Impacts of rural-urban migration on family relationships and gender relations in mother-migrant and father-left-behind families in Vietnam
Date
2018
Authors
Dao, Bich Ha
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Publisher
Canberra, ACT : The Australian National University
Abstract
Since Doi Moi in 1986 there has been an increasing demand for
female labour in urban Vietnam. In response to that demand many
rural women, including already married women with children, have
left their families behind to engage in labour migration. They
constitute an important segment of the labour force, but have
received little attention in the literature.
With a view to filling this gap in the literature, this study
seeks to investigate the link between rural-urban migration and
relationship breakdown and cohesion in conjugal and parent-child
relationships in mother-migrant/father-left-behind families. It
also seeks to understand how gender roles, gender identities and
social norms shape the experiences of migrant mothers and
left-behind fathers, and in turn how rural-urban migration has
changed gender relations, gender roles and expectations, and
intra-familial power within their families.
The study employs both secondary data sources and primary data
collected through fieldwork. First, to achieve a better sense of
the importance of married female migrants who migrate alone in
the contemporary migration context in Vietnam, four secondary
data sources were made use of. They were 1. The 2009 Census 2.
The 2008, 2010 and 2012 Vietnam Living Standard Surveys 3. The
2004 Vietnam Migration Survey and 4. The 2008 Survey on the
Impact of Rural-Urban Migration. Unfortunately, all except the
last data source have limitations which prevent accurate
identification of the particular group of women of interest.
Moreover, from the 2008 Survey on the Impact of Rural-Urban
Migration only a small number of married female lone migrants
were found. Although this number was not large enough for
detailed quantitative analysis, each of the women still provided
valuable information and were carefully treated as potential case
studies. Second, 72 in-depth interviews were carried out with
married female lone migrants, left-behind husbands and children,
extended family kin and local leaders. Cases from the secondary
data source and from the fieldwork were used together to explore
the research topic.
The study found that spatial separation through migration often
imposed emotional strains on migrant women and their families.
However, it did not seem to have caused serious impacts on their
wellbeing and their family relationships because migrants and
their left behinds usually put a great deal of effort into
maintaining love, affection, nurturing, validation, moral support
and cohesion within their families. The study also found that the
migration of married females tended to be a strategy of rural
households to diversify income, provide a buffer against economic
shocks faced in home villages and fulfil reproduction
responsibilities. The migration on decision, moreover, was shaped
by social norms. It consequently created a more equitable
division of labour within the household and shifted gender and
power relations in a more egalitarian direction. These changes
did not appear to have led to serious family tension or
fragmentation, because migrant women and their husbands adopted
various strategies to minimize strain on their family
relationships and disruption to their families’ cohesion.
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Keywords
migration, left-behind, gender, families
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