The Role of International Organizations in Global Care Chains
An important factor in the creation of global care chains that is often ignored in evaluations of the concept is the role played by international organizations. In “Transnational Care Chains as seen by the OECD, the World Bank, and the IOM,” Rianne Mahon, a Distinguished Research Professor of Public Policy in Canada, discusses the roles of three international organizations in global care chains. The three organizations mentioned are the World Bank, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The OECD specializes in the economic development of its member states and their role in the same for the Global South. While the organization does focus a bit on migration, that focus began as a focus on its European states. This changed as the patterns of migration changed. Mahon states that the catalyst was “the old distinction between ‘guest worker’ migration within Europe and the ‘settler’ countries of North America and the Antipodes became increasingly irrelevant in the 1980s.” (Mahon, 80) The World Bank is more closely involved in development, specializing in the financing and research on development. There has been a large amount of controversy over the World Bank’s structural adjustment policies, and much of this controversy has discussed women and care work.
Mahon discusses the ways in which they interact with global care chains. Due to the often transnational aspect of these global care chains, there are many different types of policies involved in the creation and facilitation of them. Mahon asserts that even though the three organizations recognize and do their respective parts of the overarching issue, the OECD and World Bank fail to “grasp the connections among them.” (Mahon, 78) Unlike the OECD and the World Bank, the IOM understands the various links of global care chains, but often prioritizes trafficking when evaluating which issue to take action for. According to Mahon, this is because it “fits more comfortably with the IOM’s main discourse of ‘managed migration.’” (Mahon, 78)
According to Mahon, “the World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development continued to view economic globalization as a source of economic opportunities for women, ignoring the fact that ‘the problem is not just women’s exclusion from labour markets but also exploitative and disabling forms of inclusion’ (Razavi, 2012: 194) — either in the informal economy at home or in low-paid jobs in richer countries.” (Mahon, 84) The IOM has made it its mission to prioritize safe migration for countries “seeking to meet (increasingly temporary) labour needs, to the development of the countries of origin, and to the well-being of migrants themselves.” (Mahon, 88) The organization does not prioritize research as much as the OECD or the World Bank, but it does still publish many works.