ILO: Women at a greater disadvantage in labor migration

MOST migrant workers leave the country for better-paying jobs abroad, but many of them end up in occupations below their qualifications, resulting in their “de-skilling” or “brain waste.”

The extent of this de-skilling or brain waste, however, is not gender-neutral, said migration specialist Gloria Moreno-Fontes Chammartin at the International Conference on Gender, Migration and Development (ICGMD) held in Manila last Thursday.

Although migration may be empowering for many women, Chammartin of the International Labor Organization (ILO) explained that such empowerment is not deemed automatic. “An important number of migrant women experiences downward occupational mobility, de-skilling and a re-orientation away from paid work and towards the domestic sphere.”

Citing a study done by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Chammartin pointed out that emigration rates of highly-skilled women often exceed those of their male counterparts.

In the report, in almost all regions except for North America, more women who finished tertiary education migrate than their male counterparts. In Asia, this accounts for 7.3 percent of female college graduates compared to 6.1 percent of males. (see table)

Source: OECD

“There is a large mismatch between the jobs which immigrants hold in OECD countries and their qualifications, and they are more likely than their native-born counterparts to hold jobs for which they appear to be over-qualified,” said the report. “Foreign-born women seem to be at an even greater disadvantage than men.”

The report also showed that men migrants often make up most of the highly-skilled jobs, particularly doctors, scientists, engineers and information and communications technology (ICT) experts in most OECD countries. Women, on the other hand, take up 47 percent of skilled migrants, which are mainly in welfare and social professions such as education and healthcare.

View Gloria Chammartin’s presentation on gender, migration, and development.

Another OECD report stated that the occupational distribution of women migrants range the highest from household and health and social services then to hotel and restaurant services, education, and retail trade.

Many women also end up as street-sellers, domestic workers, unskilled service providers (waitresses or hotel room cleaners), sweatshop workers, or even as sex workers, said Chammartin.

Wages, working conditions, and job security also tend to differ between men and women. More frequent than men, women migrant workers are likely to experience either non-payment, withholding or unreasonable deductions of wages without their consent. They are also usually employed in jobs that are inadequately covered or not even covered by labor legislation and other welfare provisions. Typical example, said the migration specialist, is domestic work.

Women and girls also make up the overwhelming majority of those trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation.

‘Women remit more’

The growing “feminization” of labor migration has also affected flow of remittances.

Chammartin said that migrant women tend to remit a larger portion of their incomes than migrant men. That is, even if women’s incomes may be lower than men’s and thus, they remit less overall.

Motivations of men and women to transfer also differ since men prefer to remit funds for investment purposes, while most women tend to remit for their families’ well-being (health, education, nutrition and hygiene). Most studies have also shown that women as receivers of remittances are more likely to spend the funds on the basic needs of the family.

Policy coherence

While women comprise majority of migrant workers abroad, gender-responsive solutions in protecting their rights are still in indeterminate status across countries.

Chammartin said that migration policies should go hand in hand with employment and decent work policies in countries of origin with a strong focus too on decent jobs in countries of destination.

“It is necessary to ensure that migration, gender and development policies reinforce each other,” she said. “Although monetary remittances have become one of the largest sources of foreign exchange for some countries of origin, this should not engender complacency about State responsibilities for development, employment creation and social protection.”

She added that commitment towards pro-poor and job rich growth strategies and gender-sensitive employment creation can make migration a genuine option for both women and men migrants — migration by choice and not by necessity.