When the "Light of the Home" is working abroad

EMPLOYMENT: It is undeniable that many Sri Lankans employed in the Middle East, in jobs from the most menial to the highest skilled, have returned home with no complaints. But for the women who were subjected to abysmal and exploitative working conditions, sexual violence, and human rights abuses in the criminal justice system, represented a personal nightmare.

Like in most Asian countries, public policy in Sri Lanka is also now oriented towards diminishing the flows of migrant women workers, but the demand for them in receiving countries is increasing and agencies are proliferating to meet that demand.

The dilemma facing policy makers, to restrict or regulate such emigration, is complicated because regulation often drives the process underground.

The effectiveness of measures by labour-exporting countries is minimal if legislation and labour standards are poor in receiving countries.

As one Sri Lankan labour consultant said, 'Once migrants leave their home country, the protection their own governments can provide is very limited.'

Most receiving countries in the Middle East do not allow the migrant women workers to come with their families, and so the women have to emigrate in their own right. The residence permit of these workers is linked to their employment, and subject to restrictions.

The foreign domestic maids in a number of countries can't change jobs during the employment contract. In some countries, for example, Singapore, migrant women are prohibited from marrying local citizens. They are not allowed to become pregnant, and are subject to six-monthly pregnancy tests.

However, our female migrant labour supply has been very flexible, relative to the female migrants from other parts of the world. They respond quickly to changing labour markets overseas. Often they leave their family and home to become income-earners for their families and important foreign exchange contributors for their countries.

In short, the migration of women workers is a family survival strategy in the face of negative effects of the structural adjustment programmes in our country.

The perceived social costs of migration of women workers have always been part of the reasons why various sectors of the Sri Lankan society are ambivalent about their overseas employment. Aside from the myriad problems they encounter abroad, concerns over the stability of families left behind have received much attention.

Few decades ago, when male migrants dominated labour migration, the absence of fathers was seen as weakening Sri Lankan families. In the 1980s, women became part of labour migration. As the feminisation of migration persisted, the anxieties magnified because mothers, who are considered as the "light of the home," are not around for their families. As the foundation of Sri Lankan society, there are fears that threats to the family redound to threats to the nation's social fabric as a whole.

The economic impacts of migration on families generally converge in pointing out that in the short-run at least, migration has enabled families to experience economic improvement. Better housing, funds for the education of children or family members, capital to start a business are the usual indicators of migrant families' material improvement.

A study done in Philippines on children of migrant women workers offer a clearer picture of the effects of parental absence on the situation of children. The study took account of different forms of parental absence: father-absent, mother-absent and both parents-absent. It also offered a comparison of children from migrant families vis-…-vis children whose parents are non-migrants.

The study confirmed that the children left behind, particularly by their mothers, experience loneliness and abandonment. The study found that the children of migrant parents lagged behind in school performance compared to children with both parents present.

Children left behind also tended to be less socially adjusted than children whose parents were both present. In all indicators, the mothers' absence was associated with more difficulties for the children left behind.

Looking at the gravity of the situation isn't it time the Government undertook a nation-wide study on migrant women workers and their left-behind children?

From the findings from this proposed research we can fine-tune programs and services offered to our women-migrants and their families, including children. A better understanding of the needs, vulnerabilities as well as resilience of families in the face of migration will aid in the development and implementation of more responsive policies and programs.

In my opinion, the specific objectives of such a study should be:

 To determine children's conceptions and perceptions of overseas migration.

 To examine the impacts of the absence of parents on selected aspects of the children's well-being (physical development, health, academic performance, values, social/emotional well-being, spiritual formation).

 To identify the factors which help children cope with the difficulties posed by migration.

The results of the study can provide guidelines in the development of policies and programs to strengthen families, and in particular, to provide much-needed attention and support to the well-being of children. Aside from migrants and their families, the study's findings will also have implications for the work of other socialisation agents: teachers, counsellors, social workers, NGO workers, and community agents.