Week 7: Transnational Families

     In "Transnational (Counter) Topographies," Geraldine Pratt and Brenda Yeoh state that, "'Going transnational' has done little to trouble the gendered division of household labor, or destabilize the gendered inequalities of the patriarchal state" (162).  I would disagree with that.  As Rhacel Salazar Parrenas demonstrates in Children of Global Migration: Transnational Families and Gendered Woes, troubling the gender binaries is far more complex in transnational families.  Indeed, the root of Parrenas' analysis lies at the heart of the nuclear family and how unrealistic it is for most transnational families to adhere to this ideal.  First we must question why there is such a strong emphasis placed on the nuclear family as evident in Parrenas' study of transnational families in the Philippines.  Indeed, the Philippines had been an occupied, colonized country for many years.  Perhaps their cling to the nuclear family is left over of their being colonized or rather their desire to show to other nations of the global north in particular that they are just like these other great nations.  Indeed, the family unit is embedded within their legal system stating that the Filipino family is the foundation of the nation.  Why indeed would the government put such emphasis on the family when it would be better suited to develop strategies to manage their debt without shortcoming its citizens such as teachers.
     Nevertheless, the stage has been set for the dominance of the nuclear family which is threatened by transnational families because one or more parents are absent from the family life and dynamic.  Men's absences are often excused because the father is presumed to be fulfilling his duty as breadwinner by taking an overseas job and sending his earnings back to his family.  However, Parrenas states that mother's absence is more problematic.  Indeed, "Transnational families, particularly those headed by females, threaten women's civic duty of maternity" (37).  I would disagree with that.  If we were to define motherhood words such as nurturer would undoubtedly be ascribed to these women.  As such, wouldn't a transmigrant mother enhance this quality because the woman is doing what she can to nurture and take care of her children and family through the means available to her?
     The welfare, physical and psychological, of transnational families' children is another point of interest.  A school counselor that Parrenas visited pointed out three boys she declared to be deviant because they belonged to transnational families.  Indeed, children of such households are often believed to be dysfunctional either because they lack a father to discipline them or a mother to instill moral and behavioral groundings in their children.  Indeed, even if the father is present in the household, he does little to tend to the needs of his children.  Instead, he leaves that work for his female kin whether they be daughters or aunts.  And here is when the gender troubling comes into place.  Those males who take on "feminine" roles such as cooking and cleaning tend to have a closer relationship to their children.  This is especially true for father-away families.  When the father returns he often resorts to his authoritarian role, which makes his children often uncomfortable or embarrassed.  However, if the man acts more nurturing then his children are more likely to be close to him.
     But mother-away families also trouble gender to an extent through their "stalled revolution."  Indeed, these women break through the povery and glass ceiling surrounding them in the Philippines and enter the public work world.  However, they tend to enter fields that would enhance their domestic background such as being domestic laborers or nurses.  In addition, these women must continue their nurturing role by tending to their own children who, at times, became jealous of their mother's new wards.  The strict structure of these gender binaries must come into question.  Why must the nation look to their families for foundational security?  And why specifically must these families adhere to one specific form of a family dynamic?  What is it about the nuclear family that supposedly creates stability?