Migration as Emancipation? The Impact of Internal and International Migration on the Position of Women Left Behind in Rural Morocco

Most of the data collection for this paper was part of the 1998–2001 IMAROM research project, which was funded by the INCO-DC programme of the European Commission (DG XII, IC18-CT97-0134). Funding for data collection in 2003 and 2005 was provided by a postdoctoral research grant (2003–06, W 53-331) of the Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOTRO) of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). The authors wish to express their gratitude to these funding bodies for enabling this study.

Abstract

Based on quantitative and qualitative fieldwork, this paper analyses how internal and international out-migration of men has affected the position of women left behind in a rural area in southern Morocco. The results generally refute the hypothesis that migration changes gender roles. Although international migration and remittances enable women and their families to live more comfortable and secure lives, internal migration often coincides with increasing workloads and uncertainty. Although their husbands' migration leads to a temporary increase in the tasks and responsibilities of women, this new role is generally perceived as a burden and should therefore not be equated with emancipation in the meaning of making independent choices against prevailing gender norms. In a classical “patriarchal bargain”, women prefer to avoid overt rule-breaking in order to secure their social position. Significant improvements in the position of rural women are primarily the result of general social and cultural change, although migration might have played an indirect, accelerating role in these processes.

Notes

Most of the data collection for this paper was part of the 1998–2001 IMAROM research project, which was funded by the INCO-DC programme of the European Commission (DG XII, IC18-CT97-0134). Funding for data collection in 2003 and 2005 was provided by a postdoctoral research grant (2003–06, W 53-331) of the Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOTRO) of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). The authors wish to express their gratitude to these funding bodies for enabling this study.

¹ When asked, and in line with prevailing social norms, most women identify a (present or absent) male family member as the household head. However, such households can be classified as de facto female-headed if women are responsible for day-to-day household management and take most important decisions.

² There are also international migrant households that predominantly contain young children. This is especially common among migrants who have left for Spain and Italy since the 1990s and who are still in the early stages of their family life cycle. Especially when these migrants live “illegally” in Europe, the lives of their wives are difficult and uncertain, and their husbands are also unable to return regularly.