Migrant workers leave behind millions of children
Wed, October 01 2008
In her presentation at the ongoing International Conference on Gender, Migration and Development being held in Manila, United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef)-New York’s deputy director for programs Vanessa Tobin said various studies have shown that the social costs of labour migration outweigh the economic benefits, with family relationships and dynamics as the first casualty.
“Migration should be, first and foremost, just one of the options. Government should be able to create more jobs with decent wages,” Tobin said.
Tobin said the increasing “feminization” of migration has complicated the situation as it “implies a redefinition of the economic role of women in society and within the family as well.”
Canada features prominently in the exodus of women and workers from the Philippines.
According to the Philippine Commission on Filipinos Overseas, there are an estimated 45,000 Overseas Filipino Workers, or OFWs, temporarily residing in Canada in any year. In the first half of 2008, according to the Philippine Overseas Labour Office in Vancouver, over 8,500 work visas were issued for Filipinos arriving in Canada to work.
In fact, Canada now ranks third on the list of top 10 sources of OFW remittances, or payments home, behind the United States and Saudi Arabia.
In 2006, OFWs in Canada sent a staggering $591-million back to the Philippines to support their families. That number has reportedly increased significantly over the past two years.
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The figure of affected Filipino children casts a huge shadow when compared with Indonesia’s one million and Thailand’s half a million.
But before we cast aspersions on mothers and fathers who leave their children behind in countries like the Philippines, we should first consider the conditions and restrictions surrounding labour migration says Dr. Jennifer Chun, a professor of sociology at the University of B.C.
“We have to look at the changing nature of labour migration,” says Chun. “Many individuals are only allowed to emigrate by themselves . . . the only way you can migrate is if you come without your families.”
Chun, a labour migration expert, says “it’s not actually a choice” for many foreign workers who leave their loved ones behind.
“Given the impact of economic stagnation in a lot of countries like the Philippines where you have high debt, high unemployment and not a lot of labour market opportunities, many people feel they have no choice,” she says. “It’s not a decision to leave but a decision about how to provide for your family.”
The absence of parents, Unicef’s Tobin noted, creates “displacement, disruptions and changes in care-giving arrangements.” Such effects are felt more when it is the mother who works abroad, as families go through more adjustments, than when it is the father who goes to work abroad.
This is because men do not easily take up care-giving when they assume the role of the mother, Tobin said, citing studies.
Young children view migration as a form of “abandonment,” while for adolescents, the acceptance could either be “receptive or resentful.”
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Tobin cited studies where it was found that “there is not much improvement in the lives of the families, the money being sent is just enough or sometimes hardly meet the demands and needs of the families left behind.”
Tobin added: “They are also vulnerable to economic shocks, especially related to the country’s economic and political situation.”
And for many migrant workers, says Professor Chun, Canada falls short of expectations.
“In the past there was an opportunity to work, make the remittances and eventually bring your family over,” she says.
“Now we have backlogs for families and working conditions deteriorating.”
Chun points to Canada’s health care industry, a sector that provides employment for many Filipinos in Canada.
“Hospital support used to be a really good job because it was in the public sector,” she explains. “But with increased privatization in this field, the jobs have actually got worse with wages being cut in more than half from $18 to $8.
“Wages, job benefits and job security have all eroded.”
Chun says the free movement of labour and capital in the global economy is largely a mirage for individual workers.
“We think that immigration is a magic solution, but in the host country you experience discrimination and restrictions on how you’re able to capitalize on the education level and credentials that you already have,” says Chun.
While children feel the economic benefits of parents working abroad, those with absent mothers “tend to be more angry, confused, pathetic and more afraid than other children, Tobin pointed out, citing a study conducted by Migrante-Anak Pamilya Foundation. The same study said that “the absence of the mother could be the most disruptive in the life of the children.”
The feeling of neglect and abandonment is most felt by the eldest daughter who assumes the mother’s role in the family as the father struggles to take the mother’s role.
“This immense responsibility in turn affects their performance in schools,” Tobin said. “It becomes a burden to the girls in the family.”
Drop-out rates for both elementary and secondary levels, according to the Philippine Department of Education, went up by over seven per cent and nearly 13 per cent in the 2005-2006 school year, and from 6.98 per cent and 7.99 per cent, respectively, in the 2004-2005 school year.
Many absent mothers are working as overseas caregivers. In Canada, which hires between 2,000 and 3,000 new Filipino caregivers each year, 95 per cent of the country’s caregivers are Filipino, with 98 per cent of those workers women.
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Labour migration of parents also skews the values of children as they view it only in terms of “money equivalent.” With no proper guidance from the parents, the regular remittances lead to materialistic attitude of children.
Children of migrants are also vulnerable to abuse and violence with the parent’s absence.
Apart from rethinking the labour migration policy, Tobin recommended that government review its programs for migrant workers, noting that most are geared toward economic assistance. Only few programs target the children and these are also only on short term basis.
One area where government can actively intervene in promoting the interests of overseas workers and their family is to tap remittances to finance programs and projects geared towards the children, Tobin said, adopting the recommendation of one study commissioned by Unicef. As of December 2007, remittances have reached $14 billion, accounting for 20 per cent of the Philippine economy.
“It is imperative to determine how these remittances are utilized to find ways to increase the positive effect of remittances on these rights and promote their best use,” Tobin said.
UBC’s Dr. Chun says what is ultimately needed is a “radical re-thinking” of migration policy.
“When it comes to labour migration policy, we have to look beyond labour and at the whole human life of an individual,” she says, adding governments on both sides of the labour migration equation must look at removing restrictions preventing workers from bringing their spouses and children with them in the search for a better life.
By Mata Press Service
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