Migration, Gender, Children

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Migration, Gender, Childrens Rights and the
Nation

• A conceptualization of Intergenerational Care
  Deficit in the Life Cycle of the Migrants Family
• Nanette G. Dungo, Ph.D.
• Miriam College-WAGI

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Introduction

• Migration is a highly complex phenomenon
• A double edge sword
• The metaphor of burning both ends of the
  candle.
• Structurally, a multilevel phenomenon involving
  macro (governments), meso (organizations and
  agencies involved in migration), and micro
  (family and its members) levels. These levels
  interact to constitute effects in migrants
  households and overall societies (both sending
  and and receiving countries).

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• The effects impact as both gains and pains
  on institutions and on individual members of the
  migrants family.
• Migration today is driven by globalization, the
  interconnection of countries to facilitate trade
  as the First World unload their products to
  both big and small countries of the global order.

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• Yet, border crossing is restrictive
• The cultural environment resists migrants and
  are not welcoming of migrants
• Abuse and discrimination are remaining elements
  of native-migrant relationships
• Migrants are viewed as threats to the
  preservation of the native culture, and
  grabbing jobs from native population

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• Governments of receiving countries remain
  ambiguous in observing conventions and protocols
  that protect the rights of migrants.
• Despite all these, Filipino labor migrants are
  moving since the 1830s to the present, the
  migration flow now taking a feminized character,
  with more women than men moving. Domestic labor
  has been stretched

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• to become paid capitalist labor from being
  unpaid labor at home.
• With lean employment in the developing world,
  more and more women are taking employment
  outside the home to remedy the irregular jobs
  available to males while husbands are the ones
  left at home to care of children. This
  development engenders the prevailing patriarchy,
  and privileges the present fight against sexual
  inequality.
• In many cases, grandmothers instead of fathers
  take over childrearing as the issue of trust
  constrains mothers to give full responsibility of
  child nurture to fathers.
• Grandmother-son/grandmother-son-in- law
  interaction take a conflict orientation when the
  issue of trust is raised in the nurture of
  children.

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The Research Problem

• The emerging trend chips partially at the
  existing male power, while children are
  deprived of the critical care they need during
  their formative years.
• With grandmothers taking on the young mothers
  role at a time when she needs care herself brings
  the issue of differing forms of care absent
  mothers care for her young children, and a
  distant daugthers care for her aging mother.
  These plural issues of care define the
  intergenerational concept of care as it invokes
  certain vital phases of the caring process within
  the life cycle of the migrants family.
• The problem is the issue of care given the
  blaring reality of absent parent/s among young
  children, and aging parents separated from a
  daugther who is traditionally expected to take
  care of them. How do we problematize the issues
  of distant care and its effects in
  transnational families, especially the care of
  children and the elderly?

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• Who are the women leaving, and their household
  statistical profile?
• 2000-3000 OfWs leaving the country daily
• 70 are women in the job category of Domestic
  Helper and Caregiver in the 80s they were
  entertainers and Domestic Helpers
• 86 belong to classes D E in the home country
• Married, between the ages 23-33, with very young
  children below 10 years old the older women are
  leaving behind teens. Both age categories need
  the formative care of physically distant mothers
  Grandmothers in her aging years need care by an
  absent daugther.

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• 6-8 million children are left behind in their
  early childhood years and teenage years
• The suggested average age of grandmothers taking
  on the role of a young mother is 65-68 years
  old. This age gap generates communication
  problems that drive the teens to be more with the
  barkada increasing vulnerability to high risk
  behaviors
• Unknowingly, the family may be caught in a CATCH
  22 SITUATION where remittances both bring
  gains and pains to migrant families.

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Theoretical framework The Transnational Family
and the Concept of Care Deficit

• Family as the basic site of socialization where
  the formative processes of childhood take place
  character and value formation
• The process requires strong emotional bonding
  between child and adult (Bowlby1975
  Brofenbrenner1982) to build the core of security
  of the growing person
• The child needs someone who is crazy about him or
  her, the mother /mother surrogate.
• A third persons participation is critical as a
  supporter to the principal caregiver, the father.

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The Transnational family

• The rise of the transnational family with
  parent/s as migrant labor brings a new kind of
  parenting.
• A TF/THH live at least part of the time
  geographically dispersed and spend periods of
  time in separate countries (Herrera2001)
  despite distance, they look after one another,
  share resources and maintain their social
  relations (Alicea1997 Bryceson Vuorela2002)
  they also provide emotional care and guidance
  from afar (Hondagneu-Sotelo Avila1997).
• TF -Transnational Family
• THH- Transnational Household

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• Parental visits become the new source of
  face-to-face care instead of traditional everyday
  interaction visits that come far and in between
  contracts that reach 3-5 years, at times 10
  straight years.
• Other transnational parenting practices are use
  of modern technology to touch base with children
  phone calls, texting, fax and emails videocams,
  Skype facilities in the internet.
• Sending gifts and commodities as frequently as
  possible/extra money for shopping.

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• The issues emerging the commodification of care
  and affection and how this is constituting the
  psychological core and character of the growing
  person. How does this impact on the formation of
  family values and the basic citizenship values
  and connection to nation?
• Within this framework, the children are not the
  only ones left behind and in need of care older
  members are also in need of care as they care for
  the children, and reassume a young parents role
  in her advancing years.
• Voices of grandmothers speak of being tired but
  happy especially when the little ones do their
  tricks.
• Behaviors of teens are sources of disappointment
  and exasperation.

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• In both instances while remittances can become a
  source of economic stability for them, its
  contribution to the emotional and personal care
  for both raising issues on how care is
  specifically conducted across borders in
  maintaining transnational families.
• Care defined both objective and subjective
  physical acts and affective expressions for the
  growth and deepening of human connections.
• They come in different forms paid and unpaid
  family/parental and institutionalphysical
  activity presence of carer and face to face
  personal care as part of the moral strengthening
  of the person being cared for, both for the
  elderly and the young, the latter being formative
  and necessary (Kohlberg and ______).

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The Concept of Care Deficit and the Rights of
Children and the Elderly

• Taken in the context of the THH, the migrants
  household, care takes a different form with
  distance to overcome when the intimacy of family
  life that constructs the person requires the face
  to face personal care critical in the formation
  of the growing person. The personal contact is
  mediated through memories of parental warmth of
  mother-daughter love connection in other cases,
  there are no memories to retrieve when upon birth
  mother and child are separated , and the
  grandmother becomes the LOLA-NANAY.
• The struggle against time and space that breaks
  the natural process of nurture to occur brings a
  new concept of nurture and love in the age of
  transnationalism.

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• How is love constituted and the fullfillment of
  rights ensured under the apparent condition of
  care deficit in the transnational era?
• Literature on children left behind
• Sadness, feeling of permanence of absence
• Small children adjust through play teens
  understand separation but are angry
• Remittances allow children to stay in school and
  enjoy private education
• Remittances put more food on the table increase
  access to commodities
• Earlier findings reveal negligence of savings
  new data are revealing with THHs already
  allocating 30.4 percent of remittances to
  savings and investments from a low of 7.2
  percent

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• Studies on education reveal contrasting claims
  earlier studies reveal negative effects of
  migration on education (lack of mentoring,
  Children have difficulty focusing, etc.)
• Recent study (Alvin Ang20080 )asserts absent
  parents keep OFW in high school. The absence of
  the female migrant is a strong incentive to
  remain in mothers , dispelling fears that they
  are worst off. Absent mothers increase the
  chance of children completing high school.

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• Younger students (10-13) tend to perform better
  in school than older respondents Females rather
  than males have above average to excellent
  performance in school.
• Some fathers take on mother and father roles, but
  are emotionally tense translating tension to
  older children in the family.
• Children prefer mother staying and father going
  for overseas employment.
• Increasing vulnerability of teens to high risk
  behavior.

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• Some voices of children I dont know my father.
  I was 10 when I first met him.
• I could not hug my father nor kiss him
• I am 18 and I saw my father only three times.
• My mom has a boyfriend.
• I miss my mom. Met a girl and liked her a lot
  because she understands me like Mom. We became
  very close. She got pregnant and I no longer
  know what to do with my life.

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• Narratives of Elderly Taking Care of children
• Variations of care arrangement nakiki-alaga
  and nag-aalaga- refers to part-time or
  full-time arragements. In both cases the final
  accountability rests on the grandmother.
• Feels empowered when appreciated by
  grandchildren, and when the little girls do the
  tricks.
• Overspending on the needs of extended family
  

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• The apparent abuse of remittances as claimed by
  migrants themselves yet the hesitation to check
  the extended family on account of feelings of
  indebtedness (utang na loob)to them for taking
  care of her children.
• Elderly talks of expenses for her medicines,
  projecting the voices that yeans for the need for
  care.
• For both, the Philippine Constitution of 1987
  provides a general provision for the care for the
  family and the Elderly.

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• Only Republic Act 8042 and the International
  Convention on Migrant workers and their Families
  provide procedural documentation of migrants
  children when born in the site of employment and
  the right to education and equality of treatment
  with nationals of the State concerned.
• In this document, no specific services for
  children of migrants are provided. Currently,
  however, OWWA and POEA, are in-charge of the
  emplementation of services for migrants.
• NGOs are also operating programs in support of
  special groups of migrants, returnees in helping
  them go back to mainstream, support for
  childrens scholarship and services.

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• The main issues being raised in this conceptual
  paper that addresses the gap in constituting care
  in transnational family is on the area of
  methodology.
• Suggested Approach
• 1. Use of Cost Benefit Analysis
• 2. The Indicators for benefits are relatively
  covered by preent literature
• 3. The indicators for costs are anecdotal and
  need to be made more concrete
• Cost indicators for the elderly medical costs
  medicines and medical consultations, costs of
  hospitalization, number of sleeping hours,of
  hours spent in care activities
• Nutritional status of the elderly

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• Cost indicators for the young
• 1. Access to technology
• 2. Shopping costs made possible by remittances
• 3. No. of hours spent on cable TV viewing
• 4. No. of hours spent in Internet usage
• 5. No. of hours spent with friends
• 6. Frequency of Malling
• 7. Costs of cellphone load, monthly
• 8. Costs of cigarettes
• 9. Costs of gimmick activities

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• 10. Nutritional status of children
• 11. School Drop Outs
• 12. Conflict with the Law
• 13. Other entertainment expenses
• Suggests use of Cohort analysis together with
  indicators of a group of young and elderly to be
  watched over across 3-5 years for a pilot run 10
  years, backtracking to account for the trends for
  the immediate past 5 years at the point of study,
  then moving forward for the next five years.
  This type of methodology combined with anecdotes
  to represent the voices of children and the
  elderly can realize the trends on
  intergenerational care .

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• The range of data can cover the indicators of
  economic, cultural, medical and nutritional
  dimensions of costs and benefits.
• It is expected that a certain degree of
  specificity will be realized in evaluating the
  costs and benefits of migration to fill the
  present gap in care in migrant literature.
• End