Migrant Women at Work in Asia

Abstract

This chapter considers the following qestions: How do female labor-force participation rates vary among Indonesia Malyasia Korea Thailand and Pakistan? Are participation rates for female migrants to Asian cities systematically different from those of urban natives? What are some of the constraints and facilitators associated with differentials in female participation rates especially differences between migrants and others? How do the occupational structures of migrant and nonmigrant women vary within and among the 5 countries? The data for the analysis are derived from census and survey data. Migrant and nonmigrant females were compared by occupational status. Migrants were further divided into recent and long-term migrants. Age marital status education and whether or not the respondent was head of the family were controlled. Activity rates and unemployment rates of migrants and nonmigrants are compared. The analysis provides a broad picture of female work participation within the urban areas of each country. the overall % of women who are economically active varies dramatically among the 5 countries--ranging from a low of 4% in Pakistan to a high of 40% in Thailand. The pattern for married migrant women is usually the opposite of that for single and divorced women. The differentials for Korea Malaysia and Pakistan are negligible but in Indonesia and Thailand notably smaller proportions of maried migrant women are in the labro force. Single divorced or recently migrant women seem much more likely to enter the labor force in urban areas than married women. In all the countries married recent migrants at all ages have lower participation rates than nonmigrants. Women who were household heads had consistently higher participation rates than nonheads among both migrants and nonmigrants. 1/2 of all recent migrant females in Indonesia and more than 1/3 in Korea Malaysia and Thailand were employed as service workers compared with much smaller proportions among nonmigrants and longterm migrants. It is likely that many of the recent migrants will be able to move out of domestic service into other occupations such as sales and handicrafts. Recent female migrants fill very specific vacancies in the urban occupational structure--vacancies that are usually low-paid demand long hours of work and are mostly beyond the protection of labor unions or government regulation.