Presentation given at the Migrating out of Poverty Conference, 2017.

1. ADULTS-IN-THE-MAKING:
INTERGENERATIONAL IMPACT OF PARENTAL
MIGRATION ON YOUNG INDONESIAN WOMEN’S
ASPIRATIONAL CAPACITY
KHOO ChoonYen* & Brenda S.A.YEOH
Asia Research Institute& Department Of Geography,
National University Of Singapore
khoo.choonyen@nus.edu.sg; geoysa@nus.edu.sg
Migrating out of Poverty: From Evidence to Policy
28-29 March 2017
London

2. Parents’ migration and hopes for
their children
‘Father went overseas to look for money for his
children’s education. He does not want us to go
overseas and follow his footsteps. It is a waste if we
studied and ended up working overseas. It is better to
work in Indonesia where we can be close with our
parents. So my Father wants us to work in Indonesia
only.’
(Valentina, 15 year old)

3. Parents’ migration and hopes for
their children
◦ Temporary, circular unskilled labour migration
◦ Education as pathway towards upward socio-
economic mobility
◦ Impacts of parents’ remittances on children’s
education access
◦ Impacts of parental migration on children’s
educational aspirations?

4. Adults-in-the-making:
Youth as Transition
Young people’s aspirations shaped in response
to their geographies that are simultaneously
inflected by both global and local conditions
Conceptual infrastructure:
◦ ‘Becoming’ an adult (Worth 2009)
◦ Aspirations as ‘Capacity’ (Appadurai 2004)
◦ Logics for Aspiring (Zipin et al. 2015)

5. Amidst Global Economic Shifts:
Education, Work
& Migration Opportunities

6. Amidst Global Economic Shifts:
Education, Work and Migration
Opportunities
◦ Right to basic education
(6 years elementary + 3 years junior high)
◦ Senior high enrolment @ 75 per cent
◦ Lack of government education subsidies
+ Higher associated costs
 Parental remittances crucial beyond basic
education phase

7. Amidst Global Economic Shifts:
Education, Work and Migration
Opportunities
Education as
‘contradictory
resource’ in
‘jobless growth’
context
Youth
graduate
unemployment
27%
Youth
underemployment
31%

8. Amidst Global Economic Shifts:
Education, Work and Migration
Opportunities
◦ Young women enjoy relatively
favourable employment prospects due to
GCCs:
◦ Global commodity chains - Indonesia promoted
its abundant supply of women as ideal factory
workers who were cheap to hire, and docile and
nimble in character
◦ Global care chains - High gendered demand for
domestic and care workers from overseas markets

9. Methods
◦ In-depth interviews (N=29)
◦ Young women aged 15 - 24
◦ Migrant sending area of Ponorogo in East Java,
Indonesia

10. ‘Becoming a successful person’
◦ Success tied to family’s
socio-economic wellbeing
e.gs:
◦ ‘provide for the family’
◦ ‘make parents happy’
◦ ‘bring good name to the
family’
Students making their way to class

11. Reworking ‘success’ - Sari
Year Sari’s age Activity
2015 22 At domestic worker training centre for
2.5 months
2009 –
2014
16 - 21 Started working after graduating from
junior high school
2003 –
2005
10 – 12 Mother completed one work contract as
domestic in Singapore (2 years)
1995 -
2005
2 – 12 Father worked in Malaysian oil palm
plantation (10 years)
• Has 2 brothers aged 24 and 10 years old

12. Reworking ‘success’ - Sari
‘dutiful daughter’ +
‘supportive sister’
Facilitated by gender-differentiated
navigational capacity (opportunity of
overseas domestic work)

13. Reworking ‘success’ - Sari
◦ Reworked her criteria of ‘success’:
‘To me education is important but it is not my main
priority. To me being successful is not just from
education but from [my] willpower too.’
◦ Alternative pathways forward
◦ Creates own version of success for herself & family

14. Policy implications?
◦ Providing current migrants opportunities to access
training and higher education courses while they are
overseas
◦ Protection of workers rights in destination countries
◦ Remove measures that effectively restricts people’s
mobility
[Download policy brief -
http://migratingoutofpoverty.dfid.gov.uk/documen
ts/2016-17-3-ari-ihd-policy-brief-final.pdf]

15. Connecting…
https://migratingoutofpovertysg.org/
khoo.choonyen@nus.edu.sg