The impact of remittances on gender roles and opportunities for children in recipient families: research from the International Organization for Migration

Abstract

In addition to raising the living standards of loved ones back home, remittances sent by men and women migrants can transform the way spouses, children, and communities left behind interact within the household, including changing culturally accepted roles and opportunities for men, women, boys, and girls. For women senders of remittances, ‘rising’ to become a recognised economic provider can also have positive outcomes in terms of empowerment. However, none of these positive effects can be assumed: there are multiple possible scenarios. This article primarily draws on research carried out by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on gender and labour migration in Asia, as well as IOM research on remittances in Moldova, Egypt, Angola, and Guatemala. Whether migration and sending home remittances makes children or spouses left behind more vulnerable or presents opportunities, or a mix of both, depends on many factors, some of which are still under-researched.

Keywords:

• remittances
• migration
• gender roles
• family left behind
• coping
• children

Acknowledgements

The views expressed in this article are the authors' alone and do not necessarily reflect the position of IOM. The responsibility for any errors remains that of the authors alone

Notes

1. This research was published in our 2009 publication Gender and Labour Migration in Asia (IOM 2009), each country case study completed in 2008, for inclusion in the edited volume, used a different methodology in order to capture the various facets of migration and the implication for gender roles in each respective case. The research in Sri Lanka was based on a questionnaire administered in 2006 to 300 households, consisting of 200 households of female migrant workers and 100 households of male migrant workers in the Colombo and Kurunegala districts in order to analyse the resources available and strategies adopted to adjust to the absence of the migrant spouse. In Bangladesh, the primary data used to analyse the impacts of short-term labour migration on gender roles were collected from 34 in-depth interviews with wives of migrant workers, complemented by focus-group discussions and interviews with returnee migrants themselves in the Savar district. The analysis in the Philippines case focused on understanding the different sources of social support, the impact of separation on family relationships, and changes in gender roles based on 179 interviews undertaken with overseas Filipino workers based in Italy, with almost 70 per cent of the sample being women and a sample of 62 spouses in the Philippines. In addition, 325 children with parents working in Italy were surveyed. Finally, a literature review and earlier ethnographic fieldwork by the author was used in the China case study in order to explore how gendered norms, institutions and policies affect household decisions, the type of employment held, the migration experience and the benefits at the household level between male and female internal migrants.

2. Muslim religious schools.

3. An ‘overseas Filipino worker’ is a person of Philippine origin living and working outside of the Philippines.