Migrant women often face complex Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) needs at the destination, including limited access to appropriate contraceptive information and methods (Hawkey et al., 2022). Unintended pregnancies have profound implications for women’s physical and psychosocial well-being, yet migrant women disproportionately bear SRH related health risks. Access to SRH services for migrant labourers therefore remains a pressing global concern.
The paper attempts to examine the utilisation of SRH services among transnational female migrant bharias in Darjeeling hill towns, located in the eastern Himalayas of India. Bharia is a Nepali term for a porter who earns a living by carrying loads. The female bharias under study have migrated from the hilly regions of Nepal (pahad) with their families in various bazaars of Darjeeling Hills. The female bharias work in a predominantly male-dominated sector of carrying loads. The study draws on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between December 2021 and February 2023. A total of 40 first generation female migrant bharias were interviewed in work and residential settings.
The study uses social reproduction as a conceptual framework (Bezanson & Luxton, 2006; Fraser 2017; Bhattacharya 2017) to examine how reproductive health inequities are shaped by women’s labour, migration status, and gendered expectations. The paper highlights the challenges faced by the female migrant bharias with respect to SRH by linking it with the burden of ‘social reproduction’, which disproportionately affects female migrant bharias compared to their male counterparts.
The findings indicate significant inequities in SRH care among migrant female bharias, evident in their limited utilisation of SRH services at the destination. A lack of information and misinformation about contraception emerged as a key issue. Scarcity of time to access the available services at the destination further elevates the problem for them. Thus, the finding show that the female bharias opt for subdermal contraceptive implants obtained across the Indo-Nepal border, a few kilometers away from the Darjeeling town. However, these procedures often result in adverse physical and mental health outcomes impacting their work and further disrupt their ability to work and generate income. The study underscores how the
burden of social reproduction intersects with gender, migration, and labour precarity, increasing SRH vulnerabilities among migrant women.
