International migration of women and the global care market

A study about Filipinas in São Paulo, Brazil

Authors

Keywords:

migration of women, global care market, international division of reproductive labor, Philippines, São Paulo

Abstract

In this work we approach the insertion of Philippine women into care work maket in the city of São Paulo through the concept of “international division of reproductive work” – a transfer, in theree levels, of reproductive work among women in countries of origin and destiny of migration – (Parreñas, 2015). Especifically we search a deepening of the theme of paid domestic work performed by Filipinas in São Paulo, making an effort to include it in the brazilian context and in the globalization of female workforce for the provision of care, in order to unveil some of the constitutives social relations that condition this specif migration of women in the Philippines and structure the place occupied by the Filipina migrant in Brazil. This work was accomplished through literature and documental review, non participant observation, and semi-structured interviews. First, we we explored authours who analyze the context of origin of migration – the Philippines -, the conformations of reproductive work and the global care market. Moreover, we used quantitative data made available by the Filipino administrative bureaus of statistics (Philippine Statistics Authority) and of overseas work contracts (Philippine Overseas Employment Administration). Field trips were made at meeting places of one community of Filipino migrants, where we obtained contacts for the interviews, since we aimed to understand how these social processes were dealt with and the meanings attributed by the subjects of the migration. Finally, we did interviews with Filipina migrants in São Paulo who have had experience with domestic work in Brazil. Our work hypothesis was that the cultural capital owned by the Filipina migrants made possible their mobility and their insertion at the residencies of a fraction of high medium class in São Paulo

Author Biographies

Ester Martins Ribeiro, Universidade de São Paulo

Doutoranda em Sociologia na Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Mestra em Sociologia pela Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Pesquisadora no Observatório das Migrações em São Paulo.

Rosana Baeninger, Universidade Estadual de Campinas

Professora Livre-Docente do Departamento de Demografia da Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) e do Núcleo de Estudos de População “Elza Berquó”. Coordenadora do Observatório das Migrações em São Paulo.

References

Anderson, B. (2000) Doing the dirty work? The global politics of domestic paid labour, London: Zed Books.

Baeninger, R. et al. (2017) Atlas Temático: Observatório das Migrações em São Paulo - Migrações Internacionais, Campinas: Núcleo de Estudos de População «Elza Berquó» - Nepo/Unicamp.

Bourdieu, P. (1989) “Social Space and Symbolic Power”, Sociological Theory, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 14-25.

Camarano, A., Kanso, S. (2009) “Perspectivas de Crescimento para a População Brasileira: Velhos e Novos Resultados”, Texto para Discussão, Brasília: IPEA, v. 1, pp. 1-31.

Castro, M. et al. (2018) “Between Biography and History: Domestic Workers in Contemporary Brazil”, Journal of Latino/Latin-American Studies, 9 (1), pp. 19-34.

Cavalcanti, L. et al. (2015) A inserção dos imigrantes no mercado de trabalho brasileiro. Anuário 2015. Brasília: OBMigra.

Cunha, J., Baeninger, R. (2007) “Las migraciones internas en el Brasil contemporâneo”, Notas de Población (Impresa), v. XXXIII, pp. 33-67.

Departamento Intersindical de Estatística e Estudos Socioeconômicos (DIEESE). (2018) “Trabalhadoras domésticas na Região Metropolitana de São Paulo em 2017”, Pesquisa de Emprego e Desemprego. Disponível em: https://www.dieese.org.br/analiseped/2018/2018empreDomSAO.html. Acesso 17 de janeiro de 2020.

_____ (2016) “O emprego doméstico na Região Metropolitana de São Paulo”, Pesquisa de Emprego e Desemprego. Disponível em: https://www.dieese.org.br/analiseped/2015/2015empreDomSAO.html. Acesso em 17 de janeiro de 2020.

_____ (2013) “O emprego doméstico no Brasil”, Estudos e Pesquisas. Disponível em: https://www.dieese.org.br/estudosetorial/2013/estPesq68empregoDomestico.html. Acesso em 17 de janeiro de 2020.

Glenn, E. (1992) “From Servitude to Service Work: Historical Continuities in the Racial Division of Paid Reproductive Labor”, Journal of Women in Culture and Society, vol. 18, nº 1, pp. 1-43.

Guevarra, A. (2014) “Supermaids: The Racial Branding of Global Filipino Care Labour”, in B. Anderson, I. Shutes (Eds.), Migration and care labour: Theory, policy and politics, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.130-150.

______ (2010) Marketing dreams, manufacturing heroes: The transnational labor brokering of Filipino workers, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

Hochschild, A. (2002) “Love and Gold”, in B. Ehrenreich, A. Hochschild (Eds.), Global Woman: nannies, maids, and sex workers in the new economy. Nova Iorque: Henry Holt, pp. 15-30.

Isaksen, L. et al. (2008) “Global care crisis. A problem of Capital, Care Chain, or Commons?”, American Behavioral Scientist, vol. 52, nº 3, pp. 405-425.

Kofes, S. (2001) Mulher, mulheres. Identidade, diferença e desigualdade na relação entre patroas e empregadas domésticas, Campinas: Editora da Unicamp.

Lisboa, T. (2007) “Fluxos migratórios de mulheres para o trabalho reprodutivo: a globalização da assistência”, Estudos Feministas, Florianópolis, vol. 15, nº 03, pp. 805-821.

Locatelli, P. (2018) “Condenado por tráfico de pessoas, empresário chamou de ‘oportunista’ filipina vítima de trabalho escravo, Repórter Brasil. Disponível em: https://reporterbrasil.org.br/2018/05/condenado-por-trafico-de-pessoas-empresario-chamou-de-oportunista-filipina-vitima-de-trabalho-escravo/. Acesso em 02 de junho de 2020.

______. (2017) “Domésticas das Filipinas são escravizadas em São Paulo”, Repórter Brasil. Disponível em: https://reporterbrasil.org.br/2017/07/domesticas-das-filipinas-sao-escravizadas-em-sao-paulo/. Acesso em 17 de janeiro de 2020.

Mello, P. (2015) “Empresa 'importa' babás e domésticas das Filipinas para o Brasil”, Cotidiano. Folha de São Paulo. Disponível em: https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/cotidiano/2015/05/1627108-empresa-importa-babas-e-domesticas-das-filipinas-para-o-brasil.shtml. Acesso em 17 de janeiro de 2020.

Organização Internacional do Trabalho (OIT). (2015) ILO global estimates on migrant workers: results and methodology – special focus on migrant domestic workers, Geneva: ILO. Disponível em: https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/labour-migration/publications/WCMS_436343/lang--en/index.htm. Acesso em 17 de janeiro de 2020.

Parreñas, R. (2001; 2015) Servants of globalization: migration and domestic work, Stanford: Stanford University Press.

______ (2008) The force of Domesticity. Filipina Migrants and Globalization, Nova Iorque: New York University Press.

______ (2007) “The Gender Ideological Clash in Globalization: Women, Migration, and the Modernization Bulding Project of the Philippines”, Social Thought and Research, vol. 28, pp. 37-56.

Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). (2016) “Deployed Overseas Filipino Workers 2016 vs. 2015”, Overseas Employment Statistics. Disponível em: http://www.poea.gov.ph/ofwstat/compendium/2015-2016%20OES%201.pdf. Acesso em 17 de janeiro de 2020.

______ (2010a) “Overseas Employment Statistics 2010”, Overseas Employment Statistics. Disponível em: http://www.poea.gov.ph/ofwstat/compendium/2010.pdf. Acesso em 17 de janeiro de 2020.

______ (2010b) “OFW Deployment per Skill and Country - New hires For the Year 2010”, Overseas Employment Statistics. Disponível em: http://www.poea.gov.ph/ofwstat/depperskill/2010.pdf. Acesso em 17 de janeiro de 2020.

______ (2005) “OFW Global Presence. A Compendium of Overseas Employment Statistics 2005”, Overseas Employment Statistics. Disponível em: http://www.poea.gov.ph/ofwstat/compendium/2005.pdf. Acesso em 17 de janeiro de 2020.

Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). (2018) “Statistical Tables on Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW): 2017”, Overseas Workers, Labor and Employment. Disponível em: https://psa.gov.ph/content/statistical-tables-overseas-filipino-workers-ofw-2017. Acesso em 17 de janeiro de 2020.

Quintella, S. (2017) “Famílias investem em empregadas e babás Filipinas”, Veja SP. Disponível em: https://vejasp.abril.com.br/cidades/babas-empregadas-filipinas/. Acesso em 17 de janeiro de 2020.

Rodriguez, R. (2008) “Domestic Debates: Constructions of Gendered Migration from the Philippines”, The Scholar and Feminist Online, Issue 6.3. Disponível em: http://sfonline.barnard.edu/immigration/rrodriguez_01.htm. Acesso em 21 de maio de 2020.

Sassen, S. (1984) “Notes on the Incorporation of the Third World Women into Wage-Labor Through Immigration and Off-Shore Production”, International Migration Review, vol. 18, nº4, pp. 1144-1167.

Tribunal Regional do Trabalho (TRT) da 2ª região. Processo judicial: ACP 1001643- 32.2017.5.02.0605. Acórdão, publicado em 20 de fevereiro de 2019.

Tyner, J. (2009) The Philippines: mobilities, identities, globalization, Nova Iorque: Taylor & Francis.

Zelizer, V. (2012) “A economia do care” in H. Hirata, N. Guimarães (Eds.), Cuidado e cuidadoras: as várias faces do care, São Paulo: Atlas, pp. 15-27.

Downloads

Published

2020-06-26

Issue

Section

Dossier Articles