1.2.1 Gendered migration and left-behind womenâs agency
The study of labour migration and its impacts has evolved into three major strands. The first strand focuses on the impacts of migration on those migrating within and across international borders, both male and female (McEvoy et al., 2012, 370). The second and third strands of this field study how migration impacts migrant-receiving areas (Mohapatra et al., 2010) and migrant-sending areas (Katseli et al., 2006, 25â33), respectively, especially from a social and development context.
While the gender perspective has received an in-depth exploration in the first two strands of literature previously mentioned, considerably less attention has been paid to women staying behind in sending communities after their husbands have migrated in search of work (Desai and Banerji, 2008, 337). Yet, there is significant evidence that migration processes are highly selective of men. This is especially true of developing countries, where women with migrant husbands are required to stay behind and look after the family unit in origin areas (Lokshin and Glinskaya, 2009, 482). Only 42% of all transnational labour migrants from developing countries are women (Kenny and OâDonnel, 2016).1 Similarly, in countries like India and Pakistan, women are more likely to remain in their places of origin, even if their husbands have migrated to another state/province within the country (Desai and Banerji, 2008, 337; Gioli et al., 2014; Salik et al., 2017).
Such patterns of migration are reinforced by a confluence of economic, socio-cultural, legal-institutional and policy-level factors. The process of labour migration occurs in a wider social context where migration decisions are taken by the family â not the individual â as a risk-minimisation strategy (Haas and van Rooij, 2010). Women, especially from rural areas, thus lack access to resources essential for migration (i.e. information, funds, asset ownership and social networks), which are usually controlled by other, usually male members of the family (United Nations, 2011). Labour market conditions for women migrants â placement in a defined set of âfemale occupations or positions that do not always match their qualifications, lower average wages compared to men working in the same jobs, unemployment and underemployment, etc. â also ensure that families are more likely to support the migration of male members as a more viable investment option (Boyd and Grieco, 2003; Fleury, 2016). At the same time, families often assign women subordinate, caregiving roles, which are reinforced by gender norms that restrict âgood wives/womenâ from migrating or venturing outside the home (Fleury, 2016). Finally, laws, immigration policies and institutions in both origin and destination countries serve to restrict womenâs migration. A number of labour-exporting countries have laws that restrict womenâs mobility and their ability to migrate inside and outside the country without the permission of male guardians (Fleury, 2016; Boyd and Grieco, 2003). Similarly, many labour-importing countries have enacted immigration policies that make it easier for women to immigrate as spouses or dependents of male migrants, while also restricting women migrants from legally sponsoring their husbandsâ immigration (Desai and Banerji, 2008). These factors continually reproduce gendered patterns of migration whereby women stay behind in places of origin after migration of their husbands or other male relatives.
Literature on this group of women, a relatively recent addition to the field of migration studies, has focused on whether male migration has emancipa-tory effects on the lives of women remaining behind, especially in terms of their: i) role and decision-making power in the household; ii) access to and control over resources; iii) mobility; iv) involvement in community and social networks; and v) labour force participation. Some studies have found a positive relationship between male migration and the emancipation or autonomy of the women remaining behind. Studying Albanian women whose husbands were both current and past international migrants using nationally representative housing and living standards measurement data, Mendola and Carletto (2009) found that, over time, male migration in households had the effect of increasing female paid self-employment and decreasing unpaid work. Using demographic data from seventy villages in Bangladesh, Hadi (2001) found that male migration had the effect of improving the decision-making authority of non-migrant wives and leading up to take up new roles within male domains. Similarly, in the rural Sunderbans of India, a qualitative study found that male migration expanded the agency of wives remaining behind in terms of their control over household finances, mobility, and role in household and community decision-making, especially among women living in nuclear families (Bose et al., 2017).
However, many studies have found a negative or ambiguous relationship between male migration and the emancipation of women remaining behind, especially in developing countries. A qualitative study conducted in Armenia and Guatemala found that while non-migrant women fulfil additional responsibilities in the wake of their husbandsâ migration, both the nature and scope of these tasks serve to reinforce male dominance and female subordination within the household (MenjĂvar and Agadjanian, 2007, 1260â1261). In Mexico, a study of women observed an intensification of their domestic and market labour after their husbandsâ migration to the US. Additionally, the study found that womenâs market labour integrated them into transnational migration networks, which supported their husbands in leveraging economic opportunities as migrants abroad. However, the intensification of womenâs labour brought on associated stresses of balancing family and work life, also called the âdouble-burdenâ. While women functioned as key enablers in the process of transnational migration, they were largely not involved in the migration decisions made by their husbands, reflecting limited decision-making power and an overarching economic dependence on men. Women also experienced limited mobility after their husbandsâ migration, partly because their familiesâ dependence on transnational migration networks required them to behave in socially sanctioned ways (Kanaiaupuni, 2000). Moreover, a mixed-methods study conducted in rural Mexico found that women, who were previously restricted to domestic tasks in the private realm, began taking on formerly male responsibilities in public after their husbandâs migration, such as shopping and buying household provisions, supervising part-time male agricultural labour on family farms and representing the family at monthly communal assembly meetings. However, their role in communal assembly meetings was limited to observation, their mobility was restricted due to community policing and their interactions outside the home and with âotherâ men brought on a sense of discomfort among women â especially due to fear of being seen as transgressing their gendered âplaceâ within the community, which was associated with moral impropriety. The level of remittances also structured the experience of women remaining behind, with low or sporadic remittances being associated with feelings of abandonment, marriage dissolution and, eventually, a community-sanctioned search for a new partner â in part, as a strategy to ensure herself and her children can access resources for survival (McEvoy et al., 2012).
Evidence of a negative or ambiguous relationship between male migration and womenâs autonomy is especially compelling in the Middle East and North Africa. In Morocco, Sadiqi and Ennaji (2004) found that male migration increased womenâs independence in managing household finances, especially if they lived away from their in-laws, and making decisions about their childrenâs education. It also increased their likelihood of finding work and becoming involved in savings and investments decisions for the household. However, women whose husbands were unable to send a sufficient and steady stream of remittances were less likely to experience these positive effects. Additionally, their restricted access to external financing, family land and other productive assets exposed them to financial shocks. Another study in Morocco found that the increased tasks and responsibilities undertaken by women after male migration are perceived by women as a burden (Haas and van Rooij, 2010, 59â60). In urban Lebanon, Hjorth (2011) found that male migration did increase the likelihood of womenâs labour force participation; however, this typically occurred when womenâs work was necessary to fulfil basic household needs in addition to the husbandsâ income. Respondents of the study reported an increase in responsibilities inside and outside the home; however, these were usually perceived as burdensome and often limited womenâs ability to work outside the home. The increase in womenâs responsibilities also did not typically translate into increased decision-making authority, with husbands being consulted in all major financial decisions and women being given autonomy over routine expense-related decisions only, a privilege they exercised even before their husbandâs migration Finally, a study in Egypt conducted by Elbadawy and Roushdy (2010) found that male migration had a positive effect on womenâs ability to make autonomous decisions about primarily household matters; however, this effect diminished once their husbands returned.
The South Asia region provides further evidence of the negative or ambiguous relationship between male migration and the autonomy of women remaining behind. A nationally representative survey in Nepal found male migration and the increase in household income due to remittances to reduces female labour force participation by 5.3%, especially among women aged 25â35 living in households with relatively large land-holdings (Lokshin and Glinskaya, 2009, 504). In India, Desai and Banerji (2008) found a more context-based relationship between male migration and autonomy of the women remaining behind, with respondents in their sample experiencing an increase in workload and autonomy only if they lived independently, i.e. away from in-laws. A multi-country study of women with migrant husbands from Yemen, Jordan, Iraq, Morocco, Egypt and Indonesia also found that women living with in-laws did not have many opportunities to exert control over household finances and decision-making, while women living independently experienced an increase in work activities outside the home, greater mobility and increased confidence in their own ability to manage household affairs. However, even women living independently were exposed to some kind of policing arrangement, with important aspects of their own and their familyâs lives being dictated by husbands remotely (Ullah, ...
