Courtney Heintzelman

22 November 2009

Female Transnational Migrants: Maids, Nannies, and Sex-Trafficking

            As discussed in class, transnational migrants no longer expect a perfect paradise in coming to America anymore, but they still hope for something better, something different than what they know at home.  Two books from the class, Jamaica Kincaid’s Lucy and Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine both impressed upon me the hardships that females face with transnational migration.  Although both protagonists migrated to America because of their family, they did it for different reasons.  Lucy was almost forced by her family, because her mother wanted her to earn money so that her brothers could go to school and become doctors.  Jasmine came because she wanted to honor her murdered fiancé and perform a ritual for him at the university that he was planning on attending. 

            Although the two main characters have a few similarities, they were different.  Lucy was promised work from a family before she left for America, while Jasmine never intended on staying in America.  Lucy was flown and then driven to her family directly, while Jasmine’s trip was much harder and indirect.  Jasmine was smuggled over and sexually assaulted several times on her way to Florida.  Mariah, Lucy’s employer wanted a friendship between the two women.  Although Mariah was the boss, she wanted Lucy to think of them as friends, and so Mariah acted as though they were friends.  This “friendship” lasted until after a year of being in New York, Lucy decided to live outside of her employer’s house.  It was at this point that Mariah took on the role of Master and Lucy as servant.  After doing some research, I’ve learned that this type of dynamic is not uncommon in the realm of domestic later (Global Woman 93).  This will be discussed further at a later point. 

            As stated previously, Jasmine had no intention of staying in America, and therefore had no employment ready for her.  After Jasmine’s final rape, she murdered her attacker and then fled on foot from her current location.  Eventually, she came upon the good fortune of meeting Mrs. Lillian Gordon.  Mrs. Gordon helped restore Jasmine’s health, gave her shelter and food, befriended her, and eventually set her up for work with some connections in New York.  Although this specific type of hospitality is not very common, there are some elements to this story that are common among immigrants in a new land.  This too, shall be more thoroughly examined later.

            Both Lucy and Jasmine are novels written in a narrative style; yet encompass a lot of dialogue to help tell their stories.  On par with one of the objectives of this course, I feel that these stories help share the narratives of those who too often do not have a voice.  These stories help to put serious issues into focus.  In fact, it is because of these two stories that I wanted to learn more about the issues of transnational migrant women.  I had many questions when I started thinking about the issues of these women.  First of all, who are these women?  Where do they come from?  Why to they migrate?  How do they support themselves?  What are common issues that face these women?  Why do these women stay in bad situations?  Finally, who helps these migrants?  It is with these questions that I began my research. 

Who are these women and where do they come from?

            According to Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild’s Global Woman, they come from all over the world.  Mainly, transnational migrant women come from Third World countries and typically move to Europe and North America.  Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo’s Gendered Transitions: Mexican Experiences of Immigration, focuses on the large influx of Hispanics into the United States of America.  Sex and Danger in Buenos Aires: Prostitution, Family, and Nation in Argentina, by Donna J. Guy, discusses issues of prostitution in sex trafficking from England and Europe to Argentina.

Why do these women migrate?

Research has yielded several reasons for these women to migrate.  One of the main reasons is because the women want a better life for themselves.  These women sometimes move to more affluent nations so that they can gain some financial independence, and therefore some autonomy for themselves.  Some women that were interviewed for Gendered Transitions explain that they thought it would be good for them to migrate, because they could find a job as a live-in domestic worker.  They thought that all of the money they earned would be for whatever they desired, since as a live-in they would not have to pay for room and board (128).  Jasmine experiences a feeling like this when she describes herself as “Jase”, while living in New York.  Another major reason for this migration is to help out their families.  The women move to better economic regions so that they can send money back home so that they can take care of their families.  This reason is why Lucy was originally sent to America.  Another reason is because they want to be with their husbands.  Similarly to how Jasmine had originally planned to go to America to be with Prakash, because he wanted a better life for himself, many women migrate to be with their husbands.  It is common for husbands to migrate first, become established, and then send for their wives.  However, this is not always the case.  Sometimes men don’t want to be tied to their wives anymore and either try to keep their wives from migrating, or send them back to their native land, if the wives do migrate (111). 

How do transnational migrant women support themselves?

The most common job for women is domestic labor.  Women typically find jobs as either a live-in or outside maid or nanny.  Although, the women who work as such often claim that they are much more than that (Global Woman, 93).  They are often both maid and nanny and also serve as a marriage saver, a dog/cat washer, personal errand girl, personal shopper, and more.

What are the common issues that these women face with their employment?

            First off, there are several instances of fair treatment from employer to employee.  Not every instance of job employment is bad.  However, there is a significant amount of horror stories portrayed in the various books I have used to gather my research.  Several issues that I’m about to mention are common in the research data and all are problematic.  I would like to stress that I’m not putting them in any order of significance, because they are all items that need to be addressed.    First, a number of instances of workers’ passports and other legal documentations being taken, stolen, and/or hidden from workers have been reported (3).  Second, it was not uncommon to find stories from workers who explained that they were treated so inhumanely as to not even have a bed to sleep in.  Some women reported that they had to sleep on floors, mats, and even outside (literally) with the dogs.  Other workers were denied adequate amounts of food, and often had to use kitchenware (plates and silverware) different from their owners (108).  For non-live-in maids, they were sometimes forbidden to touch anything to their lips.  This even included drinking water in a hot, summer environment (108).  A plethora of stories abound about workers who were forced to work 14-18 hour days, seven days a week (146).  To add insult to injury, these workers were typically paid far less than minimum wage.  In fact, many workers were paid between 40 cents an hour to a mere $40 a month.  Verbal abuse was probably the most common among the abuses faced, although sexual and physical abuse were also very common.

Nannies and the children they care for

            One thing that must be mentioned is the issue of nannies and the children they care for.  Global Woman discussed several instances where the employer became jealous of the attention that their child was showing the nanny and subsequently fired the nanny.  Other times, the employer would fire the nanny for any number of reasons, and the nanny would not get a chance to say “good-bye” to the child that they helped raise.  “Helped raise” is a misnomer.  Often times the nanny was the main caretaker for the child.  Although the nanny knows it’s her job to take care of the child, they often expressed growing genuinely found of the child.  After being fired, and no longer allowed to see the child they had grown so close to, many women suffered extreme depression.  

Why do these women stay in bad situations?

A big hurdle that these women face in trying to flee bad situations is that they may not have another place to go.  If the woman was denied contact with the outside world, then it would be extremely difficult for her to find a safe place for her to go.  Another big problem is that of the language barrier.  Often, migrants do not speak the language of the country they are in.  Even if they do manage to escape the confinements of their dwelling, it is hard for them to explain to others who might be able to help them, what horrific things they have been experiencing.  As mentioned earlier, sometimes the workers’ legal documentation has been taken from them, and they are afraid to leave because they don’t want to get deported (146).  Sometimes employers will not only try physical intimidation to keep their worker, but psychological coercion as well (147).

Who helps these women?

            There are a number of churches and other non-profit organizations that help these women.  Often times, women will develop networks among each other in their new geographical location.  If the workers are lucky, they have family nearby that help them find employment.  This “sisterhood” with the transnational migrant workers helps women not only to find jobs, but also helps to teach them skills to manage things better. 

Sex Trafficking

            After reading Global Woman, Gendered Transitions, and Sex and Danger,

I’ve learned that many times women and young girls are often tricked or forced into prostitution either by men, or circumstances that have befallen them.  Many times, women in Argentina entered into prostitution because they were single mothers and needed to feed their babies.  Unfortunately, it is all too often that young females are kidnapped, sold, and forced into sex rings.  These women are sometimes forced to migrate to other nations where prostitution is legal.  As sad as it is, this is part of the economic culture of today’s world.

            As much as I have heard about people migrating to America for the “American Dream,” it sickens me to think that all of these atrocities are happening in this country.  Our country is supposed to be better than this.  This topic definitely needs more attention and further research by the government, WHO, the UN, and NOW.  I pray that more attention is taken to make sure that people who treat others so inhumanely are criminally punished.  

Works Cited

Ehrenreich, Barbara, and Hochschild, Arlie Russell.  Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy.  Metropolitan Books: New York.  2002.

Guy, Donna J.  Sex and Danger in Buenos Aires: Prostitution, Family, and Nation in Argentina. University of Nebraska. 1990.

Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette.  Gendered Transitions: Mexican Experiences of Immigration.  University of California.  1994.

Kincaid, Jamaica.  Lucy.  Farrar Straus Giroux: New York.  1990.

Mukherjee, Bharati.  Jasmine.  Grove Press: New York.  1989.