Abstract
Increasing numbers of female labour migrants are independently going abroad for work, which offers them new economic opportunities but also exposes them to risks. These international movements are often preceded by rural–urban migration, which brings its own challenges for female migrants. The feminization of international labour migration is a global trend today, especially evident in Asia and governments have introduced different laws and policies to ensure safer migration. This chapter introduces a policy that has been adopted by several Asian countries which bans female migrant workers from going to certain countries with the rationale of protecting them from possible harm and abuse. The chapter uses the case of Nepal to argue that governments use this policy despite knowing its lack of effectiveness in protecting women from abuse because it provides a short-term solution, allows for blame avoidance and because of their own limitation to influence another country’s laws to protect their migrant workers.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adhikari J, Gurung G (2013) An overview of migration in Nepal: trends and issues’. In: Gurung G (ed) Migration from Nepal: policy and reality. Heidel Press Pvt. Ltd., Kathmandu, pp 33–45
Asis M, Huang S, Yeoh B (2004) When the light of the home is abroad: unskilled female migration and the filipino family. Singap J Trop Geogr 25(2):198–215
Bansak C, Chezum B (2009) how do remittances affect human capital formation of school-age boys and girls? Am Econ Rev 99(2):145–148. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.99.2.145
Basok T, Piper N (2012) Management versus rights: women’s migration and global governance in Latin America and the caribbean. Fem Econ 18(2):35–61
Beall J (1996) Urban governance: why gender matters. UNDP, New York
Betts A (2012) Global migration governance. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Bohra P, Massey DS (2009) Processes of internal and international migration from Chitwan, Nepal. Int Migr Rev 43(3):621–651. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2009.00779.x
Brydon L, Chant S (1989) Women in the third world, gender issues in rural and urban areas. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, Hants, England
Central Bureau of Statistics (2011) Preliminary report—2011. http://cbs.gov.np/?p=1987
Chan C (2014) Gendered morality and development narratives: the case of female labour migration from Indonesia. Sustainability 6(10):6949–6972
Chant S (1992) Gender and migration in developing countries. Bellhaven
Chant S (2007a) Gender, cities and the millennium development goals in the global south. In: New series working paper, Issue 21. LSE Gender Institute London. (http://www.lse.ac.uk/gender/assets/documents/research/working-papers/Gender-Cities-And-The-Millennium-Development-Goals-In-The-Global-South.pdf)
Chant S (ed) (2007b) Gender, generation and poverty: exploring the ‘feminisation of poverty’ in Africa. Asia and Latin America, Elgar
Chant S (2013) Cities through a “gender lens”: a golden, “urban age” for women in the global south? Environ Urban 25(1):9–29
Chant S, Beetham G (2015) Routledge major works on gender, poverty and development, vols 1-IV. Routledge
Chant S, McIIwaine C (1995) Women of a lesser cost: female labour. Foreign Exchange and Philippine Development, Pluto
Chant S, McIIwaine C (2009) Geographies of development in the 21st century. Elgar
de Haas H (2010) Migration and development: a theoretical perspective. Int Migrat Rev 44(1):227–264
Faist T, Kivisto P, Fauser M (ed) (2011) The migration-development nexus: a transnational perspective, 1 edn. Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, New York
GAATW (2017) Position paper by GAATW on the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration
Ghosh B (2007) Managing migration: whither the missing regime? how relevant is trade law to such a regime? Proc Annu Meet (Am Soc Int Law) 101:303–306
Grossman-Thompson B (2016) Protection and paternalism: narratives of Nepali women migrants and the gender politics of discriminatory labour migration policy. Refuge 32(3):4–48
Gurung M (2013) Measures to ensuring women’s safer migration. In: Gurung G (ed) Migration from Nepal: policy and reality. Heidel Press Pvt. Ltd, Kathmandu
Gurung G (2015) Chair, Nepal Institute of Development Studies (NIDS)
Gurung G, Adhikari J (2004) Nepal: the prospects and problems of foreign labour migration. In: Ahn PS (ed) Migrant workers and human rights: out-migration from South Asia. New Delhi, Geneva, International Labour Office
Hollifield JF (2009) Regulating migration in an era of globalization: a public good approach. Presented in Global Mobility Regimes Conference
Howlett M, Shivakoti R (2018) Improving international policy-making in the absence of treaty regimes: the international forestry, migration and water policy cases. Int J Public Policy 14(5/6):303. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJPP.2018.096664
Hugo G (2005) The new international migration in Asia. Asian Popul Stud 1(1):93–120. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441730500125953
ILO (2015) No easy exit—migration bans affecting women from Nepal. International Labour Office, pp. 1–54
KNOMAD (2016) Migration and remittances factbook 2016. KNOMAD, World Bank
Krasner SD (1983) International regimes. Cornell University Press
Lokshin M, Glinskaya E (2009) The effect of male migration on employment patterns of women in Nepal. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/4511. Maiti Nepal (2015)
Manandhar B (2016) Remittance and earthquake preparedness. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct 15:52–60
Maor M (2016) ‘policy overreaction doctrine: from ideal-type to context-specific solution in times of crisis. In: Handbook of policy formulation. Edward Elgar
Martin SF (2015) International migration and global governance. Global Summ 1(1):64–83
Martin P, Abella M, Kuptsch C (2006) Managing labour migration in the twenty-first century. Yale University Press, Yale
Mendoza M (2016) At rising rate, Nepalis working abroad go home in coffins. Associated Press. https://apnews.com/f7894887573e45169bd6c44e7cb33942
Ministry of Labour and Employment (2015) Labour migration for employment: a status report for Nepal: 2014/15. Nepal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Ministry of Labour and Employment (2015)
Ministry of Labour and Employment (2017) Labour migration for employment: a status report for Nepal: 2015/16–2016/17. Kathmandu
Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (2015)
Morales FG (2018) UN expert calls for better protection against abuse and exploitation for Nepali workers seeking foreign employment. UN OHCHR. http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22633&LangID=E
MyRepublica (2017) House panel to govt: stop women domestics from going to Gulf. http://www.myrepublica.com/news/17535/?categoryId=81
Nepal Rastra Bank (2017) Current macroeconomic situation-monthly updates. http://nrb.org.np/ofg/macroeconomic.php?tp=current_macroeconomic&vw=1000
Oishi N (2005) Women in motion: globalization, state policies, and labour migration in Asia. Stanford University Press
Pande A (2014) I prefer to go back the day before tomorrow, but I cannot: paternalistic migration policies and the global exile. Crit Soc Policy 34(3):374–393
Pandey UR (2013) ‘Role of diplomatic missions in Gulf regions to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’, in migration from Nepal: policy and reality. Heidel Press Pvt. Ltd, Kathmandu
Paoletti S, Taylor-Nicholson E, Sijapati B, Farbenblum B (2014) Migrant workers’ access to justice at home: Nepal. Open Society Foundations, New York
Paudel M (2013) Situation of Nepalese women migrants in Kuwait and suggested measures for future. In: Gurung G (ed) Migration from Nepal: policy and reality. Heidel Press Pvt, Ltd
Ratha D, Mohapatra S, Silwal A (2010) Migration and remittances factbook 2011, 2nd edn. World Bank Publications, Washington, DC
Ratha D, De S, Schuettler K, Shaw W, Wyss H, Yi S (2016) Migration and remittances: recent developments and outlook (Migration and Development Brief 26)
Regmi G (2015) Akhil Nepal trade union federation, revolutionary (ANTUF)
Rimal B (2015) President, general federation of Nepalese trade unions (GEFONT)
Sakdapolrak P (2002) Protection of women migrant workers: policies of selected sending and receiving countries
Shiwakoti B (2015) Labour secretary, ministry of labour and employment.
Shrestha M, Basu M (2012) Nepal bans women under 30 from working in Gulf states. CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/09/world/meast/nepal-migrant-workers/
Sijapati B (2015) Centre for the study of labour and mobility
Sijapati B, Limbu A (2012) Governing labour migration in nepal: an analysis of existing policies and institutional mechanisms. Himal Books
Stark O, Bloom DE (1985) The new economics of labour migration. Am Econ Rev 75(2):173–178
UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (2012) Migration and human rights: improving human rights-based governance of international migration
UN Women (2013) Contributions of migrant domestic workers to sustainable development. Policy paper for the pre-GFMD VI high-level regional meeting on migrant domestic workers at the interface of migration and development. UN Women
UN Women (2017) Recommendations for addressing women’s human rights in the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration: outcome of expert meeting in Geneva, Nov 2016. UN Women, Geneva, April, 2015
Wagle U (2012) Socioeconomic implications of the increasing foreign remittance to nepal: evidence from the nepali living standard survey. Int Migr 50(4):186–205
Wilson WJ (2011) When work disappears: the world of the new urban poor. Vintage
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Shivakoti, R. (2020). Protection or Discrimination? The Case of Nepal’s Policy Banning Female Migrant Workers. In: Joshi, D., Brassard, C. (eds) Urban Spaces and Gender in Asia. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36494-6_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36494-6_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-36493-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-36494-6
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)