At the Cost of Women

In this article, I examine the discursive construction of the family in the Philippine economic and legal system. I show that the state economy promotes the formation of split-apart families but that the state also uses the patriarchal nuclear family as a symbol of national identity in the modernization-building project of the Philippines. This disjuncture comes at the expense of the nation. Questioning the motives behind state efforts to achieve patriarchal order amid the increasing outflow of women migrants, I argue that the moral disciplining of women aggravates the subordinate and weak status of the Philippines in the global economy.