same age group that were out-of-school in this region.20 The same survey, while not broken down into regional data, found that 13.7 percent of females did not attend school due to housework, 17 percent due to insufficient funds to attend school, 8.6 percent due to the high cost of education, and 4 percent that were either employed or looking for employment.21 More concerning, is that the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi continue to be characterized by declining levels of income.22 Poverty rates in the ARMM region are as high as 73.8 percent, such as in the province of Lanao del Sur.23 Females are disproportionately impacted by this. As such, the lack of sustainable jobs in the country with decent living wages effectively link the feminization of poverty to the feminization of migration. Females are pushed to migrate by their families partially due to the perception that females are more reliable in sending home remittances.24 The feminization of migration refers to the gendered roles female migrant workers largely fill. Lower wages and higher vulnerabilities are characteristic of these gendered roles, and many females are employed in reproductive work.25 With limited education, the only real option for females from this region is that of domestic work. The majority of domestic workers in the ARMM region come from Maguindanao with 15,319 new hires in 2013.26 Furthermore, the push for migration in this region is so significant that documents, such as birth certificates and passports, are often falsified in order to leave the country for domestic work overseas. The region is known for illegal recruitment and human trafficking.27 Recruitment agencies have encountered females from Mindanao females under the legal working age of eighteen.28 The 2015 ASEAN integration will have further impacts on the migration out of the country. Under the regional integration, the ASEAN Temporary Movement of Natural Persons only covers skilled professionals. The majority of migrant workers leaving the Philippines are low skilled, which includes domestic work, and require government assistance and protection in negotiating terms of employment and wages. Low skilled migration out of the Philippines into other ASEAN countries was 47% in 2012.29 Moreover, the ASEAN level of human rights protection does not reflect an international human rights standards and it is not clear if the Socio-cultural blueprint of the ASEAN covers the rights all migrants workers, including women, children, and irregular migrant workers.30 20 Philippine Statistics Authority, Out-of-school Children and youth in the Philippines: Results from the 2013 functional literacy, education and mass media survey https://psa.gov.ph/content/out-school-children-and-youthphilippines-results-2013-functional-literacy-education-and 21 Ibid. 22 UNDP, Human development index highlights inequality, slow pace of progress, http://www.ph.undp.org/content/philippines/en/home/presscenter/pressreleases/2013/07/29/human-development-indexhighlights-inequality-slow-pace-of-progress.html 23 Commission on Philippines Overseas, “A map of philippine poverty: A second look,” http://cfo.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2305:a-map-of-philippine-poverty-a-secondlook&catid=108:cfo-press-release&Itemid=839 24 Center for Migrant Advocacy, “The feminization of migration,” p.5-7, September 2014, https://centerformigrantadvocacy.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/feminization-of-migration-v-1-0-021315.pdf 25 Ibid. 26 CMA Powerpoint slides, “Human rights and filipino labor migration: an overview” 27 Trafficking casewatch, “Armed conflict, falsified docs make trafficking easier in Maguindanao”, http://trafficking.verafiles.org/armed-conflict-falsified-documents-make-trafficking-easier-in-maguindanao/ 28 Center for Migrant Advocacy, “HSW Policy Reform Assessment” June 2015, https://centerformigrantadvocacy.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/hsw-policy-reform-assess-final-version-aug-9.pdf 29 Center for Migrant Advocacy, “Philippine labor migration and the ASEAN economic community project,” September 2014, https://centerformigrantadvocacy.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/philippine-labor-migration-and-the-aseaneconomic-community-project.pdf 30 Ibid, p.10. 5 of 12