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GEN DER & SO CI ETY / Au gust 2000Salazar Parreñas / RE PRO DUC TIVE LA BOR

MIGRANT FILIPINA DOMESTIC WORKERS AND THE INTERNATIONAL DIVISION OF REPRODUCTIVE LABOR

RHACEL SA LA ZAR PAR REÑAS Uni ver sity of Wis con sin–Madi son

This arti cle exam ines the poli tics of repro duc tive labor in globali za tion. Using the case of migrant Filipina domes tic work ers, the author pres ents the for ma tion of a three- tier trans fer of repro duc tive labor in globali za tion between the fol low ing groups of women: (1) middle- class women in receiv ing nations, (2) migrant domes tic work ers, and (3) Third World women who are too poor to migrate. The for - ma tion of this inter na tional divi sion of labor sug gests that repro duc tion activi ties, as they have been increas ingly com mo di fied, have to be situ ated in the con text of the global mar ket econ omy. This divi sion of labor is a struc tural process that deter mines the migra tion of Filipina domes tic work ers. As such, this arti cle also uses in- depth inter views to exam ine and enu mer ate the con tra dic tions that migrant Filipina domes tic work ers expe ri ence in their fam ily and work lives as a result of “being in the mid dle” of this divi sion of labor.

Migrant Filipina women are employed as domes tic work ers in more than 130 coun tries (Tyner 1999). They com prise a sub stan tial pro por tion of labor migrants in vari ous nations in Europe and Asia as well as Can ada (Bakan and Sta siu lis 1997; Catho lic Insti tute for Inter na tional Rela tions [CIIR] 1987; Con sta ble 1997). To a lesser extent, they are also employed as domes tic work ers in the United States (Hoge land and Rosen 1990). Even though Filipina migra tion is often assumed to be a middle- class pro fes sional stream (e.g., of nurses), two- thirds of female labor migrants from the Phil ip pines are, in fact, domes tic work ers (Tolen tino 1996). Only in the United States do Filipina migrant nurses out num ber domes tic work ers (Tyner 1999).1

Look ing at the migra tion and entrance of Filipina women into domes tic work, this arti cle docu ments the crea tion of a divi sion of repro duc tive labor in the global econ omy. This par ticu lar divi sion of labor occurs among work ing women and

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AUTHOR’S NOTE: I wish to thank Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Arlie Hochschild, Raka Ray, Michael Omi, Pier rette Hondagneu- Sotelo, Jen ni fer Lee, and an anony mous reviewer for their help ful com ments on ear lier ver sions of this arti cle and Chris tine Bose for her edi to rial sug ges tions. The Uni ver sity of Cali - for nia Office of the Presi dent and Babi lo nia Wil ner Foun da tion pro vided sup port dur ing the writ ing of this arti cle.

REPRINT REQUESTS: Rhacel Salazar Parreñas, 1803 5th Street, Berke ley, CA 94710; e-mail: [email protected].

GEN DER & SO CI ETY, Vol. 14 No. 4, August 2000 560-580 © 2000 So ci olo gists for Women in So ci ety

arises out of the demand for low- wage serv ice work ers in post in dus trial nations. By repro duc tive labor, I refer to the labor needed to sus tain the pro duc tive labor force. Such work includes house hold chores; the care of eld erly, adults, and youth; the sociali za tion of chil dren; and the main te nance of social ties in the fam ily (Bren ner and Laslett 1991). Rele gated to women more so than men, repro duc tive labor has long been a com mod ity pur chased by class- privileged women. As Evelyn Nakano Glenn (1992) has observed, white class- privileged women in the United States have his tori cally freed them selves of repro duc tive labor by pur chas ing the low- wage serv ices of women of color. In doing so, they main tain a “racial divi sion of repro - duc tive labor,” which estab lishes a two- tier hier ar chy among women (Nakano Glenn 1992).

Two ana lyti cal goals moti vate my query into the struc tural rela tion ship between the poli tics of repro duc tive labor and the flow of Filipina domes tic worker migra - tion. First, I return to the dis cus sion of the com mo di fi ca tion of repro duc tive labor ini ti ated by Nakano Glenn (1992) to extend her dis cus sion to an inter na tional ter - rain. In this way, my analy sis of the divi sion of repro duc tive labor con sid ers issues of globali za tion and the femini za tion of wage labor (Sas sen 1984, 1988). Sec ond, I extend dis cus sions of the inter na tional divi sion of labor in globali za tion from a sole con sid era tion of pro duc tive labor to include analy ses of repro duc tive labor. By ana - lyz ing the struc tural rela tion ship between repro duc tive labor and the femini za tion of the migrant labor force, I show another dimen sion by which gen der shapes the eco nomic divi sions of labor in migra tion.

The globali za tion of the mar ket econ omy has extended the poli tics of repro duc - tive labor into an inter na tional level. As I show in this arti cle, the migra tion and entrance into domes tic work of Fili pino women con sti tutes an inter na tional divi - sion of repro duc tive labor. This divi sion of labor, which I name the inter na tional trans fer of care tak ing, refers to the three- tier trans fer of repro duc tive labor among women in send ing and receiv ing coun tries of migra tion. While class- privileged women pur chase the low- wage serv ices of migrant Filipina domes tic work ers, migrant Filipina domes tic work ers simul ta ne ously pur chase the even lower- wage serv ices of poorer women left behind in the Phil ip pines. In other words, migrant Filipina domes tic work ers hire poorer women in the Phil ip pines to per form the repro duc tive labor that they are per form ing for wealth ier women in receiv ing nations.

The inter na tional trans fer of care tak ing links two impor tant but sepa rate dis - courses on the status of women—Nakano Glenn’s (1992) dis cus sion of the “racial divi sion of repro duc tive labor” and Sas sen’s dis cus sion of the “inter na tional divi - sion of labor.” It dem on strates that these impor tant for mu la tions need to be expanded to take into account tran sna tional issues of repro duc tion. To develop my argu ment, I begin by review ing the two rele vant bod ies of lit era ture—one on domes tic work and repro duc tive labor and the sec ond on female migra tion. Then, I describe my research meth od ol ogy and the char ac ter is tics of my sam ple. To build my con cep tual case, I first ana lyze the situa tion of Filipina domes tic work ers in the Phil ip pines and the “receiv ing nations” of the United States and Italy. Then, I build

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on this by add ing the migra tion links that illus trate the inter na tional trans fer of care - tak ing. This three- tier process is not merely a con cep tual idea but has con se quences for migrant Filipina domes tic work ers, which I give voice to in the final sec tion. These con se quences are par ticu larly impor tant to con sider because they define the migra tory expe ri ences of the increas ing number of migrant domes tic work ers from the Phil ip pines.

RE PRO DUC TIVE LA BOR AND PAID DO MES TIC WORK

My dis cus sion of repro duc tive labor builds from research on domes tic work and female migra tion. As I have noted, it is grounded in Nakano Glenn’s (1992) impor - tant for mu la tion of the “racial divi sion of repro duc tive labor.” Although repro duc - tive labor has his tori cally been rele gated to women, Nakano Glenn argues that there is a hier ar chi cal and inter de pend ent rela tion ship, one that inter locks the race and class status of women, in its dis tri bu tion in the for mal and infor mal labor mar ket. Accord ing to Nakano Glenn (1992, 30), class- privileged women free them selves of the “men tal, emo tional, and man ual labor” needed for “the crea tion and rec rea tion of peo ple as cul tural and social, as well as physi cal beings” by hir ing low- paid women of color. This form of low- wage labor encom passes a wide array of jobs includ ing food- service pro duc tion, hotel house keep ing, and nurs ing aide. In the com mo di fi ca tion of repro duc tive labor, women are linked by gen der and dif fer en ti - ated by race and class. Moreo ver, in its com mo di fi ca tion, the worth of repro duc tive labor declines in soci ety. As Katz Roth man (1989, 43) poign antly states, “When per formed by moth ers, we call this moth er ing . . . when per formed by hired hands, we call it unskilled.”

Var i ous case stud ies on domes tic work estab lish that women often use their class priv i lege to buy them selves out of their gen der sub or di na tion (Palmer 1989; Romero 1992; Thorn ton Dill 1994). As Mary Romero (1992, 129-30) puts it: “The never-end ing job described by house wives is trans ferred to work ers employed by women who treat domes tic ser vice as an oppor tu nity to ‘hire a wife.’ ” From dis - cus sions of the spa tial seg re ga tion of paid domes tic work ers to the doc u men ta tion of the script of “def er ence and maternalism” (Rollins 1985) in the work place, numer ous stud ies have also shown that the race and class inequal i ties that struc ture this divi sion of labor are aggra vated in the daily prac tices of paid house hold work (Romero 1992; Thorn ton Dill 1994). Doc u menting the hier ar chy of wom an hood in the United States dur ing the pre–World War II period, Phyl lis Palmer (1989), for exam ple, describes the reflec tion of race and class hier ar chies in the divi sion of labor between “clean mis tresses” and “dirty ser vants.” Accord ing to Palmer, the more phys i cally stren u ous labor of the ser vant enabled the mis tress to attain the mark ers of ideal fem i nin ity—fra gil ity and clean li ness. This hier ar chy con tin ues today as the most demand ing phys i cal labor in the house hold is still rel e gated to the paid domes tic worker.

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While schol ar ship on domes tic work estab lishes the une qual rela tions between domes tics and their employ ers, it has yet to inter ro gate sub stan tially the con se - quences of paid domes tic work on the fami lies of domes tic work ers them selves. An excep tion to this is Romero’s (1997) research on the chil dren of domes tic work ers. One of the ques tions that needs to be addressed fur ther is, “Who cares for the domes tics’ fam ily?” Elaine Bell Kaplan (1987) notes that the old est daugh ters of domes tics usu ally take over their famil ial duties. David Katz man (1978) simi larly observed that Afri can Ameri can domes tics in the South turned to their fami lies, spe cifi cally grand par ents, for the care of chil dren. In their arti cle on tran sna tional moth er ing, Pier rette Hondagneu- Sotelo and Ernis tine Avila (1997) ask a simi lar ques tion: “Who is tak ing care of the nan ny’s chil dren?” They found that tran sna - tional Latina moth ers, many of whom are domes tic work ers, fre quently rely on other female rela tives as well as paid domes tic work ers for the care of their chil dren left in the send ing coun try. The obser va tion of Hondagneu- Sotelo and Avila raises ques tions about the new forms of struc tural ine quali ties and social con se quences that are engen dered by the exten sion of com mo di fied repro duc tive labor to an inter - na tional ter rain. To address inter na tional rela tions of ine qual ity in repro duc tive labor, I now situ ate my dis cus sion of the poli tics of repro duc tive labor in lit era ture of female migra tion and the globali za tion of the mar ket econ omy.

WOMEN AND MI GRA TION

Con tem po rary labor migra tion is situ ated in the globali za tion of the mar ket econ omy. As Saskia Sas sen has fur ther indi cated, globali za tion has sparked the femini za tion of migrant labor. Con trib ut ing an insight ful theo reti cal frame work on the posi tion of women in the global econ omy, Sas sen (1984, 1988) estab lishes that globali za tion simul ta ne ously demands the low- wage labor of Third World women in export proc ess ing zones of devel op ing coun tries and in sec on dary tiers of manu - fac tur ing and serv ice sec tors in advanced, capi tal ist coun tries. The case of women in the Phil ip pines pro vides an exem plary illus tra tion. While Filipina women com - prised 74 per cent of the labor force in export proc ess ing zones by the early 1980s (Rosca 1995), they con sti tuted more than half of inter na tional migrants (55 per - cent) by the early 1990s (Asis 1992).

In globali za tion, the pene tra tion of manu fac tur ing pro duc tion in devel op ing coun tries cre ates a demand for women to migrate to advanced, capi tal ist coun tries. First of all, the manu fac tur ing pro duc tion (e.g., gar ment, elec tron ics, and fur ni ture) that remains in the lat ter set of coun tries must com pete with low pro duc tion costs in devel op ing coun tries. This results in the decen trali za tion and deregu la tion of manu fac tur ing pro duc tion (i.e., sub con tract ing or home work). Sec ond, mul ti na - tional cor po ra tions with pro duc tion facili ties across the globe, by and large, main - tain cen tral opera tions in new eco nomic cen ters, or what Sas sen (1994) refers to as “global cit ies,” where spe cial ized pro fes sional serv ices (e.g., legal, finan cial, account ing, and con sult ing tasks) are con cen trated. For the most part, global cit ies

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require low- wage serv ice labor such as domes tic work to main tain the life styles of their pro fes sional inhabi tants. Nota bly, many of the low- paying jobs cre ated in advanced, capi tal ist coun tries are con sid ered tra di tional “women’s work.” As a result, many of the immi grants who respond to the increas ing demand for low- wage work ers in advanced, capi tal ist coun tries are women.

The move ment of manu fac tur ing pro duc tion to newly indus tri al ized coun tries of Asia also gen er ates a demand for female migrant work ers. The increase in pro - duc tion activi ties in these econo mies has sub sumed the tra di tional pro le tar iat female work force who would oth er wise per form low- paying serv ice jobs such as domes tic work. This shift in labor mar ket con cen tra tion has con se quently gen er - ated a need for the lower- wage labor of women from neigh bor ing coun tries such as Indo ne sia and the Phil ip pines to fill the void cre ated in the Asian serv ice sec tor (Chin 1998).

Inde pendent female migra tion has cor re spond ingly increased with the femini za - tion of wage labor in the global econ omy. For exam ple, in a study of Cen tral Ameri - can refu gees in Wash ing ton, D.C., Repak (1995) estab lishes that gen der is a struc - tural deter mi nant of migra tion by show ing that the greater demand for low- wage female work ers in this par ticu lar receiv ing com mu nity ini ti ated the pri mary migra - tion of women. In the case of the Phil ip pines, the inde pend ent nature of female migra tion is shown by the dif fer ent des ti na tions of male and female labor migrants in the dias pora. As male and female migrants fill dif fer ent niches in the global econ - omy, migra tion from the Phil ip pines results in two gen dered flows with women ini - ti at ing migra tion to coun tries with a greater demand for female work ers and men migrat ing to coun tries with a greater demand for male work ers (Tyner 1994). In fact, the gen der com po si tion of many Fili pino migrant com mu ni ties is skewed. Women com pose more than 70 per cent of migrant Fili pi nos in Asian and Euro pean cit ies (Con sta ble 1997; Sala zar Par reñas 1998), where labor mar kets have a greater demand for low- wage serv ice work ers. In con trast, men com pose the major ity of Fili pino labor migrants in the Mid dle East (Tyner 1994), where there are more jobs avail able in con struc tion and oil indus tries.

On one hand, the case of Filipina domes tic work ers fits Sas sen’s theo reti cal for - mu la tion. As low- wage serv ice work ers, they meet the ris ing demand for cheap labor in the global cit ies of Asia and Europe and, to a lesser extent, the United States. On the other hand, this theo reti cal for mu la tion only con cen trates on rela - tions of pro duc tion in globali za tion. The struc tural rela tion ship between work and fam ily is not exam ined in macro- level accounts of the demand for migrant labor ers. In con trast, lit era ture on female migra tion has turned to the institutional- level per - spec tive to pay closer atten tion to the ana lyti cal prin ci ple of gen der in the fam ily. By ana lyz ing social rela tions of men and women in the fam ily, femi nist schol ars of migra tion have shown that gen der organ izes, shapes, and dis tin guishes the immi - gra tion pat terns and expe ri ences of men and women (Gras muck and Pes sar 1991; Hondagneu- Sotelo 1994). In my study of the poli tics of repro duc tive labor under globali za tion, I take note of this rich dis cus sion in femi nist migra tion stud ies.

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Situ at ing migrant Filipina domes tic work ers in the tran sna tional poli tics of repro duc tive labor extends Sas sen’s for mu la tion by stress ing the fact that par tici - pants in the new inter na tional divi sion of labor, from the low- wage migrant worker to the pro fes sion als whom they serve, have fami lies. Account ing for these fami lies allows us to give greater con sid era tion to gen der in dis cus sions of divi sions of labor in globali za tion and enables us to more fully describe the labor processes of migra tion.

METHOD

This arti cle is based pri mar ily on open- ended inter views that I col lected with 46 female domes tic work ers in Rome and 26 in Los Ange les. I tape- recorded and fully tran scribed each of my inter views, which were mostly con ducted in Taga log and then trans lated into Eng lish.

I chose the field research sites of Rome and Los Ange les because the United States and Italy have the larg est popu la tions of Fili pino migrants to West ern coun - tries (Karp 1995). Both des ti na tions also have par ticu lar colo nial ties to the Phil ip - pines. While the United States main tains eco nomic domi nance in rela tion to the Phil ip pines, Italy enjoys cul tural domi nance indi rectly through the insti tu tion of the Roman Catho lic Church. As a con se quence of these macro- historical links, Fili - pi nos have come to rep re sent one of the larg est migrant groups in both the United States and Italy (Cari tas di Roma 1995; Portes and Rum baut 1996). By 1990, the flow of legal migra tion from the Phil ip pines was, next to Mex ico, the sec ond larg est in the United States and the third larg est, next to Morocco and Tuni sia, in Italy (Cam pani 1993; Portes and Rum baut 1996).

The inter views in Italy ranged from one and one- half to three hours in length. I also con ducted tape- recorded inter views with vari ous com mu nity lead ers (e.g., elected offi cers of com mu nity asso cia tions). I col lected an unsys tem atic sam ple of research par tici pants by using chain and snow ball refer rals and began solic it ing research par tici pants by vis it ing numer ous com mu nity sites such as churches, parks, and pla zas.

In Los Ange les, I col lected a smaller sam ple of in- depth inter views with Filipina domes tic work ers, also rang ing from one and one- half to three hours in length. My U.S. sam ple is smaller because, unlike their coun ter parts in Rome, Filipina migrants in Los Ange les, or in the United States in gen eral, are not con cen trated in the infor mal serv ice sec tor. Instead, they occupy a wider range of occu pa tional sec - tors. Another fac tor con trib ut ing to the smaller sam ple in Los Ange les is the small rep re sen ta tion of Filipi nas among domes tic work ers. Filipi nas are but a minor ity among the larger group of Latina domes tics. Yet, accord ing to the community- based organi za tion Pili pino Work er’s Cen ter, Filipi nas domi nate eld erly care ser- vices in Los Ange les.

In the field research site of Los Ange les, tap ping into the com mu nity began with the net work of my mother’s friends and rela tives. To diver sify my sam ple, I posted

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fly ers in vari ous eth nic enclave busi nesses. Two women responded to the fly ers. Using net works of domes tic work ers, the sam ples of inter view ees were col lected unsys tem at ic ally through a snow ball method, as I did in Italy. Par tici pant obser va - tion pro vided a gate way to the com mu nity as I attended meet ings of Fili pino labor groups, the occa sional Fili pino town fies tas, and the more fre quent Fili pino fam ily par ties, and I spent time with domes tic work ers at their own and their employ ers’ homes.

CHAR AC TER IS TICS OF THE SAM PLE

My sam ple of domes tic work ers in Rome and Los Ange les reveals women who are mostly moth ers with a fairly high level of edu ca tional attain ment. Con trary to the popu lar belief that Filipina domes tic work ers are usu ally young and sin gle (CIIR 1987), my study shows a larger number of mar ried women. In Los Ange les, only 5 of 26 inter view ees are never- married sin gle women, while in Rome, less than half of the women I inter viewed (19) are never mar ried. Women with chil dren liv - ing in the Phil ip pines con sti tute the majority of my sam ple in both Rome and Los Ange les: 25 of 46 in Rome and 14 of 26 in Los Ange les.

Because they per form jobs that are con sid ered unskilled, domes tic work ers are often assumed to lack the train ing needed for higher status jobs in the labor mar ket. In the case of Filipina domes tics in Italy and the United States, the pres tige level of their cur rent work does not in any way reveal their level of edu ca tional train ing. Most of my inter view ees had acquired some years of post sec on dary train ing in the Phil ip pines. In Rome, my inter view ees include 23 women with col lege degrees, 12 with some years of col lege or post sec on dary voca tional train ing, and 7 who com - pleted high school. In Los Ange les, my inter view ees include 11 women with col - lege diplo mas, 8 with some years of col lege or post sec on dary voca tional train ing, and 5 with high school degrees.

Even with a high level of edu ca tional attain ment, Filipina women migrate and enter domes tic work because they still earn higher wages as domes tic work ers in post in dus trial nations than as pro fes sional work ers in the Phil ip pines. In Rome, part- time work ers—as day work ers are called in the Fili pino migrant com mu nity— receive an aver age monthly wage of 1,844,000 lira (U.S.$1,229), live-in work ers 1,083,000 lira (U.S.$722), and eld erly care giv ers 1,167,000 lira (U.S.$778).2 After tak ing into account the addi tional cost of liv ing for part- time work ers, there is just a slight dif fer ence in sal ary between the three types of domes tic work ers. In Los Ange les, Filipina domes tic work ers are not con cen trated in day work as are other immi grant women. Instead, they are mostly live-in work ers. In con trast to women in Rome, they receive a weekly instead of a monthly sal ary, which is an arrange - ment that they pre fer as it results in higher earn ings. Eld erly care giv ers receive on aver age a sal ary of U.S.$425 per week and live-in house keep ers and child care giv - ers receive on aver age U.S.$350 per week. Wages of domes tic work ers in Rome and Los Ange les are sig nifi cantly higher than those that they had received in the

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Phil ip pines. Among my inter view ees, the aver age monthly sal ary of women who had worked in the Phil ip pines dur ing the 1990s was only U.S.$179.

RE PRO DUC TIVE LA BOR IN SEND ING AND RE CEIV ING NA TIONS

Migrant Filipina domes tic work ers depart from a sys tem of gen der strati fi ca tion in the Phil ip pines only to enter another one in the advanced capi tal ist and indus tri al - ized coun tries of the United States and Italy. In both send ing and receiv ing nations, they con front socie ties with simi lar gen der ide olo gies con cern ing the divi sion of labor in the fam ily; that is, repro duc tive labor is rele gated to women. Yet, in the receiv ing nation of either Italy or the United States, racial, class, and citi zen ship ine quali ties aggra vate the posi tion of migrant Filipi nas as women (Andall 1992; Nakano Glenn 1992). In this sec tion, I dis cuss the poli tics of repro duc tive labor at both ends of the migra tion spec trum. My dis cus sion gives greater con sid era tion to those in the receiv ing nations, because of their greater rele vance for our under stand - ing of the labor mar ket incor po ra tion of migrant Filipina domes tic work ers in globali za tion.

In the Phil ip pines, men are expected to sus tain the fam ily and women to repro - duce fam ily life. In fact, ideo logi cal con structs of femi nine iden tity are molded from “moth er ing and car ing roles in the domes tic arena” (Israel- Sobritchea 1990). The ide ol ogy of women as care tak ers con strains the pro duc tive labor activi ties of women in many ways, includ ing sex seg re gat ing them into jobs resem bling “wife- and- mother roles” (Chant and McIl waine 1995; Uy Evi ota 1992), such as house - hold work on plan ta tions and pro fes sional work in nurs ing and teach ing. Because women are expected only to sub si dize the pri mary income of men, women’s jobs are often less val ued and far less lucra tive than com pa ra ble men’s work (e.g., field - work as opposed to house hold work in plan ta tions) (Uy Evi ota 1992). Despite these con straints, women do par tici pate in the pro duc tive labor force (Agui lar 1988) and in 1992, the female share of total employ ment in the Phil ip pines reached 37.7 per - cent (Chant 1997). Con sid er ing that only 2 per cent of all house holds in the Phil ip - pines can afford to hire domes tic help, these work ing women are plagued by the dou ble day (Agui lar 1988).

For the remain der of this sec tion, I situ ate the migra tion of Filipina domes tic work ers in the poli tics of repro duc tive labor in the receiv ing coun tries of the United States and Italy. I do so to place their labor mar ket incor po ra tion in the con text of the racial divi sion of repro duc tive labor. In the United States, women rep re sented 46.5 per cent of gain fully employed work ers in 1992, a con sid er able increase over 32.1 per cent in 1960 (Reskin and Padavic 1994, 24-25). In Italy, the down ward trend in the labor force par tici pa tion of women from 1959 to 1972 has since reversed (Meyer 1987). In fact, Italy has wit nessed an increas ing number of mar ried women in the labor force, but a sur pris ing decline among younger sin gle women (God dard

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1996). It has been argued that Ital ian women are turn ing away from repro duc ing fami lies and con cen trat ing on their advance ment in the labor mar ket (Spec ter 1998). Italy, although known to be “the tra di tional ‘bam bini’ coun try,” has the low - est birth rate in the world at only 9.6 per 1,000 inhabi tants (Beck and Beck- Gernsheim 1995, 102).

Accord ing to Arlie Hochschild (1989), at least in the United States, the major ity of men do less house work than do their gain fully employed part ners, and men who earned less than their wives were even less likely to share house work. And so today, a sig nifi cantly larger number of women have to cope with the dou ble day. Simi larly in Italy, dop pio lavoro (lit er ally mean ing dou ble work) has been a recur ring theme in the Ital ian femi nist move ment since the early 1970s (Chia vola Birn baum 1986). Nota bly, the amount of house hold work expected of women has increased with advances in tech nol ogy (Glazer 1993).

While a higher income does not guar an tee a more gen der egali tar ian dis tri bu tion of house work, it does give fami lies the flexi bil ity to afford the serv ices of other women. To ease the dou ble day, many over whelmed women in the United States have turned to day care cen ters and fam ily day care pro vid ers, nurs ing homes, after- school baby- sitters, and also pri vately hired domes tic work ers (Glazer 1993; Katz Roth man 1989; Nakano Glenn 1992; Nel son 1990; Reskin and Padavic 1994). In Italy, this same trend is reflected in the con cen tra tion of women from the Phil ip - pines, Cape Verde, and Peru in domes tic serv ices as well as the esti mated 36.4 per - cent of ille gal work ers who are doing domes tic work (Calavita 1994). Nota bly, Ital - ian women have turned to new tac tics to mini mize their repro duc tive labor. While Ital ian femi nists demanded “wages for house work” in the 1970s (Chia vola Birn baum 1986, 135), it can be said that Ital ian women have since taken to refus ing to repro - duce the fam ily alto gether. With out doubt, this is a unique means by which many Ital ian women mini mize their repro duc tive labor directly.

The labor mar ket incor po ra tion of migrant Filipina domes tic work ers into the United States and Italy fits into Nakano Glenn’s schema. In both coun tries, they join the ranks of other groups of sub or di nated women who have his tori cally per - formed the repro duc tive labor of more privi leged women. In mak ing this asser tion, I do not claim that Filipi nas in the United States are defined racially as domes tic work ers like Latina migrants. They are more so cate go rized and iden ti fied as nurses, because of their con cen tra tion in health care serv ices. Yet, in the Fili pino migrant com mu nity, it is known that recent migrants fre quently turn to domes tic work.3

Reflecting the obser va tions of Nakano Glenn, Andall (1992, 43) asso ci ates the entrance of migrant women into Italy—as they are con cen trated in domes tic work— with the entrance of Ital ian women into the labor force:

The migra tion of women into Italy began at the same time as a number of changes were tak ing place in the role and posi tion of Ital ian women within soci ety . . . in the 1970s, an increased number of Ital ian women began to assert them selves out side the

568 GEN DER & SO CI ETY / Au gust 2000

domes tic sphere. . . . This change in Ital ian women’s activ ity became a pull fac tor in the migra tion of women from devel op ing coun tries.

Nakano Glenn’s (1992) for mu la tion of the racial divi sion of repro duc tive labor sug gests that the demand for low- wage serv ice work ers, par ticu larly domes tic work ers, arises not solely from the con cen tra tion of highly spe cial ized pro fes sional serv ices in global cit ies, as Sas sen has argued cor rectly, but also from per sist ing gen der ine quali ties in the fami lies of these pro fes sion als. To fully con sider the poli - tics of repro duc tive labor in the migra tion of Filipina domes tic work ers, I now expand and refor mu late the con cept of the racial divi sion of repro duc tive labor by plac ing it in a tran sna tional set ting. In doing so, I situ ate the increas ing demand for paid repro duc tive labor in receiv ing nations in the con text of the globali za tion of the mar ket econ omy.

THE IN TER NA TIONAL DI VI SION OF RE PRO DUC TIVE LA BOR

Globali za tion has trig gered the for ma tion of a sin gu lar mar ket econ omy. As such, pro duc tion activi ties in one area can no longer be under stood solely from a local per spec tive. Like wise, I argue that repro duc tion activi ties, espe cially as they have been increas ingly com mo di fied, have to be situ ated in the con text of this sin - gu lar mar ket econ omy. In this sense, I insist that repro duc tion activi ties in one area have con crete ties to repro duc tion activi ties in another area. With the femini za tion of wage labor, global capi tal ism is forg ing the crea tion of links among dis tinct sys - tems of gen der ine qual ity. Moreo ver, the migra tion of women con nects sys tems of gen der ine qual ity in both send ing and receiv ing nations to global capi tal ism. All of these processes occur in the for ma tion of the inter na tional divi sion of repro duc tive labor.

This divi sion of labor places Nakano Glenn’s (1992) “racial divi sion of repro - duc tive labor” in an inter na tional con text under the aus pices of Saskia Sas sen’s dis - cus sion of the incor po ra tion of women from devel op ing coun tries into the global econ omy. It is a tran sna tional divi sion of labor that is shaped simul ta ne ously by global capi tal ism, gen der ine qual ity in the send ing coun try, and gen der ine qual ity in the receiv ing coun try. This divi sion of labor deter mines the migra tion and entrance into domes tic serv ice of women from the Phil ip pines.

The inter na tional trans fer of care tak ing is a dis tinct form of the inter na tional divi sion of labor in which Filipina domes tic work ers per form the repro duc tive labor or the “pri vate sphere” respon si bili ties of class- privileged women in indus tri al ized coun tries as they leave other women in the Phil ip pines to per form their own. This inter na tional divi sion of labor refers to a three- tier trans fer of repro duc tive labor among women in two nation- states. These groups of women are (1) middle- class

Salazar Parreñas / RE PRO DUC TIVE LA BOR 569

women in receiv ing coun tries, (2) migrant Filipina domes tic work ers, and (3) Filipina domes tic work ers in the Phil ip pines who are too poor to migrate.

Under the inter na tional trans fer of care tak ing, women’s migra tion from the Phil - ip pines is embed ded in the process of global capi tal ism. At the same time, gen der is also a cen tral fac tor of their migra tion. The process of migra tion for women involves escap ing their gen der roles in the Phil ip pines, eas ing the gen der con - straints of the women who employ them in indus tri al ized coun tries, and finally rele - gat ing their gen der roles to women left in the Phil ip pines.4

The inter na tional trans fer of care tak ing refers to a social, politi cal, and eco - nomic rela tion ship between women in the global labor mar ket. This divi sion of labor is a struc tural rela tion ship based on the class, race, gen der, and (nation- based) citi zen ship of women. In the inter na tional trans fer of care tak ing, Filipina domes tic work ers do not just ease the entrance of other women into the paid labor force but also assist in the eco nomic growth of receiv ing coun tries. Patri cia Licua nan (1994, 109), in ref er ence to house holds in Hong Kong and Sin ga pore, explains,

House holds are said to have bene fited greatly by the import of domes tic work ers. Fam ily income has increased because the wife and other women mem bers of work ing age are freed from domes tic chores and are able to join the labour force. This higher income would nor mally result in the enlarge ment of the con sumer mar ket and greater demand on pro duc tion and con se quently a growth in the econ omy.

In the arti cle “Econ omy Mend ers,” Linda Layosa (1995, 7), the edi tor of the tran sna tional monthly maga zine Tinig Fili pino, describes the inter na tional trans fer of care tak ing:

Indeed, our women have par tially been lib er ated from the anguish of their day- to- day exis tence with their fami lies and from eco nomic prob lems, only to be enslaved again in the con fines of another home, most of the time tram pling their rights as human beings . . . we have to face the real ity that many of our women will be com pelled to leave the con fines of their own tidy bed rooms and their spot less kitch ens only to clean another house hold, to mend other’s torn clothes at the same time mend our tat tered econ omy.

In her descrip tion, she falls short of men tion ing who takes up the house hold work that migrant Filipina domes tic work ers aban don upon migra tion. Most likely, they are other female rela tives, but also less privi leged Filipina women, women unable to afford the high costs of seek ing employ ment out side of the Phil ip pines. Thus, migrant Filipina domes tic work ers are in the mid dle of the three- tier hier ar chy of the inter na tional trans fer of care tak ing.

The case of Car men Ron quillo pro vides a good illus tra tion of the inter na tional trans fer of care tak ing.5 Car men is simul ta ne ously a domes tic worker of a pro fes - sional woman in Rome and an employer of a domes tic worker in the Phil ip pines. Car men describes her rela tion ship to each of these two women:

570 GEN DER & SO CI ETY / Au gust 2000

When com ing here, I men tally sur ren dered myself and forced my pride away from me to pre pare myself. But I lost a lot of weight. I was not used to the work. You see, I had maids in the Phil ip pines. I have a maid in the Phil ip pines that has worked for me since my daugh ter was born twenty-four years ago. She is still with me. I paid her three hundred pesos before and now I pay her one thousand pesos.6

I am a lit tle bit luck ier than oth ers because I run the entire house hold. My employer is a divorced woman who is an archi tect. She does not have time to run her house hold so I do all the shop ping. I am the one budg et ing. I am the one cook ing. [Laughs.] And I am the one clean ing too. She has a 24 and 26 year old. The older one gradu ated already and is an elec tri cal engi neer. The other one is tak ing up phi loso phy. They still live with her. . . . She has been my only employer. I stayed with her because I feel at home with her. She never com mands. She never orders me to do this and to do that.

The hier ar chi cal and inter de pend ent rela tion ship between Car men, her employer in Italy, and her domes tic worker in the Phil ip pines forms from the une qual devel op - ment of indus tri al ized and devel op ing coun tries in tran sna tional capi tal ism, class dif fer ences in the Phil ip pines, and the rele ga tion of repro duc tive labor to women. The case of Car men Ron quillo clearly exem pli fies how three dis tinct groups of women par tici pate in the inter na tional trans fer of care tak ing. While Car men frees her employer (the archi tect) of domes tic respon si bili ties, a lower paid domes tic worker does the house hold work for Car men and her fam ily.

Wage dif fer ences of domes tic work ers illu mi nate the eco nomic dis par ity among nations in tran sna tional capi tal ism. A domes tic worker in Italy such as Car men could receive U.S.$1,000 per month for her labor:

I earn 1,500,000 lira (U.S.$1,000) and she pays for my bene fits (e.g., medi cal cov er - age). On Sun days, I have a part- time (job), I clean her office in the morn ing and she pays me 300,000 lira (U.S.$200). I am very for tu nate because she always gives me my holi day pay (August) and my thir teenth month pay in Decem ber. Plus, she gives me my liq ui da tion pay at the end of the year. Employ ers here are required to give you a liq ui da tion pay—equiva lent to your monthly sal ary for every year you worked for them, but they usu ally give it to you when you leave but she insists on pay ing me at the end of the year. So, on Decem ber, I always receive 5,400,000 lira (U.S.$3,600).

The wages of Car men eas ily afford her a domes tic worker in the Phil ip pines, who, on aver age, only earns the below- poverty wage of U.S.$40 per month. Moreo ver, the domes tic worker in the Phil ip pines, in exchange for her labor, does not receive the addi tional work bene fits Car men receives for the same labor, for exam ple, medi cal cov er age. Not sur pris ingly, migrant Filipina domes tic work ers, as shown by their high level of edu ca tional attain ment, tend to have more resources and belong in a more com fort able class strata than do domes tic work ers in the Phil ip - pines. Such resources often enable Car men and other migrant Filipina women to afford the option of work ing out side of the coun try.

Salazar Parreñas / RE PRO DUC TIVE LA BOR 571

THE OVER LOOKED PAR TICI PANTS: CHIL DREN AND WOMEN IN THE PHIL IP PINES

The pri vate world remains deval ued, as poor peo ple become the wives and moth ers of the world, clean ing the toi lets and rais ing the chil dren. The devalu ing of cer tain work, of nur tur ance, of pri vate “domes tic” work, remains: rear ing chil dren is roughly on a par—cer tainly in terms of sal ary—with clean ing the toi let. (Katz Roth man 1989, 252)

While the deval u a tion of “rear ing chil dren” could be lamented as a trag edy for chil dren, the expe ri ences of the dif fer ent groups of chil dren (and elderly) in the inter na tional trans fer of caretaking should be dis tin guished between those who remain cared for and those who are not and those who reg u larly see their par ents/ chil dren and those who can not. The fact that “rear ing chil dren is roughly on a par . . . with clean ing the toi let” means that migrant Filipina domes tic work ers usu ally can - not afford the higher costs of main tain ing a fam ily in indus tri al ized coun tries due to their mea ger wages. In the United States, where peo ple of color have tra di tion ally been care givers and domes tic work ers for white fam i lies, moth er ing is diverted away from peo ple of color fam i lies. Sau-ling Wong (1994, 69) defines diverted moth er ing to be the pro cess in which the “time and energy avail able for moth er ing are diverted from those who, by kin ship or com mu nal ties, are their more right ful recip i ents.” His torically, a mar ried Black domes tic worker in the United States “typ i cally saw her chil dren once every two weeks, leav ing them in the care of the hus band or older sib lings, while remain ing on call around the clock for the employer’s chil dren” (Wong 1994, 71). Now, in an inter na tional con text, the same pat tern of diverted moth er ing could be described for Filipina, Latina, and Carib - bean domes tic work ers as many are forced to leave their chil dren behind in the coun try of ori gin (Colen 1995; Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila 1997).

7 The ques tion

then is, Who cares for these “other” chil dren? In the Phil ip pines, it is unusual for fathers to nur ture and care for their chil dren,

but, con sid er ing that not all migrant Filipina domes tic work ers hire domes tic work - ers, some are forced to give in to the rene go tia tions of house hold divi sion of labor led by the migra tion of their wives. Other female rela tives often take over the house - hold work of migrant Filipi nas. In these cases, none gali tar ian rela tions among fam - ily mem bers should be acknowl edged con sid er ing that for female fam ily mem bers left in the Phil ip pines, “the mobil ity they might achieve through migra tion is severely cur tailed” (Basch, Glick Schil ler, and Szan ton Blanc 1994, 241). How - ever, hired domes tic work ers—a live-in house keeper or laban dera (laun dry woman who hand washes clothes)—also free migrant Filipina domes tics of their house hold labor. Almost all of my inter view ees in both Rome and Los Ange les hire domes tic work ers in the Phil ip pines. This should not be sur pris ing con sid er ing that the aver - age wage of domes tics in the Phil ip pines is con sid era bly less than the aver age wage of migrant domes tics.

572 GEN DER & SO CI ETY / Au gust 2000

In dis cus sions of the inter na tional divi sion of (pro duc tive) labor, women who can not afford to work as domes tic work ers in other coun tries are equated with those who do so. For exam ple, migrant Filipina domes tic work ers and female low- wage work ers in the Phil ip pines are con sid ered to be equally dis placed in global capi tal - ism. Maya Areza, who dreams of retir ing in the Phil ip pines after a few more years in the United States, reminds us of the struc tural ine quali ties char ac ter iz ing rela - tions among women in devel op ing coun tries when she states,

When I retire I plan to go home for good. I plan to stay at my par ents’ house . . . I would just lounge and smoke. I will get a domes tic helper who I can ask to get my ciga rettes for me. . . . My chil dren and my cous ins all have domes tic work ers. You can hire one if you have money. It’s cheap, only one thou sand pesos ($40). Here, you earn $1,000 doing the same kind of work you would do for one thou sand pesos there! I won’t have a prob lem with hir ing one.

Because migrant Filipina domes tic work ers are usu ally in the mid dle of the hier ar - chi cal chain of care tak ing, they main tain une qual rela tions with less privi leged women in the Phil ip pines. Under the inter na tional trans fer of care tak ing, the une - qual eco nomic stand ing of nation- states and dis crep an cies in mone tary cur ren cies are promi nent fac tors that dis tin guish the posi tion of female low- wage work ers in advanced, capi tal ist, and devel op ing coun tries. They dif fer en ti ate, for exam ple, the posi tion of domes tic work ers in the United States and Italy from domes tic work ers in the Phil ip pines. Migrant Filipina domes tic work ers surely take advan tage of these dif fer ences in wages and main tain a direct hier ar chi cal rela tion ship with the domes tic work ers whom they hire in the Phil ip pines. In the inter na tional trans fer of care tak ing, domes tic work ers (e.g., house keep ers and laun dry women) hired by fami lies of domes tic work ers abroad are the truly sub al tern women.

THE SO CIAL CON SE QUENCES OF “BE ING IN THE MID DLE”

So far, I have estab lished the for ma tion of the inter na tional divi sion of repro duc - tive labor. As a struc tural process that deter mines the migra tion of Filipina domes tic work ers, this divi sion of labor also results in par ticu lar social con se quences that are embod ied in the lived expe ri ence of its par tici pants. In this sec tion, I illu mi nate the social con se quences of “being in the mid dle” of this divi sion of labor. The process in which repro duc tive labor is trans ferred to migrant Filipi nas is not as smooth as it sounds. For many, the process involves mul ti ple con tra dic tions in their posi tions in the fam ily and the labor mar ket.

To illu mi nate the con se quences of “being in the mid dle,” I return to the story of Car men Ron quillo. Before migrat ing to Rome, Car men, who is in her mid- 40s, had worked for 15 years as a proj ect man ager of the mili tary food serv ices at Clark Air Force Base. With the clo sure of this U.S. mili tary base in 1992, Car men thought that she could not find a job that offered a com pa ra bly lucra tive income in the

Salazar Parreñas / RE PRO DUC TIVE LA BOR 573

Phil ip pines. There fore, Car men decided to fol low her sis ter to Rome, where she could earn much more as a domes tic worker than as a pro fes sional in the Phil ip - pines. Seek ing employ ment in Italy was a huge invest ment for her fam ily. Car men paid an agency U.S.$5,000 to enter Italy with out a visa. The high costs of migra tion from the Phil ip pines sug gest that this option is usu ally lim ited to those with finan - cial means. Con se quently, labor migra tion for Car men and the many other middle- class women who can afford to leave the Phil ip pines usu ally entails the emo tional strains brought by their down ward mobil ity to the lower status job of domes tic work. As Car men describes,

My life is dif fi cult here. Would you believe that here I am a “physi cal laborer”? When I was work ing in the Phil ip pines, I was the one super vis ing the super vi sors. [Laughs.] So, when I came here, espe cially when I cleaned the bath rooms, I would talk to myself. [Laughs hys ter i cally.] I would com mend and praise myself, tell ing myself, “Oh, you clean the cor ners very well.” [Laughs.] You see, in my old job, I would always check the cor ners first, that was how I checked if my work ers had cleaned the place well. So, some times I would just cry. I felt like I was slapped in the face. I resent the fact that we can not use our skills espe cially because most of us Fili pi nos here are pro fes sion als. We should be able to do other kinds of work because if you only do house work, your brain dete rio rates. Your knowl edge dete rio rates. Your whole being is that of a maid.

As reflected in the bit ter atti tude of Car men toward domes tic work, a cen tral con tra - dic tion of being in the mid dle of the inter na tional trans fer of care tak ing is the expe - ri ence of con flict ing class mobil ity. For migrant Filipi nas, domes tic work simul ta - ne ously involves an increase and decrease in class status. They earn more than they ever would have if they had stayed as pro fes sional women in the Phil ip pines. Yet, at the same time, they expe ri ence a sharp decline in occu pa tional status and face a dis - crep ancy between their cur rent occu pa tion and actual train ing. For the women “in the mid dle,” this dis crep ancy high lights the low status of domes tic work.

Vanessa Dulang, an office worker in the Phil ip pines and domes tic worker in Rome since 1990, describes the gains and losses that migrant women such as her - self incur from the lim ited labor mar ket option of either stay ing in the Phil ip pines or work ing as a domes tic out side of the coun try:

Life is hard in the Phil ip pines. You don’t earn enough. Noth ing will hap pen to you if you stay there. Even though you are a maid here, at least you are earn ing money. What I couldn’t buy in the Phil ip pines, I could buy here. . . . But work is dif fi cult. You bend your back scrub bing. You expe ri ence what you would never expe ri ence in the Phil ip - pines. In the Phil ip pines, your work is light but you don’t have any money. Here you make money, but your body is exhausted.

In the spa tial poli tics of globali za tion—une qual devel op ment of regions—the achieve ment of mate rial secu rity in the Phil ip pines entails the expe ri ence of down - ward mobil ity in other coun tries. Accord ing to Basch, Glick Schil ler, and Szan ton Blanc (1994, 234), this decline in social status in migra tion gen er ally pushes

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migrants to build “deter ri to ri al ized national iden ti ties.” They cope with their mar - ginal status in the receiv ing coun try by bas ing their iden ti ties on the increase in their class status in the coun try of ori gin. In the same vein, migrant Filipina domes tic work ers resolve their con flict ing class mobil ity by stress ing their higher social and class status in the Phil ip pines.

They do just that by hir ing their very own domes tic work ers or per ceiv ing them - selves as right ful bene fi ci ar ies of ser vi tude. In this way, they are able to miti gate their loss of status in migra tion. As Joy Man lapit of Los Ange les tells me,

When I go back, I want to expe ri ence being able to be my own boss in the house. I want to be able to order some one to make me cof fee, to serve me food. That is good. That is how you can take back all the hard ships you expe ri enced before. That is some thing you strug gled for.

Glo ria Yogore, her coun ter part in Rome, finds simi lar com fort in the knowl edge of the higher social status she occu pies and will occupy once she returns to the Phil ip pines:

In the Phil ip pines, I have maids. When I came here, I kept on think ing that in the Phil - ip pines, I have maids and here I am one. I thought to myself that once I go back to the Phil ip pines, I will not lift my fin ger and I will be the sig nora. [Laughs.] My hands will be rested and mani cured and I will wake up at 12 o’clock noon.

Ironi cally, migrant Filipina domes tic work ers find com fort from the con tra dic tion of the simul ta ne ous decline and increase in their class back ground by stress ing the greater privi lege that they have and will have in rela tion to poorer women in the Phil ip pines.

Another con se quence of being in the mid dle is the expe ri ence of the pain of fam - ily sepa ra tion. Being in the mid dle is con tin gent on being part of a tran sna tional house hold, mean ing a house hold whose mem bers are located in two or more nation- states. Among my inter view ees, 41 of 46 women in Rome and 20 of 26 women in Los Ange les main tain such house holds. I placed my inter view ees cate - gori cally under this type of house hold struc ture on the basis that their remit tances sus tain the day- to- day liv ing expenses of their imme di ate and extended fami lies in the Phil ip pines. Almost all of the never- married sin gle women with out chil dren in my sam ple (14 in Rome and 6 in Los Ange les) are, in fact, part of tran sna tional house holds. Nota bly, only 1 sin gle woman does not send remit tances to the Phil ip - pines regu larly.

Emo tional strains of tran sna tional fam ily life include feel ings of loss, guilt, and lone li ness for the moth ers and daugh ters work ing as domes tics in other coun tries. Plagued by the pain of fam ily sepa ra tion, women like Car men strug gle with the emo tional strains of fam ily sepa ra tion in their daily lives:

My son, when ever he writes me, he always draws the head of Fido the dog with tears on the eyes. When ever he goes to mass on Sun days, he tells me that he misses me more

Salazar Parreñas / RE PRO DUC TIVE LA BOR 575

because he sees his friends with their moth ers. Then, he comes home and cries. He says that he does not want his father to see him cry ing so he locks him self in his room. When I think of them [her chil dren] is when I feel worst about being here. I was very very close to my two chil dren. . . . When ever I think of my chil dren, I am struck with this ter ri ble lone li ness.

Being in the mid dle of the inter na tional divi sion of repro duc tive labor entails geo - graphi cal dis tance in fami lies and con se quently emo tional strains for “lonely” moth ers and “mis er able” chil dren in the Phil ip pines.

Another con tra dic tion of being in the mid dle of the inter na tional divi sion of repro duc tive labor or the inter na tional trans fer of care tak ing is the fact that women in the mid dle must care for some one else’s grand chil dren, chil dren, or par ents while unable to care for their own. In con trast to the two other social con se quences that I have pre vi ously described, this is not unique to the tran sna tional situa tion of migrant domes tic work ers. It has been observed in the United States with non mi - grant domes tics (Katz man 1978). How ever, it does reflect one of the struc tural con - straints faced by Filipina domes tic work ers in the process of globali za tion: The choice of maxi miz ing their earn ings as tran sna tional low- wage work ers denies them the inti macy of the fam ily. Thus, care giv ing is made a more pain ful expe ri - ence. As Chris tina Man ansala, a domes tic worker in Rome since 1990, states, “Of course it is hard to take care of other chil dren. Why should I be tak ing care of other chil dren when I can not take care of my own child myself?” Another domes tic worker in Rome adds,

Some times when I look at the chil dren that I care for, I feel like cry ing. I always think about how if we did not need the money, we would all be together and I would be rais - ing my chil dren myself. (Analin Mahu say, chil dren are three and five years old)

The pain of care giv ing leads to another con tra dic tion and that is the expe ri ence of dis placed moth er ing or more gen er ally, dis placed care tak ing, which is also a social con se quence that is not unique to the inter na tional divi sion of repro duc tive labor.

Unable to take care of their own fami lies, migrant Filipina domes tic work ers, like the non mi grant domes tics forced into “diverted moth er ing” in the United States, find them selves need ing to “pour [their] love” to their wards. As Vicky Diaz, a mother in Los Ange les who left five chil dren between the ages of 2 and 10 years old in the Phil ip pines 10 years ago, describes her rela tion ship to her ward, “The only thing you can do is give all your love to the child. In my absence from my chil - dren, the most I could do with my situa tion is give all my love to that child.” Trini - dad Bor ro meo of Rome finds simi lar com fort from “pour ing her love” to her eld erly ward, “When I take care of an eld erly, I treat her like she is my own mother.” Nota - bly, some women develop an aver sion to care giv ing, like Ruby Mer cado of Rome, who states, “I do not like tak ing care of chil dren when I could not take care of my own chil dren. It hurt too much.” How ever, most of my inter view ees do indeed feel less guilt for leav ing behind their fami lies in the Phil ip pines when car ing for and

576 GEN DER & SO CI ETY / Au gust 2000

“pour ing [their] love” to another fam ily. Ironi cally, as moth er ing is trans ferred to domes tic work ers, those with out chil dren, such as Jerrisa Lim of Los Ange les, begin to feel that they know what it is like to mother: “After doing child care, I feel like I expe ri enced what it is like to be a mother. It is hard to have chil dren. There are pleas ures that go with it. That is true. But it is hard.” The idea that domes tic work involves the act of “pour ing love” sug gests that a cer tain degree of emo tional bonds to depend ents in the fam ily, includ ing chil dren and eld erly per sons, are passed down in the trans fer of care tak ing. By oper at ing in the realm of emo tion, the com - mo di fi ca tion of care tak ing is fur ther height ened in globali za tion.

CON CLU SION

The hier ar chy of wom an hood—based on race, class, and nation—estab lishes a work trans fer sys tem of repro duc tive labor among women—the inter na tional trans - fer of care tak ing. It is a dis tinct form of tran sna tional divi sion of labor that links women in an inter de pend ent rela tion ship. Filipina domes tic work ers per form the repro duc tive labor of more privi leged women in indus tri al ized coun tries as they rele gate their repro duc tive labor to poorer women left in the Phil ip pines. The inter - na tional divi sion of repro duc tive labor shows us that pro duc tion is not the sole means by which inter na tional divi sions of labor oper ate in the global econ omy. Local econo mies are not solely linked by the manu fac tur ing pro duc tion of goods. In globali za tion, the trans fer of repro duc tive labor moves beyond ter ri to rial bor ders to con nect sepa rate nation- states. The exten sion of repro duc tive labor to a tran sna - tional ter rain is embed ded in the opera tion of tran sna tional fami lies and the con - stant flow of resources from migrant domes tic work ers to the fami lies that they con - tinue to sup port in the Phil ip pines. While act ing as the pri mary income earn ers of their fami lies, migrant Filipina domes tic work ers hire poorer domes tic work ers to per form the house hold duties that are tra di tion ally rele gated to them as women. In this way, they con tinue to remain respon si ble for the repro duc tive labor in their fami lies but at the same time, as migrant work ers, take on the respon si bil ity of pro - duc tive labor.

The for mu la tion of the inter na tional divi sion of repro duc tive labor treats gen der as a cen tral ana lyti cal lens for under stand ing the migra tion of Filipina domes tic work ers. It shows that the move ment of Filipina domes tic work ers is embed ded in a gen dered sys tem of tran sna tional capi tal ism. While forces of global capi tal ism spur the labor migra tion of Filipina domes tic work ers, the demand for their labor also results from gen der ineq ui ties in receiv ing nations, spe cifi cally the rele ga tion of repro duc tive labor to women. This trans fer of labor strongly sug gests that despite their increas ing rate of labor mar ket par tici pa tion, women con tinue to remain respon si ble for repro duc tive labor in both send ing and receiv ing coun tries. At both ends of the migra tory stream, they have not been able to nego ti ate directly with male coun ter parts for a fairer divi sion of house hold work but instead have had to

Salazar Parreñas / RE PRO DUC TIVE LA BOR 577

rely on their race and/or class privi lege by par tici pat ing in the tran sna tional trans fer of gen der con straints to less- privileged women.

Ironi cally, women in indus tri al ized (West ern) coun tries are often assumed to be more lib er ated than women are in devel op ing coun tries. Yet, many women are able to pur sue careers as their male coun ter parts do because dis ad van taged migrant women and other women of color are step ping into their old shoes and doing their house hold work for them. As women trans fer their repro duc tive labor to less and less privi leged women, we can see that the tra di tional divi sion of labor in the patri - ar chal nuclear house hold has not been sig nifi cantly rene go ti ated in vari ous coun - tries in the world. This is one of the cen tral rea sons why there is a need for Filipina domes tic work ers in more than 100 coun tries today.

NOTES

1. Respond ing to the short age of medi cal per son nel in the U.S. labor mar ket, Filipina nurses entered the United States through the third pref er ence cate gory of the 1965 Immi gra tion and Nation al ity Act with the assis tance of recruit ment agen cies in both the Phil ip pines and the United States. See Ong and Azores (1994) for an exten sive dis cus sion of the migra tion of Filipina nurses.

2. One thou sand five hun dred lira is approxi mately one U.S. dol lar. 3. This is caused by a com bi na tion of their undocu mented status, inabil ity to use their train ing and

work expe ri ence from the Phil ip pines, and/or the eth nic niche in care giv ing that has devel oped in the Fili pino migrant com mu nity. In a study of undocu mented women in the United States, Hoge land and Rosen (1990, 43) found that 64 per cent of 57 sur vey par tici pants from the Phil ip pines are employed as domes tic work ers.

4. Nota bly, in the Phil ip pines, older (female) chil dren, not fathers, are more likely to look after younger sib lings while their moth ers work (Chant and McIl waine 1995). In addi tion, daugh ters are tra - di tion ally expected to care for aging par ents.

5. I use pseu do nyms to pro tect the ano nym ity of my infor mants. 6. One thou sand pesos amount to approxi mately U.S.$40. 7. In most other receiv ing nations, migrant Fili pi nos are deterred from fam ily migra tion by their rele -

ga tion to the status of tem po rary migrants or their ineli gi bil ity for fam ily reuni fi ca tion (Con sta ble 1997).

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Rhacel Sala zar Par reñas is an assis tant pro fes sor of women’s stud ies and Asian Ameri can stud - ies at the Uni ver sity of Wis con sin–Madi son. She received her Ph.D. in eth nic stud ies from the Uni ver sity of Cali for nia–Ber keley. She is the author of the forth com ing book Ser vants of Globali za tion (Stan ford, CA: Stan ford Uni ver sity Press).

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