Identities in a Culture of Circulation: Performing Selves in Filipina Migration

Abstract

Migration has arguably been the definitive feature of Philippine experiences of globalization. Beginning with the adoption of a labour export policy by the government during the 1970s, by the end of the twentieth century the nation had the largest flows of migrant workers in the global economy (Tyner and Donaldson 1999, p. 217) and the largest per capita number of female contract workers overseas (Boyle 2002; Mills 2003). This export of female workers on a temporary basis exemplifies a historic trend for labour markets across Southeast Asia. While rural women have moved to relatively nearby urban centres for work since the colonial era (mid-1800s–1930s), the global economic restructurings of the 1970s saw this practice extended across national borders. Throughout the region, significant numbers began to move between countries on short-term contracts, taking advantage of the relatively higher returns for labour offered by uneven development (Hugo 2002). Women from the poorer nations, particularly the Philippines and Indonesia, went to Singapore, Hong Kong and urban Malaysia. Female migrants from the Philippines used these Southeast Asian cities as entry points for global labour markets, with many moving on to work as domestics in Europe, Israel and North America.