Women the new face of migration in Asia - 10 December 2003

United Nations, Jakarta – ‘An increasing number of women, whether single or married, are migrating across national boundaries for work,’ says Kunzang Chungyalpa of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

‘Feminized migration is a new reality that must be dealt with,’ she says.

Ms. Chungyalpa spoke at the opening of the regional workshop on Protecting Women Migrant Workers in Asia:  Meeting the Challenges. The workshop, organized by UNIFEM and the Republic of Indonesia’s Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, is being held in Jakarta from 9-10 December 2003.

The workshop aims to review the difficult situation faced by women throughout the migration process, and find new ways of linking policies and programme in both labour source and destination countries.

Speakers at the opening ceremony stressed the economic importance of migration and the need to protect migrant’s rights.

H.E Mr. Jacob Nuwa Wea, Minister of Manpower and Transmigration, said: ‘Migrant workers benefit both sending and receiving countries. Their contributions to the economy of the countries where they work should be appreciated by providing them with decent and humane treatment – equal to that afforded local workers.’

Mr. Alan Boulton, country representative of the International Labour Organization, also stressed the importance of strengthening ties between labour sending and receiving countries, pointing to a recent agreement between Jordan and Indonesia as an important example.

ILO statistics indicate that in 2002, migrant remittances to developing countries in Asia reached US$80 million, surpassing foreign direct investment for the first time.

Despite this, migration is still viewed as a temporary phenomenon.

‘Official policies and institutions to deal with this scale of human and financial resource flows are either lacking or inadequate,’ said Ms. Chungyalpa, chief of UNIFEM’s Asia Pacific region.

Women migrants face particular problems because of the traditional attitudes and social practices that put them in marginalized roles. Women migrants are shunted into low paying jobs, often as domestic workers or in the informal sector. Much more often than men, they are subjected to demeaning conditions and human rights abuses, included trafficking.

While women’s migration is economically very important, the social and human costs are less clear for the women, their children and families.

‘It is essential that governments recognize these gender dimensions of migration as a development issue, and create appropriate policies and institutions to ensure women are empowered to deal with the vulnerable situations they are often placed in’ said Ms. Chungyalpa.

The regional workshop will continue with presentations by representatives of seven countries:  Bahrain, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Jordan, Nepal, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. Among the aims of the conference is to highlight innovative practices that will help to protect women migrants in all stages of the migration process – pre-departure, during travel, while working overseas and when returning home.

The workshop is part of UNIFEM’s regional programme on Empowering Women Migrant Workers in Asia. The 2001-2004 programme has helped to create a new working contract for migrant women in Jordan; brokered a bilateral agreement between Jordan and Indonesia; reviewed a provincial law on migration in Blitar, Indonesia; and set up a savings and investment programme for returning migrants in the Philippines.

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