Globalization        and      Feminization      of           Migration     in    Korea

Rev. Han, Kuk-Yom

President of Women Migrant Human Rights Center

Ⅰ.      Women    Migrants    and   the    Beijing    Platform       for  Action

The Beijing Platform for Action adopted several articles which are directly related to migrant women.  Two of these state that;  1) "The Platform for Action recognizes that women face barriers to full equality and advancement because of such factors as their race, age, language, ethnicity, culture, religion or disability" (article 46), and 2) "The past decade has also witnessed a growing recognition of the distinct interests and concerns of indigenous women, whose identity, cultural traditions and forms of social organization enhance and strengthen the communities in which they live. Indigenous women often face barriers both as women and as members of indigenous communities" (article 32).  These articles are in accordance with the 'International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their Families, and the ILO convention.  In the words of the 32nd Beijing Code of Behavior Declaration 32: “Governments firmly guarantee all foreign women workers and emigrants protection from discrimination, violence and abuse, and introduce measures to improve the power of both legal and illegal emigrants.”, guaranteeing the human rights of emigrants.

Five areas of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action relate to migrants; Women and Poverty, The Education and Training of Women, Violence against Women, Women and Economy, and The Human Rights of Women.  However, ten years after it's creation, this declaration for action has yet to be realized and women migrants in the third world can not yet enjoy basic human rights and freedoms. This report will examine the current realities of women migrants' lives and will valuate the status of women migrants in Korea from the perspective of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.  This paper will then suggest possible solutions to these problems.

According to the Beijing Platform for Action, international law relates to migrant workers, poverty and refugees inclusively. However, this report will examine 3 key factors related to the current situation specifically in Korea - women migrant workers, international marriage, and trafficked migrant women.

1. The Feminization of Migration and the Neo-liberalist economic order

Since the beginning of the 1990s, when the Neo-liberalist economic order began to exercise its power over the world, the number of women migrants has been dramatically increasing worldwide. These waves of Neo-liberalist developmental policies and economic systems are accelerating the poverty of under-developed countries, therefore, as finance begins to dominate all production processes, labor and the market, workers begin to cross borders in search of better lives.  The poverty caused by neo-liberalism causes the 'feminization of poverty' and this 'feminization of poverty' becomes the 'feminization of migration' therefore, in the center of this migration boom we find women migrants. According to a United Nations Development Fund (UNIFEM) report, women migrants make up 69 percent of all overseas migrants in Asia.  More than 70 per cent of all overseas emigrants are women migrants from the Philippines and Indonesia. These women usually work in houses, factories, and various sex-industries, and they occasionally cross these borders through international marriages. Nowadays, what identifies migration in Asia is the feminization of migration.

2. The Feminization of migration, and what it is born of

Why is the demand for the migrant labor of women on the rise? It is clear that the 'feminization of poverty', which is born out of the economic polarization of the global economy, resulting in an oligopoly of wealth in the first world and the poverty of the third world, is one major reason.  However, there are three additional reasons that will be discussed in this report.  First, employer countries need female labor to work in the service sector carrying out simple administrative tasks, housework, or to work in entertainment businesses. Second, migration costs a great deal of money, so, because of the corruption of brokerage businesses brokerage commissions are alarmingly high for male migrants while the migration costs of women are relatively low.  Since the costs for emigration are normally 1/2-2/3 of those of men, women are often forced into migrant work by their parents and husbands. Third, marriage between cultures (international marriage) is often used as a means of alleviating poverty in both the employer-countries and native-countries. Emigrants usually agree to an international marriage because if they do, there will be no need to pay a brokerage commission. Furthermore, ideally international marriage provides a good opportunity for migrant women to assist themselves, and their natal households, financially . Similarly, employer-countries welcome women migrants because low-income residents, bachelors in rural areas who find it difficult to find a wife, or differently-abled males who would not other wise have the oportunity to marry can marry foreign women through international brokers.

The feminization of migration originates in the global feminization of poverty. The fact that the feminization of migration resulted from the feminization of poverty should be considered not only in terms of economic poverty but also in terms of cultural poverty. Migration is attempted by many young women in their resolve to settle into a new life, as well as to gain economic stability. The problems lie in the fact that women migrants crossing borders in an attempt to avail themselves of the feminization of migration, are dramatically becoming stratified and their female sexuality commercialized. These trends are spreading into the domestic sphere of housework, which has typically been regarded as a private sector in Asia, and in the sex industry which flourishes through the exploitation of female sexuality.

3. The relations of the feminization of migration and economic development

Generally, the money women migrants send to their native countries contributes to economic development and an increase in job opportunities there.  Since migration is an easier method of lowering unemployment rates, many governments recommend migration to their poor, and the impact of this migrant labor is quite substantial. The employer-countries benefit from migrant labor through rising revenue rates caused by economic development.  This economic development is further accelerated by the influx of low-paid labor and legal employment permit systems.  To illustrate this point we can look to the example of Korea and Germany.  It is common knowledge in Korea that in the 1960's and 1970's the Korean government sent Korean miners and nurses to Germany on condition that Germany would grant Korea various economic credits. This labour-export policy contributed substantially to the economic development of Korea and Germany, and was declared a mutual success.

Unfortunately, this is not always the case for contemporary women migrants.  Since many Asian women migrants work in various informal sectors doing jobs in such positions as domestic laborers, int the service industry and simple administrative internships, the effect of their labor on the economic development of their native countries' has not yet been examined.  It can be assumed that a woman's migrant work has little effect on her native country's economic development other then its effect on the micro-economy of her family members. Furthermore, in all but a few cases, most women migrants are from the educated class or from a social class that is able to pay the brokerage commissions, so the extreme poor of developing countries are not afforded this opportunity. Therefore, the pool of potential leaders is slowly being weakened by this brain drain resulting in an obstruction to the economic development of these societies. Accordingly, a report developed by the 9th Regional Conference on Migration, Seoul 2004 (RCM) found that developing countries should attempt to discover basic solutions to national economic disparity rather than recommending migrant labor.

4. The Feminization of migration and its result: a vicious cycle of migration and the breakdown of family ties

The feminization of migration characterizing the Asian migrant labor force causes many problems other than the violation of human rights by both  employer and native countries. Although women are increasingly gaining respect within their homes as breadwinners, other family problems often occur such as the breakdown of family ties because of long-term separation often resulting in divorce.

Furthermore, workers are confronted by the reality that they cannot find employment and cannot easily readjust to their native cultures after returning home. This often results in their having to leave once again to an alternative overseas workplace. It is apparent that as long as the economy of their home countries does not sufficiently develop in order to adequately accomodate its native work force, this vicious cycle of women's migration has little chance of breaking. Even if employer-countries start treating their workers better,  problems will persist unless entire families migrate. This, alone, is an urgent reason to seek out a solution to this problem.

5. The Feminization of Migration and Human Rights Issues

Although it is perceived as providing an opportunity for a new life, the feminization of migration causes the violation of human rights by both native and employer countries. According to a workshop hosted by the Migrants Forum in Asia, women migrants are currently experiencing sexual violations, family violations, or are being driven out to work in the sex industry or as migrant labor for the livelihood of their families whom they live in isolation from. Meanwhile, they are exposed to violations of their human rights such as class discrimination based on the developmental status of their native countries, racial discrimination based on the color of their skin, as well as gender discrimination. The most common examples of human rights violations which Asian women migrants are suffering from are low-income status, sexual violations and the absence of social security nets protecting their rights to motherhood. However, all of the human rights violations which these migrant women suffer in their employer-countries are rooted in their residency status.