Impacts of Transnational Labor Migration on Socialization Process: A Case Study of Nepalese Children and Women Staying Behind

Info

End date: 31 July, 2015 Project type: BSU Students' Master Thesis Project code: mdr13-1C1 BSU Countries: Nepal Lead institution: Aarhus University (AU), Denmark Project coordinator: Anchala Chaudhary

Project summary

Transnational migration has become an integral feature of family life in Nepal due to urbanization and globalization and is projected to accelerate in the near future. During this process, a network of social relationships take place through which ideas, practices, and resources are exchanged and transformed between migrants and non-migrants. Migrants remit and support their sending households by remitting not only money but also new culture that he/she encounter in new place. This assist non migrants especially, the children and wife to demand high wages, access new opportunities such as education and better health care and reject the status quo. A wives staying behind has to be more responsible for not only to raise and educate their children but also manage their household’s chores and outside activities. In Nepal, the provision of education is embedded in the social structures and infused by cultural meanings which generally restrict women to participate more or less in formal education and move outside of home. On one hand, migration has provides ground for nurturing the women’s autonomy, self-esteem and role expansion as they started to participate in community based organizations (CBO’s), non-government organization (NGO) to learn some informal skill and knowledge such as stitching, embroidery, handicraft, and so on. On other hand, women are more responsible to provide better education to the children and managing the remittance. Thus, women’s staying behind has learned to manage not only economic and emotional limitations but also to organize and create new identities, alliances, space of self and communal empowerment.

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