Executive Summary
This shadow report intends to provide the Committee of the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) with additional information regarding the 7th and 8th
combined state report of the Philippines. This report deals specifically with women migrant workers,
focusing on domestic workers, in particular, the most vulnerable of all women migrant workers.
The following report highlights the root causes of the mass labor migration out of the Philippines and
how these factors disproportionately impact women, linking the feminization of poverty to the
feminization of migration. General Recommendation 26 on women migrant workers, General
Recommendation 33 on access to justice, along with the CEDAW convention, frame this shadow
report and provide background on the problems encountered by women during all stages of
migration: pre-departure, onsite, and return.
While the government has made well-intentioned efforts to protect women migrant workers as seen
through: bilateral agreements; measures to protect during pre-departure, on-site employment, and
upon return; as well as through reintegration initiatives and programs, these efforts fail to completely
mitigate abuses against female domestic workers. Moreover, these measures will never completely
eliminate violations and abuses against female migrant workers. As such, it is imperative that the root
causes of migration be addressed for migration to become a genuine and informed choice rather than
a result of forced circumstances.
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