Group brands RP labor export policy as 'anti-women'
10/29/2008 | 04:27 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Militant women's groups branded as "anti-women" and "anti-development" the Philippine government's labor export policy, adding Filipinos should not take pride in it.
Mercy Fabros, lead convener of the Welga ng Kababaihan (Women's March), raised the point as the Second Global Forum on Migration on Development (GFMD) entered its second day.
Fabros, a member of the Freedom from Debt Coalition Women's Committee, said such a policy is "an indictment of the failure of the national economy to provide employment and to care for its people."
"What started out as an emergency measure during the Marcos regime has become the main economic development strategy of the country," she said in a press statement posted on the FDC website.
FDC Women's Committee, Welga ng Kababaihan and other women's groups warned that continuing the country's labor export policy will lead to further underdevelopment and exploitation of women workers.
"Labor export cannot be the motor of development of the country. It will be unstable and not sustainable because it relies on the volatile and dependent on speculative global labor market," Fabros said.
"The government should instead prioritize the development of domestic economy to generate more long-term employment for Filipino workers and lessen the dependence on foreign aid and debt. After all, it is joblessness that drives Filipinos to work abroad and massive indebtedness that forces nations to send their workers abroad," she added.
Also, Fabros said remittances cannot replace strong economic and social fundamentals as the main driver of progress.
"At most, resorting to overseas work and dependence on remittances should merely be an emergency step and a very temporary arrangement resorted to by the individual family and the national economy," she said.
For her part, Alice Raymundo of Task Force Food Sovereignty said this will necessitate establishing local industries, reinvigorating agriculture and creating forward linkages between the two.
Raymundo said the economy must veer away from export-dependence and instead direct it towards meeting the needs of the population and the local economy.
"Dependence on migration as a development strategy only encourages a 'race to the bottom' on wage rate and standards, as receiving countries try to outbid each other in offering lower wages and poorer standards of living and employment for foreign workers," she said.
The women's groups likewise warned against GFMD's proposal to cut back on aid spending by developed nations and instead replace it with more intensified migrant employment.
They added replacing aid with remittance "completely puts into the backburner the concept of aid for social justice, as reparation of centuries-long exploitation of the Southern countries by the Northern ones."
Fabros also said labor export reinforces inequality between men and women workers.
"Migrant women workers are stereotyped in jobs which are an extension of their domestic role, e.g. caregivers, nurses, domestic helpers, etc. As such they become more vulnerable to abuse and violence. It does not help that migrant women are deployed in male-dominated, albeit rich countries," she said.
The women's groups likewise said that the country and the women cannot also take pride in women being employed in the so-called economy.
Data shows that aside from poverty pressure, the additional push for overseas work is also due to changing labor demand and changing gender-specific demand.
The women's groups also said that while women may be employed, the prevalence of "de-skilling" among women is widespread because the nature of work available to them is usually below their educational attainment.
This results in the deterioration of women's self-esteem and dignity and higher cases of suicide among women migrant workers, they said. - GMANews.TV
Mercy Fabros, lead convener of the Welga ng Kababaihan (Women's March), raised the point as the Second Global Forum on Migration on Development (GFMD) entered its second day.
Fabros, a member of the Freedom from Debt Coalition Women's Committee, said such a policy is "an indictment of the failure of the national economy to provide employment and to care for its people."
"What started out as an emergency measure during the Marcos regime has become the main economic development strategy of the country," she said in a press statement posted on the FDC website.
FDC Women's Committee, Welga ng Kababaihan and other women's groups warned that continuing the country's labor export policy will lead to further underdevelopment and exploitation of women workers.
"Labor export cannot be the motor of development of the country. It will be unstable and not sustainable because it relies on the volatile and dependent on speculative global labor market," Fabros said.
"The government should instead prioritize the development of domestic economy to generate more long-term employment for Filipino workers and lessen the dependence on foreign aid and debt. After all, it is joblessness that drives Filipinos to work abroad and massive indebtedness that forces nations to send their workers abroad," she added.
Also, Fabros said remittances cannot replace strong economic and social fundamentals as the main driver of progress.
"At most, resorting to overseas work and dependence on remittances should merely be an emergency step and a very temporary arrangement resorted to by the individual family and the national economy," she said.
For her part, Alice Raymundo of Task Force Food Sovereignty said this will necessitate establishing local industries, reinvigorating agriculture and creating forward linkages between the two.
Raymundo said the economy must veer away from export-dependence and instead direct it towards meeting the needs of the population and the local economy.
"Dependence on migration as a development strategy only encourages a 'race to the bottom' on wage rate and standards, as receiving countries try to outbid each other in offering lower wages and poorer standards of living and employment for foreign workers," she said.
The women's groups likewise warned against GFMD's proposal to cut back on aid spending by developed nations and instead replace it with more intensified migrant employment.
They added replacing aid with remittance "completely puts into the backburner the concept of aid for social justice, as reparation of centuries-long exploitation of the Southern countries by the Northern ones."
Fabros also said labor export reinforces inequality between men and women workers.
"Migrant women workers are stereotyped in jobs which are an extension of their domestic role, e.g. caregivers, nurses, domestic helpers, etc. As such they become more vulnerable to abuse and violence. It does not help that migrant women are deployed in male-dominated, albeit rich countries," she said.
The women's groups likewise said that the country and the women cannot also take pride in women being employed in the so-called economy.
Data shows that aside from poverty pressure, the additional push for overseas work is also due to changing labor demand and changing gender-specific demand.
The women's groups also said that while women may be employed, the prevalence of "de-skilling" among women is widespread because the nature of work available to them is usually below their educational attainment.
This results in the deterioration of women's self-esteem and dignity and higher cases of suicide among women migrant workers, they said. - GMANews.TV
