Globalisation, Migration, Trafficking: Gender Perspective

by SONALI NARANG

Globalisation and Migration

Globalisation has been identified with a number of trends, most of which have developed since World War II. These include greater international movement of commodities, money, information, and people, development of technology, organisations, legal systems, and infrastructures to allow this movement. Globalisation is aimed at placing the world under a unitary economic framework of free market capitalism. The globalised system is based on certain principles which require certain constants. It is a “complex world transformation whereby the mobility of capital, organisations, ideas, discourses, and peoples has taken an increasingly global or transnational form”. (Moghadam, 1999 cited in Browne, Braun 2008) In this process, people become increasingly interdependent on and interconnected with one another in what they produce and what they purchase, although not equally across borders. Numerous aspects of globalisation impact the workforce, including poverty, in developed, developing, and transitional economies and the use of immigration policy to alleviate shortages in particular occupations.
Any discussion of globalisation must acknowledge the international debt crisis and payment conditions directed at debtor nations by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Strategies defined to alleviate the debt of poor nations include the enforcement measures of fiscal austerity, abridging social and health care spending, and international trade agreements that rarely, if ever, benefit the developing nations. To help meet their debts to international institutions, many Third-World nations encourage women into four gendered production networks: export production, sex work, domestic service, and micro-finance (income generation).

In this globalising world, growing numbers of immigrants are seeking a better life in another country; increasingly, they are women. (Arya and Roy, 2006; George, 2005 cited in Browne, Braun 2008) Globalisation promotes the movement of people, but migration is also a basic process of globalisation. Globalisation is working both as push and pull factor to migrants (Misra, 2007); as a result those women, who migrate due to economic compulsion, do not receive equal wages as compared to men. The table on page 29 shows the areawise comparative wages of women and men.

As illustrated by the table, women receive much less wages as compared to men; this also shows the explicit nature of globalisation working against women.
Economic compulsion is not the only reason which makes people migrate, sometimes people are also forced out of their countries by environmental degradation. All this increases the stress in the family, especially the womenfolk, to provide clean food and water. The magnitude of the problem grows by unexpected folds due to wars and conflicts rising in the shadow of the new global world order. Whereas older people, women and children tend to stay in the refugee camps close to conflict areas, younger men and women search for opportunities for global migration. Political and gender repression by dictatorships, military regimes and some fundamentalist patriarchal rulers have also led to increasing numbers of refugees.

Among all this the process of illegal migration and trafficking has become another matter of concern. There are estimates that 2.5 million women, men, children are trafficked within and across the border at the very least, and one-third of these are trafficked for economic purposes other than sexual exploitation. (Ibid.: 46)

Migration

POINTING out at the very outset of the paper that people largely used to migrate in search of better haven and economic opportunities, there are estimates to suggest that nearly one out of six people in this world, more than one billion people, are crossing national borders as migrant workers. Of these one billion, 72 per cent are women. Traditionally, migration has been mostly a male phenomenon because men had the freedom to travel and a duty to maintain the financial upkeep of the family. Migration was a men’s world, migrants’ jobs were male jobs and migrants’ rights men’s rights. More recently globalisation has created conditions for feminisation of migration, and the number of women who migrate alone, as men do, to make money for themselves and/or to support their families, is increasing. In women’s migration, their role in society, their autonomy and capacity to take decisions play a major role. In women’s migration, gender discrimination acts as a powerful factor.

Feminist Perspectives on Migration

IN feminist migration studies, the main focus is on the causes and conditions of women’s migration. Unlike the traditional feminist migration studies, the recent works on feminist migration have challenged the concepts and scale of the study. These studies have challenged the conventional understanding of nation, society and challenging the national and international scales of migration, ask additional questions about the nation and migration, most centrally the question: ‘Whose nation?’ These also try to eplain that the very construction of the nation and national scale are not the right categories as they are constructed as a result of gender politics and discrimination. In other words, gender analysis of migration examines how the social, economic and cultural contexts of an individual force him/her to flee.

In their study, feminists have also focused on the gender politics of identity construction, and the complex relationships between identity and the production of migration and place. It is important to understand the causes and consequences of international migration from a gender perspective because hierarchical social relations relating to gender play an important role in shaping the migration experiences of migrants, whether male or female. Under-standing whether migration occurs because of gender inequality or whether migration itself helps to perpetuate gender disparities, is valuable to guide the formulation of policy and measures to address the specific needs of women who migrate. (UN Report on 2004 Women and Migration)

Feminist theorists further tend to study the identity related aspects like cultural, geographic studies of migration in order to address the migrants’ cultural identities as represented in their locally specific views of mobility, but they do so according to a different understanding of identity and subjectivity. (Silvey 2004)

Who are the Migrant Women?

IT has been recognised increasingly that women are as likely as men to be international migrants and the growing number of women migrants autonomously seek better opportunities. (United Nations Population Division 2003) Whether they are married or single, divorced or widows, mothers and daughters, girls and older women, the numbers are increasing but they are invisible as there is not enough data or sex-disaggregated statistics on migrant women.

We know that women make half of international migrants (United Nations 2004) and that they tend to migrate from poor to poor countries as they avoid long journeys, may not have enough money to travel far, or are attracted to countries similar in terms of customs, religion, language, climate etc. But, the number of women migrating to rich countries is increasing and today women represent the majority of immigrants in North America, Europe and the Middle East and the majority of migrants from many countries in Asia and Latin America are female. (United Nations Population Fund 2006) Economy is the major factor behind the migration of women. As the United Nation Population Division has noted in its report, “Driven by demand for labour in somewhat feminised occupations in high-income countries in Asia, more and more women are leaving their home on their own to become engaged in economic activates.” (The Invisible Ones: Women in Migration 2010)

The Root Causes of Migration

UNDERSTANDING those forces that compel people to migrate is necessary to understand the process of migration. There are countless factors which force people to leave their home, but poverty, injustice, armed conflicts and natural disasters are the major reasons that make most of the people to move from their native place. Estimates say that in the last 30 years, the number of international migrations has doubled to 191 million worldwide, (Renaud, Bogardi, Dun and Warner 2007) These are economic migrants, refugees and internally displaced people fleeing persecution and victim of human trafficking. Besides this, there are roughly 30-40 million undocumented migrants worldwide, comprising around 15-20 per cent of the world’s migrant population. (Ibid.) The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has estimated that almost half of the world’s migrants are women. In today’s developed world, 59.9 per cent migration compared to the 45.7 per cent of the developing world are women. Women are increasingly migrating as workers themselves. The economy is playing a major role in women’s migration and women are migrating both as qualified professionals as well as domestic workers, careers and cleaners etc.

It is the lack of viable economic opportunities at home that often pushes workers to migrate in search of better options. If we see this process through the angle of globalisation, we come to know that globalisation has led to widen the gap between the rich and poor people. Global economic policies, initiated through liberalisation of the market and the structural adjustment policies (SAPs) of the international economic institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, are major causes of the gap in income and employment opportunities, displacing workers from their local livelihoods.

Women mainly migrate to join a migrant husband (family reunification) or to marry someone living in a different country. “While working in Hong Kong I experienced many things—the way people treat a dependent or independent woman. I have gained much experience and my confidence has grown. Now, I have a say in decision-making at home. My husband does not shout at me. I have bought a piece of land and four rickshaws and I am creating a means of livelihood for four other families,” said Sushila Rai, a Nepalese migrant domestic worker. (Jolly and Reeves. 2005) In addition, those women, who might have migrated for other reasons, often do not want to return home because of the fear of losing their autonomy.
Migration can provide a very important source of earning for migrant women and their families, and also give them greater autonomy, self-confidence and social status. At the same time, migrated women can also face stigma and discrimination at every stage of the migration process. Before departure, women can be confronted with gender-based procedures and corrupt agents. Gender inequality, poverty and violence can force women to migrate or enable women to be trafficked. (Jolly and Reeves, 2005)

The present economic structure creates conditions where the demand for cheap migrant labour is accompanied by declining wages, benefits and safety standards. Migrant workers, especially women migrant workers, are paid at a lower rate than local workers. Apart from economic reasons, people also migrate due to change in environment and such persons are generally referred to as Environmental Migrants. Such people get uprooted due to earthquakes or floods leading to forced displacement; this phenomenon is commonly present where there is a slow onset of environmental change or the degradation process such as desertification or abrupt changes in weather affecting those who are directly dependent on the local environment for their living causing them livelihood stress. (Dun and Gemenne)
When it comes to environmental migration, women are more affected then men. IOM (2009) has noted: “Statistically, natural disasters kill more women than men, and kill women at a younger age than men. Behavioural restrictions and poor access to information and resources can directly affect a woman’s chances of survival during a natural disaster or its aftermath. Their role as the main caregivers in many societies also means that women tend to look more after their children’s safety before their own.” This statement clearly shows that women are more vulnerable to environmental migration.

Trafficking

ALTHOUGH trafficking is not a new concept as in history there were traditions of treating humans as slaves, in today’s globalised and democratised world the form of human trafficking has changed. It refers to the illegal trade of humans for sexual exploitation and forced labour. Young children, teenagers, men and women—all are victims of human trafficking and they are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labour. (US Department of Health and Human Services) In other words, a person, who is coerced, deceived or forced to move within her/his country or to another country for the purpose of exploitation, is a victim of trafficking. (GAATW Working Papers Series, 2010) The United States State Department (2010) data shows that an “estimated 600,000 to 820,000 men, women, and children [are] trafficked across international borders each year, approximately 80 per cent are women and girls, and up to 50 per cent are minors. The data also illustrates that the majority of transnational victims are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation.”

The UN Protocol sets out a definition of ‘trafficking in persons’; strengthens avenues for border control and responses by the judiciary and establishes prevention policies. (Bernadette and Susan 2008)

The Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (2000), defines trafficking as follows:

Trafficking in persons shall mean the recruitment, transportation, (transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. (United Nations General Assembly, 2000)

People smuggling and trafficking in humans are generally viewed as two distinct offences. In general smuggling involves:

delivering persons into the country they wish to enter illegally and then leaving such persons to their own devices. It usually involves a voluntary act entailing a payment of a fee to provide a passage to a particular destination. (Bernadette and Susan 2008)

The problem of trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual and other forms of exploitation is not new, but a comprehensive international, regional and national attention to the issue is recent. It is estimated that four million people are trafficked or smuggled across international borders each year. The trafficking of women and girls for prostitution and forced labour has also become one of the fastest growing areas of international criminal activity.

Although men, women, children, adolescents and adults are all victims of human trafficking, the majority of victims have been highly concentrated as women. Data shows that women are more vulnerable than men because they experience multi-dimensional exploitation. In all parts of the world, because of gender bias women’s role in society has always remained subordinate and they are treated as second class citizens of society. Even in the globalised world, which has created social and economic opportunities for all sections of society, poor unskilled workers have been among the first to suffer retrenchment and unemployment. These reasons make women more susceptible to trafficking.

Debates on Trafficking

THE feminist understanding of trafficking can be divided into two parts: one identifies trafficking with prostitution and sexual slavery and those subscribing to this view argue that migrant prostitutes should be automatically declared as trafficked. (CWTW, Coalition Against Trafficked Women and UN Working Group on Contem-porary Form of Slavery) And the other view argues for a clear distinction between forced and voluntary prostitution. (GAATW, Global Alliance against Trafficking for Women, UNHCR and UNICEP) In most cases, the traffickers take advantage of the vulnerabilities of the victim. In other words, we can say that they are the outcome of economic and social poverty, driven by gender inequality, lack of good governance, and social segregation and so on. (Baruah 2005) “The widespread assumption that most trafficking incidents start with kidnapping and coercion is far from true and has been validated by many recent researches on this issue. Most trafficking starts as a migration experience; which could be legal or illegal; is for economic (employment) or social (marriage) reasons. It may have elements of deception in it from the beginning but the process of force and coercion comes into play after the initial first steps toward movement has happened.” (Ibid.: 3)

Many people assume that migration and trafficking are the same but there are differences in these two different movements. Movement is central to both migration and trafficking and this commonality between the two builds a complex relationship. Sometimes the element of coerced movement is found to be absent especially in the case of the bonded labour system where men, women and children may be exploited in their own place of origin without having to cross geographical borders. These people were already living in an awful situation; their life becomes more vulnerable after they got trafficked. Trafficked people do not have the opportunity of informed consent with respect to the experiences they undergo. (United Nations 2000: ESCAP 2003) There are also certain techni-calities which make the whole concept of traffick-ing limited. For example, take the case of exploited migrants; they are also victims of offences on themselves but these do not always lead to trafficking. However, the majority of trafficked people are exploited migrants. So there is a need to broaden the whole debate on trafficking.
The crucial factors in distinguishing between the two will be in the nature of consent: the intention of the agency between the information made available at the start of the journey as compared to the circumstances they find themselves to be in at the end of the journey.

The evolution of international trafficking in women and girls appears to be closely linked to two areas: i) changing demands for women’s labour in the global political economy, and ii) the changing patterns of international migration. The shift in the role of women in migration from being dependents of male migrants to becoming the major economic agent in many developing countries has become increasingly visible. (Kojima 2007)

In the present economic system high demand for the service of women has been created but at the same time their capacity for negotiations has decreased. In the present market-oriented economy women are in greater demand as they are paid very low and exploited easily. As Renu Sharma (2007) put it, “The gender discrimination they suffer and exclusion from the economic and political arenas makes them socially vulnerable subjects. This kind of socially created conditions of women as marginalised social groups is the key element in their oppression and exploitation.”

Trafficked women frequently come from regions where there are few employment oppor-tunities for women and where women are dependent on others and lack access to resources to change their situation. At the same time, their social status also plays a leading role in women’s trafficking. (Miko 2002)

Trafficked women and girls often presume that they will work in legitimate occupations but at the end they find themselves trapped into forced prostitution, marriage, domestic work, sweatshops and other forms of exploita-tion that are similar to slavery. The debate about trafficking is more concerned on the causes of trafficking than on the strategies to fight against the problem. (Chew and Jordan 2002)

How To Prevent Trafficking

ACTIONS to prevent trafficking include the dissemination of information on the modes used by traffickers to attract and deceive women, the dangers involved and the legal channels open for migration, as well as the provision of better employment opportunities in the country of origin. A number of international instruments outline the human rights of migrants. In order to prevent trafficking, there is a need for dissemi-nation of information on the modes used by the traffickers through which they attract and deceive women and legal channels.
Human trafficking is threatening the power, legitimacy and effectiveness of states on a global scale. There are many questions which have risen due to the process of migration. How should we deal with migrants? Should illegal migrants be granted certain rights? If yes, then what kind of rights and how many rights? And if no, then should we leave them in the same vulnerable condition? There is no single answer to these questions. What is needed is a balanced approach. We have shown above that gender always remains at the centre of both migration and trafficking and in both these two processes, which are linked to each other, women are in a more miserable condition. No doubt, human trafficking is becoming one of the most serious threats to human rights as this phenomenon is both the cause and the consequence of human rights violations. The trafficked persons exploited as workers have been deprived of their freedom of movement, denied access to health care and deprived of their right to life. Lack of rights and social inclusion for migrants and trafficked persons makes the situation horrific.

The problem of trafficking needs to be checked, as it is creating new kinds of threats to the security of women and children. Stringent laws and international cooperation are imperative to fight against this problem. At the same time collaboration and coordination between state and non-state actors are also important as these can help evolve new sources of income and survival for all those women who are facing this problem.

Sonali Narang is a Research Scholar at the Centre for the Study of Geopolitics, Department of Political Science, Panjab University, Chandigarh. She can be reached by e-mail at snarang68@gmail.com

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