Transforming Lives: Listening to Sri Lankan Returnee Migrant Women

Abstract

The Foreign Employment Bureau in Sri Lanka was set up in 1985 to provide institutional support to the growing outflow of migrants for employment. This was the first Asian country to recognize the need for such an institution. Woman migrants constituted over 60% of migrants for over three decades. Prior to migration these women were engaged in domesticity, cultivation and other home related activities. Migration caused a noteworthy social upheaval of their lives, many by being transformed into the main breadwinner of the family thereby fostering a change in gender relations. This study is based on examining the impact of migration on the lives of these women, including societal changes, marital effects and household income management. The paper is well illustrated with charts and tables giving relevant statistics.