Weighing the Options: The Gendered Representation of Care in Sri Lanka and Its Impact on Female Agency in Relation to Migrating for Work

Abstract

There is many a discourse on the subject of gender based migration and its impact on care of families and children in particular. The supposed care crisis has triggered many responses leaning towards the limiting of women migrants. In Sri Lanka, motherhood and ‘’care ‘’are intricately linked and absence of the mother puts the family at risk. This paper puts the issue in perspective, putting forth the relationships between policy and societal responses, and how the female centred construction of care influences state responses and it impact on curtailing female migration. Issues to be addressed in this connection are highlighted.