Mi Migrant Bri rides es St Strategisi sing Within Within - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
PRESENT PR NTATION ON 3: Mi Migrant Bri rides es St Strategisi sing Within Within Family amily, Mar arket, t, and and State Amanda Chong Ama Deputy Public Prosecutor / State Counsel Criminal Justice Division Attorney-Generals
Ama Amanda Chong
Deputy Public Prosecutor / State Counsel Criminal Justice Division Attorney-General’s Chambers
Mi Migrant Bri rides es St Strategisi sing Within Within Family amily, Mar arket, t, and and State
PR PRESENT NTATION ON 3:
We do not have a simple economic rationale for action We have complex and layered motivations We are not just compelled by structural factors We make meaningful choices based on our
expectations
BACKGROUND RULES BACKGROUND RULES BACKGROUND RULES
Filtered through
DIFFERENT DISTRIBUTIONAL OUTCOMES
IMMIGRATION LAW LABOUR LAW WELFARE LAW
Filtered through
DIFFERENT DISTRIBUTIONAL OUTCOMES FOR MIGRANT BRIDES
➤ Create bargaining endowments ➤ Vulnerability and advantages which have
limiting and enabling effects on agency
➤ May limit alternatives to the bargaining situation ➤ Translates to higher/lower breaking points
FORMAL NORMS:
Actual legislation
INFORMAL NORMS:
How law is understood and interacted with in practice
➤ Background rules create high levels of
dependence on their husbands as the default position for Migrant Brides
➤ Migrant Brides are strategising away from this
dependence
➤ May involve creating more alternatives to the
bargaining situation or increasing their bargaining power
➤ Use of their own social networks ➤ Use of the State programmes to build their
CASE STUDY: FAUZIAH
Age: 38, married at age 21 Children: 2 Singaporean children - daughter (age 16) and son (age 14) Husband: Odd job worker (age 62), earns $1500 a month Immigration status: Long Term Visit Pass Housing: One room rental flat in the name of her husband Employment status: No work permit as she is HIV+ (through husband)
CONFLICT: Husband decides not to support the family. He uses his own income for himself but continues drawing from their joint bank account and spending it on prostitutes. Husband also beats her.
Works a total of five jobs STRATEGIES
Seeks help from MP/ FSC with her husband’s/ children’s ICs
Volunteers regularly with FSC and school Increase legal awareness through social networks
Uses husband’s legal
force him to take responsibility
➤ Bargaining takes place in the shadow of the background rules.
FOREGROUND RULES
BACKGROUND RULES BACKGROUND RULES BACKGROUND RULES LARGE DISTRIBUTIONAL CONSEQUENCES SMALL CHANGES IN
= significant increments in bargaining power of actors
➤ Can limit the distortions in the foreground rules
A NEW THEORY OF SOCIAL CHANGE: IF WE ARE ALL AGENTS…
How do we increase the power actors wield as they strategise, so they can move into their
Fostering greater legal awareness + Laws in plain English.
Focus on building capacity and diminishing vulnerability Breaking down “stereotypes of suffering”. Intervention that engages the whole community.
➤ Requirement of a Singaporean sponsor for LTVP ➤ Difficult for women whose husbands have
passed away or are in long-term incarceration.
➤ Some women have prostituted themselves, or
enter into transactional relationships with men.
➤ Requirement that only your husband may
sponsor you if you are married.
➤ Difficult for women in domestic violence
situations whose husbands refuse to divorce them.