Labor migration and gender empowerment: A case study of housemaids

Abstract

By applying purposive and convenience sampling techniques the researchers interrogate the reasons of housemaids' migration from their native villages in Northwest Pakistan and their perceived Status within the household. The study finds that due to low wages in their home town, debt bondage, social discrimination based on caste and lack of personal security in the agrarian society, the whole family migrated to cities to improve their living and worked as unskilled labor in urban areas. The study concludes that although women work harder than men once they migrate however, they don't have much control on financial and social decisions and their lives are not any better. Internal migration does help to improve the family's economic and social status but it is not an empowering intervention for the women migrants. Nonetheless, it provides them the possibilities to bring about change in life.