Taiwan Groups Work to Help Pregnant Migrant Workers

TaiwanPlus News

Migrant workers who find themselves pregnant in Taiwan face disrespect of their legal rights and often must make tough choices. Now, a band of organizations is working to offer them help -- and start a conversation in Taiwan's society.

Transcript

00:00Rini takes to the stage, her infant bundled against her chest.

00:06She is one of the more than 800,000 migrant workers in Taiwan hoping to make money to

00:10send to relatives back home.

00:13But her pregnancy cost her her job and left her adrift in an unfamiliar country.

00:27Her story isn't unique.

00:29Infant migrant workers have rights, including the health care and maternity leave, but awareness

00:34of these rights and employers' willingness to respect them can be spotty.

00:39In many cases, new mothers face tough choices with no good options.

00:44The heavy debts many workers take on just to get to Taiwan mean going home to give birth

00:49would be financially ruinous.

00:51And besides, family back home are counting on them.

00:55It's a story groups that work for these women have seen countless times.

00:59But legal or not, these women have been fired for being pregnant, and if they aren't going

01:21home, their only option is to disappear, taking illegal jobs under the table.

01:27That means not just dropping off the government's radar, but actively hiding from it.

01:32The risks are big, and migrant worker advocates say things do go wrong.

01:55This isn't a totally invisible problem.

01:58Occasional headline-grabbing cases, like a migrant caregiver's unexpected labor caught

02:03on security camera in November, do generate discussion.

02:06But there can also be backlash.

02:08Not because of questions of nationality – Taiwan does not have birthright citizenship – but

02:13because of the stretched state of Taiwan's medical resources.

02:18Advocates are hoping to change minds, though.

02:20This exhibit of photos and stories is one attempt at doing this.

02:24A highlight is a What Would You Do story printed on the display, in which visitors

02:29are put in the shoes of a fictional pregnant migrant worker.

02:32There are no happy endings here.

02:35Others are taking action.

02:37Organizations like the Garden of Hope Foundation have hotlines with multilingual staff, able

02:42to give expectant mothers an overview of their rights and other help.

02:51And there are groups helping get mothers and children temporary housing and care.

02:55The walls of the Harmony Home Association are lined with photos of the 1,100 children

03:00it's helped over the years, of whom around 500 are still somewhere in Taiwan.

03:05But for some rights advocates, not even this is enough.

03:09Some think Taiwan's society needs to do more to see these workers as humans.

03:39Migrant labor's place in Taiwanese society is a fact, and the need will only grow as

03:48the population shrinks and ages.

03:51The question for organizations trying to provide resources is how to make sure those like expectant

03:56mothers don't fall through the cracks.

03:59Patrick Chen and John Vantriest for Taiwan Plus.

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