Capital opportunities for returned female domestic workers and entertainers in Manila

Abstract

Every year, thousands of average to highly educated female Filipinos leave the Philippines to work somewhere else, the so-called, feminization of labour migration. Many do choose to return after numerous years, but because of back and forth migration they have to reintegrate into the Philippine society. A service delivery mechanism has emerged because of this. The main research question covers three dimensions of the service delivery mechanism; government policies, civil society and social network. The aim of this research is to evaluate what kind of social, economic and cultural capital opportunities these women get from the three institutions, and analyse how significant these assistances are for the reintegration of the returned domestic workers, and entertainers.

The main research question is as follow: What kind of social, human, and economic capital opportunities do returned female domestic workers and entertainers migrants in Manila get through the government services, civil society and their social network, and how decisive are these for their reintegration?

Through analysing these three institutions the data will be layered and will help comprehending the reintegration process of the female returnees. The research will evaluate how the state, civil society and social network assist the returned female entertainers and domestic workers and contribute to the development of Manila (since a well reintegrated actor can contribute to the development of their family, community, and society) and how this is assessed by the women.The focus is on domestic workers and entertainers, since these workers are considered to be a vulnerable group during the reintegration process. They are often viewed as the group which hasn’t gathered enough or efficient capital, which can help them during their reintegration.