Children of Global Migration: Transnational
Families and Gendered Woes was my favorite reading so far. In this book,
Rhacel Salazar Parrenas introduces readers to the gender roles and prevailing
heteronormativity that persists ironically in the Philippines, considering the
number of families that ignore this idea of an ideal, patriarchal home. Because
of the economy in the Philippines, many people are forced to work abroad, in an
effort to provide enough income for their families or even possibly just themselves.
This obviously disrupts the idea of a nuclear family sitting around the dinner
table, headed by the father—particularly when the woman is the one who leaves.
What does
this mean for the women who are gone and the men who are “left” at home? Parrenas
says that these men are especially shunned by society in the Philippines.
Parrenas also indicates that the emasculation of these men who are taking on
traditionally “feminine” roles can lead to child abuse, in order to reconcile
their manliness with their new role.
The
disruption of traditional gender roles may even go beyond the act itself, as
pointed out in “Transnational (Counter) Topographies.” This article points out
how women’s roles even further evolve after their migration. For example, “as
the[se women] acquire new skills in their entrepreneurial business venture, the
women also develop resources to fight for their rights as domestic workers in
Hong Kong. At the same time, their understanding of their work experience in
Hong Kong is used to build social values beyond profit maximizing into their
business ventures in the Philippines” (Pratt, Yeoh 163).
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