Feminization Of Migration Research Articles

Gender dynamics during COVID-19 and its impact on South Asian women migrants in GCC countries

ABSTRACT The feminisation of migration was already an established phenomenon much before the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world and disrupted the migration pattern. It not only disturbed existing equilibrium but also rewrote a new order of gendered migration. It imposed severe constraints on mobility by closing the borders of sovereign nation-states, imposing lockdowns and putting populations under quarantine. Migrant workers, especially women were adversely affected by these restrictions and became easy victims of economic, social and structural inequalities. Under these observations, the research paper analyses the magnitude and patterns of gender dynamics among South Asian women in the Gulf. It also examines how a global health crisis reinforces existing gendered socialisation and creates new gender biases which impact women migrant workers disproportionately. The research article also discusses roles and responsibilities, patterns of expenditure, remittances etc of migrating women from South Asia to the Gulf and the changes which have occurred.

The Global Care Chain: Analyzing the Increasing Feminization of Care Work Across Borders

With the rise in globalization, there has been an increase in migration, specifically labor migration. Women migrating to perform care labor has exploded after women formally entered the global labor market. Although many female migrants are independently traveling as the primary breadwinners of their households, they remain underappreciated, invisible, under-waged, and exploited. Upon relocating from countries in the global south to conduct care work in more affluent nations or communities, they leave their dependents behind, ultimately in the care of another female, typically a family member, or yet another more impoverished woman. At this point, the global care chain is not a single, linear chain but rather an intersecting one composed of numerous chains that multiple women become a part of. Therefore these intersections between the public and private, the paid and unpaid, and the productive and reproductive forms of care work are present. In addition, although globalization and neoliberal policy have benefited <i>some</i> women globally, it has dramatically made women who migrate for global care work and labor suffer. When women migrate, the global care chain often becomes an entire phenomenon through which many things intersect. On the one hand, we witness capitalism, feminization of migration, globalization, and neoliberalism interacting while also intersecting with care, emotional work, and gender relations. The goal of this paper is to examine and connect the intersectional effects on women by examining global care work in Asia and Latin America. In addition, we ask the following questions: How can we create change so that women's work is no longer invisible? How can we build a society where individuals are esteemed not just on monetized work but also on reproductive work? Will reproductive labor ever be considered labor? And finally, we will propose some preliminary solutions to begin framing steps forward.

Exploring the Intersection of Legal Regulations and Feminization of Migration: A Focus on Migrant Women Working in Domestic Services in Türkiye

One of the trends that have come to the fore with globalization is the increased visibility of women in migration. As the rate of women’s participation in the labor force through paid work has increased, their mobility from rural to urban areas or from one part of the world to another has also increased. In this process, also known as the feminization of migration, women have become geographically more mobile than ever before in history. With this process, women started to migrate independently from their family members across national borders to work in a variety of jobs, particularly domestic work and sex work. The diversion of domestic work (caring for the sick, children and elderly, cleaning, etc.) to women in poorer countries through the global division of labor has played an important role in this change. This division of labor, which arises from the combination of the gendered character of domestic work and cheap female labor, has necessitated the geographical mobility of poorer women from all over the world. As a result, women have also begun to engage in geographical mobility on a global scale. In addition to these reasons that push women to migrate, developments in destination countries that create demand for migrant women’s labor are also important. Today, almost every part of the world has become a destination point for women migrating for domestic work. Especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Türkiye has also become one of these target countries. However, migrant women have faced various problems in Türkiye, both due to deficiencies in existing regulations and political attitudes towards migrants. These women, most of whom work as domestic workers, have been at the center of problems arising from both the migration system and the specific conditions of domestic work. In this study, the problems faced by female migrant domestic workers in Türkiye are discussed within the aforementioned framework. In particular, the main axis of the discussion is how domestic workers are affected by legal regulations in Türkiye. The study interrogates how women’s migration to Türkiye has developed within the existing migration system and examines the migration experience of migrant women working as domestic workers in Türkiye.

Ulusötesi Ailelere Kavramsal Bir Açılım: Sıradışı Uzak Mesafe Aileler

Transnational families are among the by-products of global capitalism, the feminization of migration and the globalization of care work. Transnational families owe their existence to the rise of communication and transportation technologies, economic transformations, and cultural features in their countries of origin and destination. A transnational family is different from an ordinary immigrant family. The defining factor is not the act of cross-border movement of the family, but the dispersion of the family, nuclear or extended, across international borders, where different family members spend time in one or another country depending on various factors. The emergence of transnational family experience relates to economic, political, social, and cultural factors, and has far-reaching causes and consequences. This study offers a new conceptual approach to the discussion of transnational families departing from Judith Stacey’s (1996) “postmodern family condition”. As a family arrangement made possible in the postmodern family condition, transnational families better describe situations in which families are not visible yet not absent, not necessarily broken but separated. Transnational families require a whole new understanding and definition of familial relationships, which should focus on the fluid nature of those in the absence of a concrete family setting. The role of immigrant women in such a family structure stands as a challenge to the stereotypical “modern family” as defined by Stacey; hence, enabling the conceptualization of transnational families as part of the postmodern condition. The impact transnational family experience has on various actors involved is examined by asking some fundamental questions such as: How are the decisions concerning who migrate under what conditions taken? How does the transnational family experience affect gender relations? What are the global and local conditions that make this experience possible? This study employs a three-layered approach to analyze the issue. First, the structural backdrop to transnational families is analysed; namely, the expansion of global capitalism that feeds female labour migration and the demand for the service sector, especially domestic care services. Second, the changes in the concept of family due to societal structural transformations and the emergence of new family forms are discussed. Third, the consequences of the first two aspects of the experience of transnational family life and its impact on parties involved at various levels are analysed: providers of care work and their families (parents, children, and extended family members), receivers of care work (employers and their families), and mediators of global care work (agencies and states).

‘Away From Home’ - A Systematic Literature Review of the Factors and Challenges of Women Migration

Feminization of Migration refers to the increasing participation of women in long-distance migration, a trend driven by the evolving gender dynamics in the workforce. This shift is characterized by the engagement of women in occupations traditionally perceived as feminine, demanding the presence of women in these sectors. Consequently, the concept of the "Feminization of Migration" has prompted a gender-focused perspective on migration, redirecting attention towards the rights and interests of women within migration streams. Global patterns of women's migration have undergone a transformation, moving beyond the traditional role of women migrating as dependents with their families. Instead, there is a notable trend of women migrating independently, driven by economic motives and assuming the role of primary breadwinners for their families. This shift has not only altered the landscape of migration but has also amplified the presence of women in migration literature and practical policies designed with a gender-responsive approach. In light of these developments, this paper aims to conduct a systematic literature review that explores the factors and challenges associated with women's migration.

Chinese Migration to and within Europe: Continuity and Renewal in the Light of Demographic Factors and the Impact of Covid-19

Abstract Under the changing demographic effects of Chinese migratory waves in Europe and in the global context of the Covid-19 pandemic, Chinese migratory patterns to Europe as well as the lives of migrants and their descendants in European countries have been renewed since the 2010s, both in material and symbolic or emotional ways. This special issue includes five articles shedding new light on the patterns of Chinese migration to Europe, and on the dynamics of their everyday lives in and beyond the European countries. As the special issue editor, I first argue that Chinese overseas, as an important part of global China, offer a privileged site of study for understanding Chinese society from inside and outside. Then, based on the literature review on Chinese migration to and within Europe from the 1980s to post-2020, I introduce specificities of contemporary Chinese migration to Europe and the Chinese presence in European countries, and highlight four main demographic features: the growth in the population of descendants, the aging of the first-generation migrants, the massive arrival of students and skilled migrants, and the feminization of migration. Thirdly, I provide an overview of the five articles included in this special issue. Finally, I conclude the introduction by underlying the contributions of this volume, the theoretical frameworks that they borrow and consolidate, and new avenues for research opened up by this special issue.

Feminization of migration: Redistribution of village government powers and resources to protect women migrant workers

Law Number 18 of 2017 has significantly expanded the role of village govern-ments in protecting migrant workers, specifically by focusing on the social andeconomic empowerment of Indonesian migrant workers. Within TulungagungDistrict, two villages—Sukorejo Wetan and Tanen—have already establishedTask Forces for the Prevention and Handling of Violence Against Women Mi-grant Workers and Laws on the Elimination of Human Trafficking. This re-search, conducted in these villages, aims to achieve three objectives. Firstly, itseeks to identify the actors involved in protecting women migrant workers andunderstand the relationships between them. Secondly, it aims to describe theaccessibility and role of migrant and post-migrant women’s groups in protect-ing women migrant workers. Finally, it aims to explore the existence of pro-feminist policies in this context. Using a feminist research methodology, thestudy employs qualitative methods such as in-depth interviews and documentstudies. The findings highlight an asymmetric collaboration between civil so-ciety groups and the village government, with civil society dominating theformation and implementation of activities by the Officer Unit (Satgas). Thisasymmetry is intertwined with the absence of resource redistribution from thevillage government, particularly in terms of budget allocation.

The Feminization of Migration and Mental Health of Older Parents Left Behind: Evidence from Indonesia

With female outmigration for work on the rise, it becomes pertinent to examine how the evolving gender composition of labor migrant streams influences the well-being of those left behind at origin. This study investigates whether a daughter's outmigration for work distinctly affects the mental health of older parents left behind, drawing on the case of Indonesia — one of the largest sources of male and female migrant labor in the world. It uses individual fixed effects regressions to model changing mental health outcomes for a representative panel of 2,133 older parents, ages 50 or more, from the 2007–2008 and 2014–2015 Indonesia Family Life Survey. It finds that older parents, specifically older mothers, who had a daughter migrate for work between waves saw a greater increase in depression over time compared to those who had (a) no labor migrant children in either wave, and (b) only labor migrant sons in both waves. Possible reasons for these gendered mental health implications are discussed, including loss of preferred caregivers at origin, concerns about migrant children's precarity at destination, worries about married migrant daughters’ family stability, and anxieties about unmarried migrant daughters engaging in premarital relationships at destination. This study underscores the need to consider gender-based heterogeneities in future investigations on the impact of migration on those left behind, and in social protection efforts for vulnerable elderly.

Internal migration and religious participation among Vietnamese Catholics

Many studies have shown that the residence changes led to the parish's conversion, affecting the practicing of religious rituals. However, the relationship between internal migration and religious participation has remained a study gap in Vietnam which has witnessed many migration flows. Therefore, the present study will aim to 1) describe the characteristics of Catholic migrants and clarify the religious participation level of Catholic migrants; 2) define the religious participation level of Catholic migrants, and 3) analyze the challenges for migrants to maintain religious life at the destination. By collecting the quantitative and qualitative data, the research results indicated that the feminization of migration is typically in the Catholic community; the average age of Catholic migrants is young, and the marriage rate and technical qualification are relatively higher than migrants in Vietnam in general. Besides, Catholic migrants had difficulty participating in feasts that required regular participation because they faced challenges from changing social environments, attitudes of the religious community of the destination, and their religious self-identity.

“Ain’t I a Woman?”: Feminist Participatory Action-Research with African Migrant Women Living in Spain

There is a growing trend towards a feminization of migration which calls for an urgent intersectional analysis in migration and integration research. Migrant women are exposed to numerous barriers that make difficult to participate in host communities due to the intersections between their gender, ethnicity, migratory status, etc. These barriers range from structural to daily discrimination in the shape of sexism and racism, particularly for women from regions further south of Africa. Undertaken in collaboration with a local NGO in Southern Spain, this study aims to approach African migrant women’s experiences and to promote agency and participation in host communities. It was framed in Feminist Participatory Action-Research (FPAR) based on photovoice. The participants (n = 15) generated and shared photo-narratives about their daily experiences during five sessions that were participatively analyzed, classified into four themes as follows: (1) migratory projects; (2) violence and discrimination; (3) health and social care; and (4) to be and resist as an African migrant woman. Photovoice was valued as a safe, non-hierarchical, and caring environment that promoted agency in participants and reflexivity in researchers. Our results highlight the importance and necessity on undertaking FPAR in collaboration with social organizations for emancipatory research praxis and put the emphasis on photovoice as a transformational method.

Patterns and reasons of migration to urban Odisha

The study of changing patterns and reasons for migration has tremendous policy implications. Odisha as an economically developing state of India represents a very low level of urbanization but around fifty percent of the urban population are migrants. Analysing census of India data through commonly used measures of descriptive statistics, this paper studies the changing patterns and reasons for migration to urban places of Odisha. This paper is descriptive, yet has come up with new findings and raised a few questions requiring further investigation. The rising trend of urban-to-urban migration along with the feminisation of migration are two such issues.

Who moves and who gains from internal migration in Egypt? Evidence from two waves of a labor market panel survey

In recent decades, Egypt has experienced rapid internal migration movements triggered by urbanization, socioeconomic development, and environmental changes. From a literature perspective, few scholarly studies have empirically examined the drivers and welfare impacts of internal migration in Egypt, despite the increasing recognition of its inextricably links to urban sustainability. The present study utilized data from two waves of an Egyptian Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS) conducted in 2012 and 2018 and consisting of 63,909 observations to examine factors that determine internal migration decisions and their subsequent welfare effects. The results of the two-stage Heckman selection model indicate that both the determinants of internal migration decisions and welfare outcomes differ appreciably depending on migration stream as well as the socioeconomic characteristics of the migrants. In particular, females were found to be more likely to migrate from rural to urban areas, lending support to the growing literature on the “feminization of migration” in developing countries. The OLS regression results, after correcting for self-selection, make a strong case for the positive welfare gains from internal migration in Egypt. Specially, we found that the welfare gains for older and female migrants are much higher than other age and gender groups. A comparison of the welfare effects between different migration streams shows that all migratory movements were associated with positive and statistically significant welfare gains, except for rural-to-urban migration that was surprisingly found to be associated with significant welfare loss for the migrants. Urban-to-urban migration was found to have the strongest welfare enhancing effects on all migrant groups. The empirical findings underline a number of research and policy implications for a sustainable management of internal migration in Egypt and other countries with similar internal migration trends.

Exploring women’s mobilities and family transformations in Laos. Historical perspectives and mirrored ethnographic insights

In Laos, mobility was mainly a male practice. Social codes traditionally assigned to women have limited their long-term movement away from their families. In recent decades, the feminization of migration has been observed and its social and societal impacts need to be examined. Female migration has changed intergenerational dynamics and has a profound effect on family structures and relationships. How does the change in the organization of work affect daily life and challenge the family model that dominated until the early 1990s? How does the growing increase in the mobility of some women in the workplace alter the roles traditionally assigned to women? Ethnographic data invite us to revisit kinship and gendered norms under the emergence of globalized economies and its localized social forms.

Understanding the Influence of Ghanaian Women’s Migration Patterns on Access to Health Care

Increased migration rates demonstrate a rise in women seeking relocation as a means to access employment or academic opportunities; this is referred to as the feminization of migration. Migration stimulates female empowerment, increases access to financial opportunities, and promotes cultural diversity, all while simultaneously exposing women to detrimental conditions that impose risks to their physical and psychological well-being. Health is a fundamental human right that female migrants often are deprived of due to various social, cultural, political, and economic factors. A secondary analysis design was implemented to explore the impact of social determinants of health, specifically socioeconomic status, culture, and education, on health outcomes and health care access of Ghanaian internal and external female migrants. Interviews collected from two primary studies were analyzed using thematic analysis and an intersectionality approach. Ghanaian female migrants experienced cultural, financial, social, and health accessibility related barriers in accessing health care services. Our findings will serve as a foundation for improving health outcomes for female migrant populations and support health care professionals’ practice of cultural competence.

‘Feminization of migration’: the implications for ‘left-behind’ families in Ghana

ABSTRACT Research suggests that in sub-Saharan Africa, independent transnational female migration is highly prevalent. Despite this prevalence, scholarship on those who are left behind in the migration process largely focuses on women, and there is little research focusing on transnational female migration and the families these women leave behind. Using a qualitative approach, with the push-pull theory and the new household economics of labour migration framework to examine female migration and its impact on left-behind families in Ghana, this study fills a valuable research gap in the migration literature. Twelve in-depth interviews were purposively held with men whose spouses were residing overseas. Findings from the thematic analysis revealed that independent female migration is a common occurrence in the Ghanaian context. Social, economic and cultural opportunities were some of the reasons the respondents identified for the prevalence of transnational female migration. While respondents associated transnational female migration with certain benefits, they explained that it has short-and long-term consequences, including reverse remittances, marital instability and effects on children’s subjective well-being. While the results corroborate the key arguments of the push-pull theory and the new household economics of labour migration framework, which suggest that multiple factors trigger migration, they demonstrate the need for effective planning and careful decision making among spouses in the migration process.

Conceptual contours of migration studies in and from Asia

Conceptual contours of migration studies in and from Asia

Feminization of Indian Migration: Patterns and Prospects

The migration of women or female migration has emerged as an important field of research within the larger domain of migration studies and is being extensively explored under various disciplines. This growing trend can be attributed to some major developments in international migration such as rising numbers of women migrants, growth of women-centric occupations, migration of women in an independent capacity, women-related legislations and growth of gendered perspectives on various issues. These factors together increased the visibility of women in the migration process and have given rise to what has been termed the ‘feminization of migration’. This paper explores the various nuances of the feminization of migration and aspects of female migration focusing on India. It begins with an overview of the growing numbers of women in the migratory flows and goes on to determine that despite the rising numbers and increased participation of women in the developmental dynamics of migration, they remain increasingly vulnerable and exposed to exploitation. The paper also highlights some of the critical policy decisions of the Government of India. The paper concludes that feminization of migration has undoubtedly increased the visibility of women in the migration discourse but much more needs to be done in terms of generating appropriate data, highlighting women’s role in the developmental process, evolving policies for ensuring their protection and security and above all empowering them and increasing their participation in the labour market.

‘Feminization of Migration’: Migration Experiences of Afghan Women Living In Ağrı

The present study addressed the migration experiences of Afghan women that had migrated to the province of Ağrı. In this context, the study exam-ined women’s reasons for migration, the party or parties that had made the decision for migration, the problems they had encountered in the province, the problems they had encountered in the migration process, and the attitudes of the people of Ağrı towards Afghan women. The study employed the semi-structured interview method to hold face-to-face interviews with 18 Afghan women. The study determined that women’s migration mainly stemmed from the war, while establishing a fundamental finding as to how women, who had become the main actor of migration, were affected much more negatively by migration when compared to men.

Aspiration and Desperation Traps in Trajectories of Physical and Social Mobility-Immobility

Over the last two decades, Bangladesh has experienced a dramatic shift in terms of female rural–urban migration, often referred to as the feminization of migration. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research on young female migrants’ livelihood experiences in Dhaka and Gazipur, this article makes three contributions to the migration and mobilities literature. First, while migration often constitutes an adequate tool for resolving desperation, it may also cause an aspiration-desperation trap. Secondly, the transformative potential of migration and mobility for changing social relations of class and gender is not always as effective as it is argued. Lastly, by focusing on the temporalities of migrants’ circumstances, we argue that migration is a continuous process in which mobility and immobility are deeply entangled.

The Discussion on Feminization of Migration

Toplumları çeşitli yönlerden etkileyen göç ve özelde sığınma konusu ikinci Dünya Savaşı sonrası dönemde dikkat çekmeye başlamıştır. İki dünya savaşı arası dönemde baskıcı ve faşist rejimlerden kitlesel kaçışlar yaşanmıştır. Ancak İkinci Dünya Savaşı kitlesel yerinden edilmeler ve göçler yaşanmasına neden olduğu için özel bir dönemdir. Bu dönemde göç ve sığınma problemi ve dolayısıyla sığınma konusundaki hakim görüş “sığınanların savaş kurbanı ve korunması gereken kişiler” olduğu yönündedir. Son dönemde yaşanan pek çok olay ve savaşın sonucunda olduğu gibi etnik ya da din tandanslı çatışmalardan kaçan pek çok mülteci, sığınma beklemekte ya da sığınmacı olarak bazı bölgelere yerleştirilmektedirler. Yine son dönemlerde görülen Kosova, Afganistan, Filistin ve bazı Afrika örneklerine ek olarak Suriye’deki çatışmalardan kaçan pek çok insan da sığınmacı olarak dünya üzerinde yer değiştirmektedir. Bu çalışma; sığınmacıların genel durumları ve göç kavramından ziyade, kadın ve göç ilişkisini sığınan ve sığınmacı kadınlar boyutunda incelemeye odaklanmıştır. Kadın ve göç ilişkisinin dinamiklerinin incelenmesinin tercih edilmiş olmasının göç tarihi ve göç süreçlerinin gelişiminden kaynaklanan bir temeli bulunmaktadır.