Female Migration and Stay-Behind Children in Bangladesh (original) (raw)

Labour migration has been a common livelihood strategy. Moreover, migration of women is not a new phenomenon, although it has recently begun to be more widely recognized as a result of the decentralization of industrialization from developed countries and the growing demand for low-paying workers from developing countries. Globally, the proportion of female migrants accounted for 48%, although there is considerable regional dissimilarity. The proportion of female migrants is higher in Europe (51.9%) and lower in Africa (41.6%) and in Asia (45.6%) (Le Goff, 2016). In the 1960s and 1970s, migration theories often assumed that migration is a male phenomenon and that women started migrating just to depend on their husbands and fathers abroad. Recently, ideas have shifted enormously in favour of female migrant workers (Carballo et al., 1998). Worldwide, the increase in female migration was only 0.2% in the 1960s, and after that, within four decades (1970 to 2010) the share increased by 2% (Sultana & Fatima, 2017). The consequences of male and female migration remittances on the stayed behind family members may not be similar. Le Goff (2016) stated in his study that compared to men, women are more likely to stay connected with the family and try to remit more than their male counterparts. A study on the advancement of women, conducted by the United Nations International Research and Training Institute, shows that Bangladeshi female workers in the Middle Eastern countries remit on average 72% of their earnings to their home (INSTRAW and IOM, 2000). Kabeer (2007), in her study stated that Bangladeshi female workers working in Middle East countries remit on average 77% of their income. It is therefore clear that the saving and spending priorities of both male and female migrant households are distinctly