Global Woman

"There are many tempting reasons to pick up Global Woman . . . the overarching theme is important and provocative . . . and the personal anecdotes that spill off every page are heartbreaking, infuriating, dramatic and occasionally hilarious."—The New York Times

"This very interesting collection focuses on the multiple effects of globalization on women and their families. Among its subjects are the rise in female migration, the transfer of domestic services from low- to high-income countries, the care crisis left behind by transnational families, and the problems of international sex tourism. The different essays raise key questions and are important reading for our time."—Lourdes Beneria, Professor of City and Regional Planning and Women's Studies at Cornell University

"These 15 important essays offer a broad view . . . with the aim of achieving better treatment of the women who make monumental sacrifices in search of a better life for themselves and their families."—San Francisco Chronicle

"Global Woman is an extraordinary and original book documenting the effects of far-flung globalization on that most local, domestic, and essential of pursuits—mothering. The commercialization of domestic activity has been hidden in plain view. The authors of Global Woman make it vividly visible."—Robert Kuttner, co-editor of The American Prospect

"Two of the best social thinkers of our time have joined together to produce a volume of deep insight and impeccable scholarship about what it means to be female, poor and ready to move across borders. Long after the advocates of Neoliberalism have been forgotten, this book will live on."—Patricia Fernández-Kelly, author of For We Are Sold, I and My People

"A series of vivid and devastating portraits of women caught up in the global commodification of women's traditional labor, this collection also illuminates the larger forces driving the transnational traffic in child and elder care, housecleaning, and sex services . . . Global Woman will change the way we think about globalization and about women's caring labor."—Evelyn Nakano Glenn, author of Unequal Freedom: How Race and Gender Shaped American Citizenship and Labor

"The feminization of the migrant work force is an enormously important, underreported subject . . . Fascinating, illuminating, harrowing."—Salon.com

"This important book should find a place for itself among scholars of globalization, migration studies, and women's studies . . . The current discourse on globalization, according to the authors, has little to say about the 'migration of maids, nannies, nurses, sex workers, and contract brides,' since, to most economists, these women 'are just individuals making a go of it.' The positive effects of their labor are sometimes noted: the money they remit to home countries is a major source of foreign exchange, and the work they do in the host country enables a large pool of upwardly mobile First World women to pursue productive careers. The negative consequences, which can include emotional hardships caused by leaving children behind as well as physical strains, are rarely acknowledged. Social critics Ehrenreich (Nickel and Dimed) and Hochschild (The Time Bind) point out that in previous centuries the developed world imported natural resources, and now the import du jour is women, ideally, 'happy peasant' women who can care for the elderly and disabled, lovingly raise children and provide sexual services for men. The editors have gathered some 15 essays on aspects of 'the female underside of globalization'—e.g., Filipina housekeepers in Hong Kong, Latina domestic workers in Los Angeles, sexual slaves in Thailand, Vietnamese contract brides—mostly written by academics working in the field, but largely jargon-free. While one small book can't say everything about a major global phenomenon, Ehrenreich and Hochschild have at least brought attention to these women's plight."—Publishers Weekly