by Sian Taylor

In this essay I will be analysing the women migration from poor countries to rich countries in order to do “women’s works”. I will initially make a division between the women who are kidnapped and forced to go abroad as sex slaves etcetera, and the women who “willingly decide” to do so. Then I will focus on this latter part and I will answer questions like: “why is it the woman who migrates and helps her family back home” and “why are there major requests from the First World for nannies, cleaners and entertainers”. Finally I will conclude giving my own opinion on the matter and trying to give a possible solution in order to partly resolve some of the matter.

There are many women that “willingly decide” to go abroad and start a new life as a care woman or as an entertainer. The truth behind this thought, is that even if no one was forcing them to go, the deep poverty they and their families are living in, and the local government that heavily promotes the migration of women, does not really leave these mothers or older sisters much of a choice.

But why is it the woman and not the man of the family that works abroad in order to send the remittances back home? Because on one hand it is proven that the woman is more likely to send home half or more of her income (compared to many men that will just keep most of the money for themselves) and on the other, in First World Countries there is a great request for old fashioned, caring, nurturing women that can take care of the house, the children or even the men.

No need to say that these women are mostly underpaid and often kept in a condition of insecurity, fear or worse. The problem therefore, now, shifts onto another question: why is there this need? The answer is that most women nowadays go to work just as the men do or even for longer, but the men haven’t really started helping more around the house, and this is when, at a first glance, all of the problems seem to have started.

If we look at things in a deeper way though, we will notice that that is not the main cause after all, and that the real problem resides once again in the roots of capitalism. The solution of the problem wouldn’t be just to stop immigration from happening, or sending the women that are in the First World back to their own countries. The only result of that would in fact be many illegal immigrants (therefore treated even worse) and much worse, many families dying of hunger or poor health conditions in the Third World.

The solution therefore seems to be in the government trying to improve the  jobs conditions through regulations. By doing that, the immigrant women will feel more serene and relaxed, knowing that they are protected and regulated, and will be less discriminated against and badly treated by other people, and will be able to feed their families, and live a life that according to them is a lot more free than the one they would have been leading in their town or villages.