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Summary Of Servants Of Globalization

Decent Essays

Migration in developing countries is often seen as a way of development through the stimulation of global currency within the country. Specifically throughout the Philippines, it is more common for migrant workers to be female, resulting in the overall structure and dynamics of these families to change. In the novel, Servants of Globalization, author Rhacel Parreñas addresses how the pre-existing structure of gender expectations and unequal employment opportunities for male and females abroad influence the overall gender patterns and impacts of migration from the Philippines, ultimately affecting the dynamics of families as they become transnational and challenging the pre-existing gender ideologies within the countries.

Men and women have different pre-existing gender structure expectations imposed by their country's society. In the Philippines, women are often expected to do the "reproductive labor... [which] includes household chores; the care of elders, adults, and youth; the socialization of children; and the maintenance of social ties in the family (Brenner and Laslett, 1991; Glenn, 1992)" (Parreñas, 29). Men, on the other hand, primarily perform "'nonnurant reproductive labor' (2007: 323) as janitors, food preparation workers, or gardeners, questioning the notion that they do care work" (Parreñas, 50). As stated by Parreñas, women are often expected to do more reproductive labor than men, shaping the gender patterns of migration in the Philippines.

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