Is Transnational Labour Migration Empowering for Women? Re-evaluating the Case of Married Sri Lankan Domestic Maids

Abstract

The empowerment potential of transnational labour migration by women has been debated in the field of women’s migration studies. This paper examines the case of women from Sri Lanka, a key home country of low-skilled female labour migrating to the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Using the methodological approach of the case study, the survey found that labour migration does ensure that access to productive resources leads to a measure of economic empowerment in the household. Yet, many women migrants faced intra-household socially disempowering experiences that in turn downplayed their economic contributions. Empowerment as a consequence of migration rested upon a complex interplay of economic factors and contextspecific non-economic factors; the latter were found to be more powerful determinants of women’s empowerment.