Política Intercultural

This study confirms previous findings on the importance of networks among labour migrants for accessing information, securing jobs, settling in a new environment and arranging family care responsibilities (Đặng Nguyên Anh, 1998; Winkels, 2004; Boyd, 1989). However, it moves beyond these well-discussed dimensions of social networks and brings out an aspect that has received less attention, namely the intersection between networks and gender. Migrant women formed tight knit and supportive gender-

specific networks. Similar to Louise Ryan’s (2007) study on Irish nurses in Great Britain, my research on domestic workers in Ha Noi pinpoints the different ways migrant women access ties and propinquity in terms of day-to-day support and local knowledge. However, I also identified aspects of this interesection that are less positive, namely how these networks impose gender expectations and rigid gender norms on their members. Thus, migrant women’s networks are both enabling—helping migrant workers access benefits and assistance—and constraining—policing behaviours and pressuring women to live up to idealized womanly virtues. This conclusion is consistent with Hellermann’s (2006) study of unattached Eastern European women migrants in Portugal and how they were scrutinized by fellow women migrants as their migration happened outside of the family unit. In addition to relations with other fellow migrant women in the receiving area, my research also includes other levels of networks such as connections in home communities as well as relationships with urban residents and shows that these added layers of networks further complicate and intensify pressure exerted on the women.

By focusing on women’s experiences, I have hoped to avoid the ―add and stir‖ approach where gender is just another variable and women are merely a supplementary group. This study deconstructs ―women‖ as an abstract category and instead offers lived, local and personal stories told by a group of women situated in their historical context. The perspectives I present here are guided by these particular accounts, rather than general descriptions of a gender-neutral migrant. The spheres we discussed in research questions are private in their nature, i.e. the workers’ homes and their working space, which are their employers’ homes. The interviews and focus group also took place inside houses, be it shared logdings, a room on top of a grocery store, or my kitchen; places

where the participants were most familiar with and comfortable in. As a result, this research draws out gender-specific aspects of the migrant’s experiences. Rumours and gossip are prime examples demonstrating how their worries are centered around gender norms particular to women. Gossip, in turns, are produced and spread by women linked to each other by their common experiences, who both support and police each other’s everyday decisions.

A question that has been asked repeatedly in the literature on migration is whether gender relations change significantly as women move away from home and earn an income independently from their family. Previous research has provided mixed results (Hondagneu-Sotelo, 2000). Greater gender egalitarianism is discerned in certain immigrant communities, yet improvements in women’s position are far from universal. An intriguing finding is that domestic inequalities seem to be especially marked in instances where wives earn more than their husbands. While counter-intuitive, this is consistent with results from studies focusing on domestic violence in non-migrant families. Some feminists find that when a man feels his masculinity and domination in the household is threatened, he is more likely to use force to reaffirm his position (Macmillan & Gartner, 1999). Indeed many male participants in the National Study on Domestic Violence against Women in Vietnam (GSO, 2010) confirmed this view, stating that violence is one way for some men to affirm their superiority when their manhood is challenged as their wives become the breadwinners in the family. Luke, Schuler, Bui, Pham & Tran (2007) likewise report that verbal abuse is highest in households where the wife is the main source of income.

While no participant in my study revealed being abused as a direct consequence of their higher income, except for one woman who shared that her neighbour (also a migrant) was beaten by her husband each time she returned home from the city, it was clear that they were very careful not to upset the gender hierarchy between them and their husbands. This finding is consistent with the notion of ―doing gender‖ (Resurreccion & Ha, 2007). Although the participants realized that they had enjoyed more authority in family decisions, or at least acknowledged this when I probed them, they actively downplayed their enhanced status. Furthermore, migration was explained as a natural extension of women’s traditional responsibility to manage the family purse, rather than a challenge to it. This gender essentialist justification seems to help the women reconcile psychological puzzles and gaps between their changing situations and the static gender relations at home. Digging deep into this paradox, my study provides some additional nuance to the picture. The question is not simply whether women are empowered by migration, but how and if their significant income and potential voice in decision-making actually alters relationships in the home sphere. Most of the migrant women in my study chose to adhere to traditional gender norms and continued playing their assigned roles, at least to the eyes of an outsider. By treading lightly, they avoided abrupt transformation within their families, but there may be subtle shifts in gender relations under the surface.

This discussion of women and empowerment highlights the significance of women’s agency. Agency is clearly at work in shaping decisions to migrate. The women are not simply pushed out of the home due to economic desperation, but actively make a decision to leave. While ―earning money‖ was always cited as the top reason for migration, the income was often used towards financing education for children, an

endeavour aiming at future social mobility rather than covering basic subsistence costs. Economic considerations intertwine with the socio-political context. Studies of transational labour migrants repeatedly remind us of the importance of national policies and bilateral agreements that directly condition individual migration decisions between countries (Ehrenreich & Hochschild, 2002). My study shows that the same mechanisms can be observed operating at the national level. Women’s decisions to migrate are shaped by broader forces and processes, including the Vietnamese state, its agencies (notably the omnipresent Women’s Union), as well as the family and the rural community. Economic reform and national efforts to modernize and industrialize are also important aspects to take into account. Women’s decisions are shaped by a variety of social-historical factors, and their own goals for their families. It is crucial to recognize this dynamic between what individual women can do within their particular social location, the contraints they face, but also how hard they work to overcome those boundaries.

Although the participants were rural-to-urban migrant women in Vietnam, some of their experiences are comparable to those of transnational domestic workers elsewhere, especially emotional dislocation and mental anguish resulting from long-term separation. However, the impacts of migration on the mother-child relationship appear to be rather different. Many studies on transnational domestic workers have noted that this relationship suffers and children tend to grow indifferent to their mothers, or even blame the latter for leaving them behind (Cheever, 2002; Parrenas, 2002). Vietnamese domestic workers in Taiwan struggled with similar challenges in terms of negotiating childcare and fulfilling household responsibilities (Lin, 2013). Perhaps due to the nature of internal migration, which allows the women to visit home either on a regular basis or when an

emergency arises, most of the participants in my study reported no significant change in the relationships with their children. This finding is in line with other research such as Leshkowich’s (2012) study of urban women traders in Ho Chi Minh ctiy, and Nguyễn Thị Nguyệt Minh’s (2013) study on rural migrants engaging in waste-trading activities. These studies find that although women experience pressure to be present for their children, they see their work as a sacrifice. While some children’s grade reports seem to suffer from the lack of parental supervision and discipline, it is argued that these children actually fare better in earning an income later in life compared to their peers, thus questioning the assumption that parents’ absence always negatively affects children. Therefore, while both internal and transnational Vietnamese women migrants miss their children and are tormented by leaving them behind, their migration status has different impacts on how they interpret their experiences.

Previous research has also suggested that migration may have a negative impact on family stability, especially on children’s well-being (Nobles, 2013; Mincer, 1978) in resource-constrained areas. This study offers another insight. Many of the women I interviewed migrated precisely because their domestic situations did not fit the conventional model, especially the live-in workers. Some were widows, some were single, and some left home to escape alcoholic, abusive, or gambling-addicted husbands. Migration did not cause their families or conjugal relationships to break down; rather, an already adverse domestic sphere encouraged them to leave home in order to search for jobs in the city. Barbara Ehrenteich and Arlie Hochschild (2002) discuss a similar notion of a ―Philippine divorce‖ when women used migration to leave an undesirable conjugal situation. This finding points to a need to consider pre-migration family structure and its

impacts on migration trajectory in addition to the classic push-pull theory already well established in migration studies.

Whereas the economic framework dominates migration literature, my study goes beyond the common explanation of migration as a rational choice made by individuals who caculate the cost and benefits of moving from a resource-restrained area to a more prosperous one. While the push-pull theory takes into consideration ―push‖ factors such as un/under-employment, poverty and fewer opportunities for improvements in sending areas, as well as ―pull‖ factors such as readily available waged jobs and higher income in receiving areas, it tends to downplay both structural elements and individual motivations that are not purely economic. I seek to remedy this shortcoming by drawing attention to local aspects unique to recent historical development in Vietnam that may deeply influence migration decisions, namely the government’s approach to population movement, its household registration system, and most importantly, the highly unequal relationship between rural and urban areas. Furthermore, I bring into focus personal aspirations that do not fit neatly in a purely rational cost-and-benefit analysis. While the younger participants shared stories about their desire to travel and see the world, the older participants were more preoccupied with earning money to invest in their children’s education. These are driving forces behind some women’s decisions to migrate. They might be highly personal and not applicable to a large population, nonetheless they are no less valid or less impactful than concerns over financial matters or job opportunities.