Week 10 Alaina Cagalingan

In Steven McKay’s article “Filipino Sea Men: Identity and Masculinity in a Global Labor Niche,” he mentions and talks about the role that global market plays in accentuating gender dynamics in labor force such as men in the sea.  As many may argue, the Philippines is one of the top labor exporters in the world due to domestic economic crisis, trends of international need of labor, and also the politics of the country.  Many Filipinos are unemployed and in many circumstances would grab any opportunity available to provide for their families.  Unfortunately, the Philippine government uses their people’s weak spot to their advantage and adopts policies, which encourages labor emigration not only as a temporary solution to decrease unemployment rates, but also to increase foreign exchange through worker’s remittances to his family.  The Philippine government strategically uses gendered photos of laborers in pamphlets and video commercials to cater for an audience—ultimately leading to gendered labor such as men in sea or women in nursing.  When promoted to employers, the Filipinos are labeled as “hard-working,” “followers,” “easy-going” and “English-speakers” sounding as if they were nothing but commodities to sell.  These ads essentially cages these men and women laborers to being  a person that they have to be, rather than being the person that they are naturally are.  Their identities are shifted to fit the person that the government has imprinted them to be.  For example, many Filipino men work as cooks, cleaners, or something that is at the bottom of the employee chain.  And so, to pride themselves of what they do, they often return to their families emulating the masculinity that they lose when they are in the ship.  In the image shown, POEA (Philippine Overseas Employment Administration), a government agency established to make overseas employment processes easier, is packed with potential workers.  They are all lined up to fix their documentation to work overseas. My question is: If Filipinos are considered highly valuable to the success of many companies abroad, what are possible consequences if the Philippine government attempt to localize jobs in the country? What are some first steps that they have to take to bring back Filipinos back to home?

Photo Reference:  http://www.mypilipinas.com/images/IT_Jobs_Philippines.jpg.pagespeed.ce.AgIATHr17P.jpg

Work Reference:  Steven McKay. “Filipino Sea Men: Identity and Masculinity in a Global Labor Niche.”  Asian Diasporas.