Gender and Development: Push and Pull Migration, Transnational Experience and Well-being of Filipina Overseas Migrant Returnees

Abstract

The global movement of people which coincided with the globalization of the market economy resulted into the feminization of overseas migrate, on given the higher demands for female migrant workers from the low-income developing countries such as the Philippines. This has changed the landscape of overseas migration in the country since the 1970s where the bulk of overseas migrant workers were males as triggered by the oil boom in the Middle East (Ducanes, 2015). This paper examines the social dimension of transnational migration as experienced by Filipina overseas migrant returnees by understanding the motivations for temporary overseas migration, the factors associated with return migration, their narratives of transnational migration and their self-assessment of the impact of migration on their well-being. Qualitative interviews were conducted among seven (7) Filipina migrant returnees from Nueva Ecija. Results revealed the interplay of gender, migration and family in relation to push and pull migration. Likewise, the transnational experiences of these migrant returnees demonstrate the resiliency and agency of women in the context of development and transnational migration.