On the Gendered Structures and Outcomes of Interstate Bilateral Labour Agreements as Migration Governance Instruments

Abstract

As states look to expand “regular pathways” for migration, as evidenced in the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (UN, 2018), many are turning to managed temporary labour migration schemes under bilateral labour agreements (BLA), rather than permanent immigration pathways. For states, such schemes represent a viable (and manageable) “orderly and regular” migration pathway, which serves the dual purpose of regulating migration and addressing labour demands. Yet, such instruments remain largely gender-blind and channel women into gendered occupations—such as caregivers, cleaners, service/sales clerks and entertainers—occupations that are typically low skilled, low waged, with high levels of precarity and low levels of social protection—often in sectors without consistent collective bargaining rights (e.g. agriculture, care work). Further, few BLAs address rights or social protection. This chapter weighs the caveats and concerns, as well as the opportunities and innovations, in these and other approaches to governing labour migration.