International Migration, Domestic Work, and Care Work

Abstract

This article discusses three major dilemmas embedded in women's labor migration by focusing on undocumented Latina migrants in Israel. The first is that to break the cycle of blocked mobility in their homelands, migrant women must take jobs that they would have never taken in their countries of origin, despite uncertainty about possible economic outcomes. The second dilemma is that the search for economic betterment leads Latina migrants to risk living and working illegally in the host country, forcing them to remain on the margins of society. The third dilemma relates to the role of mothers who, to secure a better future for their children, are forced to leave them behind, thus subverting the traditional definition of motherhood. The absence of an egalitarian notion and the practice of citizenship for non-Jews leave undocumented labor migrants in Israel without prospects for incorporation into the society.Alba is a 45-year-old widow from Colombia who arrived in Israel in 1996 as an undocumented migrant. She came alone, leaving her two sons back home under the care of her sister. In her hometown, where she earned $100 per month as a factory worker, Alba dreamed of having her own home and opening a small business. To achieve these goals, she needed a considerable sum of money, which was hard to save and even harder to get in loans or credit. A window of opportunity was opened when Alba was recommended to a family in Israel as a live-in domestic worker. Alba considered migration as a strategy for saving the money that she required in a relatively 727 AUTHORS' NOTE: This research was supported by the Israeli Science Foundation founded by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. The authors wish to thank five anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and Christine Bose for her editorial suggestions. We are also grateful to Tamara Barsky, Alejandro Paz, and Valentin Nabel for their efficient research assistance and to Deborah Bernstein for her careful reading and helpful suggestions. A preliminary version of this article was presented at the annual conference of the FIELAC in April 1999. Direct all correspondence to Rebeca Raijman,

Afterword: Gender Practices in Transnational Families

“…This concept of care was the central pillar of transnational family research during the first decade (Raijman et al 2003;Piperno 2007;Bernhard et al 2009); however, during the second decade, through the introduction of the reference concept of the circulation of care (Baldassar and Merla 2013), the co-relation of care between leavers and stayers has been highlighted.…”

Göçün kadınlaşması ve göçmen kadınların örgütlenme deneyimleri

“…Göçmen kadınlar yeni "denizaşırı annelik" rollerine uyum sağlamaya çalışırlarken, çocuklarına daha iyi bir gelecek sağlamak için onları terk ediyor olma çelişkisiyle de yüz yüze gelmektedirler 54 . Görüldüğü gibi ev hizmetlerinin küreselleşmesi, devletin kadın emeğine el koymasını ve ulusal bakım sistemlerinin cinsiyetlendirilmiş doğasını açığa çıkarmaktadır.…”

“…Hem hizmetin gerçekleştiği hem de kadınların yaşamlarını sürdürdükleri alan olan "ev"in gözlerden ırak ve izole edilmiş mekanlar olması baskı ve istismarı şiddetlendirmektedir 58 .Yapılacak işlerin ve çalışma saatlerinin sınırları belirsizdir. Göçmen kadınların yaşamlarını sürdürdükleri ve çalıştıkları mekânın aynı ev olması, günün her saati, evde yapılan her iş için hazır bulunmaları sonucunu doğurur.…”

A Risky Business? : Ukrainian Migrant Women in Warsaw's Domestic Work Sector

“…In Canada, women represented half of the total applicants who sought admission after residing for five years with an irregular status (Boyd 2004: 6). Mi grant domestic workers in Israel also work in an undeclared fashion and overstay their tourist visas, thus making their stay irregular (Rajiman, Schammah-Gesser & Kemp 2003).…”