Me, Us and Them: Migrant women defining change
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Local/Global Encounters
Me, Us and Them: Migrant women defining change
CHARITO BASA
ABSTRACT Charito Basa describes how Filipina migrant women are organizing in Italy in order to break the vicious circle that the double jeopardy of being a migrant woman places them. She describes the many facets of these women’s lives, with a focus on migrant women living in Rome, Italy, arguing that their own demands for change need to be understood, communicated and made a reality. KEYWORDS Filipina women’s council; transnational family; remittances; Italian culture; economic need
A historical perspective Migrant women first started to arrive in Italy in the 1970s. First came the Eritreans, followed by the Cape Verdeans and the Filipinas. In the early 1980s there was an upswing in the Italian economy, and the majority of these women found domestic work, which was normally done by poor Italian women from the southern part of the peninsula. The first attempt to gather women from different countries of origin in Rome started in the early 1990s ^ with Filipina Women’s Council (FWC) just starting to take shape. It was at the Women in Development in Europe (WIDE) conference in Rome, where we suggested that the European women consider involving migrant women in their activities. It was recognized, and FWC took the responsibility to ensure the participation of women migrant leaders in different workshops at the conference. The Fourth World Conference on Women was the turning point for FWC with the migrant women’s organizations in Italy. On July 1995, FWC organized the first national meeting of 19 migrant women’s organizations to prepare for the Beijing conference. Earlier before that, at several instances on PrepComs for Beijing, FWC has brought forward important paragraphs for the Platform for Action concerning migrant women. A couple of those remained in the official documents, some words were deleted; some words remained but the paragraphs were changed. For the NGO Forum and the official conference in Beijing, FWC received funds from WIDE in Brussels to bring other migrant women participants to the event. If relevant UN and development agencies, some governments now acknowledge and are concerned on the rights and role of migrants, it is because of the active migrant women’s movements all over the world who met at the Beijing conference so that Development (2006) 49(1), 120–123. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1100213
Basa: Migrant Women in Italy migrant women workers’ issues are raised. The FWC is pleased to be able to contribute to the work, yet that was just a beginning.
The Filipino women’s council FWC was established in May 1991 by a several committed Filipina migrant women who volunteered their time to provide support to the social and psychological needs of Filipina women and their children in Rome. The demand for support ranged from many forms of counseling ^ employer/employee relations, marriage conflicts, violence, including sexual and rape incidents, labour and other legal issues, etc. The experience brought about a se
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