Priya Deshingkar presents Migrating out of Poverty work on gender, migration and poverty in Africa and Asia. The work was funded by the UK Department for International Development, and presented to other programmes funded by the same source

1. Gender and migration: evidence
from qualitative and quantitative
research in Africa and Asia
Priya Deshingkar
University of Sussex

2. Overview
• Consortium focus on links between internal and regional migration and
poverty
• Research question – Under what circumstances does migration help poor
people move out of poverty? Sub themes: rural-urban migration and gender
• Five global regions: East, West and Southern Africa and also South and
Southeast Asia
• Global and regional research programme; global meant to be comparative
and regional responds to local policy priorities
• Gender embedded in all the comparative research undertaken by
the Consortium; together with other axes of social differentiation
such as class, ethnicity and age
• Regional research coverage of gender variable due to research
priorities, team capacities and also the view that inequality and
disadvantage affecting both men and women are important e.g. race
• Next round of research builds on HH surveys to drill deeper into
specific issues including projects with a sole focus on gender

3. Quantitative Household Surveys
• 1200 migrant and non-migrant at rural areas of origin.
• Different types of migration including short term and return
• Completed in Ghana, Indonesia and Bangladesh; scheduled for
Kenya and Zimbabwe
• Gender-disaggregated data on the migration decision,
recruitment, migrant occupations, education, remittances,
use of remittances, subjective assessments of change in
poverty and wellbeing;
• With these data we can determine:
– Differences in characteristics of HH with male and female
migrants
– Differences in remittance patterns and spending
– Causal relationships (to the extent possible); causes of
inequality

4. Migration and Poverty in Ghana Centre for Migration Studies
• Migration is mainly internal (66% of 1387 HH)
rest mainly regional
• Male dominated (62%); female migrants
younger and less educated – why? probing
• Change over the past five years: HH with male
internal migrants more likely to say their
situation is adequate – but international migrant
HH report no change or deterioration, needs
further probing
• HH with internal male migrants more likely to be
remittance dependent and(de facto) female
headed
• Female migrants remit less – occupations
different – petty trade and low level service
providers e.g. Kayayei

5. Ghana (contd)
• Spending pattern different in HH with female
migrants possibly due to their poorer situation
prior to mig - HH with male mig less likely to
report consumption as main use and more likely
to spend on education
• Return migration female dominated, reasons
include marriage, possibly failed migration?
• HH with returnees more likely to report
deterioration in circumstances if working in
private sector
• Qual research probing these inequalities further

6. Issues being probed further
• The structures that perpetuate gender inequality in
rural society, appear to influence migrant labour
market outcomes – the extent to which this occurs not
clear
• Informal discussions with female migrants in Accra
show that they perceive this as an opportunity and
better than options available locally – counterfactuals
needed
• Esp true of divorced, separated and those escaping
abuse and conflict. Young aspire to a city life – migrate
without parental approval – need to investigate further

7. Financing Migration, Generation Remittances and the Building of
Livelihood Strategies, Asia Research Institute
• Mixed methods research 201
Indonesian FDWs in Singapore
• Market intermediaries and
brokers widespread
• Highly organised but not always
regulated
• Brokers take first 8 months of pay
• Governments do not include DW
under employment law;
employers not accountable
• Exploitation – long working hours,
days off at discretion of employer
• Despite hardship 73%
improved consumption; 66%
education of children; 39%
land and housing, 10% health,
9% enterprise and 3% debt
repayment (3 per cent)
• Policy to reduce costs and
risks

8. Analysis and remaining questions
• Emp opp in Indonesia for women limited but they can
access remunerative labour markets through
recruitment agents
• Economic impacts positive and may result in long term
improvement for the HH esp through education
• But structures of oppression and exploitation –
recruitment industry and lax policy env – lead to
negative welfare outcomes for the individuals in the
short term
• Need to better understand aspirations, decision
making, agency and transformation of gender roles
within the HH.

9. Migration for Construction Work in
South Asia RMMRU
• India, Bangladesh and Nepal
• 150 migrant interviews at destination – smaller number of interviews at source
• Male dominated; young, married, mainly circular to earn and remit
• Other axes of social differentiation important ;historically disadvantaged
communities stuck in the lowest jobs with limited upward mobility
• Skills strongly correlated to earning capacity positive impacts on households at
destination greater among households with skilled migrants
• Limited possibilities for acquiring skills through formal programmes; most acquired
informally on the job. But this was limited to men. Women never graduated to
skilled work
• The few female workers were systematically underpaid – gender stereotypes about
the nature of the work and their abilities.
• Similar prejudices seen against those belong to the “scheduled tribes” in India
• Remittances spent on improved consumption, house improvement, education, land
– education levels higher among HH with a migrant

10. Remaining issues
• Both men and women are disadvantaged – unaware of
rights, at the mercy of recruiters, emp-gov collusion =
weak implementation of labour law
• Within that space – women more disadvantaged,
earnings and working conditions
• Agency? Not clear whether they are negotiating
patriarchal norms and limits within their societies of
origin or with employers and recruiters
• Not clear what the impacts on HHs are in terms of
changes in gender relations and cultural norms
• .

11. Social networks and migration in Zimbabwe, Centre for
Applied and Social Sciences
• 3 diverse regions with diverse
migration streams Masvingo,
Matabeleland and Mashonaland
• Gendered impacts of migration
and remittances. Whether the
feminization of migration is
restructuring social relations
within the family and community
• Women well represented in
migration –negotiating cultural
barriers that have previously
confined them to the home

12. Zim continued
• Increase since economic crisis. SA main
destination for cross border – work as DWs or in
restaurants
• Women remit more often and more in kind but
less in value than men
• Women want to be seen to be homebuilders;
counter to stigmatisation – spend on children’s
education and consumption
• Social and economic empowerment of women;
return migrants setting up businesses

13. Critical review of Statistics on foreign labour in South
Africa: African Centre fro Migration and Society
• Three papers: First comprehensive review of statistics on
foreign labour in South Africa, indicates data are unreliable
due to their focus on formal employment and undercounting
of flows.
• However show marked increase in labour migration from
other SADC countries.
• Refers to low rates of female migration compared to other
regions
• Recommends
– collecting gender/sex disaggregated data on temporary work permits
– Quarterly Labour Force Survey migration module and municipal-level
surveys with sex disaggregated data

14. Consolidating work on gender
• Indepth qualitative research on occupations that are
important for poor migrants – construction work and
domestic work – Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia and
Bangladesh – impacts on gender roles and responsibilities;
empowerment; resource allocation in left behind families
• Projects with a gender focus - followup qual research with
HH previously surveyed.
– Household Economics;
– Gender Dynamics: the potential rearrangement of gender roles
and relations before, during and after migration;
– Re-integration Processes
– Youth Aspirations
• Systematic reviews on domestic work and construction
work which include a discussion on gender related
evidence.

15. Some Policy Lessons
• Recognise the feminisation of internal and regional
migration flows
• Better regulate exploitative recruitment industry
• Recognise certain categories of workers as employees
• Recognise the developmental potential of even the lowest
forms of migration
• Recognise agency and small positive changes in women’s
economic and social position
• Provide access to cheap and safe saving and remittance
schemes
• Improve access to services and social protection to reduce
the costs and risks of migration for women and girls