Managing ‘Vulnerabilities’ and ‘Empowering’ Migrant Filipina Workers: The Philippines’ Overseas Employment Program

Abstract

This essay examines the Philippine state's incorporation of a 'gender-sensitive criteria' within its overseas employment policy framework in recognition of the increasing participation of Filipinas in the global economy and their 'vulnerabilities' in the workplace. However, such recognition and strategies in place for minimizing women's vulnerabilities reflect a neoliberal framework that promotes economic competitiveness and entrepreneurship and seeks to 'empower' them to embody an ethic of responsibility as citizens, workers, and women. I deconstruct such discourse of 'empowerment' in relation to the recognition of Filipina workers' 'vulnerabilities' in the workplace and argue that the ways the state attempts to deal with these 'vulnerabilities' are shaped by a formation of a gendered moral economy linking family, religion, and nationalism with ideals of economic competitiveness and entrepreneurship that seemingly leads to the disempowerment of Filipina workers. 'Empowering' Filipinas is not only about producing economically productive workers but also about generating 'good' wives, mothers, and women. This essay is based on a larger ethnographic project of Philippines' labor export industry and specifically draws from interviews with government officials, labour brokers, and NGO representatives while incorporating content analyses of key policy reports and participant observations of pre-departure orientation sessions and national government labor conferences.