THE INDENTURED MOBILITY OF MIGRANT WOMEN: HOW GENDERED PROTECTIONIST LAWS LEAD FILIPINA HOSTESSES TO FORCED SEXUAL LABOR

Abstract

The phrase “trafficked victims” conjures up images of people who are held against their will, shackled, and unfree. Yet the definition of trafficking that has been advanced by the United Nations is more specific but at the same time much broader than enslavement. Trafficking consists of a three-part process: it must entail, first, the transportation of an individual; second, transportation that takes place under conditions of fraud, force, or deception; and third, transportation for the purpose of exploitation, with exploitation broadly meaning sexual exploitation, enslavement, forced labor, or servitude (United Nations, 2000: Article 3). The identification of migrant Filipina hostesses as trafficked persons has directly affected their migration, resulting for one thing in a drastic decline in their numbers by around 90%, from more than 82,000 in 2004 to 8,607 by 2006 (Parrenas, 2010). While many would see this decline as a victory in the war on trafficking, I actually see this as a step backward for Filipino women. It has