LESS PINAY WORKERS

An article from GMA News, a Philippine newspaper, stated that this year there is an increase in male OFW's than female OFW's. There was about a 26% increase in OFW's this year, but the number of females decreased by 47%. Even Filipina entertainment workers in Japan went from 80,000 in 2005 down to 7,000 in 2007. Carmelita Rizon, from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), said that the reason in the numbers could be because of the policy reforms taken effect in 2007 and the salary adjustments in the household service workers.
Rizon was asked if there would be a resurgence in the Filipinas taking on manual labors, such as welding. She said that countries in the Middle East, like Saudia Arabia are less likely to hire female construction workers, but the United States might.
With the increase in male workers and decrease in female workers, the POEA is looking optimitically that the number of OFW's will be 1.1 million workers by the end of the year (as of August, there have been almost 900,000 workers sent overseas.)
Even though there is less of a demand in Filipina workers, this does not mean that there no reason to celebrate the "de-feminizaiton" of labor, according to the Development Action for Women Network (DAWN), a non-government organization assisting Filipino migrants. Many of the Filipinas who work overseas are subject to work that is described as "dirty, demeaning, and dangerous" jobs. DAWN says that the people that are most offected by OFW's are families and men are part of the family, they are fathers. Also, this is not a "de-feminization" of labor because there are still thousands of pinays who are looking for jobs overseas.

I think that it is interesting that there was a decrease in the Filipina workers because I thought that people want as labor workers as possible. In reference to female workers not being hired in the construction area, I think that gender role and stereotype plays a role on why female workers are not wanted. Also in the article, it said that families are less affected if the father goes overseas because it is the male who is seen as being the provider and with women working overseas, families had to redefine traditional roles.

If you want to read the news article, click here.