From Java To Singapore

From Java to Singapore
HS350 Society And Culture in Southeast Asia
Grade B = a good essay with an attempt to weave theoretical concepts with a case study but I would like to see more solid theoretical argument (more often, you tend to generalize) and a bit deeper interview so that we understand how she negotiates her role as a mother and a wife from afar and how gender roles and norms are being reshaped among female migrants).
Graded by Professor Amporn. The highlighted ones are comments from Professor.

Literature Review
Western social scientists often imposed a universality attitude towards the role of women in society. With industrialization and modernization, women were assumed to be further domesticated rather than taking part in the public spheres. Such perceptions are proven to be incorrect in certain societies, especially those which are found in Southeast Asia countries. Except for Vietnam, countries in Southeast Asia confer relatively high status to women by allowing them to exercise a degree of control in their lives. (elaborate why except for Vietnam. In fact, Vietnam under socialist regime, women enjoyed relatively high status due to the fact that state intervened to give women more rights – see Jocabs 2008) In fact, men and women are viewed as complementary not only in reproduction but also in production (Helliwell year of publication is needed). It is impossible to overlook the importance of women’s economic contribution to household and nation (Esterik 1996). Those who travel around these countries will soon realize that women peddlers or vendors are in constant visibility and the domination of market place by women. In addition, women, both traditionally and presently, are given the role of finance manager. They act as conservers of the family wealth (Esterik 1996: 6). As such, it is hard to dispute the fact that Southeast Asian women play significant and critical role in ensuring the survival of their family (that’s right but you should also point out that the high status of women in Southeast Asia is based on their role in economic production and the predominance of bilateral kinship but in religion and politics, women did not play crucial roles). One possible factor that contributes to its current social and gender pattern is the overall economic well-being of Southeast Asia. The pay for a job done is barely enough to support a family and therefore, everyone in the family regardless of gender is supposed to earn and contributes to the family. For example, in Negara Sakti, Java, economic marginality means that nearly able-bodied adult has to work just to buy enough rice to feed the family (Elmhirst 2000: 217).

The aftermath of these egalitarian relations can be seen in two ways upon the arrival of globalization. One, with improved transport and communication technologies as well as the decline of a number of barriers, including institutional ones, movement of labour and information becomes well facilitated (Resurreccion 2009: 31). As the result, women are mobilized and are able to work further away from their family to clinch jobs which pay them higher salary. Money remitted back home plus their spouse’s income make it possible to enhance their way of livings as the case study will illustrate. Since the ability to finance a family back home is highly valued, the contribution of women working abroad is looked upon. However, such growth in economies does not always ring healthy changes. Women are argued to be passive recipients of change too. While more jobs opportunities are opened for them, they are channeled to low-skilled jobs such as domestic helpers and entertainers or in general term, feminized work (be careful to make such generalized statement, you should always specify which women, what class you are talking about? I believe that you meant here women who traditionally involved in farm work). This is due to the popular belief that women are better nurturer and child-bearer. Therefore, the jobs they do are unskilled because women enter them already determined as inferior labourers and not because they are natural bearers of inferior labour (Resurreccion 2009: 32). This is a contradiction to the previous claim that Southeast Asian women enjoy egalitarian status. However, it can be resolved by the following example. Within Orissan Hindu culture, women are “impure”, a state that renders them inferior to men but at the same time, “auspicious”, a state which speaks of “all that creates, promotes, maintains life” including that of men (Marglin 1985:19, Helliwell). This is similar to the status of women in Philippines and Indonesia in which the women have the desire to get married and have children, to be subordinated yet equal, beautiful, educated and to be a companion to her husband and a mother to her children (Castillo 1976, Neher 1996: 122). Therefore, although women may not hold socially highly regards jobs as compared to their spouses, their economic and domestic contributions to their household allow them to enjoy equal status within the household. Moreover, globalization which allows women to work abroad and earn more money than their husbands back home acts as a buffer in filling in their inability to fulfill their domestic duty of raising their children and looking after their parents. Money changes the rule at home but in the public spheres, the allocation of women to ‘no-brain’ jobs is still prevalent due to the adoption of the Western notion of women’s nurturing and sustenance functions. (who said this? And if this is your argument, I think it’s too generalized and taken for granted. It’s not a simple cause and effect like because we adopt Western notion, and therefore the allocation of women to no-brain job. We need to bring other factors to consider, like industrialization and urbanization, the global division of labor) Other things need to be considered. Hence, in Singapore, we can see a higher percentage of foreign women working in Singapore as domestic helpers rather than professionals.

Case Study

Joha was born in a village at East Java (Jawa Timur), Indonesia in year 1977. She had four female siblings. She studied until secondary two and started working in a factory making sweet soy sauce for a year. Then, she married a local man at the age of 15. She had a son with him and soon worked at a theme park for the next five years. Since her village was located near a town (pekan) and was visited by tourists, she managed to get a better paying job at the theme park. Her husband was a security guard. When her son was in primary four, she decided to work abroad to improve their living conditions. She approached a friend’s neighbor who was looking for female workers for an agency. She took up that opportunity and worked in Singapore. Singapore was chosen due to its close proximity with East Java.

Currently she has worked in Singapore for almost 6 years and 6 months. She does miss her family and calls home once or twice a week. She remitted a huge portion of her salary to her family in East Java and her sacrifices paid off by looking at the fact that her family lives in a brick house (rumah batu) now. Her son who is 16 years old this year is still studying. She recognizes the importance of education and hence ensures that her only child is able to receive complete education and clinches a good job in future. According to Joha, there are few jobs available back at home. Only those who are well-qualified are considered for such jobs. As the results, most of them diversify their livelihood strategies by committing themselves to at least two jobs. Although women form a higher percentage in working abroad, others who stay in the village become full-time housewives (suri rumah). However, she did concur that women are treated well in East Java. The men do not oppress the women and such practices can be seen from her parents’ generation.

With regards to her future, Joha wishes to continue working in Singapore as long as her health permits. She wants to accumulate enough money so that upon her return, she can open a shop and starts her own business.

Analysis

This case study well-illustrates the effect of globalization. Since Joha’s village is situated near a town and is frequent by tourists, corporative farm structure ends and free-market competition emerges. De-agriculturalization also occurs as confirmed by Joha when she mentioned that rice field (sawah) is not a common sight in her area. Spaces are made available to shopping malls and theme park. Searching for jobs become an arduous task and the process of decollectivization causes female unemployment to rise (Java or Indonesia has not been collectivized before unlike Vietnam or other socialist countries). Women are pushed back to a household-based economy or reproductive activities (suri rumah). Therefore, there is an increase need to rely on non-local sources of income. For women in Java, relatively few mobility constraints imposed on married women allow them to venture beyond their village to earn the extra cash and this will mean working in other countries as well (Elmhirst 2000: 217). Such flexibility may explain the marital status of many Indonesian domestic helpers who work in Singapore.

Singapore, a country that pursues a path of strong export-oriented industrialization and services requires their female labour force participation and the nuclearization of families. These have led to a strong demand for domestic workers from Indonesia and Philippines in order to free working women from daily domestic and care work (Resurreccion 2009: 33). Therefore, this push and pull factor brings in workers like Joha, from East Java to Singapore. Singapore’s lucrative and stable economy with strong currency and its close geographic proximity with Indonesia also play a part in encouraging Indonesian women to work in Singapore. From the interview with Joha, Singapore is viewed as a clean (bersih), peaceful (aman) and well-mannered (tertib) place. Joha gave an affirmative ‘No’ when she was asked whether she felt any regrets coming to Singapore. In fact, Singapore is seen as a stepping stone for her bigger goals in life.

The nuclear household has been regarded as an important unit through which economic and social support is channeled, although its boundaries are often stretched to include grandparents (Mantra 2000). Despite thousand of miles away from home, Joha continues performing her filial obligations towards her old parents, especially when her son is being taken care of by them when her husband goes out to work. She is not unique. Valerie J. Hull (1996) did mention that when women were asked on the survey whether or not they agreed with the statement “if a woman with young children has a job, she cannot take care of her children well”, the majority of women in all social classes agreed. In Joha’s case, her situation is much more complicated because she can only make calls to them. Therefore, there is a need for Joha to remit enough money to her family so as to compensate her absence and inability to fulfill her domestic works. If she fails to do that, there may be repercussions as illustrated by Bernadette P. Resurreccion (2009) where migrant women had severed ties with family members in the provinces due to their inability to remit earnings for children they had left in the care of the elderly parents and relatives. Therefore, money is essential to show that they do not forget their duty as a daughter, wife and mother although they may be absent for a long time. (they use money to compensate for their absent. They are left with little option but to turn their love into a commodity) Also, by maintaining their own families back home, these female migrants are able to return without being disfavoured should something happen to their employment such as during the 1997 Asian crisis where a lot of jobs were lost.

Joha’s remitted money does not benefit her family alone. Remittances actually affect positively, among other things:

1)The volume of money circulating in the village origin.

2)A more even distribution of income within the community.

3)A decrease of population pressure on agricultural land.

4)An improvement in households’ welfare.

(Mantra 2000: 189)

Therefore, as long as money is remitted regularly, the female migrants can be assured that she will be well-accepted by her community once she has decided to stop working abroad and returns home (I would like to see a little bit more how she reflected her guilt and pain as a result of living apart from her children, how she managed to “mother from afar” and what her “nurturing alternatives” are).

Conclusion

The Javanese men do not view their women as ignorant or incompetent due to the latter’s economic and domestic contributions to the household. In fact, Javanese women are regarded to be more resourceful and clever than men (Hull 1996: 79). However, beyond their respective household sphere, women are viewed as a group who only deserves to work in the entertainment and care sectors, feminized works. In fact, as written by a government-sponsored Family Welfare Education program, there are five major roles of a woman.

1)Producer of the nation’s future generations.

2)Wife and faithful companion to her husband.

3)Mother and educator of her children.

4)Manager of the household.

5)Citizen.

(Hull 1996: 95)

The above-mentioned roles reinforce women’s ultimate place in Java. Such description of an ideal woman justifies the allocation of women to menial jobs as compared to a higher earning pay or managerial jobs offered to men. However, it is necessary to mention that the ideals are not unique to Java alone. There are other provinces in Indonesia and other Southeast Asia countries that adopt similar ideals to their women. Hence, it explains the presence of female domestic helpers, rather than male helpers in Singapore. Nevertheless, although female migrants are forced to leave their family for money, I believe they do have their fair share of enjoyment working in Singapore.


References

Books

Esterik, Penny Van. 1996. Introduction. In: Esterik. P. V. ed. Women of Southeast Asia. Illinois: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University.

Hull, Valerie L. 1996. Women In Java’s Rural Middle Class: Progress or Regress. In: Esterik. P. V. ed. Women of Southeast Asia. Illinois: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University.

Neher, Clark D. 1996. Sex Roles in the Philippines: The Ambiguous Cebuana. In: Esterik. P. V. ed. Women of Southeast Asia. Illinois: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University.

Resurreccion, Bernadette P. 2009. Gender Trends in Migration and Employment in Southeast Asia. In: Devasahayam, Theresa W. Gender Trends in Southeast Asia: Women Now, Women In the Future. Singapore: ISEAS Publishing, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

Elmhirst, Becky. 2000. Negotiating Gender, Kinship and Livelihood Practices in an Indonesian Transmigration Area. In: Koning, J., Nolten J. R. and Saptari, R. ed. Women and Households in Indonesia: Cultural Notions and Social Practices. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies.

Mantra, Ida Bagoes. 2000. Focus on Nonpermanent Migrations. In: Rotge, Vincent L., Mantra I. B. and Rijanta R. ed. Rural-Urban Integration in Java: Consequences for regional and development and employment. England: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.

Basic Readings

Helliwell, Christine. ­_Women in Asia‘ In: Evans, pp. 260–286.