Youba Raj Luitel
Nepal’s adult men have been migrating to India in pursuit of seasonal labour since long. While India (from Bombay to Kalapahad) had traditionally been the popular destination for such labour migration, Gulf countries have attracted Nepalese men more since the last couple of decades. Labour migration is no longer confined to the conventional epicentre of mid-west hills (comprised of Achham to Jumla) either. Rather, it has embraced the whole country, from Mountains and Hills to Madhesh-Tarai, although in varying degrees. Not only is there a spatial expansion of labour migration, it cross-cuts every segment of life. While, conventionally, labour migration had been a male domain, despite many ups and downs, Nepalese women too have begun to grasp such an emerging global opportunity. The gendered terrain of labour outmigration from Nepal, thus, forms a promising area of social science inquiry.
In Nepal, women’s economic participation is largely confined to agriculture and the informal sector, both of which are underpaid. This makes Nepalese women perennially vulnerable. Relatively recently, they have begun to look for non-traditional economic opportunities, such as labour migration. A recent UN Women in Nepal (2012) estimation suggests that Nepalese women comprises 10-15% of total migrant population of Nepal seeking work abroad, other than in India.
An orthodox social science argument attempts to understand every single case of labour migration within the frame of poverty and argues that people migrate for labour work to come out of poverty. While one cannot deny that poverty and lack of opportunity at one’s own place are some of the reasons for labour migration, as is the case of Nepalese women, my research among potential women migrants and returnee women reveals that Nepalese adult women have been migrating (to Gulf countries) not just because they are poor. Hence, conventional economic argument does not help us fully understand the gendered dimensions of Nepalese women’s labour migration.
The proposed paper builds on both primary and secondary sources of data. First, it draws on relevant quantitative information from a commissioned household survey (CARE Nepal, 2011) carried out in two VDCs in Makawanpur and four VDCs in Rupandehi districts. Second, it then expands the discussion based on qualitative research conducted in 2012 among 60 potential and returnee women migrants in the same two districts and mostly in the same VDCs.