Migrant Women and Work

This volume studies the patterns and consequences of long-term migration among Asian women, primarily 'solo migrant women', who migrate globally as well as across the Asian continent in order to find work. Covering a broad terrain of gender issues, the volume analyzes the changing gender composition of migration streams and the specific conditions under which they migrate, as also compares the different outcomes of male and female migration. The contributors discuss a variety of issues from a fresh perspective including gender equality, household division of labor and state policies regarding welfare provisions. Overall, the volume maintains that the structural ramifications of women's migration extend beyond the lives of migrant women themselves insofar as their labor plays a crucial factor in shaping gender relations in the societies of both the migrants and their hosts. The picture of migrant workers that emerges from this volume suggests that the specificity of the migrant woman's occupational class marks the degree of her vulnerability. Among the case studies presented are: the migration of Filipino women; Thai rural women's migration to Bangkok; Indian nurses in the Gulf; and Asian women medical workers in the UK.