International Division Of Reproductive Labour Case Study

In this essay I am going to be defining the differences between the new international division of labour and the new international division of reproductive labour. I am going to be using specific examples to show how both transform existing ways of thinking about gender hierarchies, personal identities, women’s work and mothering. It is very important to note that although both the new international division of labour and the new international division of reproductive labour are fairly similar in the overall theory, there are very important differences that separate the two and make it very important to incorporate both in a sociological study.
The International division of labour refers to the globalisation of the economy. When understanding
This productive labour force includes work such as household chores; the care of elderly, adults and youth; the socialisation of children and the maintenance of social ties in the family (Parrenas, 2000). These activities are generally relegated to women, until recently. Class-privileged women free themselves of the mental, emotional and manual labour needed for the cultural and social upbringing of children, by hiring low-paid women generally of colour (Parrenas, 2000). The international transfer of caretaking is a social, political and economic relationship between women and the labour market (Parrenas, 2000). This relationship is based on the class, race, gender and citizenship of the women (Parrenas, 2000). In the new international division of reproductive labour you look one step deeper into the division of labour. Race in the division of labour is an international context where it is a transnational division of labour which is shaped by global capitalism, gender inequality in the sending country, global south, and gender inequality in the receiving country, global north (Parrenas, 2000). This hierarchy of womanhood that is based on race, class and nationality creates a system of reproductive labour among women. The construction of the new international division of reproductive labour uses gender as a central questioning lens for
They are in fact earning more money in Hong Kong as a domestic worker than they would in the Philippines doing a middle-class occupation (Oishi, 2005). The ‘nannie-chain’ is the growing need for quality child care, which female migrant labour has become the answer. Asia is now both a major destination for female migrant labour and a source of labour to the world (Oishi, 2005). Filipina domestic workers usually can’t afford the higher costs of maintaining a family in the industrialised countries, thus forcing a long distance relationship with their families (Parrenas, 2000). In the Philippines it is not unusual for the father to nurture and care for their children. But when you consider that not all migrant Filipina domestic workers hire domestic work for their own homes, some fathers are forced to give into the renegotiations of household division of labour purely because of the migration of their wives (Parrenas, 2000). As stated earlier, the migrant Filipina domestic workers are usually middle-class resulting in unequal relations with les privileged women in the Philippines (Parrenas, 2000). This is purely because they can afford to migrate and earn ten times the better salary than the poorer Filipina domestic worker doing exactly the same thing