Women and Poverty in the Philippines - Essay Example

Bear in mind that in a lot of these cases the women are primary income earners, and in their quest for high-paying jobs they often rolling the dice with a heavy heart. A lot of the income earned by these women fuel the economies of their home countries to the tune of millions of dollars annually. The question is, have the effects of poverty effectively dehumanized the women living in developing countries Let us take a closer look at the situation of women in the Philippines, one of the world's leading providers of woman migrant workers because of the seething poverty that is prevalent in the country.

(United Nations Development Fund for Women, 2008) Women in the Philippines are considered the backbone of its society, being a Roman Catholic country. While most men are still the primary wage earners, a significant portion of women are the breadwinners of an increasingly large number of single-parent households. Now, the main point of contention here is that the Philippines is not exactly an equal opportunity employer. The majority of the well-paying jobs still go to the men, and women are oftentimes relegated to low-paying, menial work such as secretarial jobs or clerking posts.

And that's if they choose to do it the " honorable" way. Rampant stories run abound about with nursing school graduates saddled with an unwanted pregnancy, and are then forced to work as prostitutes to support the child as the husband had abandoned her. The Philippines is a country seemingly built for infidelity, and the practice is as socially accepted as it can ever get.. Thus, women are often saddled with unwanted babies, and with no good-paying jobs to support them, are forced to turn to drastic measures.

(Department of Social Welfare and Development, 2008) While not all women are keen on exploring prostitution as a living , the next best alternative is to look for jobs abroad as a migrant worker. A lot of times these women would roll the dice and pay exorbitant "placement fees" to recruitment agencies just to land jobs overseas. These fees can go as high up as $1000- $2000, and some agency contracts will automatically deduct the amount through monthly installments from whatever will be earned overseas.

For a country where the daily minimum wage is approximately Php 365 (roughly about $9), these placement fees oftentimes have these migrant worker aspirants committing their entire life savings in the hope for a better life. (Department of Labor and Employment, 2008) Because of poverty, it truly is a shot in the dark for these women, and they are willing to risk everything in order for their families to live comfortably. Once again, the burden of sacrifice is left on their shoulders. If the Filipina is lucky enough to indeed land the job she was promised, one last pitfall is to be at the mercy of an abusive employer.

These all the more illustrate the sorry state of poverty in the Philippines, where economic status is terribly disproportionate, just like in India. The rich are ridiculously wealthy, while the rest of the country toils in crippling poverty. There is no defined middle class, hence no decent-paying jobs are available for majority of these women. (Countrystudies : Philippines, 2008) In the