Gender, Migration, and the Work of Care

Centre for Global Social Policy

International labour migration has become a part of livelihood strategies for millions of families across Asia, motivated partly by parents’ desire to improve life in the next generations. Yet relatively little research has been done on the impacts on children who stay behind when parents migrate for work.

Our first study surveyed several members of around 1,000 households in two provinces in both the Philippines and Indonesia. The next year, we conducted in-depth interviews with some of the children aged 3 – 5, and 9 – 11, and the people who care for these children in their fathers’, and/or increasingly their mothers’, absence due to labour migration. The interviews shed light on the nuanced experiences of those who stay behind, and enrich the statistical findings.

In this second study, we follow up with the same families, in order to look at change over time. What are the longer-term influences on children’s health and well-being of parental absence due to migration?

We look at physical health, psychological well-being, schooling, subjective happiness, and educational and economic attainments. We also investigate how left-behind family members organize gender roles; their emotional exchanges or social support; the characteristics of migration, such as which parent migrates, how long they’re gone, and when.

To our knowledge, no other study has examined the comparative impacts of parental migration on child health over time. Our project aims to help families, communities and government to understand better any vulnerabilities and risks that must be weighed against any material benefits of parental migration.