrant workers, the paper discusses how the Indonesian-Malaysian migration regime seeks to shape mobility. It argues that shifting categorisations reflect political imperatives more than the migrants’ needs that prompt them to migrate in the first place.

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Maternal absence and transnational female labour migration; implications for the left-behind child

International Journal of Migration Health and Social Care ◽

10.1108/ijmhsc-01-2020-0003 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Saleh Seid Adema

Keyword(s):

Labour Migration ◽

Northern Ethiopia ◽

Group Discussions ◽

Female Labour ◽

Content Type ◽

Rural Villages ◽

Left Behind ◽

Local Officials ◽

The Relationship ◽

Depth Interviews

Purpose As migration of family members becomes an omnipresent phenomenon, the conventional norm of having a family and living under the same roof together is far from normal for many households. It produces transnational practices and multisite lifestyle configurations. This study aims to explore the implication of maternal absence as a result of transnational labour migration on the left-behind child in the context of transnational labour migration from Ethiopia. Design/methodology/approach It focusses on the perspective of those who stayed behind. The ethnographic fieldwork was carried out in two rural villages – Bulebullo and Bokekesa – of Worebabbo district in Northern Ethiopia. It involved in-depth interviews with children and their caregivers supported by interviews and group discussions with members of the community, local officials and traditional leaders. Findings Transnational mothering and other mothering emerge as new practices of mothering in the rural villages due to maternal absence have interrelated implications and meanings for the left-behind child. However, the rigidity of sending societies’ norms related to mothering and gendered labour dynamics exacerbated the negative implications of maternal absence on left-behind children. The absence of the fathers’ effort to redefine mothering or fathering by providing childcare is part of the equation in the relationship between maternal absence and left-behind children. Originality/value The findings of this study refute the notion that labels mother’s out-migration as “abandoning children”, “disrupting families” and “acts of selfishness”.

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