Gendered livelihoods: migrating men, left-behind women and household food security in India

Abstract

This paper assesses the food security implications of the out-migration of men for rural households headed by women. Recent transformations in the socio-economic landscape of the Global South involve an increasing number of rural households shifting towards urban-nonfarm, migration-based livelihoods. In many rural societies, social and cultural norms restricting women’s mobility means migration is usually undertaken by men, leading to a phenomenon of left-behind women. The absence of men requires women to assume the role of household heads. This often triggers fundamental changes in intrahousehold gender power relations. However, little is known about the effects of these changes on household food security outcomes. Drawing on primary field research in western Bihar in India, this article attempts to highlight interconnections between migration, women left behind and household food security and, in doing so, makes two key contributions. First, with a focus on gender social roles, the paper shows that the two oft-cited impacts of migration of men—‘improved autonomy’ and ‘increased responsibility’ for left-behind women—provide conceptual pathways to understand migration-gender-food security linkages. Second, it provides evidence on how changes in women’s roles under conditions of such migration intersect with household food security. The findings indicate a gender-based disadvantage in food security outcomes faced by household headed by women, offsetting even the potentially positive influence of improved female autonomy. The paper argues for the need to address socio-economic mechanisms underpinning gender-based vulnerabilities to food security.

Keywords:

• Food security
• gender
• India
• livelihoods
• migration
• women-headed households

Data availability statement

‘This data that support the findings of this study were collected by the author as part of his doctoral research at the University of Sydney, Australia and are not publicly available. The data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.’

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to Fiona McKay, Jan Nijman, Bill Pritchard, Kanchana Ruwanpura, Robbin Jan van Duijne, Margaret Walton-Roberts and three anonymous reviewers for useful comments on the earlier versions of the paper; to Katie Cahill and Nalin Singh Negi for valuable discussions; and to Chris Wyczalkowski and Vijay Kumar Mishra for their help with the map. The usual disclaimer applies.

Disclosure statement

In accordance with Taylor & Francis policy and my ethical obligation as a researcher, I am reporting that I do not have any financial or business interests in publishing this research. This research is purely an academic exercise. I carried out this research as part of my doctoral thesis requirements at the University of Sydney. I have disclosed the funding sources for thesis and fieldwork, and there are no conflicts that could potentially arise from this research.

Additional information

Funding

This research formed part of author’s PhD thesis conducted at the University of Sydney between 2011 and 2015. The doctoral studies were funded by Australian Government’s competitive Prime Minister Australia Asia Postgraduate Award, and the fieldwork for this research was partially funded by Australian Research Council funded Project 1094112 titled Institutions for Food Security: Global Insights from Rural India with which the PhD was linked.

Notes on contributors

Chetan Choithani

Chetan Choithani is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Urban Studies Institute, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University. He obtained his PhD in Development Geography from the University of Sydney. His research and teaching interests include migration and urbanisation, food and nutrition, livelihoods, gender, and social policy.