Your World of Legal Intelligence
 United Kingdom | +44 (0) 20 7284 8080

Making the EAC Regime Beneficial to Female Labour Migrants

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date01 November 2016
Author
Date01 November 2016
DOI10.3366/ajicl.2016.0172
Pages541-560
INTRODUCTION

The number of women traversing international borders in search of better employment opportunities has grown significantly. It was estimated that by 1960, female international migrants accounted for nearly 47 out of every 100 international migrants.1 An increase in the number of female migrants living outside their home has been recorded ever since.2 The increased presence of women in international migration is a result of numerous factors. Major among these is the desire to improve their own lives and to provide a better life for themselves, their children or their family members left at home.3 Poverty and exclusion, the rise in women's educational attainment, the increased demand for women's labour in the service sector sectors and cultural and social changes in attitudes towards female migration in many source countries have also contributed to this change.

As transnational labour and women's labour mobility in particular increase both in numbers and diversity, the nexus between migration and development has increasingly gained prominence in international discourse, with the rate of remittance flow to developing countries and its relationship to the development of these countries being at the centre of the migration-development discourse. The role of migration in improving the livelihood of individual migrants and members of their family is also increasingly visible. For women, migration is seen as an empowering experience as it enables them to move away from societies with traditional and patriarchal forms of authority and allows them to work, to earn their own money and to exercise greater decision-making power in their daily lives. It also avails them the opportunity to learn new skills and enjoy a higher socio-economic status when they eventually return to their own country.4

However, while migration provides new opportunities and benefits for women, it also often gives rise to threats specifically against their security and human rights. The negative effect can be extremely appalling, particularly when women migrate irregularly. There is an emerging consensus that the predicament of female migrants is different from that of male migrants. Female migrant workers often experience different disadvantages in comparison to men at all stages of the migration due to their legal status, to the nature of the employment sector and type of educational requirements as well as stereotyped roles of men and women.5 As a result of traditional gender roles and social norms reflected through access to education and skills, women enter in a segregated labour market whereby their role in destination countries tends to be largely seen as an extension of their motherly and wifely responsibilities. Most of them end up in domestic work, sex work and other types of work in the service industry, which tend to be similar to the work performed by women in their homes countries. The laws and policies on emigration and immigration tend to have gender outcomes and so do policies on integration and reintegration.6 All of these have significant implications on women migrant's rights, entitlements and livelihood.

With restrictive and stratified emigration and immigration laws and policies, female labour migrants are compelled to rely on migrant smugglers and trafficking networks. Women recruited in these conditions are usually transported in appalling conditions – very risky and dangerous, possibly subject to sexual or physical violence from transporters, fellow male travellers or border guards.7 In destination countries they are at risk of being arrested, detained, exploited and abused.8 Their desire to improve their lives and those of their children and family members can hardly be attained under these conditions.

In this article the extent to which the unique experiences and needs of female labour migrants are reflected in the East Africa Community (‘EAC’) labour migration framework is examined. While doing that, the article will explore the available opportunities and suggest viable ways of removing the existing barriers so that women can also enjoy the opportunities and the benefits of intra-regional labour migration.

 WOMEN IN INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION

Female labour migrants have become more and more present in the global labour market. In the past, female migrants used to play a passive role – migrating as spouses or dependants of their male partners or relatives. Today women migrants play more active roles. This is due to various factors. The gender segregation of labour coupled with the high demand in some professional categories dominated by women, such as nursing, as well as increased levels of feminised poverty and gender disparities in access to social and economic opportunities and political power have all played a key role in increasing women's share in international migration.9 With the growing demand for workers in the service sector and the preference for women migrant workers – because of their perceived docility and the lower labour costs associated with employing women – an increasing number of women and girls from all walks of life now migrate as sole breadwinners.10 Currently, women constitute nearly half (48 per cent) of the 232 million global migration total. Considerable differences exist across regions with Europe hosting the highest proportion of female migrants (51.9 per cent), followed by Latin America and the Caribbean (51.6 per cent), Northern America (51.2 per cent) and Oceania (50.2 per cent).11

The growing feminisation of international labour migration is also evident in Africa. African women who had traditionally remained at home or migrated as dependent family members are increasingly migrating independently, within and across national borders, to pursue economic opportunities and leaving their spouses to care for the children. With a total of 45.9 per cent of female migrants in her total migration stock, Africa holds the fifth position of regions with the highest numbers of female migrants in their migration stock.12 What is unique about Africa's migration stock is that the majority of migrants originate from within the region. According to recent studies on migration patterns and trends in Africa, about two-thirds of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, particularly poorer migrants, go to other countries in the region. With the regional economic integration currently taking place in Africa's sub-regions, the bulk of migrants remain within their sub-regions due to a myriad of factors, including simplified admission procedures, resource limitations and the ability to return to home countries without much difficulty. Migrants from Africa's middle-income countries are reported to have disproportionately migrated to destinations outside of Africa, while emigrants originating from poorer regions have generally remained within the sub-region and neighbouring countries – the major reason being that the costs associated with international migration are too high.13 The fact that women's access to resources in Africa is considerably limited compared to their male counterparts, their ability to migrate to remote destinations is further diminished. This leads to a conclusion that most women migrants in Africa originate from within the region, most often from within the sub-regions and neighbouring countries.

The increased presence of female migrant workers in the international labour market has not been free of consequences. Female migrant workers have emerged as the most marginalised group, and have become victims of heinous human rights violations and inequalities, some of which are rooted in traditional perceptions of gender roles.14 The prevalence of male-biased admission policies in destination countries has denied women the opportunity to become regular migrants, thus exposing them to irregular migration, human smuggling and trafficking.15 In most countries, admission policies tend to focus on ‘stratified entry’, whereby only certain categories of employees are admitted, particularly skilled ones, while the admission of unskilled and semi-skilled migrants is restricted.16 Even where the admission of the latter group is allowed, it is normally limited to male-dominated sectors such as construction and agriculture.17 Consequently, women have no option but to seek the services of human traffickers and smugglers.18

The existence of a dual labour market in most hosting countries through which the division of labour between men and women has evolved exacerbates the situation of female migrants further.19 In the dual labour market, professional female migrants end up in the ‘welfare and social professions’ such as education, health and social work, unlike their male counterparts who normally occupy senior managerial posts.20 Other women are employed in the service industry or what is sometimes known as the ‘personal and protective services sector’, which includes domestic work, sex work and other informal sectors which are mainly unregulated.21 Female migrant workers are therefore employed on the lowest rung of the ladder and are often irregularly employed, even if they were legally admitted to the destination countries.22 The nature of work in these sectors and the absence of legal regulation increase their vulnerability. They become victims of serious human rights violations, including long working hours, unhealthy working environments, sexual abuse, low salaries and the non-payment of salaries.23 In most cases, women migrants’ travel documents are confiscated to prevent their movement and they are forced to work without contracts. The absence of unionism in sectors employing female migrants leads to the experiences of female migrant workers being rendered invisible, unlike the experiences of male migrants, which are more likely to be documented and visible because of strong unionism in the sectors where they are mainly employed.24

It is highly intriguing that these violations have continued...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT