CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2019
| Author | Ang, Jona Marie Pango |
|---|---|
| Title | Women Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Hungary: A Feminist Global Political Economy (GPE) Analysis |
| Summary | This thesis is an exploratory study about women Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) that poses the main questions: What factors contributed to the women’s decision to migrate to Hungary? What were the migration-related issues encountered by the women in dealing with the Philippine and Hungarian governments? What are the challenges of living and working in Hungary, and how do Filipina migrant workers address them? How does identity figure in these challenges and the women’s responses to them? In making the above inquiries, the thesis not only broadens the discussion on Filipinas employed abroad in terms of occupation and geographical location, but also challenges essentialist narratives in existing literature on women OFWs. The research was enriched by drawing on the accounts of ten women OFWs in Hungary of different ages, civil status, occupations, and socio-economic backgrounds, with a view to find out as much as possible about their motivations and aspirations. This is important because studies or articles on women OFWs need to account for diverse jobs, personalities, individual circumstances leading to migration, and lived experiences that go beyond abuse, exploitation, or violence to have a fuller view of the women’s complexities. In order to analyze the information gathered from the women interviewees, a Feminist Global Political Economy (GPE) framework was used. This framework utilizes the feminist perspective to examine the situation of the women OFWs within the global political economy, which involves different actors and elaborate domestic-international, private-public, local-global, and south-north interactions. Concepts from intersectional and post-colonial theories were also incorporated to account for intersecting gender, race, and class identities of Filipinas as women of color, Asians, and “Third World women.” The thesis will show that “Filipinas” and “overseas Filipina workers” are not homogeneous categories and they have various reasons for leaving the Philippines and residing in Hungary, as well as various ways of responding to challenges posed by transnational labor migration. The women OFWs contend with restrictive state power in the form of regulated entry, residence, and exit, along with the discourse of the Philippine government that constructs them as objects that are naturally meant to be marketed as overseas labor. Filipinas in Hungary deal with gendered and racialized notions of who they are as women, workers, and partners. They also encounter racism and issues with migration and employment. However, In the milieu of neoliberal globalization where state and transnational business interests prevail, the women have had to rely on themselves and their informal networks for survival and development given the lack of support or services offered by the Philippine and Hungarian governments. |
| Supervisor | Smith, Sarah |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2019/ang_jona-marie.pdf |
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