Immigrant Women Fighting Globalization

As result of globalization, and economic restructuring in developing nations, women have consistently reported increasing poverty levels and deteriorating living conditions. Developed nations with aging populations are also experiencing a rising need for qualified direct long term care workers (DLTC). With these globalized changes, migrant women who are forced to leave their families in search of work in foreign countries are suffering the most. Immigration policies designed to keep trained workers in low-paying, high-demand jobs as well as economically restrictive policies in developing nations keep migrant workers and developing countries oppressed to serve to the benefit of the developed West.

Economic Policies in Developing Countries

The economy of developing countries such as the Philippines is rich in natural resources, but essentially agrarian and often lacks basic industries. Foreign countries have a vested interest in keeping these economies infantile for a cheap source of raw materials, as well as a welcome market for the exportation of surplus products. To exacerbate the economic situation, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) provide loans, namely, the Structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) to countries experiencing economic crises. Critics of these programs view them as modern procedure of colonization. Many times these developing nations are forced to acquire further foreign debt to pay back their interests and being unable to enhance their existing infrastructure and economy, they lapse into an endless cycle of debt and subjugation.

Women Migrant Workers

Young girls are among the first in the family to leave school to either help at home or earn another wage. Similarly, many migrant women are answering the demands of developed nations for shortages in the labour force. According to the an International Labour Organization (ILO), the Philippines has remained the number one source of migrant workers worldwide. Migrant Filipina women are employed as domestic workers in more than 130 countries . They make up a substantial portion of labor migrants in many nations world wide.

Highly qualified women migrants often feel pressured to take the first job they can find. These jobs are usually low paying, low status, and exploitative jobs with high demands. The long hours and demanding tasks of the employment often lead some women to abandon their ESL courses. It creates a cycle of immigrant women who are not able to bring themselves out of the jobs they are overqualified for.

Immigration Policies in Developed Nations

In 1973, the Canadian government introduced the expanded "migrant worker" recruitment program. The Non-Immigrant Employment Authorization Program (NIEAP) was new in that it brought people in specifically as "migrant workers" to fill identified "shortages" int he labour market. This program made the distinction between "migrant workers" and "landed immigrants" with permanent residency rights. Through the distinction of these people as "non-immigrant" and non-permanent residents, the Canadian government legalized a racialized and gendered labour market. These people were designated a separate legal category and were often denied the services and protections available to those deemed "citizens". These categories were mainly comprised of immigrant women workers who lived, worked, and paid taxes in Canada. Furthermore, following the NIEAP, migrant workers were designated an employer, occupation, residential location, and length of employment. These designations were rigid, and could not be changed without the written permission from an immigration department official. The threat of deportation loomed with even slight changes to their circumstances, or early termination. These immigration policies bound female workers in abusive work relationships because they were not able to terminate contracts for fear of being deported and unemployed. Employers

Moreover, employers benefitted from Federalism, and the argument between the federal and provincial powers over jurisdiction, which allowed them to pay migrant workers less than the average citizen. Due to the fact that the two powers cannot agree on who is to persecute those employers that are breaking the rules, the exploiter often goes unpunished.

Discriminatory employment practices such as not hiring due to lack of "Canadian experience" as well as not recognizing foreign education, achievements, and training were detrimental to the migrant workers. The policies deemed migrant experience as obsolete, and were structured to deskill highly professional migrant workers and keep them underemployed and underpaid. The racist policies also have the effect of homogenizing immigrants, and lumping them into one category, stripping them of their unique backgrounds, skills, and experiences. It creates a vicious cycle in which immigrant women are no longer able to pull themselves out of the exploitative jobs they were forced into.