University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations Dissertations and Theses March 2017 The Impacts of Foreign Labor Migration of Men on Women's Empowerment in Nepal Pratistha Joshi Rajkarnikar University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2 Part of the Growth and Development Commons, and the Other Economics Commons Recommended Citation Joshi Rajkarnikar, Pratistha, "The Impacts of Foreign Labor Migration of Men on Women's Empowerment in Nepal" (2017). Doctoral Dissertations. 882. https://doi.org/10.7275/9281528.0 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/882 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE IMPACTS OF FOREIGN LABOR MIGRATION OF MEN ON WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT IN NEPAL A Dissertation Presented by PRATISTHA JOSHI RAJKARNIKAR Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY February 2017 Department of Economics © Copyright by Pratistha Joshi Rajkarnikar 2017 All Rights Reserved THE IMPACTS OF FOREIGN LABOR MIGRATION OF MEN ON WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT IN NEPAL A Dissertation Presented by PRATISTHA JOSHI RAJKARNIKAR Approved as to style and content by: ________________________________________________________ James K. Boyce, Chair ________________________________________________________ James Heintz, Member ________________________________________________________ Priyanka Srivastava, Member ________________________________________________________ Smita Ramnarain, Member _______________________________________________________ Michael Ash, Department Chair Department of Economics DEDICATION For my parents, without whose love and guidance, this work would not have been possible. For Shrijan for always believing in me and encouraging me to be courageous and passionate. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am extremely grateful to all the people whose advice and encouragement have been instrumental to bringing this work to fruition. Firstly, I want to express immense gratitude to my committee members for their time, support and feedback on my work. I am incredibly fortunate that Professor James K. Boyce has worked with me over the past few years. I want to thank him for providing me with profound insights, encouraging me to explore different ways of understanding gender relations in the context of migration and development, and inspiring me to become a better thinker. I also want to thank Professor James Heintz for being available to discuss my dissertation and providing me with valuable suggestions, especially on the quantitative aspects of my work. Professor Priyanka Srivastava has guided me since the early stages of my work. I thank her for providing me with many constructive comments. I also owe enormous gratitude to Professor Smita Ramnarain for her insightful feedback and criticism on my work. Her advice has been very helpful in clarifying my ideas and strengthening my arguments. There are many people I have to thank for making my fieldwork in Nepal successful. The advice provided by Professor Bishwambhar Pyakurel, Mr. Rajan Shrestha, and Dr. Ganesh Gurung, at the early phases of my fieldwork, were very helpful in selecting my research locations and structuring my survey questions. I am grateful to Narendra Nepal at the Center for Microfinance and Manju Gurung at Pourakhi for connecting me to their networks at my research locations. I owe immense thanks to the local organizations and social mobilizers at my research locations, who selflessly provided their valuable time and support for my work. v Particularly, I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Professor Keshav Sapkota, Kumari Bhitta, Manita Sapkota and Parwati Wagle in Chitwan, Abilash Gurung and the fieldstaff at Muktinath Bank in Syangja, Arun Sah and Batuk Samsher Shrestha at the Srijana Community Development Center in Siraha, and Deepa BudaMagar, Bhisma Bika, Poonam Singh, Tulsa Acharya and Nanda Pun in Rolpa. I would also like to thank the faculty members at UMass with whom I studied and worked and who have inspired my intellectual growth. I remain indebted to my friends who have enriched my learning experience here through informal conversations and classroom discussions. I want to express my gratitude to the department for providing me with travel grants for my fieldwork and supporting my dissertation writing process with the PERI fellowship. Lastly, I want to thank my family, whose endless love and encouragement has inspired me to pursue my passions. I want to thank my parents, Pradeep K. Joshi and Usha Joshi Shah, for always being there for me. I owe immense gratitude to my parents-in-law, Suroj Raj Rajkarnikar and Radha Rajkarnikar, for their continued support and their guidance especially during my fieldwork. I also have to thank my sisters, Pallavi Malnati and Priyanka Joshi, for being my cheerleaders during difficult times. Finally, an exceptional thanks to my husband, Shrijan Raj Rajkarnikar, for reading through different drafts of my work, providing helpful insights, and being a constant source of motivation. vi ABSTRACT THE IMPACTS OF FOREIGN LABOR MIGRATION OF MEN ON WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT IN NEPAL FEBRUARY 2017 PRATISTHA JOSHI RAJKARNIKAR, B.A., MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor James K. Boyce This dissertation looks into the changes in the lives of Nepalese women due to the rapidly increasing foreign labor migration of men. Literature on migration from Nepal mostly focuses on economic gains made through remittance inflows. The changes in intra-household power relations and the transformations in women’s lives, due to the male-dominated nature of Nepalese migration, are largely neglected. My study fills this gap, by examining women’s experiences, as they assume the role of household heads, financial managers and single parents, in a society that has historically suppressed their freedom. I specifically focus on the changes in women’s work responsibilities, their decision-making abilities and their participation in social activities to draw inferences about the impact of men’s temporary absence on women’s empowerment. My analysis is based on insights from interviews with migrant wives and econometric research using data from national level surveys. I find that, in general, men’s migration increases women’s unpaid work responsibilities and often reduces their ability or willingness to participate in vii market work. I also find that women’s position in the household is central to influencing their participation in decision-making and their involvement in social activities. Women who take on the role of household head are more likely to gain decision-making power and experience an increase in social participation, while those left under the supervision of other members (usually their in-laws) may suffer from reduced decision-making ability and increased restrictions on their mobility in public spaces. These consequences are highly sensitive to the regional socio-cultural norms as well as women’s caste, class, and individual characteristics. The findings from this study help understand the consequences of migration from a gendered perspective and provide insights that may be valuable in developing policy measures for fighting gender inequality and providing women with the resources to cope with the challenges faced during men’s migration. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................................. v ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………………………………………vii LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................................... xiii LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................... xvi CHAPTER 1. GENDER AND MIGRATION ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Migration from Nepal ......................................................................................................... 7 1.2.1 Economic and Political Context ................................................................... 7 1.2.2 Trends in Migration ....................................................................................... 11 1.2.2.1 Migrant Destinations ................................................................... 13 1.2.2.2 Migration by Gender .................................................................... 17 1.2.3 Causes of Migration ........................................................................................ 20 1.2.4 Economic Impacts of Migration ................................................................ 24 1.3 Overview of the Existing Literature .......................................................................... 29 1.4 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................................