The transnational households of Filipino nurses in Ireland in the midst of an emerging Philippines-Ireland migration system

Florio O. Arguillas, Cornell University

This study investigates how the evolving Irish state policies contributed to the reconfiguration of roles of members of the transnational households of Filipino nurses working in Ireland. Prior to March 2004, Filipino spouses (80% men) of nurses in Ireland were not permitted to work resulting in delayed family reunification, total dependency on nurse, spousal return migration, engagement in “under-the-radar” side jobs; and for entire families to leave Ireland for more “family-friendly” countries. Because they could not work, men were taking on the role traditionally handled by women like cooking, washing clothes, minding kids, and taking kids to school. Others developed a rotating child-care arrangement in which a group of married men would rotate minding the kids of members who are working. These findings were from in-depth interviews of over 30 nurses and will be reinforced by a survey in November of 2008 of about 1,400 Filipino nurses in Ireland.