Date of Award

Fall 2-1-2026

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Advisor(s)

Goutam Gajula, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Caley Johnson, Ph.D.

Abstract

Global migration has been a defining feature of the neoliberal world economy due to its ability to transform how nations manage care, labor and survival across borders. Within this system, the Philippines stands out as a country that has institutionalized labor migration as a development strategy since the 1970s. This paper examines how the Philippines states labor export policy shapes the vulnerability and resilience of migrant care workers, specifically those employed as domestic helpers in Hong Kong. By drawing on scholarship about global care economies, remittances, precarity, neoliberalism and resilience, this paper analyzes how emotional and reproductive labor are commodified and celebrated as national sacrifice. The findings of this paper show that while the government recognizes overseas Filipino workers as Bagong Bayani (Modern Day Heroes), this discourse hides the inequalities that sustains the system. Overall, this paper argues that genuine progress requires shifting from celebrating sacrifice to demanding accountability and equality in the global care economy, as well as reimagining care as a shared human responsibility.

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