Women, Debt and Migration: An emerging nexus?
Contrary to the emerging trends in labour migration, where in some labour-sending countries prospective female migrant workers fall into debt when they attempt to finance their migration overseas, in Sri Lanka the reverse happens; women are seeking work overseas as a means of paying off accrued debt.
Consequently, research conducted by CEPA in the recent past, in different regions of Sri Lanka as well as among migrant workers, is throwing new light on this troubling trend. As reported widely in the local media, Sri Lankan women are increasingly seeking access to microcredit, largely enabled by the spread of microfinance lending institutes at the community level. As multiple borrowings become common and the debt burden rises, women scramble to stay ahead of the next loan payment. In the face of mounting debt, migration becomes attractive to these women who had not previously considered leaving the country in search for work.
According to government statistics, over 200,000 men and women migrate for work every year from Sri Lanka. Men outpace their female counterparts now, reversing a long-standing trend where women sought work in West Asia mostly as domestic workers. Government regulations that seek to control their outward migration have been largely viewed as a contributory factor leading to the slowing down of women’s migration. Such regulations, however, cannot completely prevent women from migrating. This is mainly because the government structures are unable to provide a sound alternative to the problems women try to counter by searching for work overseas. Such efforts to offer alternative options are becoming more challenging especially in the face of the fast-emerging nexus between debt and migration.
Moreover, this trend is closely linked to recruitment agents willing to financially ‘compensate’ women who wish to work as domestic workers in certain West Asian countries. Despite regulations to prevent offers of such financial incentives, this continues to be practiced quite widely. Women are generally offered 100,000 rupees or more if they wish to work in particular countries in West Asia as domestic aides. This is generally a one-off payment that does not have to be repaid to the recruitment agent. Under normal circumstances, this offer of money acts as a powerful incentive for women who wish to pull their families out of poverty. On the other hand, for women in debt, this incentive transforms into an instant solution to the immediate and pressing problems they are experiencing.
CEPA’s research findings have been substantiated by government officials who interact closely with such prospective female migrant workers. According to them, the traditional reasons that pushed women to seek work overseas still matter, such as the wish to build a house for the family or to finance the children’s education. Nevertheless, debt-induced migration is becoming commonplace across both the urban and rural settings. Studies are consistently pointing out the desperation, stigma and the pressure the women experience when they are unable to repay their loans. In the face of such mounting pressure, women are compelled to seek immediate solutions. In doing so, however they risk being exploited and receive incorrect information about migration options. In such instances, government regulations that prevent certain groups of women from migrating for work also appear to be counter-productive, as women are forced to circumvent these regulations and migrate at any cost.
Irregular migration in turn, raises the spectre of human trafficking and women being denied their rights as workers during their two-year contract period. The fact that they have accepted a financial incentive to secure employment overseas becomes a powerful tool for recruitment agents to use against women who wish to return prematurely or lodge complaints about their employer or working conditions. Similarly, women may not, in actuality, receive the promised amount, again raising concerns of being further exploited. In such instances, they have little access to legal recourse as such payments are not recognised nor encouraged within the migration process.
Thus, at the heart of this emerging nexus is women’s access to viable income-generating options, which allows them to manage the household economy and domestic care responsibilities while earning a decent wage. Attempting to prevent women from migrating for work overseas will only render limited success because these socio-economic concerns existent at the ground level have not been resolved. More importantly, the issue of debt- induced migration cannot simply be resolved only by the government entities that are assigned the tasks related to labour migration. What is required is a more concerted effort that brings together varied government and non-government entities to extend support to these women.
Seeking a way out of mounting debt through migration can be viewed as a new phase in labour migration. But what is troubling in this new ‘turn’ is that women opt to migrate to escape one form of exploitation and may very well expose themselves to further vulnerabilities. Unless these implications are well- understood, prospective female migrant workers may face higher risks of being exploited, both prior to and after migrating for work.