Effects of International Migration on the Family in Indonesia

Transcription

1 Effects of International Migration on the Family in Indonesia Graeme Hugo Adelaide University This paper draws upon various studies of internal and international migration and permanent and temporary movements to assess the diverse effects of migration on families in Indonesia. The types of effects examined include those on family structure and composition, family headship, marriage and divorce, intergenerational and intrafamily relationships, care of children and the aged, the economic situation of the family, the role and status of women and power relationships in the family. Both migration and the family are in a very dynamic situation and there are important two-way relationships between them. International migration has both positive and negative influences on families in Indonesia. It is important to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between migration and family to maximize the benefits and at least ameliorate the negative effects. Introduction The exponential increase in international migration over the last two decades has been one of the major contemporary changes in the Asian region. However, the veritable explosion of movement between countries has greatly outpaced the regional ability to effectively measure and monitor it, to develop a theoretical understanding of its causes and consequences and the ability to devise effective policies to maximize the benefits and minimize the costs of the greatly enhanced mobility. In the limited body of research relating to international migration in Asia, which does exist, it is possible to identify a number of biases, among which two are relevant in the context of the present paper: Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1,

2 14 ASIAN AND PACIFIC MIGRATION JOURNAL! There is a development orientation, which sees an overwhelming emphasis in research on the economic dimensions (especially the consequences) of migration and a neglect of its social causes, consequences and implications.! The unit of analysis has tended to be either at the level of the individual migrant or at a macro (usually national) scale. There has been a neglect of the family, community and region in examining the causes of international migration and its consequences. In the rapid social and economic change sweeping across Asia, both international migration and the family have undergone significant change. On the one hand globalization, the reduction in costs of travel, improvement of communication systems, internationalization of capital and economic growth and structural change have seen a substantial increase in the scale and complexity of international migration. On the other hand, the fundamental unit of social organization in Asia, the family, has experienced massive changes in its structure and functioning. The relationship between the changes in international migration and those in the family are complex and two-way. The present paper is limited to an examination of the effects of international migration on the family, although it is clear that the family is an important unit of decision-making in the migration process. The paper is also limited in that it focuses on a single nation in the Asian region, Indonesia. The paper begins by briefly outlining some relevant aspects of the Indonesian context and then summarizes recent developments in Indonesian international migration. The types of effects of migration examined include those on family structure and composition, family headship, marriages and divorce, intra-family and inter-generational relationships, care of children and the aged, the economic situation of the family, the role and status of women and power relationships in the family. An important feature of international migration in Indonesia is that it predominantly involves international labor migration and usually involves single persons, or more often, unaccompanied married people who leave the remainder of their family at home. The fact that much migration involves the extended separation of partners is of crucial significance in assessing the effects of the movement on the family in Indonesia. The bulk of empirical material marshalled in this paper is drawn from a field study in East Nusatenggara in the eastern part of the Indonesian archipelago. The details of the study have been reported elsewhere (Raharto, 1999; Hugo, 2000a). Primarily, the study included a questionnaire survey of the families of migrants still away and returned migrants as well as extended interviews with key informants, field observation and case stud-

3 MIGRATION AND THE FAMILY IN INDONESIA 15 ies in the region. In addition, reference is made to the findings of a number of case studies of areas influenced by international migration in other parts of Indonesia. The paper updates and extends an earlier survey of international labor migration and the family in Indonesia (Hugo, 1995a). The Changing Family in Indonesia After experiencing several decades of sustained economic growth and stability, the onset of the Asian financial crisis in 1997 saw Indonesia s GDP per capita fall from U$1,079 in 1997 to U$380 in 1998 (Far Eastern Economic Review, 29 October 1998). The country is a heterogeneous nation spread across over several thousand islands and made up of more than 200 distinct ethnolinguistic groups. Almost a third of the population live in urban areas and, before the crisis, rapid structural change had seen the population of workers employed in agriculture decline for the first time below 50 percent. The rapid social and economic change experienced by Indonesia in the quarter-century before the onset of the crisis had impinged upon family structure and functioning in the nation. It is difficult to generalize about this in Indonesia because its cultural diversity has meant that traditional forms of the family have varied widely between different groups (Koentjaraningrat, 1967). Nevertheless, it is possible to make a number of general comments on the changing situation of families in the country. While the family remains the fundamental unit of social organization in Indonesia, it has experienced considerable change over the last few decades. Perhaps the most important change is a shift from the emotionally extended to the emotionally nucleated family. This does not refer to the residential arrangements of families but the way in which they function and the primary loyalties and obligations felt by family members. In the traditional extended family system, primary loyalties are upward to parents so that the patriarch controls much of the lives of their families, allocates their work tasks, collects all the family s earnings and decides on marriage partners, among others. The transition to the emotional nucleation of families sees primary loyalties and obligations swing towards one s spouse and children. This involves individuals making more decisions about their work, their marriage partner and how to spend their earnings, among others. This transition has been very rapid in parts of Indonesia and has been facilitated by mass education, mass media (which is constantly presenting to people Western nuclear family models) and the decline of the family as the unit of production, which has reduced patriarchal control over the work and earnings of their children and grandchildren. One of the major changes impinging upon the family and indeed, facilitating the transition from the extended to the nuclear family, has been

4 16 ASIAN AND PACIFIC MIGRATION JOURNAL a shift in some parts of Indonesia in the role and status of women. In traditional society, women were assigned roles, which were compatible with more or less continuous child-bearing and child-rearing. However, the spread of education and mass media has led to a questioning of the roles and status traditionally assigned to women. Moreover, with increased commercialization of agriculture and the development of industrialization, new economic roles are opening up for women while many traditional roles are being closed off. The rapid adoption of family planning and decline in fertility has given women the power to decide how many children to have and when to have them. While the status of women relative to men varies a great deal between the regions of the country, there has been some improvement in the position of women over the last decade in most regions. In most traditional societies in Indonesia, marriage was largely a contract between wider families so that individuals had little or no say in the selection of their marriage partners. However, love-marriage has become widespread with young people selecting their own marriage partners with little or no input from their parents or the wider family. This, of course, is one of the elements involved in the weakening of the traditional extended family. In the traditional context, the extended family was not only the fundamental unit of social organization but was also the unit of production. On subsistence or semi-subsistence farms, in traditional businesses and factories and in the urban informal sector, extended families comprised the main unit of economic organization. The patriarch organized the work tasks, deployed the family s labor across those tasks, accumulated the earnings of the activity and distributed them. However, with substantial structural change in the economy, formalization and commercialization of agricultural and non-agricultural activity, more family members are working outside the family unit in the formal sector. This often opens up family members to a wider range of influences than was previously the case as well as eroding the authority of traditional senior figures and giving individual family members more freedom in decision-making and spending their earnings. International Labor Migration in Indonesia Indonesia is the world s fourth largest country and, even before conditions were exacerbated by the onset of the Asian crisis in mid-1997, it was one of the world s largest labor surplus nations (Hugo, 2000b). It has 90 million workers (DEPNAKER, 2000:45) among whom there is a high incidence of underemployment (at least 30 percent), a low level of per capita income (U$680 GDP in 1998) and, despite spectacular falls in fertility, a rapidly

5 MIGRATION AND THE FAMILY IN INDONESIA 17 growing population aged 15 years and over (2.6 percent per annum). Accordingly, Indonesia has become one of Southeast Asia s major emigration nations and one of the world s largest senders of overseas workers. Two particular issues relating to this movement should be noted at the outset:! Firstly, while Indonesia has an official overseas contract workers (OCW) system, many of the OCWs who leave the country avoid that system because it is too time-consuming, cumbersome, expensive, and often involves traveling long distances from their home to be processed and spending long periods there before being deployed overseas. Hence the level of undocumented overseas labor migration is high.! Secondly, Indonesian overseas workers experience a higher incidence of problems than many other sending countries. This is evident in reportedly high levels of abuse and exploitation, especially among female overseas workers to the Middle East. It is also reflected in high rates of non-completion of contracts by official Indonesian overseas migrant workers, especially women. It is unfortunately not possible to provide a totally accurate picture of international labor migration movement out of Indonesia because the statistics available exclude undocumented workers. Figure 1 shows the increasing scale of movement of official workers in the 1990s, especially following the onset of the Asian economic crisis in mid The crisis increased the pressure to seek work overseas among Indonesians (e.g. Romdiati, Handayani and Rahayu, 1998:23). Indeed, the number of official OCWs sent overseas between the onset of the crisis and the end of 1999 outnumbered those sent in all of the country s first five five-year plans. There are a number of characteristics of official Indonesian labor migration, which are of particular significance. Two destinations are dominant Malaysia and Saudi Arabia which together account for over threequarters of all OCWs. Another important feature is the predominance of women, most of whom are destined to be employed as domestic workers. Among OCWs deployed during the Sixth Five-Year Plan ( ), 2,042,206 were women compared with 880,266 males. There are wide variations between destination countries in the balance of male and female OCWs from Indonesia. The dominance of women is greatest in the Middle East but is also evident in Singapore and Hong Kong. Historically, the labor migration to Malaysia has been male-dominated (Hugo, 1993a) but women are increasingly significant, and in recent times, there has been a relative balance.

6 18 ASIAN AND PACIFIC MIGRATION JOURNAL FIGURE 1 NUMBER OF INDONESIAN OVERSEAS WORKERS PROCESSED BY THE MINISTRY OF MANPOWER, Other Malaysia/Singapore Middle East Number Year SOURCES: Suyono, 1981; Singhanetra-Renard, 1986:52; Pusat Penelitian Kependudukan, Universitas Gadjah Mada, 1986:2; AKAN (Antar Kerja Antar Negara) Offices, Bandung and Jakarta. NOTE: In 2000, the Indonesian government transferred to a calendar year system of accounting from previously using 1 April - 31 March.

7 MIGRATION AND THE FAMILY IN INDONESIA 19 TABLE 1 INDONESIA: ESTIMATED STOCKS OF OVERSEAS CONTRACT WORKERS AROUND 2000 Destination Estimated Stocks Source Saudi Arabia 425,000 Indonesian Embassy, Riyadh United Arab Emirates 35,000 Asian Migration News, 30 April 1999 Malaysia 1,900,000 Kassim, 1997 Hong Kong 32,000 DEPNAKER Singapore 70,000 Asian Migration News, 15 May 1999 Taiwan 46,762 Kyodo, 24 May 2000 South Korea 11,700 Asian Migration Yearbook, 1999:182 Japan 3,245 Asian Migration Yearbook, 1999:128 Philippines 26,000 South China Morning Post, 10 December 1998 Brunei 2,426 Asian Migration Yearbook, 1999:125 Other 20,000 DEPNAKER Total 2,572,133 The official OCW movement briefly discussed above, however, is only part of Indonesia s international labor emigration. Indeed, undocumented movement is almost certainly greater in scale than the documented movement. Overwhelmingly the main destination of undocumented workers is the neighboring country of Malaysia although there are important flows to other nations as well. There is a long history of population movement in the region, which predates the formation of independent nations, or even colonies of European countries (Hugo, 1993a). Moreover, there is a great deal of ethnic, religious and linguistic similarity between most Indonesians and the Malay majority in Malaysia. While there must remain a great deal of uncertainty about the numbers of Indonesians working overseas, Table 1 presents estimates from a number of sources as well as discussions with officials in the Indonesian Department of Labor of the stocks of Indonesians working overseas in The government put the number of legal labor migrants abroad in early 2000 at 1.6 million (Migration News, 5 June 2000). A total estimate of over 2.5 million workers, which includes both legal and undocumented overseas workers, would not seem excessive and this represents around three percent of the nation s labor force.

8 20 ASIAN AND PACIFIC MIGRATION JOURNAL Migrant workers are not a random, representative cross-section of Indonesian workers. They are selectively drawn from particular groups and areas. This is predominantly due to chain migration effects and the fact that once a migration network is established, it facilitates and encourages further movement along that network linking regions in Indonesia with regions in a destination country. As a result, overseas workers tend to be concentrated in groups from particular parts of Indonesia. Indeed, overseas workers tend not only to come from particular regions in Indonesia but also from particular villages within those regions. Conceptualizing the Impact of Migration on the Family It is important to distinguish between two types of impact that migration has on the family, especially that in the place of origin of the migrants. Families of migrants at the place of origin must adjust not only to the permanent or temporary absence of family members but also to the influences of the newly acquired money, goods, ideas, attitudes, behavior, and innovations transmitted back to them by the movers. The adjustments to these impacts that families must make depend upon which family members move, the length of the absence, and the socio-cultural system at the place of origin, especially dominant types of family structure and the degree of flexibility within that structure (Hugo, 1987). In examining the effects of migration on the family, it is important to acknowledge the significance of social networks linking migrants with their families linking origin and destination areas. Migrant networks are sets of interpersonal ties that link migrants, former migrants and non-migrants in origin and destination areas through the bonds of kinship, friendship and shared community origin (Massey, 1988:396). These networks play a crucial role in structuring population movement within and between countries and once established, a process of cumulative causation is set in train so that the movement can become increasingly independent of the economic conditions that originally caused it. As Massey (1988:397) has pointed out Networks increase the likelihood of movement because they lower the costs of relocation. What is given less attention in the literature is the fact that these networks are conduits through which influences flow back from the destination to the origin and impinge upon the family. These influences can be carried back by the migrants themselves when they return periodically or permanently to the origin, or they can flow back to the origin through letters, phone calls and other means. Most migration in Asia involves the establishment of these networks, which play an increasingly important role in bringing about change in families and communities in origin areas of migrants.

9 MIGRATION AND THE FAMILY IN INDONESIA 21 TABLE 2 EAST FLORES SURVEY VILLAGES: PERIOD OF ABSENCE OF RETURNED MIGRANTS DURING THEIR LAST MIGRATION TO SABAH Total Males Females Period of Absence No. % No. % No. % Less than 6 months months months months Two years or more Total Migration and Family Structure In examining the impact of international labor migration on the family, it is important to establish that most of such movement is non-permanent and that most involves the separation of husband and wife. This can be illustrated in the findings of the East Flores case study. Table 2 shows the period of absence overseas reported by migrants who had already returned and indicates that more than half of respondents were away for less than a year during their most recent sojourn in Sabah. A fifth were away for longer than two years. There is a significant difference between males and females, with women on average being away a shorter time than men. The table shows only those who have in fact returned and many of those who have settled in Sabah would not have been detected in this survey, especially if they have taken their families with them. When migrants who are still away are considered, more than half had been away for less than five years. Hence, while there is a significant amount of more or less permanent movement, non-permanent migration is dominant. It is significant in the East Flores study that the length of absence of women was shorter on average than that of males. This gender differential is a function of two factors:! It partly reflects the relative recency of large-scale female migration out of the region.! In addition, women keep stronger links to the origin areas than men on average. In fieldwork, it was often heard said that women run away in Sabah less than men. Indeed, this factor was given as a reason for the recruiting fee charged by calo (recruiter) being higher for men then

10 22 ASIAN AND PACIFIC MIGRATION JOURNAL TABLE 3 EAST FLORES SURVEY VILLAGES: MARITAL STATUS OF RETURNED MIGRANTS AND MIGRANTS STILL AWAY Migrants Still Away Males Females Marital Status No. % No. % Never Married Married Other Total Returned Migrants Never married Married Other Total women. In addition, the home-based family may be able to generally exercise greater control over absent female members than male absentees. While the movement to Malaysia often involves very extended absences, or even permanent displacement, a much greater proportion of those going to the Middle East return more quickly. While the usual contract is for two years, in fact a high proportion return prematurely. For example, of a sample of 40 female returnees interviewed upon arrival in Jakarta, only nine of the 40 had been away two years or longer (Pujiastuti, 2000:52). Turning to the marital status of migrant workers, Table 3 shows that in the East Flores case, 83.3 percent of female migrants still away were never married, compared with 58.7 percent of males. The proportions are much smaller for returned migrants, although again, they are slightly higher for females. This suggests a pattern whereby it is more acceptable for a young woman who is not yet married to migrate than one who has already married and perhaps begun a family. In contrast, many married men migrate to earn income to support their wives and children. However, in legal migration, women migrants are usually married. Pujiastati (2000:39) found that all 40 of her sample of returning female OCWs had been married, although 10 were widowed and three divorced. Similarly, Heyzer and Wee (1994:45-47) found that the majority of women domestic international labor migrants they studied were married.

11 MIGRATION AND THE FAMILY IN INDONESIA 23 Hence one of the major impacts of international labor migration in Indonesia is that it usually involves the separation of husbands and wives for an extended period. This clearly has an impact on the headship of households. In the kabupaten (regency or sub-provincial administrative unit) of East Flores, one-third of all households at the 1990 census were headed by women compared with 11.8 percent in the province of East Nusatenggara and 13.7 percent in all of Indonesia (Hugo, 1998:22). It is apparent in East Flores that there are some negative aspects associated with the long absences of male migrants. Migration often places strain on marriages and some men and, to a lesser extent, women have taken an extra or substitute spouse in Malaysia. In the early 1990s, concern over this issue was so great that there was a local government move to initiate a transmigration scheme to resettle the wives and families of men working in Malaysia to East Kalimantan so that they could visit more frequently. This, however, did not gain acceptance because the local matrix of extended family, community and church support is an important source of support to the women left behind. This has been studied in some detail in Graham s (1997:2) study of a rural community of East Flores who explains:... long term labour migrants may arrive back in the village after an extended absence, but then just for a social visit. Sometimes such a man would be accompanied by his Malaysian wife and children, apparently to the surprise of his parents and siblings and even though the village woman to whom he had been betrothed when he went away was still waiting for him. Or to be more precise: perhaps, as some said, she had been obliged to wait by the man s clan brothers, who had after all contributed to the bridewealth that secured her fecundity on his behalf. Whatever its source, this loyalty may cost a woman dearly if her own child bearing years slipped away as she waited. She further explains how some female villagers are in turn unfaithful to absent betrothed male migrants. A returning migrant who has saved sufficient funds to build or purchase a house may indeed find his intended wife with another. While the survey reflected that most migrant families did not consider the absence of migrants to have a negative effect on bringing up children, Graham (1997:3) explains: Formally married or not, young women in the village frequently face the experience of carrying a child to term and giving birth without the assistance, financial or otherwise, of the baby s father. Indeed as soon as the couple s first child is conceived many a young father-to-be leaves for Malaysia for a period of two to three years.

12 24 ASIAN AND PACIFIC MIGRATION JOURNAL Young women who lose a child in its infancy in these circumstances are sometimes doubly distressed by the fact that the father has never seen the child and by the apprehension that he may suspect they had not cared for it properly in his absence. A report in the Kupang Post (23 October 1997), the main newspaper in East Nusatenggara based on 254 residents of Desa Ndetundora II in Kecamatan Ende, in Flores, who had sought to earn income in Malaysia over the three year period shows that around 200 had left a wife and children in the village. The secretary of the village indicated that the failure of some husbands and fathers to return to the village constituted a significant problem in the village. Indeed many had not even sent back any news. Graham (1997:3) points to two sources of opposition to labor migration in the village she studied in East Flores. The Catholic Church locally has come out strongly against migration because of the social disruption it causes. Labor migration is seen to disrupt Christian family life in Flores. The East Flores regency officials were also seen to be against unauthorized migration partly because it is out of their control but also partly because they argue that it undermines local attempts to achieve regional development. Female headship of incomplete nuclear families is common in areas where temporary international migration such as labor migration occurs. In such circumstances women and children must perform tasks traditionally done by men. Siegel (1969), for example, found that the outmigration of Acehnese men, usually for periods of almost a year, has led women to handle additional agricultural tasks. The extent to which this occurs depends partly upon the periodicity of male mobility. Another important factor in the family s adaptation to migration is whether an extended family and kinship structure exists to allow other male family members to fill roles normally assigned to the absent male. Lineton (1975:66) reports that in southern Sulawesi, Bugis women have little difficulty in coping with their husbands absence because members of the extended family move in and provide companionship and other support. In contrast, Naim (1974:425) found that the extended absences of Minangkabau migrant men from their western Sumatran homes created strains within the family and may have been responsible for an unusually high incidence of Oedipus complex among children and of mental disorders among women in the Minangkabau heartland. Impacts on Marriage and Divorce The influence of international migration in Asia upon marriage has attracted little attention except for studies on the international marriage

13 MIGRATION AND THE FAMILY IN INDONESIA 25 market whereby a range of matrimonial mail order and introduction schemes are seeing mainly women from countries like Philippines and Thailand moving to Australia, Japan and elsewhere to marry locals (Jackson and Flores, 1989; Cahill, 1990). Gonzalez (1961:1266) suggests that migration-induced imbalances in sex ratios leads to a decreased incidence of arranged marriages and to delayed age at marriage. There is no research indicating whether international migrants are less willing to accept arranged marriages than non-migrants in their home communities. Certainly the chances of meeting and marrying a spouse from beyond the home area (and even nation) are greater for migrants while there is likely to be less of a chance for the family to influence the marriage of migrants than nonmigrants. The impact of international migration upon marital stability has been studied to some extent (Hugo, 1995a) and it would appear that mobilityinduced separations of family members for the often extended periods involved in international labor migration can lead to marital instability and the consequent permanent break-up of the family unit. During fieldwork in East Flores, one of the most frequently voiced comments about the impact of migration to Sabah (East Malaysia) was the break-up of marriage. Indeed, in some cases men and women absentees had taken another spouse at the destination. Studies have generally found a higher incidence of divorce among migrant households than among non-migrant households although this has not always been the case as in Adi s (1996) study of female domestic workers migrating from West Java, Indonesia to the Middle East. In the East Flores study, women now make up a significant proportion of migrant workers traveling from Eastern Indonesia into Sabah. In a study of a village in East Flores carried out in the late 1980s, Graham (1997) was able to trace migration by village men back to the 1940s, but the movement of single women did not begin until the late 1970s. Graham (1997) says that the first female migrants from the survey village traveled to Malaysia accompanying husbands or in some cases to look for husbands who had been absent for long periods. The occurrence of this type of movement is significant. It was reported in 1995 (Riau Post, 20 August 1995) that of 226 Indonesian undocumented migrants deported from Peninsular Malaysia to Dumai in Riau a few days earlier, 43 were women who had gone to Malaysia seeking their husbands but had not been able to find them. The pressures that the separation of husband and wife place on marriage in international labor migration in Indonesia are considerable. There were incidences in the East Flores study where it was clear that some male migrants had abandoned families in Indonesia and others where they had dual families in places of origin and destination. Moreover, there is an established sex industry in Sabah to cater to the needs of Indonesian male

14 26 ASIAN AND PACIFIC MIGRATION JOURNAL migrant workers. It is clear that there is also a significant movement of Indonesian prostitutes to East Malaysia to meet the demands created by Indonesian male migrants. It would seem however that the bulk of the prostitutes from Indonesia to Sabah come from Java (Jones, 1996:18), especially East Java. There are little data on the trafficking of Indonesian girls and women into Malaysia but Jones (1996:18) maintains that there has been an increase in such trafficking. Impacts on the Role and Status of Women It is increasingly being realized that migration is a gendered process (Hugo, 2000c), but there is little understanding of the complex relationship between migration of women and wider social and economic change. In particular we lack knowledge of the relationship between population mobility, on the one hand, and changes in the role and status of women, on the other. It is clearly a two-way relationship whereby increased female empowerment might encourage migration while migration may be associated with empowerment of women (Hugo, 1999). The latter has two aspects:! First, the role and status of women who move may change as a result of the migration.! Second, the roles of women who are left behind by the migration of husbands, brothers and fathers may change due to the absence of these males. Other things being equal (which of course they rarely are), it would be expected that migration would be an empowering process for women. This derives from a number of changes, which are often associated with female migration, namely:! Migration often involves women moving away from the immediate control of traditional, often patriarchal, forms of authority and being separated from those controls by some distance;! It often is associated with a move from a familial mode of production to an enterprise mode;! It often involves a transition from a rural to an urban context;! Migrant women, may for the first time receive money for their work and have control over what they do with that money;! They may for the first time be living with people other than their family;! They are likely to be exposed to a range of experiences and influences different from the traditional way of life maintained in the place of origin;

15 MIGRATION AND THE FAMILY IN INDONESIA 27! They will interact with (especially in the workplace) people from a wider range of backgrounds and experience than in their place of origin;! They are more likely to have greater personal decision-making power in relation to their day-to-day behavior;! In some traditional societies, migration results in a breakdown of the seclusion and isolation of women;! There may be a change in the relative roles of males and females; and! Migrant women may form new types of alliances and friendships with other women through their involvement in formal and informal groups such as unions and sisterhoods. Indeed, such group solidarity of women migrants in the absence of the family are common. There are many studies, which indicate that these elements do operate to empower women migrants, especially when the movement involves migration from rural to urban areas and when it is overseas. The search for greater freedom and autonomy is found to be an important motive for women to migrate in different Indonesian contexts (Ariffin, 1984; Williams, 1990; Wolf, 1990). The complexity and variability of the migration experience for women needs to be stressed. Most migrations have both positive and negative consequences. For example, even women migrants in highly vulnerable and exploitative situations often indicate that their migration has given them greater autonomy in some areas of their lives. While the research on the relationship between migration of women and empowerment remains limited, it is possible to make some tentative generalizations about the situations when migration is most likely to be associated with some improvement in the autonomy of women. This is more likely when:! the migration is from rural to urban areas;! it is not clandestine or undocumented;! women work outside of the home at the destination;! they move autonomously and not as part of a family group;! they enter formal sector occupations; and! the migration is longer term or permanent, rather than a temporary one. Of course, there is also considerable variation according to the cultural context, the rate of social and economic change in origin and destination, and the characteristics of the women themselves and their families. An important element in the lives of women migrants, especially those at urban destinations, is their having a different type of relationship with other women at the destination. This is often manifested in the forming of groups, associations or institutions, which often cut across traditionally

16 28 ASIAN AND PACIFIC MIGRATION JOURNAL important kin, locality and ethnic lines (Sunaryanto, 1998). Wong in discussing foreign domestic workers in Singapore (1996:103), suggests that with accumulated experience and widening networks, such workers can begin to free themselves from total dependency on the recruitment and employment structure which had been resorted to for invalid entry into a foreign labor market. She also reports that maids in Singapore may also diversify their sources of income by undertaking such activities as:! Becoming recruiting sub-agents for other maids from their home areas;! Importing duty free and other specialist goods from their destination to their origin; and! Entering prostitution. As she (Wong, 1996:104) points out... The shy and fearful fresh entrant to a foreign, urban labor market who survives the shock and pain of the first few months of domestic servitude often embarks on a migration trajectory, the inner and outer contours of which have yet to be adequately explored and described. While there is often an association between migration and empowerment of women, there is also evidence that migration of women does not necessarily initiate a change in their role and status. Indeed, migration can serve to entrench the existing status quo or be neutral in its impact. Migration of women is often part of a family strategy to diversify its portfolio of sources of income. As part of an attempt to spread the risk, family members are deployed over a range of types of jobs over a range of locations. This process has greatly expanded in its spatial extent over recent years to incorporate not only other labor markets within the nation but others outside the country as well. In such circumstances, the deployment of women family members to labor markets where they are able to obtain work may be part of a strategy to maintain the status quo. It is often designed to sustain often patriarchal structures and unequal status between the genders. Family control of women migrants can still be exercised via the strong social networks, which have developed between origin and destination and through the substantial communities of family members at the destination. These not only are the conduits along which remittances flow but also the means by which traditional controls over migrant women are maintained. While this is by no means always the case, and less likely among educated women (Wolf, 1990), it remains common. However, the extent to which the village-based patriarchy can maintain control over women migrants is often limited, despite the strength of social networks. Over time, there is a tendency for such control to be eroded.

17 MIGRATION AND THE FAMILY IN INDONESIA 29 It cannot be assumed that when women work outside the home as a result of migration that they will necessarily be empowered by gaining access to all or even part of the cash income they earn. If at the destination they are still enmeshed in a patriarchal family situation, the income may in fact all be handed over to the father or husband so that the woman does not gain any financial autonomy from the migration. Moreover, it seems that in some contexts women migrants may have enhanced the economic status of their families by contributing income earned at their destination but not experienced any increase in their own overall status as a result. This would appear to be the case among some Indonesian women going to work as domestics in the Middle East (Adi, 1996). There may also be certain threshold effects operating so that one two-year stint in the Middle East by a West Java woman may not be enough to produce a change in her status whereas two such periods may be sufficient to produce a change. It is apparent then that migration of women can, in particular contexts, result in little change in gender power relations. The case of women going overseas or to a major city to enter domestic service is relevant here. Such women are often moving from one household-based patriarchy to another in which their status is no better or even worse than at the origin. Moreover, because they are home-based, their contact with the outside world at the destination is often quite limited, a constraint, which is often exacerbated by language and cultural barriers as well as limits, imposed by governments at destinations on migrant workers freedom to travel. There can be no doubt that while migration often results in women gaining a range of new freedoms, the opposite can also occur. For some women, migration can mean the loss of important and valued support systems based in the village, which served to protect them and help in a range of household-based activities. Hence migration can result in disempowerment in these instances. Indeed, the circumstances of migration may influence the nature of the international labor migration experience of women. It was mentioned earlier that the rate of premature return of official Indonesian female workers, especially those who go to the Middle East, was high. The reasons for the premature return are several but involve health problems, homesickness and inability to adjust to the new situation. Moreover, the incidence of abuse and exploitation of Indonesian female migrants in Saudi Arabia has been found to be considerable (Pujiastuti, 2000:54). Jones (1996:16) has reported that Indonesian (and other) international migrant domestic workers have high levels of vulnerability to exploitation because:! They usually live with employers in their homes.! They are separated from fellow workers and support networks.

18 30 ASIAN AND PACIFIC MIGRATION JOURNAL TABLE 4 EAST FLORES SURVEY VILLAGES: MODE OF TRAVELING OF MIGRANTS Migrants Still Away Mode of Males Females Traveling No. % No. % Alone With family With friends Other Returned Migrants Alone With family With friends Other ! They do not have witnesses to observe mistreatment.! In some destinations (e.g., Saudi Arabia), they are not protected by local labor laws). While such exploitation among domestic workers is considerable, it is not always the case. Indeed, in the East Flores case there was little or no exploitation of the females moving to Sabah, although many were employed as domestic workers. This appears to be due to the fact that most of the women moving do so were part of a group, usually including male family members. Of the 58 female migrants studied in the village, only four reported traveling to Sabah alone (Table 4). This pattern was also reported by Graham (1997) in her village study where she found that women migrants were less subject to exploitation at the destination in Sabah because of the differential sequencing of males and female migration described above: To my knowledge no women from any particular village have ended up in such dire circumstances in Sabah but their less harrowing fate is probably due for the most part to the chain migration contacts and facilities gradually established by earlier waves of male labor migrants. By the time women joined the migration stream from Flores to Sabah, they were generally traveling in the company of groups of men (mostly husbands or clansmen) at least

19 MIGRATION AND THE FAMILY IN INDONESIA 31 some of whom had usually made the trip before and were thereby aware of its perils and pitfalls. Furthermore, women traveling from Flores to Sabah often set out to join menfolk (usually brothers or husbands) already settled there. It is not only that women moving from East Flores tend to move with male family members but they often work with them or near them in Sabah. This has meant that these women are protected from exploitation at the destination by male family members and clansmen already settled at the destination. It is also important to examine the effects of population mobility on women s traditional roles in origin areas. In southern Sulawesi, for example, some women in heavy outmigration areas where men are absent for long periods, were appointed to head their villages, although traditionally that role is reserved for males. One of the few detailed studies of the impact of heavy male circular migration from rural areas in Indonesia (Colfer, 1985) found that in Eastern Kalimantan, women s involvement in rice and vegetable production increased as a direct result of male movement. More than half of the women Colfer interviewed reported that life was difficult during their husband s absence and most of the difficulties they mentioned related to agricultural labor especially tree felling and fence and field-hut construction. Colfer (1985:233) stressed, however, that such comments told only part of the story. What impressed her most during her fieldwork was the women s competence in providing for their families during their husband s absence and their pride in their autonomy and competence. Their efforts to cope received strong support from other members of the community. Hetler s (1986) study in a village of central Java categorized women whose husbands were absent for long periods as de facto household heads and showed how they frequently assumed the roles of de jure heads by paying taxes, providing labor and household representatives for village activities, and attending meetings. Graham (1997:6) explains that traditionally women did not work the gardens, which produce local food. However, the migration of men to Malaysia has resulted in them working gardens. Moreover, women gain de facto control of the land when the men are away in Malaysia (Graham, 1997:8). Usually when husbands, fathers and brothers migrate temporarily, the women remaining behind have to take on a wider range of roles and responsibilities. This may lead to a more permanent change such that women become more autonomous and are more involved than before in decision-making within the family. In the East Flores study, it was found that there had been a widening of the roles of women left at home in the village. Their role in family decision-making has increased, in such areas

20 32 ASIAN AND PACIFIC MIGRATION JOURNAL TABLE 5 EAST FLORES SURVEY VILLAGES, MIGRANTS STILL AWAY: EFFECTS ON FAMILY DECISION MAKING Effects on Family Male Female Total Decision-Making No. % No. % No. % Yes No Total such as household budgeting; the schooling of children, agriculture and animal husbandry and community involvement has undoubtedly increased (Kapioru, 1995). It may be that this increased independence is also being asserted in the younger generation of women who are migrating independently to Sabah to seek work. Table 5 shows that the impact of migration on family decision-making also depends on who migrates. There is a striking sex differential with a third of families with male migrants absent indicating that the absence had produced an influence on family decision-making whereas this was the case in only a single household where a female migrant had left. Intergenerational and Intrafamily Relationships As indicated earlier, traditional family structures in most Indonesian ethnic groups are emotionally extended in nature and have a strong patriarchal (and in a few cases, matriarchal) element. Migration may be playing a role in the move from emotionally extended to emotionally nuclear families and in the erosion of patriarchal power in the family. Firstly, it is clear that migration is often associated with migrants becoming independent earners as opposed to workers on the family land under the control of the family head. The consequent breakdown of the extended family as the key unit of economic production has certainly loosened patriarchal authority and the dominance of the extended family. The separation of family members from the head of the extended family may weaken the control the latter is able to exercise over the former. Moreover, although it is possible to exaggerate the differences between traditional rural origins and modern urban destinations in international migration out of Asian countries, there are some elements of social change, which are more evident in such destination areas. For example, the emergence of the nuclear family, the enrichment and

21 MIGRATION AND THE FAMILY IN INDONESIA 33 multiplication of individual social relationships and the challenge to collective solidarity by individual freedom (White, 1979: ) may become apparent to migrant workers at the destination and eventually lead them to challenge the status quo in their home areas. International migration often leads to separation of family members, creating a greater dependence on the nuclear family, weakening wider kinship relationships, and consequently widening the roles of nuclear family members, especially women (Gonzalez, 1961:1274). Caldwell (1976) has identified such changes as critical to the transition from high to low fertility, which requires a reversal of the net flow of wealth. 1 Caldwell says that from a demographic viewpoint the most important social exports from Europe have been the predominance of the nuclear family with its strong husband-wife ties and the concentration of concern and expenditure on one s children rather than on one s parents and other kin. There is some evidence that if such changes are not initiated by international migration, they are certainly assisted by it. Although wider kinship linkages exhibit considerable tenacity in the face of physical separation caused by mobility, the processes encouraging physical and emotional nucleation of families are likely to impinge most strongly on migrants, especially those working in more developed countries than their own. In Indonesia, there have been studies of internal migration, which have shown that gender identities among migrants undergo change. Silvey (2000) and Sunaryanto (1998) indicate that women migrants working in factories in new peri-urban industrial complexes change due to interaction with women migrants from other careers, production relations, new consumer aspirations, exposure to new ways of doing things and separation from family. Similarly, Elmhirst (2000) demonstrates how the identities of women involved in resettlement from Java to the Outer Islands under the Transmigration Program undergo change. However, extant studies of female overseas workers in Indonesia do not examine in detail shifts in the identities of overseas workers and their families. One study of returning female overseas workers (Yayasan Pengembangan Pedesaan, 1992) found that women increased their involvement in the family s financial affairs after returning from employment overseas (Table 6). Important findings on the social impacts of female OCWs'outmigration included: 1 In traditional societies the net flow is from children to parents, but in modern societies the flow is from parents to children.