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The “Aktion Familienfasttag” of the Catholic Women’s Movement of Austria (kfbö) supports migrant women workers in the Philippines during this Lent. Among other things, support is to be given to Mindanao Migrants Center (MMCEAI) in Davao City on the Philippine island of Mindanao, which actively works to improve the living conditions of women. Special attention puts this year’s collection, which traditionally begins on Ash Wednesday and with numerous actions, like the well-known “Benefizsuppenessen” in completely Austria during the chamfering time runs, also on unpaid care work, which is often performed by women strengthened, is called it on the web page of the action.
The slogan “Fair Care work may know no borders, revolves around a general Empowerment of work migrant women in the megacity of Davao city. According to kfbö, this does mean not only economic betterment but also the personal development of women, especially through solidarity in women’s groups.
Filipinos who work abroad as so-called Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) represent an important economic factor. Remittances from these guest workers amounted to almost 10 percent of economic output in 2016. About 9 percent of the population works permanently abroad, and more than half are Filipino women, who are particularly likely to work as housemaids or nannies.
Filipinas thus undertake caretaking activities in other countries on a large scale. However, in the wake of the travel restrictions during the Corona crisis, there was a massive drop in the money returned by OFWs. In the Philippines, neither the state nor the market provides sufficient social security. As a result, a person’s earned income is central to securing a livelihood. Without formal social security, social networks, especially family structures, play an important role.
Older people and children must also contribute to the family’s earned income. Older women often perform important work in child care. In the Southeast Asian country, structural adjustment programs have also led to harsh cuts in state health and education services and privatization of state services. The division of care work in the Philippines also has an important gender dimension. Care work in the household, caring for and looking after children, the elderly and the disabled, are largely accepted as women’s work. The eldest daughters, in particular, also assume central roles in the household.
The Mindanao Migrants Center supports those female migrant workers who go abroad primarily for care work. It informs them about their risks and rights, stands by them when they are in need, counsels and accompanies them when they become victims of violence and abuse, and takes care of their children who remain home. The women of MMCEAI also campaign for the rights of female migrant workers and more future opportunities for them and their children.
Last year, more than 1.6 million euros were collected for women’s projects in the South through “Aktion Familienfasttag.” The deputy chairwoman of kfbö, Anna Raab, called this “a remarkable sign of unbroken solidarity with women in the Global South” in a dispatch at the end of the campaign last year. “The donation result as a result of this year’s campaign stabilizes our existing partnerships with women’s projects in the Global South,” Raab said. “It also opens up prospects for expanding these partnerships.”
In addition to the traditional charity soup dinners, with well-known testimonials, such as First Lady Doris Schmidauer, wife of Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, the kfbö also draws attention to the online campaign “Köch/in des Guten Lebens,” with which numerous people have been reached via the Internet for several years and have been persuaded to join in.
Info: www.teilen.at
Donation possibility: www.teilen.at/spenden
or IBAN: AT83 2011 1800 8086 0000
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