Migration, Political Economy and Violence Against Women: The Post Immigration Experiences of Filipino Women in Australia

Abstract

This paper arose from research conducted on disproportionate levels of violence against Filipino women in Australia, in particular high victimisation rates in cases of spousal homicides compared to other Australian women. The research lead to a consideration of the intersection between gender, ethnicity and first world/third world relations. Violence against Filipino women in Australia is examined with reference to the material and symbolic dimensions which shaped their experiences as immigrants and their postcolonial identities. This paper could be read as a challenge to simple notions of culture conflict by demonstrating the importance of specificity in the manner in which post-colonial identities and representations are constructed, and the need for specificity in understanding practices such as violence against immigrant women. The gendered and racialised nature of the movement of women across national boundaries, and their subsequent exposure to more extreme levels of violence, gives the research a broader focus than simply the experiences of Filipino women in Australia. We pay particular attention to the Internet as a site for the representation of Filipino women and a marketplace for buying and selling women. The Internet now represents a significant international site through which Filipino women are represented as partners for sex or marriage. The Internet also exemplifies the manner in which economic privilege and access to technological knowledge and resources reinforce hierarchies based in 'race' and gender and reproduce inequality within and through cyberspace.

Keywords: K14, K42

JEL Classification: gender, race, homicide, internet, migration