"This article is an overview of a fast growing sex trade through "mail-order-brides" in the Philippines and other Third World Countries, and the "Foreign Job Opportunities" schemes as is being done now in Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet republics.
This is mainly the result of the economic consequences caused by globalization for the developing countries and the proliferation of websites that "traffic women". As the economic situation deteriorates in these countries so does the trafficking in women to Greece, Italy, Canada, Australia, USA, North Africa, Japan, Middle East… all these women hoping that their life will be easier and that they will be able to support their families back home.
In the Philippines, a significant number of women leaving, leave as "mail-order-brides" marrying men from various industrialized countries, There are over 600,000 Filipino women that are being trafficked globally – 1 out of every 4 are youngsters.
Under globalization, women have become commodities to be bought and sold for profit on the international market. According to the United Nations Organization, the trafficking of women is the third most profitable after trafficking in arms and drugs.
In Australia alone, as an example, 20,000 Filipino women come as mail-order-brides…22 have already been murdered since 1980. In Japan over 7,240 Filipino women were enticed to be housekeepers, but were forced to become prostitutes or bar dancers. This will increase since American soldiers are to be stationed in the Philippines, as the US continues its "war on terrorism".
In former Soviet Union there are over 50,000 young women that are ensnared each year to become prostitutes in actual fact, although they were promised that they will be waitresses or dancers.
Here is just one example. Let us call this 17 years Luda, who in year 2000 went to see a company in Moscow which was sending Russian girls to Greece to work as waitresses and dancers.
This firm, registered by the authorities in Moscow, told her that she will be working in a villa on a beach, earning good money, visiting expensive restaurants and receiving presents. They also assured her that she would not have to do anything she did not want to.
Shortly after she and others girls arrived in Greece, her illusions were shattered. She and other girls were locked up in an apartment, not allowed to go out, they took their passports away and they had to serve clients from 9 am to midnight each day. Weeks later, they were taken out of the filthy apartment, taken to the airport and shipped back to Russia, while another batch of girls was on their way to Greece.
Every year, there are over 5,000 young Russian women ensnared by these very slick Mafia-run firms, promising high-paying jobs. They are very often traded from one pimp to another pimp, shuffled from city to city, their passports taken away and they forfeit their lives if they try to run away.
Multiply this by thousands upon thousands of economically trapped women from these countries and you get the picture of this sex trade. This globalization, this ruthless+ capitalist exploitation by these governments and their legalized "businessmen" is allowed by these capitalist states, although they are very aware of this sex trade, but so far have not taken steps to close this human slavery… after all they say, this is "private enterprise"."
I thought this was yet interesting opposing argument to points touched on in my Ethics of Globalisation/academc thesis post. That post argued that globalisation was a good thing, and the best thing for developing poorer countries. This article opposes that in respect to the international sex trade, stating that it is a result of globalisation and its attempts to develop this countries. It can also be said to be providing a setback for women's rights and gender equality as, like the article says, "under globalization, women have become commodities to be bought and sold for profit on the international market" - the use of women in the sex trade is much more widely heard than men, particularly in regards to mail-order brides. The advantages of globalisation continue to be questionable!
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