My Name is Loes. I live in the Netherlands and I'm 16 years old and I have to do a examination into labour migration (I hope that's the English word for it, in Dutch it is arbeidsmigratie) in the Philippines. It has to be about the women who work in other countries to support their famillies in the Philippines. I have to examine what consequences are for the home country and for the countries where the women find work. I can't find enough information about it, so do you know some sites with more information? Thanks a lot. Greetings from Loes

Thanks for your note to FEMINIST.COM and, though I don't have a direct answer for your question, I will share my opinion. Often times women leave their home countries to find work elsewhere because they need to support their families. In many instances, women put their families before all else, which means that sometimes they do this, but the jobs they have to take aren't great--for instance, prostitution and low-wage/poor condition factory jobs.

So while this "labor migration" may be good for the family overall it is often bad for the women. The consquences for the home country--all depends on what the home country is, but it certainly means that they are losing some of their workforce, but probably gaining economy, becuase women send the more money "back home" than they could make at home. There are also the emotional consquences, which are most likely devasting--for children and their mothers to be separated.

Sorry that's all I have to contribute but I hope it helps--perhaps you should contact the Philippineo Embassy or a Philippineo organizations directly. (For instance, there is a great feminist group based in Manilla called ISIS, but I don't have contact information and I can't remember what it stands for.) They will have specific information.

—Amy