Although Pakistani women have shown dynamism and are seen participating alongside men in different fields, their contribution towards foreign exchange earnings is almost nil, when compared to countries like Sri Lanka and Philippines.
According to a 'State of World Population 2006' report, titled 'A passage to hope: Women and International Migration', released by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on September 6, of the more than $1 billion in migrant funds sent back to Sri Lanka in 1999, women contributed over 62 percent of the total. And, of the roughly $6 billion remitted annually to the Philippines in the late 1990s, migrant women transferred one-third of this amount.
Although women tend to send less than men, studies show that they send a higher proportion of their more meagre earnings to their families back home. One United Nations study showed that Bangladeshi women, working in the Middle East, sent home 72 percent of their earnings, on average, with 56 percent of those monies earmarked for daily needs, health care and education. This reflects the spending priorities of migrant women all over the world.
The report said that every year millions of women working overseas send hundreds of millions of dollars in remittances back to their homes, foster small businesses, and generally improve living standards for their loved ones left behind. For host countries, the labour of migrant women is so embedded in the fabric of the society that it goes virtually unnoticed. Migrant women toil in households of working families, soothe the sick and comfort the elderly. They contribute their technical and professional expertise, pay taxes, and quietly support a quality of life that many take for granted.
Migrant women move to marry, rejoin migrant husbands and family, or to work. They are domestic workers, cleaners, caretakers of the sick, the elderly and children. They are farmers, waitresses, sweatshop workers, highly skilled professionals, teachers, nurses, entertainers, sex workers, hostesses, refugees and asylum seekers. They are young, old, married, single, divorced and widowed. Many migrate with children. Others are forced to leave them behind.
Today, women constitute almost half of all international migrants world-wide--95 million or 49.6 percent. Yet, it is only recently that the international community has begun to grasp just how much migrant women contribute to the economy and social wellbeing of populations living in both source and receiving countries.
Quite apart from remittances, women migrants contribute to their home communities in other ways as well. The World Bank attributes improved child health and lower mortality rates to the health education that women acquire abroad.
The report highlights that migration of nurses is causing considerable problems. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends a minimum ratio of 100 nurses for every 100,000 people, but many poor countries do not come even close. In some (Central African Republic, Liberia, Uganda) the ratio is less than 10 nurses per 100,000 people, as compared to more than 2,000 per 100,000 people in wealthier nations (Finland and Norway). In Europe, the average ratio is 10 times that of Africa and South-East Asia.
WHO estimates that, by 2008, Great Britain will require 25,000 doctors and 250,000 nurses more than it did in 1997. The United States government projects that by 2020, more than one million nursing positions will need to be filled. Canada and Australia are projecting nursing deficits of 78,000 and 40,000, respectively, during the next four to five years. This is partially owing to demographic ageing brought on by lower fertility rates and longer life expectations in industrialised countries.
For many women, migration opens doors to a New World of greater equality and relief from oppression and discrimination that limit freedom and stunt potential.
Trafficking is not only one of the most horrific manifestations of migration 'gone-bad', it also undermines national security and stability. Today, the International Labour Organisation estimates that 2.45 million trafficking victims are toiling in exploitative conditions world-wide. An estimated 600,000 to 800,000 women, men and children are trafficked across international borders each year. Of these, 80 percent are women and girls.
Domestic work is one of the largest labour sectors driving international female migration. While it has provided millions of migrant women with an opportunity to improve both their lives and those of their children, the private nature of their work can put them in gross jeopardy. Reports of abuse and exploitation come from all over the world. Domestic workers have been assaulted; raped; overworked; denied pay, rest days, privacy and access to medical services; verbally and psychologically abused; and had their passports withheld. The most extreme form of exploitation has resulted in severe injury and even death.
The report went on to say that although forced migration entails risks for everyone involved, women and girls face particular hazards--during flight, through temporary refuge and in final settlement. In 2005, roughly half of the world's 12.7 million refugees were women. By contrast, women are under-represented among asylum seekers owing to the fact that gender-related claims of persecution are often ignored.
Women are migrating and will continue to do so. Although women and youth have always made up a considerable proportion of international migrants, their contributions have largely gone unnoticed. Their voices must be heard. Efforts to combat xenophobia, violence, exploitation and trafficking need to be expanded and policies re-worked to reflect the realities of who migrates and why. Vision and leadership are needed to help steer public debate away from reactionary sensationalism and an emphasis on 'otherness' to the recognition of common humanity that binds people together in a world increasingly without borders, the report said.