Unfair+Treatement+to+Women

by Jonas 49% of labor migrants are women ("Facts on Labour Migration." __Working out of poverty: Facts on the ILO and the Millenium Development Goals__ __3____)__. This number may be surprising to many, as people often think that men do most of the work. However, in the case of migrant labor, women hold their own in number. Unfortunately, many of these do not receive the treatment they hope for; instead, they are sometimes abused, exploited, beaten, burned, starved, and underpaid. This is not fair; female (and male) labor migrants move for an opportunity, not unfair treatment. According to a study by the International Labour Organization, Asian women are especially vulnerable to different sorts of discrimination, exploitation, and abuse because of their fast-growing population, which is the fastest growing group in relation to labor migration. Although the worst cases are normally based upon intensely severe treatment toward Filipino and Sri Lankan maids, in which the workers are burned, beaten, and starved, the study focused more upon “normal, daily circumstances.” The report tells that 1.5 million Asian women, legal and illegal, are working abroad. This is a huge number, making the issue even larger than it already is; the fact that most of these women work in gender-segregated job markets further exacerbates this issue because there is no way to tell between different treatment toward men and women, opening the migrants to abuse, exploitation, and discrimination. The employees are also often held from their already-low pay, given little or no days off, starved, and denied sufficient medical care. Third-world countries are not the only places suffering; even the women of richer countries such as Germany are being discriminated against. German women in South Australia, another first-world country, face language and gender barriers, but still somehow must make a living. Even their interpreter was prejudiced against these workers; when one woman asked her interpreter how a fridge worked without electricity, “the gentleman looked up at me and said: ‘We do not speak to women!’ Everybody was so shocked but nobody said anything. When we left, we still didn’t know how we can have a fridge and no electricity.” ("[|GERMAN IMMIGRANT WOMEN IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA SINCE 1945]") Other German women faced more arduous situations than not having an electrical refrigerator. “‘When we came to Port Augusta, there was no food for us. The men had a nice meal before they went on the train because you left Adelaide in the morning and arrived the next day in the afternoon in Barten. So we traveled all that time and we didn’t have any food. I was pregnant with my second child at that time and they gave us an apple extra when you were pregnant and we got a raw egg extra. I boiled that egg and I’d saved a little bread from my breakfast and the fruit. So I had that for my child and for myself. But a lot of people didn’t have that. … Women were not important (workers). They had to feed the men because they were important: we can’t have them arriving weak and they can’t work. But women - nobody thought about them, they were not important.’” ("[|GERMAN IMMIGRANT WOMEN IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA SINCE 1945]") Migrant women face harsh circumstances as migrants; they are often ignored and treated unfairly. The fast-growing number of female labor migrants is not possible to stop; however, if people are able to provide them with the life they deserve in their home country or elsewhere, then this issue can be avoided. Sources: Raghavan, Chakravarthi. "Asian female migrant workers require protection, says ILO." __Third World Network__. Third World Network. 26 Feb 2008  Muenstermann, Ingrid. "GERMAN IMMIGRANT WOMEN IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA SINCE 1945." TromsoWomenProceedings. 26 Feb 2008 
 * Unfair Treatment to Women**