Project 3e
Gender Differences in Migration Opportunities: Implications for Educational Choices and Outcomes

Summary
The choices made about migration are both gendered and contextual. Who goes and who stays, the use of remittances and the length of migration period, for example, are influenced by gender and place. In much of South Asia today the success of rural education is seen in terms of the export of youth for ‘better employment’ in urban areas. Implicit in the notion of schooling is the enhancement of human capital as a mobile asset that provides a gateway to a ‘better quality of life’.

An important consequence of globalisation has been the enhancement, in many instances, of social, educational and economic inequalities. While those with a minimum asset base, both in terms of material and human capabilities, have been able to take advantage of the new context to improve their situation, those lacking such assets have been driven to forms of distress migration, moving here and there, often in family groups, for their very survival (Mosse et al. 2002). The main objective of this research is to explore how far migration opportunities provide an incentive to complete secondary schooling and gender differences associated with this. In order to do so, the study maps out different kinds of migration flows, such as distress migration, migration to factories or farms producing for global markets, through contracting marriages with higher status groups etc. Some of these migration flows have existed for generations, but the challenge is to understand whether globalisation, or indeed the liberalisation of the economy, as in the case of India, has created new opportunities or pressures, which act as incentives for completing secondary education.

Key Research Questions

	• What are the migration opportunities available to boys and girls comparing the different experiences of globalisation in India and Bangladesh? Where are these opportunities located – close to the locality, distant urban centre, or abroad?
	In what ways do State structures and processes help or hinder female and male internal and international migration?
	To what extent do these migration choices reflect ‘distress’ and to what extent do they constitute a positive choice of preferred occupation?
	Have perceptions about migration and what it consists of changed over time?
	What are the current aspirations of men and women in relation to migration opportunities?
	How far do these provide an incentive or a disincentive to higher education outcomes for boys and girls?
	How far are migrant remittances actually invested in improving educational outcomes? How far does the presence of a migrant (differentiated according to geographical location and duration of migration) contribute to altering social and gender relations, in terms of status and power, in a rural context?