Locating Women in Migration Studies: An Overview (original) (raw)

Theoretical formulations, model building, and macro-and micro-level empirical studies on migration have neglected the gender dimension of migratory processes, patterns, trends and consequences. The past two decades have begun to witness interest in this area. This introductory paper to this special issue on 'Women and Migration' has attempted to provide an overview of selected material in this area. A series of structural changes in the rural context, such as polarisation of landholdings, decay of cottage industries, mechanisation of agriculture ; natural calamities such as droughts, floods, earthquakes; loss of sustenance due to faulty resource use patterns; large-scale evictions by mega-developmental projects and the resultant increase in inequalities have led to different migration patterns or spatial mobility. Rural-rural migration and rural-urban migration, especially among small and marginal farmers, landless and artisan castes is considered an important survival strategy that individuals and families adopt as a coping response to economic hardship. Migration studies have attempted to document different patterns of migration, the factors that cause migration and, to a certain extent, the impact of migration at the point of origin and destination. The dimension of gender as a category for macro-data analysis and micro-level research in migration studies has acquired significance over the past decade. Women's studies research focuses on women as migrants with the family, single female migration, and women left behind due to male migration.