Vietnamese Migrant Women Working Abroad: Risks and Challenges for Accessing Support Services

Abstract

Today Vietnam is a country with second largest number of migrant workers in Southeast Asia. Every year a great number of Vietnamese women migrate abroad by various ways for earning a living. They might experience many risks such as labor exploitation, violence and human trafficking. Basing on qualitative data collected from in-depth interviews and focus-group discussions with return women migrant workers and with provincial authority agencies in 5 provinces in Vietnam, the article reflects the risks faced by women migrant workers and their limitation of accessing help services during the time working overseas. The study also examines the ways that Vietnamese women migrate abroad. The survey proved that Vietnamese female migrant workers generally find illegal migration riskier, but easier and cheaper because it does not require a command of foreign languages, vocational skills or costly fees. Illegal migrants do not have to sign any contracts, so they can return home whenever they want. However, illegal women migrant workers experience various risks including being captured by the police, being unable to work freely and inability to access official migrant support services. The author argues that in order to increase the ability of women migrant workers to avoid risks and access support services when working abroad, it is necessary to strengthen communication channels, which would help people to know more about reliable services to send migrants to work overseas. Trainings and professional orientation workshops before departure should include more information about possible risks and the ways to find accessible support in Vietnam as well as in the destination countries. KEYWORDS: