Gendered Precarity and Agency: A Sociological Study of Nepali Women Migrants in GCC Countries

Nusrat Azeema
Hohai University, China
Sita Chaudhary
Hohai University, China
Anmol Dhimal
Hohai University, China

Nepali women migrants face multiple forms of precarity influenced by gender, class, and migration regimes as they migrate to the GCC countries for work. This trend has become more pronounced in recent years. An examination of the realities faced by Nepali women in the care and domestic service industries in GCC nations is the focus of this study. Individuals’ migration routes, working conditions, and reintegration upon return are examined in this study in relation to domestic and international patriarchal norms and institutional constraints. This research makes use of precarity frameworks and feminist theories of migration. Based on anthropological observations in the communities that sent the women back to their native countries and in-depth interviews with thirty of them, the research reveals a complex web of exploitation and empowerment. The kafala system, financial bondage, and restrictive gender views all contribute to women’s high precarity, yet they also exercise subtle and intentional forms of autonomy. In addition to renegotiating domestic power upon return, this agency covers a wide range of actions, including conventional resistance and financial manipulations. The study’s overarching goal is to make the case that women’s labour force mobility is a highly divisive location for social development. Conventional patrilocal and patrilineal norms are shaken up, yet this happens within a system defined by persistent inequity. Finally, this study adds to the body of sociological knowledge on the topic of how gender, family, and class are being affected by transnational labour movement in modern Nepal. In doing so, it connects the dots between the micro-sociology of migrant women’s life and the macro-level policies surrounding migration.

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