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THE WOMAN POSING WITH A POSTER OF THE BASIC SIX FOOD GROUPS. ANALYZING GENDER AND MIGRATION THROUGH VISUAL TEXTS. OUTLINE. THE NEO-COLONIAL AND GLOBALIZED BODY DOMESTIC WORKERS MAIL-ORDER BRIDES ENTERTAINERS. STUDY APPROACH. Look and analyze images Study data
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THE WOMAN POSING WITH A POSTER OF THE BASIC SIX FOOD GROUPS ANALYZING GENDER AND MIGRATION THROUGH VISUAL TEXTS
OUTLINE • THE NEO-COLONIAL AND GLOBALIZED BODY • DOMESTIC WORKERS • MAIL-ORDER BRIDES • ENTERTAINERS
STUDY APPROACH • Look and analyze images • Study data • Understand how these migrants are “constructed” • How can we say that these bodies are globalized neo-colonial bodies?
DEFINING REPRODUCTIVE LABOR (from Parrenas) • Labor needed to sustain the productive labor force; • Household chores • Care of elderly, adults and youth • Socialization of children • Maintenance of social ties in the family
STUDYING REPRODUCTIVE LABOR We take into account: Racial Division Globalization Feminization of labor
INTERNATIONAL TRANSFER OF CARETAKING • Three-tier transfer of reproductive labor • Class privileged women hire Filipina domestic workers • Filipina domestic workers hire the services of poorer women
RACIAL DIVISION OF REPRODUCTIVE LABOR (NAKANO) • Hierarchichal and interdependent relationship • Interlocks the race and class status of women • … in its distribution in the formal and informal labor market
GLOBALIZATION • Movement of manufacturing production to newly industrialized countries • Multinational corporations maintain central operations in new economic centers
Average day worker US$1,229 Caregivers $778/mth Some pay $5000 to enter Italy w/o visa Mainly live in workers -- $350 a week Caregivers $425/week Italy and Los Angeles
CONTRADICTIONS IN THE MIDDLE • Conflicting class mobility • Increase and decrease in class status • Pain of family separation -- loss, guilt and loneliness • Caring for someone else’s family • The Patriarchal nuclear household at both ends
HONG KONG • 1995 -- 120,000 “foreign domestic workers” or FDF from the Philippines out of a total 150,000 • Majority are single • 25-35
HONG KONG -- COMPARISONS • Filipinas are compared to: • Muijai -- a type of bondservant; usually “bought” when they are 8 years old • Sohei -- a type of spinster amah; paid to do housework; 1920s; collapse of silk industry
HONG KONG --MISCONCEPTIONS • Filipinas are perceived to: • Exhibit a lack of discipline and dedication • Be deserving of the harsh discipline and punishment they receive • Uniquely dangerous and morally suspect compared to the idealized Chinese DW • Problem stems at being “foreign.”
HONG KONG -- HISTORY • 1970s -- a few hundreds working for expats • 1980s -- many Chinese women started working; young and middle aged families wanted Filipina maids with “Western” culture • 1980s -- legislation was passed -- short-term contracts
HONG KONG -- employers’ view • Relationship was more professional than with Chinese maids • Filipinas came to be viewed as “public nuisance” • Filipinas “just don’t act like servants.” • Chastity, Sexuality and Familial Devotion
HONG KONG ---SEXUALITY • Sexuality and Clothing -- too stylish, colorful, provocative, “cheap” • Lack of commitment to families indicating willingness to do anything for money • Moral position in the social system is poorly articulated and therefore threatens Hong Kong’s moral order
HONG KONG -- CLASS IDENTITY • Ambiguity • High educational attainment • Uniforms, dress codes, curfews and rules dictate spatial boundaries -- delineate and reinforce social distinctions
HONG KONG -- JEALOUSY AND PHYSICAL ABUSE • 7th century Tang Encyclopdia Yiwen leiju, cites jealous women in history • In history and literature, jealousy provoked wives to punish their husbands or rivals • 1993 -- 18months -- 293 complaints of maltreatment • Women beaten, slapped, pinched and burned
CANADA • Have to live in homes of employers for a minimum of two years out of a three-year period; • Legally classified as temporary workers, subject to deportation upon termination of contracted labor as live-in domestics
CANADA -- CONTRADICTIONS • United Nations Human Development Index (1990) lists Canada as the “best country in the world to live.” • Yet, social services, rights of immigrants and minorities, working women’s access to public health care has been in continual decline
CANADA -- history of domestic labor • From 1955 to mid-1970s -- Carribean women • 1980s --recruitment from the Philippines to undercut the organizing campaigns of the Carribean women • 1981 -- Foreign Domestic Movement policy • 1992 --est. of Live-in Caregiver Program
FILIPINAS IN CANADA • 14 out of 25 came from working in the Middle East, Asia and Europe; • Considered in a racist stereotype to be “good servants” • Single greatest feature of the domestic worker’s ability to negotiate is the ability to live out • 18 of 25 said very important to send money
CANADA SPACES • 16 of 24 had a basement room • 16 of 23 had their own telephone • 18 of 25 had no locks in their doors • 16 of 23 wanted changes in the domestic requirement