Negotiating Citizenship: Migrant Women in Canada and the Global System

243 Pages·2003·1.18 MB·English

by  Daiva K. Stasiulis

Negotiating Citizenship
Also by Abigail B. Bakan
IDEOLOGY AND CLASS CONFLICT IN JAMAICA: The Politics of Rebellion
NOT ONE OF THE FAMILY: Foreign Domestic Workers in Canada
(co-editor withDaiva K. Stasiulis)
CRITICAL POLITICAL STUDIES: Debates and Dialogues from the Left
(co-editor withEleanor MacDonald)
IMPERIAL POWER AND REGIONAL TRADE: The Caribbean Basin Initiative
(co-editor withDavid Cox and Colin Leys)
EMPLOYMENT EQUITY POLICY IN CANADA: An Interprovincial Comparison
(co-authorwithAudrey Kobayashi)
Also by Daiva K. Stasiulis
UNSETTLING SETTLER SOCIETIES: Articulations of Gender, Race, Ethnicity and
Class (co-editor withNira Yuval-Davis)
NOT ONE OF THE FAMILY: Foreign Domestic Workers in Canada
(co-editor withAbigail B. Bakan)
Negotiating Citizenship
Migrant Women in Canada and
the Global System
Daiva K. Stasiulis
Professor of Sociology
Carleton University, Ontario, Canada
and
Abigail B. Bakan
Professor of Political Studies
Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada
© Daiva K.Stasiulis and Abigail B.Bakan 2003
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2003 978-0-333-68960-8
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First published 2003 by
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PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave
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ISBN 978-1-349-40123-9 ISBN 978-0-230-28692-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230286924
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managed and sustained forest sources.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stasiulis,Daiva K.
Negotiating citizenship:migrant women in Canada and the global system /
by Daiva K.Stasiulis and Abigail B.Bakan.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1.Women domestics – Canada.2.Women alien labor – Canada.
3.Nurses – Canada.4.Citizenship – Canada.5.Filipinos – Canada.
6.West Indians – Canada.I.Bakan,Abigail B.(Abigail Bess),1954– II.Title.
HD6072.2.C2S83 2003
323.3(cid:2)224—dc21 2003053633
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03
In memory of our grandmothers,
Marta Sakkeus and Lena Blynn
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Acknowledgements viii
1 Introduction: Negotiating Citizenship 1
2 Negotiating Citizenship in an Era of Globalization 11
3 Underdevelopment, Structural Adjustment and Gendered
Migration from the West Indies and the Philippines 40
4 Gatekeepers in the Domestic Service Industry in Canada 63
5 Marginalized and Dissident Non-Citizens:
Foreign Domestic Workers 86
6 Marginalized and Dissident Citizens: Nurses of Colour 107
7 The Global Citizenship Divide and the
Negotiation of Legal Rights 140
8 Dissident Transnational Citizenship:
Resistance, Solidarity and Organization 157
Notes 169
Bibliography 212
Index 228
vii
Acknowledgements
This book is the culmination of a long period of research, teaching,
advocacy and activism on the part of its authors. It is also the product of
the generous support provided by an extensive network of individuals
and institutions. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
of Canada and the Advisory Research Committee of Queen’s University
provided financial support for the research. We are grateful to
Jennifer Nelson and Briar Towers at Palgrave, and Virgil Duff, for their
perseverance and encouragement in the publication of the manuscript.
Mukesh, V.S. of Newgen provided meticulous copy-editing of the
manuscript. Expert research assistance at various stages of the study
was provided by: Ceylan Cesur, Claudine Charley; Maria Leynes;
Anne-Marie Murnaghan;Lorie Scheibelhoffer; and Marcia Williams. The
Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University and
the Department of Political Studies at Queen’s University, and the many
vibrant, articulate students who have participated in our classes, pro-
vided rich environments for testing our ideas about women’s work,
globalization and citizenship.
In the Philippines, Hong Kong and Singapore, we were welcomed into
the homes and offices of numerous people and people’s organizations
who generously offered their time and knowledge. Particular thanks are
owed to Gabriela, Migrante, Batis, BAYAN, Kanlungan and the family
of the late Flor Contemplacion. In Canada, invaluable advice and
information were provided by migrant, domestic workers and nursing
associations. In Toronto, these included INTERCEDE, the Philippine
Solidarity Group, the Coalition for the Defense of Migrant Workers’
Rights in Canada, the Philippine Nursing Association, the Black
Nurses Association and the Coalition of Visible Minority Women. The
Montreal-based Association des aides familiaux du Québec allowed us to
follow the experiences and conditions of domestic workers in Quebec.
In Vancouver, we benefited from the generosity of the West Coast
Domestic Workers’ Association in giving us access to their files and doc-
uments. We owe much in terms of the insights we gained and support of
our scholarship to Cecilia Dioscon and the many courageous activists
associated with the Philippine Women’s Centre in Vancouver. We are
immensely grateful to all the domestic workers and nurses who agreed
viii
Acknowledgements ix
to participate in this study and who offered some of their precious
non-work time to tell us about their experiences. We are also indebted to
government officials in Canada and the Philippines, placement agency
owners, hospital human resource managers and all those who were
willing to speak to us and share their views regarding the negotiation of
citizenship.
Several friends and colleagues have helped us in numerous ways. Pura
Velasco was our intrepid guide and advisor in the Philippines and has
been a major source of inspiration, advice and feedback throughout our
research. Yasmeen Abu-Laban provided critical feedback and suggestions
about the citizenship theory informing our work. We benefited from
Pearl Rimer’s breadth of knowledge on childcare.
Some of the arguments in this book have appeared in earlier versions
elsewhere. Specific citations appear in this work accordingly, and we
are grateful to the publishers for permission to use this material.
Our intellectual debts are made explicit in our extensive endnotes and
bibliography.
Our families fostered supportive conditions for writing this book
while having to put up with our absences and the pressures associated
with its preparation. Ignas Stasiulis provided Daiva with shelter and sus-
tenance in Toronto, and Maia Stasiulis reminded her daughter of the
strength and resilience of all the migrant women who had arrived in
Canada as domestic workers to make a better life for their children.
Adam McNally and Rachel Kellogg managed various stages of growing
up with grace and strength, and endured their mother Abbie’s long
working hours at the same time. David and Mildred Bakan, and Clare
and Mary Kellogg were ever present as a source of inspiration and
encouragement.
Throughout, Radha Jhappan and Paul Kellogg have not only lent
to this project their valuable skills with respect to critical scholarship,
editing and technical support, but also their sympathetic ears, forgiving
hearts and unstinting patience.
This work is written equally and jointly by the authors. Any errors or
weaknesses are our responsibility.