Global Cinderellas

Abstract

Norma was born in 1967 in a small village in the Philippines.She went to college for two years, but had to drop out after the sudden death of her father.To mitigate her family's financial di≈culties, she departed for Singapore-the first time she had ever left the Philippines-to meet one of her sisters, who had been working in domestic service.Norma worked for a Singaporean family and took care of their two children for five years.During this period she met her husband, a Filipino migrant factory worker.After Norma got pregnant, they both returned to the Philippines and got married.For two years, they lived together in Manila and had another child.Her husband worked as a tricycle driver and Norma took care of the children at home.However, the meager family income worried Norma, particularly in view of forthcoming expenses for her children's education.She decided to work abroad again.In 1997 Norma borrowed money to pay for an opportunity to work in Taiwan.Alone this time, Norma became a transnational mother and the primary breadwinner in her family.She left her two children in the care of her youngest sister, to whom she pays a monthly allowance.Norma is now saving money to sponsor her husband to come to work in Taiwan.However, as the placement fee for factory workers has risen as high as us$4,000, her savings could barely make the down payment.Taking care of her employer's newborn baby, Norma could not go home during her first two years in Taiwan.She said with a sigh, ''My daughter always asks me when I am going home.I keep telling her next Christmas.''She finally convinced her employer to let her take a one-week vacation and went home with a lot of toys and gifts, including a Barbie doll, a dvd player, and a new Nokia mobile phone.Norma was not sure about her migratory path after Taiwan, wishing only that her family could be reunited in a few years and that they could open a sari-sari (small grocery store) on the outskirts of Manila.Pei-jun was born in Taipei in the same year as Norma.With a university degree, she worked in an international bank and was recently promoted to manager.After getting married, she and her husband moved in with his parents.Though she consented to live in the traditional three-generation

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