Literature on female migrant breadwinning

A few academic works look at or refer to female migrant breadwinning, as indicated above. In the following section I will briefly outline some publications to give an impression of the scope female breadwinning is addressed in migration studies so far.

Examining the literature on international female labour migration, I found only a handful of texts looking explicitly at the situation of female migrant breadwinners. Most of these works use the notion of breadwinning only in passing and apply it to a very limited group of migrant women. However, it is important to see in which contexts the idea of breadwinning is used. Thus, I shall give brief résumés of these works in the following. This overview shall help to position and clarify the argument and aim of this chapter in its larger empirical and theoretical embeddedness. The presented articles demonstrate also the global dimension and importance of the issue of female migrant breadwinning.²⁶²

I found only two publications regarding migrant women that use the notion of breadwinner/breadwinning already in the title:

The emphasis of Michele Gamburd's essay (2002) 'Breadwinner No More' lays on the changes in male and female gender roles in Sri Lanka brought upon by female migration. Though Gamburd speaks de facto of women as breadwinners, she only uses the notion explicitly to describe the former male role as breadwinner that is now being challenged by female migration to the Middle East and the subsequent women's income earning. She observes a range of complex changes and dynamics:

The migration of these migrant women has expanded common notions of motherhood in Sri Lanka to include long absences from home. At the same time, female migration has reconfigured male gender roles in an often uncomfortable fashion. Many men feel

262 Namely women from Sri Lanka, the Philippines and South America working in the Middle East, Italy, the USA and Israel – plus my own research on Eastern European women in Portugal.

a loss of self-respect and dignity when their wives become breadwinners. Such men only reluctantly take over the 'women's work' of child care and cooking, they arrange to have female relatives assume these duties instead, in accordance with strongly felt local gender roles. (Gamburd 2002: 190, 191)

Furthermore, the author points out that the new breadwinning role of women threatens the male social position, and questions their sexual image and identity: "Common local stereotypes devalue these husbands' [whose wives work abroad, CH] competence as breadwinners and lovers" (Gamburd 2002: 191). Gamburd interprets these as signs of a

"slow, difficult, and often painful negotiation of changing gender roles and family structures" (Gamburd 2002: 192).

The second article is entitled 'Women Breadwinners in the Margins: Filipina Domestic Workers in Rome, Italy' by Margaret Magat (2004). Though it carries the notion of 'women breadwinners' in the title, the author does not define to whom she refers to explicitly. It appears, thus, that 'breadwinning' is used as a generic term for all Filipina domestic workers who send money to their families at home. In her article, Magat gives a general picture of Filipina life in Rome by describing e.g. domestic work as an ethnicised niche, its underlying power structures, and the role of consumerism and materialism amongst the migrants. In the conclusion the author returns explicitly to the breadwinning, stating correctly that migrant women "should be recognized for their role as the main breadwinners of their family", while at the same time "[t]heir needs must be addressed"

(Magat 2004: 364). However, the author does not look closer at the complex situation that breadwinning means to migrant women and their daily life; or, more theoretically, to their (social) position within the home and the receiving society.

Other articles that touch the topic of female migrant breadwinning are the following:

Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo and Ernestine Avila's (1997) article 'I’m here, but I’m there. The meanings of Latina transnational motherhood' is a crucial text and core reference for discourses on 'transnational motherhood'. It serves until today as both, inspiration and as a bench mark for many scholars working with female migrants from transnational, often feminist oriented perspectives. Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila address

the construction of ideological and idealised discourses concerning motherhood and the

"cult of domesticity", which are seen as opposite to the male breadwinners earning the

"family wage" (Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila 1997: 2). At the same time, the authors point out the racialised, gendered and class background of these discourses and images. In this central text on transnational motherhood, the authors analyse the situation of mothers who go abroad for work. They observe that these migrant women have to "cope with stigma, guilt, and criticism from others" (Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila 1997: 4). The authors see breadwinning as being part of the migrants' understanding of motherhood:

For these women, the meanings of motherhood do not appear to be in a liminal stage.

That is, they do not appear to be making a linear progression from a way of motherhood that involves daily, face-to-face caregiving toward one that is defined primarily through breadwinning. Rather than replacing caregiving with breadwinning definitions of motherhood, they appear to be expanding their definitions of motherhood to encompass breadwinning that may require long-term physical separations. For these women, a core belief is that they can best fulfill traditional caregiving responsibilities through income earning in the United States while their children remain "back home."

(Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila 1997: 10)

Caregiving is understood as a "defining feature of their mothering experiences"

(Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila 1997: 10), and it is the strength of this approach to recognise the women's work abroad as a positively adding practical experience and value to their care giving skills. At the same time, the authors notice the critical stance of the migrant women towards their work abroad and the separation from their families and children that this work implies: one of their research participants expresses clearly her realisation that motherhood is not only breadwinning, she says: "You can't give love through money" (Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila 1997: 11), while another woman emphasises that "being a mother involves both breadwinning and providing direction and guidance. 'It’s not just feeding them, or buying clothes for them. It’s also educating them, preparing them to make good choices so they’ll have a better future'" (Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila 1997: 11).²⁶³

263 In my understanding, this indicates the limits and possibly arising conflicts from their work abroad for the women. I discuss this aspect later in this chapter, based on my research.

Transnational mothers seek to mesh caregiving and guidance with breadwinning.

While breadwinning may require their long-term and long-distance separations from their children, they attempt to sustain family connections by showing emotional ties through letters, phone calls, and money sent home. If at all financially and logistically possible, they try to travel home to visit their children. They maintain their mothering responsibilities not only by earning money for their children’s livelihood but also by communicating and advising across national borders, and across the boundaries that separate their children’s place of residence from their own places of employment and residence. (Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila 1997: 12)

Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila (1997) look in their article at breadwinning migrant women. Yet, as their emphasis lays on 'transnational motherhood' and the redefinition of what motherhood and caregiving means, they do not focus analytically on the breadwinning and its consequences for the migrant women.

The article 'International Migration, Domestic Work, and Care Work:

Undocumented Latina Migrants in Israel' by Rebeca Raijam, Silvina Schammah-Gesser and Adriana Kemp (2003) is also placed within the larger context of feminisation of migration and the globalisation of domestic work and child care. Closely following Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila (1997), Raijam et al. identify the necessity for migrant mothers to replace the idea of "family in one place" – that is, the glorification of privatised mothering – to a new rhetoric of transnational motherhood and the breadwinning role of the migrant women (Raijam et al. 2003: 731). The authors understand migration as a significant challenge to breadwinning mothers and thus point out critically…

"[…] the dilemmas inherent in the process of female labor migration, namely migration as a strategy for economic mobility on one hand and the inherent cost and strain associated with it on the other. More specifically, we refer to the prices that migrant women have to pay in terms of occupational downward mobility, the 'cost' of being illegal in the host society, the disruption of family life, and the contradictory expectations stemming from the need to redefine their roles as mothers and as breadwinners." (Raijam et al. 2003: 728)

Pei-Chia Lan (2003a) looks at Filipina women who become breadwinners through migration in her article 'Maid or Madam? Filipina Migrant Workers and the Continuity of Domestic Labor'. She emphasises the benefits for the women as "such a feminized migration pattern helps Filipina homemakers expand the scope of their lives and become the primary breadwinners in their families" (Lan 2003a: 192). The article refers also to the socio-historical patriarchal context of the Philippines, which according to Lan (2003a: 191) encourages women to seek work as domestic workers abroad. This is portrayed as a challenge to male self-understanding which leads frequently to private and social conflicts: "[…] some of their husbands drink or gamble to excess when they are no longer in charge of the daily duty of breadwinning" (Lan 2003a: 193). Lan concludes that some men have problems in accepting the changes in gender roles and feel the "ideal masculine role of breadwinner" is undermined (Lan 2003a: 194).

Looking at the situation of the migrant women themselves, Lan observes – similar to Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila (1997) – that the women gain economic independence and a higher social standing within the Philippine society, while at the same time they "pay the emotional cost of leaving their husbands and children and are stigmatised for their deviation from the ideal of domesticity and motherhood" (Lan 2003a: 194). Thus, concludes Lan, Filipina women as transnational breadwinners "remain burdened by their gendered duties as mothers and wives back home" (Lan 2003a: 202). Additionally, the author refers to other women, who start their migration before marriage and children: she notes that those gain a significant boost in their self-esteem and self-confidence through their breadwinning abroad. Some of these women come to the conclusion that it is better for them not to marry, in order to maintain their independence and self-reliance (Lan 2003a:

200); they see the status of a married women as the unpaid version of a domestic worker abroad and prefer their economic independence (Lan 2003a: 200).

5.1.2.1 Transnational motherhood?

We see that some research, in particular under the perspective of 'transnational motherhood', suggests that migrant women gain more say and respect – and thus power – in their families and home societies through their work abroad and through the economic dependency of their families on them (e.g. Parreñas 2001). This might be true in certain

cultural and social contexts. However, I did not find any evidence for this in my research, and the research participants never mentioned any aspects that would make such in interpretation possible. I see two possible reasons for this different observation: First, my research was based in the receiving society with the main aim to examine the work and living situation of women migrating alone. A transnationally conducted comparative study of the situation and interaction with the families of the research participants in their home countries might have revealed other aspects of their migration. Secondly, it could also be that in the Eastern European post-socialist countries like the Ukraine, Russia and Romania, women tend to have already a significant say within the family. Additionally, all research participants were employed before migration, they were significant wage-earners in their home society, some shared the breadwinning for the family with their partners and husbands. Other research participants are single mothers and were already then sole breadwinners at home, carrying the full responsibility for their children and other family members, e.g. parents or siblings. This corresponds to the image of strong and independent yet warm and caring women that was promoted in particular in the Soviet Union (see Bridger et al. 1996, Einhorn 1993, Mace 1961). My research in general and the following analysis as in this Thesis show the strong position many women have within their families, and it shows also how serious these women take this responsibility. Yet, I did not find any evidence suggesting an increase in these women's social role and say in their home countries, as some transnational literature suggests. Wage-earning and decision-making within the family are not new experiences for the research participants, these are not gains from their migration but existed before. This suggests that some aspects of transnational motherhood discourses are highly dependent on the socio-cultural context in the society of origin. What other researchers suggest for women for instance from the Philippines (Lan 2003a, Parreñas 2001) and from Southern America (Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila 1997, Raijam et al. 2003) as above briefly explained, is not necessarily true for women from Eastern Europe, respectively the former USSR, who come from societies which used to encourage women over many decades to be active in both roles, as mothers and workers.

All research participants were employed before migration, including those who are mothers. Consequently, this turns out to be a crucial differentiating factor to the transnational studies mentioned and shows that the ideas connected to discourses of

transnational motherhood are highly context-depended and not fully applicable to all social and cultural backgrounds.

And yet, in spite of this limitation, transnational motherhood as theoretical concept offers valuable insights, in particular through the shift of perspective from constructing migrant women as passive victims towards seeing them as active and responsible members of their family and society. These women achieve a lot through their work abroad and across the geographical distance. My research confirms this while making visible at the same time the implications different breadwinning arrangements have for the migrant women and their lives in Portugal, as will be developed in the following.