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assignment 10

In the article “Global Care Crisis: A Problem of Capital, Care Chains, or Commons?” , behavioral scientist Arlie Hochschild, Lise Widding Isaksen, and Sambasivan Uma Devi discuss the migrant mother’s from Southern countries like the Philippines, who migrate to the countries in the north like the United States of America. These women migrate to other countries as a means to make money to support their families. They add human capital to their family income by becoming wet nurses, housekeepers, and caregivers in other countries, making up to four or five times the amount of what they would make being teachers, or clerical workers in their own country. The care chain runs globally, where mothers leave their children in the care of family to then care for other families children in different countries. The “commons” the writers of the article write about refers to the community of families everyone individually belongs to, within the care chain. This network creates a tight-knit environment where everyone relies on one another for support, by working and giving. The argument arises when these mothers leave their own children to care for other children. The kids left behind are left with fathers or grandparents yet miss the opportunity of having an authentic mother child relationships, and more often become depressed. Keeping the capital of all countries in mind the writers believe that extending the workers permits to allow children to be with their mothers would potentially improve the behaviors of the children and mother’s, allowing the mother’s to make more money, and making everyone happy. However as the mothers migrate it is creating a void for care in their own countries and along with the favor exchange within commons creates an unequal balance that is felt ultimately felt by the children, leaving them sad and distressed. Perhaps it is too far fetched an idea to have the children tag along with their mothers to jobs in other countries. Though it would help the cost of care that is being sent to the mothers homes, the cost of caring for the child in a different country would be greater.