Inserting Feminism in Transnational Migration Studies
- Document number
- 2197
- Date
- 2009
- Title
- Inserting Feminism in Transnational Migration Studies
- Author/publisher
- Rhacel Salazar Parreñas
- Availability
- View/save PDF version of this document
- Document type(s)
- Research/Study/Analysis,
- Keywords
- Irregular Migration, Feminization of migration, Economic migration, Labour migration, Free movement, Undocumented migrants; Undocumented labour; Migrant rights; Migration management; Comprehensive approach to migration; Migration policy; Restrictive migration measures,
- Summary
- This paper addresses the feminist dilemmas posed by the rise in women's migration. It discusses these dilemmas both methodologically and theoretically. First I pose the methodological question: "how do we pursue feminist migration studies," meaning studies directed towards the empowerment of women. Dominant approaches to the study of "gender and migration" describe how gender is a constitutive element of migration that distinguishes the experiences of men and women. As I explain, this approach does not adequately account for the ways gender inequalities delimit the experiences of migrant women. As an alternative approach, I pose the need to focus on the question of how gender inequalities shape experiences of migration. Then, providing an example of how we can account for gender inequalities when speaking of women's migratory experiences, I look at the relations of inequality between women that are engendered by women's migration. I call attention to what I have described earlier as the formation of the international division of reproductive labor or the care chain. This empirically based discussion leads me to a larger theoretical discussion on transnational feminism. Specifically, I address how we can construct a transnational feminist platform amidst the globalization of care. What do we make of the challenge to feminist alliances posed by the increasing dependence of professional women in richer countries on the labor of domestic workers from poorer countries? Can we develop a transnational feminist platform despite this direct relationship of inequality among women?
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