FEMINIZATION OF MIGRATION IN LATIN AMERICA: DISCUSSIONS AND MEANINGS FOR POLICIES

1. FEMINIZATION OF MIGRATION IN LATIN AMERICA: DISCUSSIONS AND MEANINGS FOR POLICIES Jorge Martínez Pizarro CEPAL-CELADE July 2007

2. Feminization of Migration… • The feminization of migration is a common theme in public debates but, to large extent, the specificity of migration and its consequences for women continue to be unknown • The feminization has implied consideration of gender in migration processes and policies • Although some mechanisms may lead to emancipating conditions, they also perpetuate collective assimetries and structures of subordination, independently from the successful perception of some migrants

3. Various Determinants • Financial determinants in close interaction with social, family and cultural considerations, without leaving out a non-hierarchical approach to these factors. • The need for many more studies from the viewpoint of the experience of these women and with a gender approach, without leaving out that the experience of men is also fundamental in migration. • The limitations of the information sources have to be overcome, since for many years they made female migration invisible. • The ineludible gender perspective must be present in many other areas of migration.

4. Three Issues • The problem of the invisibility of women in migration; • The possibilities offered by the use of a gender perspective, and • The labor situation of migrants employed as domestics.

5. The Fight against the Invisibility of Women in Migration • The invisibility of migrant women persists because their lack of protection is more marked than men’s. • In a large part of the world they suffer more acutely the vicissitudes affecting migrants and, together with the children, are subject to almost exclusive abuse. • This is particularly noticeable in the case of undocumented migrants.

6. The Fight against the Invisibility of Women in Migration • The creation of the profile of a victimized woman can be the motive for broad and varied forms of sexual discrimination, if it leads to excessively identify women who migrate alone as vulnerable and in risk of prostitution.

7. The Fight against the Invisibility of Women in Migration • Consensus is growing regarding the need to introduce the gender perspective in a more integrated understanding of the migration phenomenon and to prevent the existing omissions from being necessarily blamed on lack of data.

8. Gender in International Migration • Gender differences are increasingly being recognized and are now among the most distinctive characteristics of international migration. • The long process to define the problems of female migration had two notorious traits: the woman was perceived from an associational perspective as a passive actor, the partner of a husband, the one who follows his movements, the one who waits for her spouse and children. • She was also relegated to a secondary plane in the theoretical formulations on migration, and there are still numerous rationales that only implicitly recognize their role.

9. Gender in International Migration • Gender studies show that the feminization of migration brings with it the possibility of opening new spaces within the family and in society, flexibilizing the sexual division of labor and transforming the gender roles and models; but it also hides the risk of affecting the life projects of women, reinforcing their situation of subordination and the assimetry of gender hierarchies, undermining their dignity and challenge their rights.

10. Gender in International Migration • A distinction must be made between the positive perceptions of the individual migration experience and the collective consequences of reproducing gender assimetries. • Although the individual experience may be successful, even when irregular, it should be noted that there is a risk of inhibiting claims for rights, as is shown, for example, in several studies of the Latin American sub-regions.

11. Migrant Women in their Labyrinth and the Case of Housewives • One of the characteristics that defines the migration flows of women between Latin American countries is its work nature. • Several case studies agree in that migrant women increasingly identify financial reasons for their decision and many work as domestics in the destination country.

12. Gravitating Incidence of Domestic Services

13. Spain Domestics

14. Migrant Women in their Labyrinth and the Case of Housewives • In the main receiving countries most are mothers. For example: • Among Nicaraguans working as domestics in Costa Rica, 72% have children; • Colombians in Venezuela, 87%; • Peruvians in Chile, 85%, and in Argentina, 66% • These women are financially responsible for their children and this shows the relative autonomy for women who travel alone to make the migration decision

15. Migrant Women in their Labyrinth and the Case of Housewives • Cross-border domestic work is strongly linked to the concern of the international community about the vulnerability of migrant women which may lead them to become victims of discrimination and violation of their human rights and fundamental freedoms. • An in-depth analysis of this issue offers the greatest probability of achieving agreements among the countries in the region and to take advantage of the various initiatives underway aimed at migration governance, including the protection of migrant men and women.