Hey Everyone! Here are some preliminary discussion questions to think about. I couldn't get a hold of Rebecca, but I'm sure she'll respond to my email and add another question or two later tonight :) But just to get you guys started...here are some things to BLOG about:
1. How does the idea of "transnationalism" play into the idea of the overseas Filipina caretaker? Feel free to discuss this from either a cultural perspective or a political perspective.
2. Chang's article, The Global Trade in Filipina Workers, talks about how women in third world nations are often the ones that sacrifice the most for the family. If economic times are rough, they often take the first hit. First, describe using several arguments given by Chang, why this is true. Second, do you believe that this is true of all third world countries? Does the idea of self sacrifice apply more to Asian countries specifically, or do you believe that it is more frequently seen in Asian culture?
3. What is the greatest challenge of organizing caretakers compared to organizing workers in other industries?
Some questions to just THINK about before and after we watch the film Chain of Love:
1. What do you think the phrase "Chain of Love" refers to?
2. Is there such thing as a fourth world nation?
3. Should the Filipina women working abroad be proud of what they do? Are they proud? Do they regret doing the type of work they do?
4. Chang talks about how Filipinos who were doctors and lawyers, who held educated white collar jobs, must go overseas and accept lower positions in order to earn enough money to support their families. Is this evident in the film? What can be done to stop this "declassification" from happening?
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Chang describes how when wages and food subsidies are cut in the nation, the wives and mothers sacrifice their own nutrition first to provide for the rest of the family, like the elderly or their husbands. When there is a lack of public health care and education, the women fall victims for lack of prenatal care, but themselves become nurses to ill family members at home. When export-oriented agriculture is in high demand across the nation, the small peasant families are forced to give up their lands to the larger, corporate farms. Women thus become seasonal workers in the field or are forced to find work in the service industry, in manufacturing, or in the garment industry for export. Women are under constant pressure to sustain their families, and when they cannot earn enough at their home countries, they migrate to the developed countries, namely the US, Canada, and Europe, in search of jobs.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that self-sacrifice applies only to Asian countries. Here in the United States, immigrant workers come from all kinds of background: Hispanic, Latino, Mexican, Middle Easterns, and from some European countries. Many have come to look for jobs that might better support their families back home. Although it might be true that Asian immigrant workers dominate a large portion, the article by Edna Bonacich also describes the large population of Latinos in the Los Angeles area. These Latina workers also work up to 70 hours a week and often put their health in harm. It may seem like Asians are more prominent in the immigrant worker population partially because they are, in general, more aggressive workers and can establish themselves as contractors sooner than other immigrant of different ethnicity.
Hi Class,
ReplyDeleteMy apologies, but I have either contracted the stomach flu or ate something wrong in the last two hours because I can't keep anything down. I don't think I will be able to make it to class tonight but hope you can still watch the film and carry on with the class discussion without my presence. These are great questions and I am sorry to miss the discussion from it.
thanks for understanding.
nancy
@Nancy - Hope you feel better soon!
ReplyDeleteBlog -
3)One of the greatest challenges I think is the fact that these caretakers are somewhat indebted to their employers. Since they depend on their employers, they are in much danger of losing sponsorship and employment. After all, in some countries migrant workers have their employers' names stamped onto their passports when they enter the country; therefore, they can't work for others during their stay. If they join a union and try to learn more about their rights, this endangers their job.
On pg. 146, it says some of the 'ongoing challenges of organizing homecare workers'. First, there is no central workplace - since homecare workers are all over the place in different households. Second, immigrant workers may feel indebted to their employers. Third, no party is willing to admit responsibility for the rights and protection of these workers.
@Nancy - Hope you feel better soon!
ReplyDeleteThis is roughly what I wrote earlier.
3) One of the greatest challenges I thought of was the fact that the workers are probably somewhat indebted to the employers; if they want to join a union, then their sponsorship and their employment may be in danger. In some countries - I think specifically the UK - when they first enter the country, the migrant workers have their employers' names stamped onto their passports. This limits their employment to only this employer.
On pg. 146, it states some of the challenges of organising homecare workers. First, there is no central workplace, since all the workers are separate in their respective households. Organising them to one place may be a little difficult. Second, some immigrant workers feel indebted to their employers - which is what I discussed earlier. If the employers find out their homecare workers are learning about their rights and joining a union, they may terminate the job contract. Third, no party is willing to admit responsibility for the rights and protection of the workers.
When she refers to the "fourth world," it seems more a subset of the third world. It's made up of the people in the third world country with absolutely no resources, the bottom of the "care chain." I think the titles 1st, 2nd, 3rd world are inaccurate themselves, though. There's only one world and one world economy. I prefer developed vs developing, rather than 1st vs 3rd world. So in that sense, there is no fourth world, but I do agree that the people at the bottom of the chain are in a "fourth world."
ReplyDelete