A Silent but Mighty River: The Costs of Women's Economic Migration
Author(s)
Jones, Adele
Abstract
Gender matters. Gender matters in migration at the level of ideology, discourse, policy, and in the lived realities created by the migratory experience. How gender matters is different for men and for women; this essay has focused specifically on how gender matters for women migrant workers. While it is important to uphold the right of women to travel and work freely across the world, and it is clear that migration can result in increased economic freedom for women, the failure to address gender inequality as a central issue in migration processes both reflects and contributes to the marginalization of migrant women’s voices, masks hidden social costs for women, and undermines the potential gains to be made.
