Social and Cultural Impacts of Global Care Chains

Due to the intersectional nature of global care chains, the impacts are not solely economic although the motivations for migration are. Some of these impacts are social and cultural. As these women migrate and locate these lucrative positions in carework, they send remittances back to their families. These remittances increase their families’ financial standing which in turn increases their social standing. The question I wish to pose regarding this is, “at what cost?” Another major impact of global care chains is the alteration of family structures across the globe. Families that were originally found in the same household and region are now often becoming “transnational families.” (Pérez-Orozco, 4) The change in family structures is not easy for the families in question, and the relations of these families usually become strained. Global care chains also perpetuate a cycle of migration. This migration is not always restricted to the care drain, at times it falls into the category of brain drains.

One of the most unfortunate consequences of global care chains is the fact that the performance and behavior of the children that are left behind in the women’s home countries often suffer as a result. A survey done in 1996 by the Scalabrini Migration Center in Manila revealed that there are higher rates of “delinquency and suicide” in children of these women compared to their classmates. (Hochschild, 38) The report also showed lower rates of performance in school in comparison to their peers. (See table below) Another result is the increase in power imbalances. The women in the Global North receive increased autonomy through their ability to enter the workforce and not worry about the care of their children while the women who migrate to care for their children are simultaneously gaining and losing autonomy. Although they are gaining autonomy by having the ability to enter the workforce, they are often not permanent residents or citizens of the countries they are working in which leads to less autonomy. Along with that, they are also unable to bring their families to live with them which results in the loss of their ability to participate in their family structures.