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Saskia Sassen
The
feminization
of
survival: alternative
global circuits!
The last decade has seen a growing presence
of
women
in
a variety
of
cross-
border circuits. These circuits are enormously diverse but share one feature: they
are profit- or revenue-making circuits developed on the backs
of
the truly disad-
vantaged. They include the illegal trafficking
in
people for the sex industry and
for various types
of
formal and informal labor markets
as
well
as
other cross-
border migrations, both documented and not, which have become an important
source
of
hard currency for governments
in
home countries. The formation and
strengthening of these circuits
is
in
good part a consequence
of
broader struc-
tural conditions. Among the key actors emerging out
of
these broader conditions
are the women themselves in search
of
work, but also, and increasingly so, ille-
gal traffickers and contractors
as
well
as
governments
of
home countries.
I conceptualize these circuits
as
countergeographies
of
globalization. They
are deeply imbricated with some
of
the major dynamics constitutive
of
global-
ization: the formation
of
global markets, the intensifying
of
transnational and
trans-local networks, and the development
of
communication technologies
which easily escape conventional surveillance practices. The strengthening, and
in some of these cases the formation, of new global circuits is embedded in or
made possible by the existence
of
a global economic system and its associated
development
of
various institutional supports for cross-border money flows and
markets. As I have argued for the case of international labor migrations these
counter-geographies are dynamic and changing
in
their locational features: to
some extent they are part
of
the shadow economy, but they use some
of
the in-
stitutional infrastructure
of
the regular economy (Sassen, 1998; see also e.g.
Bonilla, Melendez, Morales & Torres, 1998; Castro, 2000). This type
of
partial
shadow economy
is
dynamic and multi-Iocational.
This article describes some
of
the key features
of
these countergeographies,
particularly
as
they involve migrant women. The underlying logic
is
the possi-
bility
of
systemic links between the growth
of
these alternative circuits for sur-
This
is
a revised version
of
the article "Countergeographies
of
globalization: The femi-
nization
of
survival" originally published
in
Journal
of
International Affairs (Spring) 53,
no.2: 503-524, (2000).
M. Morokvasic et al. (eds.), Crossing Borders and Shifting Boundaries
© Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden 2003
60 Saskia Sassen
vival, for profit-making and for hard-currency earning on the one hand, and
major conditions in developing countries that are associated with economic
globalization on the other. Among these conditions are an increase
in
unem-
ployment, the closure
of
a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises
oriented towards national rather than export markets, and large, often increasing,
government debt. These economies are often struggling or stagnant and even
shrinking. Despite their diversity they are usually grouped under the term 'de-
veloping.'
1. Mapping a
new
conceptual landscape
The variety of global circuits that incorporate growing numbers
of
women have
strengthened at a time when major dynamics linked to economic globalization
have had significant impacts on developing economies. The latter have had
to
implement a bundle of new policies
to
accommodate new conditions associated
with globalization: the implementation of Structural Adjustment Programs, the
opening up
of
these economies to foreign firms, the elimination
of
multiple state
subsidies, and -almost inevitably -financial crises and the prevailing types
of
programatic solutions put forth by the IMP. In most of the countries involved -
whether Mexico or South Korea -these conditions have created enormous costs
for certain sectors
of
the economy and for the population, and have not funda-
mentally reduced government debt. Among these costs are the growth
in
unem-
ployment, the closure
of
a large number of firms in traditional sectors oriented
towards the local or national market, the promotion of export-oriented cash
crops which have increasingly replaced subsistence agriculture and food pro-
duction for local or national markets, and, finally, the ongoing and mostly heavy
burden
of
government debt in most of these economies.
The question
is
whether there are systemic links between these two sets
of
developments-the growing presence of women from developing economies
in
the variety
of
global circuits described above and the rise in unemployment and
debt in those same economies. One way
of
articulating this in substantive terms
is to posit that
a)
the shrinking opportunities for male employment in many
of
these countries,
b) the shrinking opportunities for more traditional forms
of
profit-making
as
these countries increasingly accept foreign firms in a widening range of
economic sectors and are pressured to develop export industries, and
c) the fall in revenues for the governments
in
many
of
these countries, partly
linked to these conditions and
to
the burden
of
debt servicing, have all con-
tributed
to
increase the importance of alternative ways
of
making a living,
making a profit, and securing government revenue.
The
feminization
of
survival
61
The evidence for any
of
these conditions
is
incomplete and partial, yet there
is
a
growing consensus among experts about the importance
of
the factors 'listed
above. I will go further and argue that these three conditions are expanding into
a new politico-economic reality for a growing number
of
developing, typically
struggling, economies, and that it
is
in this context that the importance of alter-
native ways
of
making a living emerges. I also posit that all of these conditions
have emerged as factors influencing the lives
of
a growing number
of
women
from developing or struggling economies, even when the articulations are often
not self-evident or visible. This fact has marked much
of
the difficulty in under-
standing the role
of
women
in
development generally,
as
I discuss
in
the next
section. These are, in many ways, old conditions. What is different today
is
their
rapid internationalization and considerable institutionalization.
My main analytical effort
is
to uncover the systemic connections between
what are considered poor, low-earning and
in
that regard low value-added indi-
viduals, often represented
as
a burden rather than a resource, on the one hand,
and what are emerging as significant sources for profit-making, especially
in
the
shadow economy and for government revenue enhancement, on the other. Pros-
titution and labor migration are growing in importance as ways
of
making a liv-
ing. Illegal trafficking in women and children for the sex industry and recruit-
ment for foreign labor markets are growing in importance
as
ways of making a
profit. The remittances sent by emigrants,
as
well as the organized export
of
workers, are increasingly important sources of revenue for some
of
these send-
ing country governments. Women are by far the majority in prostitution and
in
trafficking for the sex industry, and they are becoming a majority group in labor
migration streams. The employment and/or use of migrant women covers
an
in-
creasingly broad range
of
economic sectors, both illegal and ilicit, such as pros-
titution, and some highly regulated industries, such
as
nursing.
These circuits can be thought
of
as
indicating the -albeit partial -feminiza-
tion
of
survival, because it
is
increasingly women who make a living, create a
profit and secure government revenue. Thus
in
using the notion of feminization
of survival I am not only referring to the fact that households and whole com-
munities are increasingly dependent on women for their survival. I want to em-
phasize the fact that also governments are dependent on women's earnings
in
these various circuits, and so are types of enterprises whose ways
of
profit-
making exist at the margins of the 'licit' economy. Finally,
in
using the term cir-
cuits, I want to underline the fact that there
is
a degree
of
institutionalization
in
these dynamics-they are not simply aggregates of individual actions.
What I have described above
is
indeed a conceptual landscape. The data are
inadequate to prove the argument
as
such. There are, however, partial bodies of
data to document some of these developments. Further, it
is
possible to juxta-
pose several data sets, albeit each gathered autonomously from the other, to
document some of the interconnections presented above. There is, also,
an
older
62 Saskia Sassen
literature on women and debt, focused on the implementation
of
a first genera-
tion
of
Structural Adjustment Programs in several developing countries linked to
the growing debt
of
governments in the 1980s. This literature has documented
the disproportionate burden these programs put on women. This is by now a
large literature in many different languages; it also includes a vast number
of
limited-circulation items produced by various activist and support organizations.
And now there is a new literature
in
many languages on a second generation
of
such programs, especially on the implementation of the global economy in the
1990s (Beneria & Feldman, 1992; Bose & Acosta-Belen, 1995; Bradshaw,
Noonan, Gash, & Buchmann, 1993; Moser, 1989; Tinker, 1990; Ward, 1991;
Ward & Pyle, 1995). All these various sources of information, however, do not
amount to a full empirical specification
of
the actual dynamics hypothesized
here, but they allow
us
to document parts of
it.
2.
Strategic instantiations
of
gendering
in
the global
economy
There is by now a fairly long-standing research and theorization effort engaged
in
uncovering the role of women in international economic processes. The cen-
tral effort in much
of
this earlier research literature was to balance the focus on
men in international economic development research. In the mainstream devel-
opment literature, these processes have often, perhaps unwittingly, been repre-
sented
as
neutral when it comes to gender depite its important role (Morokvasic,
1984; Tinker, 1990; Ward 1991).
In my reading, globalization has produced yet another set of dynamics in
which women are playing a critical role. The new economic literature on current
globalization processes proceeds
as
if this new economic process is gender-
neutral. These gender dynamics have been rendered invisible in terms
of
their
articulation with the mainstream global economy. This set
of
dynamics can be
found in the alternative cross-border circuits described above in which the role
of women, and especially the condition of being a migrant woman, is crucial.
These gender dynamics can also be found in key features
of
the mainstream
global economy. For instance, the Indiana Journal
of
Global Legal Studies
(1996) focused on the impacts
of
economic globalization not on the shadow
economy but on lawful features: the partial unbundling
of
sovereignty and what
this means for the emergence of cross-border feminist agendas, the place
of
women and
of
feminist consciousness in the new Asian mode
of
implementing
advanced global capitalism, and the global spread of a set
of
core human rights
and its power to alter the position
of
women (see also Knop, 1993; Mehra, 1997;
Peterson, 1992). I think we need to see these current developments
as
part
of
The
feminization
of
survival 63
this longer-standing history that has made visible women's role in crucial eco-
nomic processes. We can identify two older phases in the study
of
gendering in
the recent history
of
economic internationalization, both concerned with proc-
esses that continue today. A third phase focuses on more recent transformations,
often involving an elaboration
of
the categories and findings
of
the previous two
phases.
A first phase is the development literature about the implantation
of
cash
crops and wage labor generally, typically by foreign firms, and its partial de-
pendence on women subsidizing the waged labor of men through their house-
hold production and subsistence farming. Boserup (1970), Deere (1976) and
many others produced an enormously rich and nuanced literature showing the
variants of this dynamic. Far from being unconnected, the subsistence sector and
the modem capitalist enterprise were shown
to
be articulated through a gender
dynamic; this gender dynamic, in tum, veiled this articulation. It was the 'invisi-
ble' work
of
women producing food and other necessities in the subsistence
economy that contributed to maintain extremely low wages on commercial
plantations and mines, mostly geared to export markets. Women in the so-called
subsistence sector thereby contributed to the financing
of
the 'modernized' sec-
tor through their largely unmonetized subsistence production. But the standard
development literature represented the subsistence sector, if at all,
as
a drain on
the modem sector and
as
an indicator
of
backwardness.
It
was not measured
in
standard economic analyses. Feminist analyses showed the actual dynamics
of
this process
of
modernization and its dependence on the subsistence sector.
A second phase was the scholarship on the internationalization
of
manufac-
turing production and the feminization
of
the proletariat that came with it (e.g.
Smith & Wallerstein, 1992). The key analytic element in this scholarship was
that off-shoring manufacturing jobs under pressure
of
low-cost imports mobi-
lized a disproportionately female workforce in poorer countries which had hith-
erto largely remained outside the industrial economy.
In
this regard it is an
analysis that also intersected with national issues, such
as
why women predomi-
nate
in
certain industries, notably garment and electronics assembly, no matter
what the level
of
development
of
a country (Beneria & Feldman, 1992; Milk-
man, 1987). From the perspective of the world economy, the formation
of
a
feminized off-shore proletariat facilitated firms' avoidance of increasingly
strong unions in the countries where the capital originated and secured competi-
tive prices for the re-imported goods assembled off-shore.
A third phase
of
scholarship on women and the global economy is emerging
around processes that underline transformations in gendering in women's sub-
jectivities and in women's notions
of
membership. These represent many differ-
ent literatures. Among the richest, and most pertinent to the subjects discussed
in
this article, is the new feminist scholarship on women immigrants, which ex-
amines, for example, how international migration alters gender patterns and how
64 Saskia
Sassen
the formation
of
transnational households can empower women (Boyd, 1989;
Castro, 1986; Grasmuck & Pessar, 1991; Hondagneu-Sotelo, 1994). There is
also
an
important new scholarship which focuses on new forms
of
cross-border
solidarity, experiences
of
membership and identity formation that represent new
subjectivities, including feminist subjectivities (Eisenstein, 1996; Malkki, 1995;
Ong, 1996; Soysal, 1994).
One important methodological question is what the strategic sites are where
international economic processes can be studied from a feminist perspective. In
the case
of
export-oriented agriculture, this strategic site is the nexus between
subsistence economies and capitalist enterprise. In the case
of
the internationali-
zation
of
manufacturing production, it is the nexus between the dismantling of
an
established, largely male 'labor aristocracy'
in
major industries whose gains
spread to a large share
of
the workforce
in
developed economies, and the for-
mation
of
a low-wage off-shore, largely female proletariat in new and old
growth sectors. Off-shoring and feminizing this proletariat has kept it from be-
coming an empowered 'labor aristocracy' with actual union power, and prevents
existing largely male 'labor aristocracies' from becoming stronger. Introducing a
gendered understanding
of
economic processes lays bare these connections -the
existence
of
the nexus
as
an operational reality and an analytic strategy.
What are the strategic sites in today's leading processes
of
globalization? I
have examined this issue from the perspective
of
key features
of
the current
global economic system in global cities -strategic sites for the specialized
servicing, financing and management of global economic processes. These cities
are also a site for the incorporation
of
large numbers
of
women and immigrants
in activities that service the strategic sectors, but this is a mode
of
incorporation
that makes invisible the fact that these workers are part
of
the global information
economy, therewith breaking the nexus between being workers
in
leading in-
dustries and the opportunity to become -
as
had been historically the case in in-
dustrialized economies - a 'labor aristocracy' or its contemporary equivalent. In
this sense 'women and immigrants' emerge
as
the systemic equivalent of the off-
shore proletariat. Further, the demands placed on the top level professional and
managerial workforce in global cities are such that the usual modes
of
handling
household tasks and lifestyle are inadequate. As a consequence we are seeing
the return
of
the so-called 'serving classes' in all the global cities around the
world, made up largely
of
immigrant and migrant women (Sassen, 2001).
The alternative global circuits that concern me here are yet another instan-
tiation
of
these dynamics
of
globalization, but from the perspective
of
develop-
ing economies rather than from the perspective
of
global cities. Economic glob-
alization needs to be understood in its multiple localizations, many
of
which do
not generally get coded
as
having anything to do with the global economy. In the
next section I give a first empirical specification
of
some
of
the localizations of
these alternative global circuits, these countergeographies
of
globalization. Be-
The
feminization
of
survival 65
cause the data are inadequate, this is a partial specification. Yet it should serve
to illustrate some
of
the key dimensions.
3.
Government debt
Debt and debt servicing problems have become a systemic feature
of
the devel-
oping world since the 1980s. They are, in
my
reading, also a systemic feature
inducing the formation
of
the new countergeographies of globalization. The im-
pact on women and on the feminization of survival
is
mediated through the par-
ticular features
of
this debt rather than the fact of debt per se. It
is
with this logic
in
mind that this section examines various features of government debt in devel-
oping economies.
There
is
considerable research showing the detrimental effects of debt on
government programs for women and children, notably education and health
care-clearly investments necessary to ensure a better future. Further, the in-
creased unemployment typically associated with the austerity and adjustment
programs implemented by international agencies to address government debt
have also been found to have adverse effects on women (Chossudovsky, 1997;
Elson, 1995; Rahman, 1999; Standing, 1999; Ward, 1999). Unemployment, both
of women themselves, but also more generally of the men in their households,
has added to the pressure on women to find ways to ensure household survival.
Subsistence food production, informal work, emigration, prostitution, have all
become survival options for women (Alarcon-Gonzalez & McKinley, 1999;
Buchmann, 1996; Cagaty & OzIer, 1995; Jones, 1999; Safa, 1995; Pyle 2001).
Heavy government debt and high unemployment have brought with them
the need to search for survival alternatives, and a shrinking
of
regular economic
opportunities has brought with it a widened use of illegal profit-making by en-
terprises and organizations. In this regard, heavy debt burdens play
an
important
role
in
the formation
of
countergeographies of survival, of profit-making, and
of
government revenue enhancement. Economic globalization has to some extent
added to the rapid increase
in
certain components of this debt, and has provided
an
institutional infrastructure for cross-border flows and global markets. We can
see economic globalization as facilitating the operation of these counter-
geographies at a global scale. Once there
is
an
institutional infrastructure for
globalization, processes which have basically operated at the national level can
scale up to the global level even when this is not necessary for their operation.
This would contrast with processes that are by their very nature global, such
as
the network
of
financial centers underlying the formation of a global capital
market.
66
Saskia Sassen
Generally, most countries which became indebted in the 1980s have not
been able to solve their debt problem.
In
the 1990s we have seen a new set of
countries going into debt. In 1998, the debt was held
as
follows: Multilateral in-
stitutions (IMP, World Bank and regional development banks) hold 45%
of
the
debt; bilateral institutions, individual countries and the Paris group hold 45% of
the debt; and private commercial institutions hold 10% (Ambrogi 1999). Over
these two decades many innovations were launched, most importantly by the
IMF and the World Bank through their Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs)
and Structural Adjustment Loans. The latter were tied to economic policy re-
form rather than the funding
of
a particular project. The purpose
of
such pro-
grams is to make states more 'competitive,' which typically means sharp cuts
in
various social programs. By 1990 there were almost 200 such loans
in
place.
Furthermore, in the 1980s the Reagan administration put enormous pressure on
many .countries to implement neo-liberal policies which resembled the SAPs.
Structural Adjustment Programs became a new norm for the World Bank
and the IMP on grounds that they were a promising way to secure long-term
growth and sound government policy. Yet all
of
these countries have remained
deeply indebted, with fourty-one
of
them now considered
as
Highly Indebted
Poor Countries. Furthermore, the actual structure
of
these debts, their servicing
and how they fit into debtor countries economies, suggest that it is not likely that
most
of
these countries will under current conditions be able to pay their debt
in
full. SAPs seem to have made this even more likely by demanding economic re-
forms that have added to unemployment and the bankruptcy of many smaller,
national market oriented firms.
Even before the economic crisis
of
the 1990s, the debt
of
poor countries
in
the South grew from US$ 507 billion in 1980 to US$ 1.4 trillion in 1992. Debt
service payments alone had increased to 1.6 trillion dollars, more than the actual
debt. According to some estimates, from 1982 to 1998 indebted countries paid
four times their orignal debts, and at the same time their debt stocks went up by
four times (Toussaint, 1999,
p.
1).
These countries had to use a significant share
of
their total revenues
to
service these debts. Thirty-three
of
the fourty-one
Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) paid three dollars
in
debt service pay-
ments to the North for
everyone
dollar
in
development assistance. Many of
these countries pay over 50% of their government revenues toward debt service,
or 20 to 25%
of
their export earnings (Ambrogi, 1999).
This debt burden inevitably has large repercussions on state spending com-
position. This is well illustrated in the case
of
Zambia, Ghana and Uganda, three
countries which have been seen
as
cooperative and responsible by the World
Bank
as
well
as
effective
in
implementing SAPs. In Zambia, for example, the
government paid 1.3 billion dollars in debt but only
37
million dollars for pri-
mary education; Ghana's social expenses, at 75 million dollars, represented 20%
of
its debt service; and Uganda paid nine dollars per capita on its debt and only
The
feminization
of
survival
67
one dollar for health care (Ismi, 1998). In 1994 alone these three countries re-
mitted $2.7 billion to bankers in the North. Africa's payments reached $5 billion
in
1998, which means that for everyone dollar in aid, African countries paid 1.4
dollars in debt service in 1998.
In many
of
the HIPC countries debt service ratios to
GNP
exceed sustain-
able limits; many are far more extreme than what were considered unmanage-
able levels in the Latin American debt crisis
of
the 1980s (OXFAM, 1999). Debt
to
GNP ratios are especially high
in
Africa, where they stood at 123%, com-
pared with 42% in Latin America and 28%
in
Asia. Generally, the
I:rv1F
asks
HIPCs
to
pay 20 to 25% of their export earnings toward debt sevice. By con-
trast, in 1953 the Allies cancelled 80%
of
Germany's war debt and only insisted
on
3 to 5%
of
export earnings debt service. Similar conditions were applied to
Central European countries
in
the 1990s.
It
is these features
of
the current situation which suggest that most
of
these
countries will not get out
of
their indebtedness through such strategies
as
SAPs.
Indeed
it
would seem that the latter have in many cases had the effect
of
raising
the debt dependence
of
countries. Further, together with various other dynamics,
SAPs have contributed to
an
increase
in
unemployment and poverty. In this re-
gard the current financial crisis in Southeast Asia is illuminating. These were
and remain highly dynamic economies. Yet they had to face high levels
of
in-
debtedness and economic failure
in
a broad range of enterprises and sectors. The
financial crisis-both its architecture and its consequences-has brought with it the
imposition of structural adjustment policies and a growth in unemployment and
poverty due to widespread bankruptcies
of
small and medium sized firms cater-
ing to both national and export markets (Olds, Dicken, Kelly, Kong & Yeung,
1999). The 120 billion dollar rescue package that allowed for the introduction
of
SAP provisions, which reduce the autonomy
of
these governments, went
to
compensate the losses
of
foreign institutional investors, rather than to solve the
poverty and unemployment
of
a large number of the people. Using
1:rv1F
policies
to manage the crisis has been seen by some
as
worsening the situation for the
unemployed and poor. (OXFAM, 1999; Ismi, 1998; Ward & Pyle, 1995; Am-
brogi, 1999)
4. Alternative circuits for survival
It
is
in
this context that alternative circuits
of
survival emerge. This is a context
marked by what I interpret
as
a systemic condition marked by high unemploy-
ment, poverty, bankruptcies
of
large numbers of firms, and shrinking resources
in
the state to meet social needs. Here I want to focus on some
of
the data on the
trafficking
of
women for the sex industries and for work; the growing weight of
68 Saskia Sassen
this trafficking
as
a profit-making option; and the growing weight
of
emigrants'
remittances in the account balance of many of the sending states.
4.1
Trafficking
in
women
Trafficking involves the forced recruitment and/or transportation
of
people
within and across states for work or services through a variety
of
ways involving
some degree
of
coercion. Trafficking is a violation of several types of rights:
human, civil, political. Trafficking in people appears to be mainly related to the
sex market,
to
informal labor markets, and to illegal migration. Much legislative
work has been done to address trafficking: international treaties and charters,
UN resolutions, and various bodies and commissions (Chuang, 1998). Traffick-
ing has become sufficiently recognized
as
an
issue that it was also addressed
in
the G8 meeting
in
Birmingham
in
May 1998. The heads
of
the eight major in-
dustrialized countries stressed the importance
of
cooperation against interna-
tional organized crime and trafficking
in
persons. The US President issued a set
of directives to his administration
in
order to strengthen and increase efforts
against trafficking in women and girls. This, in tum, generated the legislation
initiative by senator Paul Wellstone; bill S.600 was introduced in the US senate
in
1999 (for a good critical analysis see Dayan, 2000). NGOs also play an in-
creasingly important role
in
addressing this issue. The Coalition Against Traf-
ficking
in
Women, for example, has centers and representatives in Australia,
Bangladesh, Europe, Latin America, North America, Africa and Asia Pacific,
and the Women's Rights Advocacy Program has established the 'Initiative
Against Trafficking in Persons' to combat the global trade in persons.
Trafficking in women for the sex industry
is
highly profitable for those or-
ganizing the trade (see generally CIA, 2000). The United Nations estimates that
four million people were trafficked in 1998, producing a profit
of
US$ 7 billion
for criminal groups. This includes remittances from prostitutes' earnings and
payments to organizers and facilitators
in
these countries. In Japan, profits
in
the
sex industry were about 4.2 trillion yen per year over the last few years. In Po-
land, police estimate that for each Polish woman delivered, the trafficker re-
ceives about US$ 700. In Australia, the Federal Police estimate that the cash
flow from 200 prostitutes is up to $900,000 a week. Ukrainian and Russian
women, highly prized
in
the sex market, earn the criminal gangs involved about
$500 to $1000 per woman delivered. These women can be expected
to
service
on average fifteen clients a day, and each can be expected to make about $US
215,000 per month for the gang (Altink, 1999; Kempadoo & Doezema, 1998;
Shannon, 1995; Lin & Marjan, 1997; Lim, 1998).
It
is
estimated that in recent years several million women and girls were traf-
ficked within and out
of
Asia and the former Soviet Union, two major traffick-
The
feminization
of
survival 69
ing areas (CIA, 2000). Increases in trafficking in both these areas can be linked
to women being pushed into poverty or sold to brokers due to the poverty of
their households or parents. High unemployment
in
the former Soviet republics
has been one factor promoting growth of criminal gangs
as
well
as
the increase
in
trafficking in women. Unemployment rates among women in Armenia, Rus-
sia, Bulgaria and Croatia reached 70% and in Ukraine 80% with the implemen-
tation of market policies. There
is
also a growing trade in children for the sex
industry-this has long been the case
in
Thailand but now
is
also present in sev-
eral other Asian countries, in Eastern Europe, and Latin America.
Trafficking in migrants
is
also a profitable business. According to a
UN
re-
port, criminal organizations in the 1990s generated
an
estimated 3.5 billion US$
per year in profits from trafficking migrants generally (not just women) (10M,
1996). The entry
of
organized crime
is
a recent development
in
the case of mi-
grant trafficking;
in
the past it was mostly petty criminals who engaged
in
this
type of trafficking. There are also reports that organized crime groups are creat-
ing intercontinental strategic alliances through networks
of
co-ethnics through-
out several countries; this facilitates transport, local contact and distribution,
provision
of
false documents, etc. The Global Survival Network reported on
these practices after a two year investigation (Global Survival Network, 1997).
Malay brokers sell Malay women into prostitution in Australia. East European
women from Albania and Kosovo have been trafficked by gangs into prostitu-
tion in London (Harnzic & Sheehan, 1999). European teens from Paris and other
cities have been sold to Arab and African customers (Shannon, 1999). In the US
the police broke up
an
international Asian ring that imported women from
China, Thailand, Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam (Booth, 1999). The women were
charged between US$ 30,000 and 40,000
in
contracts to be paid through their
work
in
the sex or needle trades. The women
in
the sex trade were shuttled
around several states
in
the US to bring continuing variety to the clients. Such
networks also facilitate the organized circulation of trafficked women among
third countries -not only from sending to receiving countries. Traffickers may
move women from Burma, Laos, Vietnam and China to Thailand, while Thai
women may have been moved to Japan and the US. Some
of
the features of im-
migration policy and enforcement may well contribute to make female victims
of trafficking even more vulnerable and give them little recourse to the law.
If
they are undocumented, which they are likely to be, they will not be treated
as
victims of abuse but
as
violators of the law insofar as they have violated entry,
residence and work laws (Castles & Miller, 1998; Mahler, 1995). The attempt to
address undocumented immigration and trafficking through stricter border con-
trols raises the likelihood that women will use traffickers to cross the border, and
some of these may tum out to belong to criminal organizations linked to the sex
industry.
70 Saskia Sassen
Further, in many countries prostitution is forbidden for foreign women,
which further enhances the role
of
criminal gangs in prostitution. It also dimin-
ishes one
of
the survival options
of
foreign women who may have limited access
to jobs generally. Prostitution is tolerated for foreign women in many countries
while regular labor market jobs are less so -this
is
the case for instance in the
Netherlands and in Switzerland. According to
10M
data, the
number
of
migrant
women prostitutes in many
EU
countries is far higher than that for nationals:
75%
in Germany, 80% in the case
of
Milan in Italy, etc. (lOM, various years).
While some women know that they are being trafficked for prostitution, for
many the conditions
of
their recruitment and the extent
of
abuse
and
bondage
only become evident after they arrive in the receiving country.
The
conditions
of
confinement are often extreme, akin to slavery, and so are the conditions
of
abuse, including rape and other forms
of
sexual violence, and physical punish-
ments. They are severely underpaid, and wages are often withheld. They are
prevented from using protection methods against AIDS,
and
typically have no
access to medical treatment.
If
they seek police help they may
be
taken into de-
tention because they are in violation
of
immigration laws;
if
they have been pro-
vided with false documents there are criminal charges.
As tourism has grown sharply over the last decade and become a major de-
velopment strategy for cities, regions and whole couritries, the entertainment
sector has seen a parallel growth and recognition as a key development strategy
(Judd & Fainstein, 1999). In many places, the sex trade is part
of
the entertain-
ment industry and has similarly grown (Bishop & Robinson, 1998; Booth, 1999;
Wonders & Michalowski, 2001).
The
sex trade itself can
become
a development
strategy in areas with high unemployment and poverty and governments desper-
ate for revenue and foreign exchange reserves. When local manufacturing and
agriculture can no longer function
as
sources
of
employment, profits and gov-
ernment revenue, what was once a marginal source
of
earnings, profits and
revenues, now becomes a far more important one.
The
increased importance
of
these sectors in development generates growing tie-ins.
For
instance, when the
IMF
and the World
Bank
see tourism as a solution to some
of
the growth chal-
lenges in many
poor
countries and provide loans for its development
or
expan-
sion, they may well be contributing to the expansion
of
the entertainment indus-
try and indirectly
of
the sex trade. This tie-in with development strategies signals
that trafficking in women may well see a sharp expansion. These tie-ins are
structural, not a function
of
conspiracies (Pyle, 2001). Their weight in an econ-
omy will
be
raised by the absence or limitations
of
other sources for securing a
livelihood, profits and revenues for workers, enterprises and governments.
The
feminization
of
survival
71
4.2 Remittances
Women, and migrants generally, enter the macro-level
of
development strategies
through yet another channel: the sending of remittances, which
in
many coun-
tries represent a major source of foreign exchange reserves for the government.
While the flows
of
remittances may be minor compared to the massive daily
capital flows in various financial markets, they are often very significant for de-
veloping or struggling economies.
In
1998 global remittances sent by immi-
grants to their home countries reached over US$ 70 billion (Castles & Miller,
1998; Castro, 2000). To understand the significance of this figure, it should be
related to the GDP and foreign currency reserves
in
the specific countries in-
volved, rather than compared to the global flow of capital. For instance,
in
the
Philippines, a key sender
of
migrants generally and
of
women for the entertain-
ment industry in particular, remittances were the third largest source
of
foreign
exchange over the last several years.
In
Bangladesh, another country with sig-
nificant numbers
of
its workers
in
the Middle East, Japan, and several European
countries, remittances represent about a third
of
foreign exchange.
Exporting workers and receiving their remittances are means of coping with
unemployment and foreign debt for the governments of the sending countries.
There are two ways
in
which governments have secured benefits through these
strategies. One of these
is
highly formalized, while the other is simply a by-
product of the migration process itself. Among the strongest examples of a for-
mal labor export program are South Korea and the Philippines (Sassen, 1988).
In
the 1970s, South Korea developed extensive programs to promote the export
of workers as an integral part of its growing overseas construction industry, ini-
tially to the Middle Eastern OPEC countries and then worldwide. As South Ko-
rea entered its own economic boom, exporting workers became a less necessary
and attractive option.
In
contrast, the Philippine government,
if
anything, ex-
panded and diversified the concept
of
exporting its citizens as a way
of
dealing
with unemployment and securing needed foreign exchange reserves through
their remittances.
It
is to this case that I tum now
as
it illuminates a whole series
of issues at the heart of this article.
The Filipino government has played
an
important role
in
the emigration of
Filipino women to the US, the Middle East and Japan, through the Philippines
Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). Established
in
1982, it organ-
ized and oversaw the export of nurses and maids to high demand areas
in
the
world. High foreign debt and high unemployment combined make this
an
at-
tractive policy.
In
the last few years, Filipino overseas workers send home al-
most US$ 1 billion on average a year. The various labor importing countries
welcomed this policy for their own specific reasons. The OPEC countries of the
Middle East saw the demand for domestic workers grow sharply after the 1973
oil boom. Confronted with a shortage of nurses, a profession that demanded
72 Saskia Sassen
years
of
training yet garnered rather low wages and little prestige or recognition,
the US passed the Immigration Nursing Relief Act of 1989 which allowed for
the import
of
nurses; about 80% of the nurses brought in under the new act were
from the Phillippines (Yamamoto 2000).
The Philippines' government also passed regulations that permitted mail-
order bride agencies to recruit young Filipinas to marry foreign men as a matter
of
contractual agreement. The rapid increase in this trade was due to the organ-
ized effort by the government. Among the major clients were the US and Japan.
Japan's agricultural communities were a key destination for these brides, given
enormous shortages of people and especially young women in the Japanse
countryside when the economy was booming and demand for labor
in
the large
metropolitan areas was extremely high. Municipal governments made it a policy
to accept Filipino brides.
The largest number
of
Filipinas going through these channels work overseas
as
maids, particularly in other Asian countries (Chin, 1997; Heyzer, 1994; Yeoh,
Huang & Gonzales, 1999). The second largest group and the fastest growing,
is
entertainers, who go largely to Japan (Sassen, 2001: chapter 9). Japan passed
legislation which permitted the entry of 'entertainment workers' into its boom-
ing economy in the 1980s, marked by rising expendable incomes and strong la-
bor shortages. The rapid increase
in
the numbers of migrants going
as
entertain-
ers
is
largely due to the over five hundred 'entertainment brokers'
in
the Philip-
pines operating outside the state umbrella -even though the government still
benefits from the remittances of these workers. These brokers work to provide
women for the sex industry
in
Japan, where it
is
basically supported or con-
trolled by organized gangs rather than going through the government controlled
program for the entry of entertainers. These women are recruited for singing and
entertaining, but frequently, perhaps mostly they are forced into prostitution.
There is growing evidence of significant violence against mail-order brides
in
several countries, regardless of nationality
of
origin. In the US the INS has re-
cently reported that domestic violence towards mail-order wives has become
acute (Yamamoto, 2000). Again, the law operates against these women seeking
recourse, as they are liable to be detained if they do so before two years
of
mar-
riage. In Japan, foreign mail-order wives are not granted full equal legal status,
and there
is
considerable evidence that many are subject to abuse not only by the
husband but by the extended family
as
well. The Philippine government ap-
proved most mail-order bride organizations until 1989, but under the govern-
ment
of
Corazon Aquino, the stories of abuse by foreign husbands let to the
banning
of
themail-orderbridebusiness.However.itis
almost impossible to
eliminate these organizations, and they continue to operate
in
violation
of
the
law.
The Philippines, while perhaps the country with the most developed pro-
gram, is not the only country to have explored these strategies. Thailand started
The
feminization
of
survival
73
a campaign in 1998 after the 1997-8 financial crisis to promote migration for
work and recruitment by firms overseas
of
Thai workers. The government
sought to export workers to the Middle East, the US, Great Britain, Germany,
Australia and Greece. Sri Lanka's government has tried to export another
200,000 workers in addition to the one million it already has overseas; Sri
Lankan women remitted US$ 880 million in 1998, mostly from their earnings as
maids
in
the Middle East and Far East.
In
the 1970s Bangladesh already organ-
ized extensive labor export programs to the OPEC countries of the Middle East.
This has continued, and along with the individual migrations to these and other
countries, notably the US and Great Britain,
is
a significant source
of
foreign
exchange. Its workers remitted $US
1.4
billion
in
each of the last few years
(David, 1999).
5.
Conclusion
We are seeing the growth of a variety of alternative global circuits for making a
living, making a profit and securing government revenue. These circuits incor-
porate increasing numbers of women. Among the most important of these global
circuits are the illegal trafficking
in
women for prostitution as well
as
for regular
work, organized exports of women
as
brides, nurses, and domestic servants, and
the remmittances sent back to their home countries by an increasingly female
emigrant workforce. Some of these circuits operate partly or wholly
in
the
shadow economy.
This article decribed some of the main features of these circuits and argued
that their emergence and/or strengthening is linked to major dynamics of eco-
nomic globalization which have had significant impacts on developing econo-
mies. Key indicators of such impacts are the heavy and increasing burden
of
government debt, the growth
in
unemployment, sharp cuts
in
government social
expenditures, the closure of a large number of firms in often fairly traditional
sectors oriented towards the local or national market, and the promotion of ex-
port-oriented growth.
I call these circuits countergeographies of globalization because they are
a)
directly or indirectly associated with some of the key programs and conditions
that are at the heart of the global economy, but b) are circuits not typically repre-
sented or seen
as
connected to globalization, and often actually operate
in
viola-
tion of laws and treaties, yet are not exclusively embedded
in
criminal opera-
tions as
is
the case with the illegal drug trade. Further, the growth
of
a global
economy has brought with it
an
institutional infrastructure that facilitates cross-
border flows and represents, in that regard, an enabling environment for these
alternative circuits.
74 Saskia Sassen
It is increasingly women who create these forms
of
survival, profit-making
and government revenue enhancement. To this we can add the additional gov-
ernment revenue through savings due to severe cuts in health care and educa-
tion. These cuts are often part
of
the effort
of
making the state more competitive
as demanded
by
Structural Adjustment Programs and other policies linked to the
current phase
of
globalization. These types
of
cuts are generally recognized as
affecting women in particular insofar
as
they are responsible for the health and
education
of
household members.
These countergeographies lay bare the systemic connections between the
mostly poor and low-wage women often represented as a burden rather than a
resource on the one hand, and what are emerging as significant sources for ille-
gal profit-making and
as
an important source
of
hard currency for governments
on the other hand. Linking these countergeographies to programs and conditions
at the heart
of
the global economy also helps
us
understand how gendering en-
ters into their formation and viability.
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