India's migration gender gap

“When I told my family that I had wanted to move for better opportunities they immediately looked down upon me. They immediately started worrying about me being assaulted or what the rest of the village would think of the family. They said that I was bringing shame to the entire family by relocating and that an unmarried woman of my age wasn’t meant to venture out to another city alone to earn a living.”

Despite the number of challenges Iksara Rana has faced in Bangalore as a migrant, she was able to catalogue her story to me and the different struggles and challenges she faced upon arriving in Bangalore. She is one of the many women who have migrated to enhance their personal as well as their economical statuses. In my interaction with her, she explained to me how migration could positively impact our environment and bring about diversity in the country.

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Karnataka, being the state to have the most migrants in India, is growing faster and faster by the second. With this rapid increase of the state’s population, is also the increase of women in the working community. Today, 70% of India’s internal migrants are women. However, it is striking to note that the percentage of working migrant women are relatively less than the percentage of working migrant men.

Despite the significance of migration in an economy, it is not sufficiently explored and studied. The reason that there is a lack of research on female migration is perhaps due to the existing theories of migration, in which migration is seen as a factor motivated by economic opportunities i.e. male migration due to economic and financial prospects and rather, female migration for family-related reasons and commitments rather that economic opportunities. Several researchers have found that migration of females in India is largely caused by marriage or by being dependents. As a result of this gender bias, lies the basis for the analysis of migration flows and patterns within India in relevance to India’s historical and cultural context, drawing out women to play economic and social roles secondary to those of men.

On account of migration being crucial to an economy’s development, the process of migration can be very difficult for both, women and men. Migrants usually form an invisible class of workers; they work in poor conditions and often don’t have access to government services, which may be available to other workers. However, in the case of migrant women, the challenges one could face are innumerable. As a result of society enforcing the fact that boys should be educated rather than girls, many migrant women have a lack of awareness about their rights as a migrant worker. Migrant women face gender discrimination and are often forced to accept the most informal and unskilled jobs. Yet, in spite of the level of exploitation and abuse that can cause confiscation of their papers and even forced labor in the sex industry that they are subject to, women tend to send a higher proportion of their income even though they generally earn less than men. Yet even faced with these challenges, more and more women are migrating despite the risks involved.

According to the 2001 census, 65% of female migratory movements in India were motivated by marriage and only 3% by employment. On the other hand, over 80% of migrant men relocated for employment and only 2% migrated for marriage. In relevance to India, there is a high rate of women moving from rural areas primarily driven by marriage, but also due to differences in wages and employment. Another reason that a scarce number of women are seen in the workforce today, is secondarily also due to the reason of children. In today’s society, men are perceived as the breadwinners and women as the homemakers who look after children. Hence, many women today often face the difficulty of leaving their children behind at home or even at boarding school in order for them to earn a living and embrace the many economic opportunities a city has to offer.

Recognizing this potential of migrant women characterized to play the role of drivers of sustainable development, the UN reiterated the “vital role of women and their need for their full and equal participation and leadership in all areas of sustainable development" and that “gender equality and the effective participation of women are important for all aspects of sustainable development”.

Today, programs that are now underway to promote the provident role a migrant woman can play in an economy. For example, these programs can include training programs for female migrants in the textile factories in Bangalore. Further ambitions to improve gender equality will not only create awareness among communities but also enforce efforts to protect female migrant workers against trafficking and exploitation.