This paper is based on a household-level survey conducted in seven villages of the Kumaon region of India and seeks to examine if male-selective outmigration has strengthened the decision-making among left-behind females. There has been an improved role of left-behind females in holding the responsibility of taking decisions in both household and economic spaces. However, these effects are observed relatively smaller in the domains or activities that have a financial involvement. The selective outmigration has opened up opportunities for left-behind females to develop skills related to financial management at the household and farm levels and also in farm-business management and entrepreneurship.
AgarwalB (1995) A Field of One’s Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2.
BoraRS (2000) Arresting out-migration: some policy considerations for Uttaranchal. The Indian Journal of Labour Economics43(2): 293–308.
3.
BremanJ (1985) Of Peasants, Migrants and Paupers: Rural Labour Circulation and Production in West India. Delhi, India: Oxford University Press.
4.
ChantS (1998) Households, gender and rural-urban migration: reflections on linkages and considerations for policy. Environment and Urbanization10(1): 5–21.
5.
ChoithaniC (2020) Gendered livelihoods: migrating men, left-behind women and household food security in India. Gender, Place & Culture27: 1373–1394.
6.
CollierPLalD (1986) Labour and Poverty in Kenya, 1900–1980. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
7.
ConnellJ (1984) Status or subjugation? Women, migration and development in the South Pacific. International Migration Review18(4): 964–983.
8.
Da CortaLVenkateshwarluD (1999) Unfree relations and the feminisation of agricultural labour in Andhra Pradesh, 1970–95. The Journal of Peasant Studies26(2–3): 73–139.
9.
DamisaMAYohannaM (2007) Role of rural women in farm management decision making process: ordered probit analysis. World Journal of Agricultural Sciences3(4): 543–546.
10.
DasguptaBLaishleyR (1975) Migration from villages. Economic and Political Weekly10(42): 1652–1662.
11.
DesaiSBanerjiM (2008) Negotiated identities: male migration and left-behind wives in India. Journal of Population Research25: 337–355.
DrèzeJSenA (1995) India: Economic Development and Social Opportunity. Delhi, India: Oxford University Press.
14.
FakirAMSAbedinN (2021) Empowered by absence: does male out-migration empower female household heads left behind?Journal of International Migration and Integration22: 503–527.
15.
FindleySEWilliamsL (1991) Women who go and women who stay: reflections of family migration processes in a changing world. Population and Labour Policies Programme, WEP 2-21/WP.176. Geneva: ILO.
16.
GhoshPPSharmaAN (1995) Seasonal migration on the lives of women in Lesotho. The Journal of Development Studies17(3): 59–76.
17.
GrauHRAideTM (2007) Are rural-urban migration and sustainable development compatible in mountain systems?Mountain Research and Development27(2): 119–123.
18.
GreenSHWangCBallakrishnenSS, et al. (2019) Patterned remittances enhance women’s health-related autonomy. Population Health9: 100370.
19.
GulatiL (1987) Coping with male migration. Economic and Political Weekly22(44): WS41–WS46.
20.
GulatiL (1993) In the Absence of Their Men: The Impact of Male Migration on Women. Delhi, India: Sage.
21.
HadiA (1999) Overseas migration and the well-being of those left behind in rural communities of Bangladesh. Asia-Pacific Population Journal14(1): 43–58.
22.
HadiA (2001) International migration and the change of women’s position among the left-behind in rural Bangladesh. International Journal of Population Geography7(1): 53–61.
23.
Harriss-WhiteB (2003) India Working: Essays on Society and Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
24.
HugoG (1995) International labor migration and family: some observations from Indonesia. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal4(2–3): 273–301.
25.
JainA (2010) Labour migration and remittances in Uttarakhand. Case Study Report, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, Nepal.
26.
JatavM (2017) Agricultural Distress and Changing Gender Dimensions of Rural Workforce in Uttarakhand. In Agrarian Relations, Peasant Movements and Rural Distress in India, (eds) GeorgeJosePublicationsNavVishnuMumbaiNavi, pp. 380–401.
27.
JatavMSenSJajoriaD (2022) Environmental Distress, Out-Migration and Changing Gender Roles: A Case Study of Rural Uttarakhand, India. In Gender, Unpaid Work and Care in India, (eds) SamantroyEllinaNandiSubhalakshmi, Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group.
28.
KarS (2007) Inclusive growth in hilly regions: priorities for the Uttarakhand economy. Working Paper E/281/2007. Delhi, India: Institute of Economic Growth, University of Delhi (North Campus). Available at: http://www.iegindia.org/upload/publication/Workpap/wp281.pdf (accessed 25 March 2020).
29.
KhanalNRWatanabeT (2006) Abandonment of agricultural land and its consequences. Mountain Research and Development26(1): 32–40.
30.
KrishnaS (2002) Economic profile of Uttaranchal. Economic and Political Weekly37(19): 1843–1849.
31.
LeiLDesaiS (2021) Male out-migration and the health of left-behind wives in India: the roles of remittances, household responsibilities, and autonomy. Social Science & Medicine280: 113982.
32.
LeinbachTRWatkinsJF (1998) Remittances and circulation behavior in the livelihood process: transmigrant families in South Sumatra, Indonesia. Economic Geography74(1): 45–63.
33.
LietenGKSrivastavaR (1999) Unequal Partners: Power Relations, Devolution and Development in Uttar Pradesh. Delhi, India: Sage.
34.
LiptonM (1980) Migration from rural areas of poor countries: the impact on rural productivity and income distribution. World Development8(1): 1–24.
35.
MaithyKMazumdarDDasP (2018) Male out-migration and its impact on women empowerment in West Bengal. Economic Affairs63(2): 459–467.
MehtaGS (2002) Non-Farm Economy and Rural Development. Lucknow, India: Giri Institute of Development Studies.
38.
OberaiASBilsborrowRE (1984) Theoretical perspectives on migration. In: BilsborrowREOberaiASStandingG (eds) Migration Surveys in Low-Income Countries. London: Croom Helm, pp. 14–30.
39.
OslenWMehtaS (2006) Female labour participation in rural and urban India: does housewives’ work count?Redstats Journal, Radical Statistics, Issue 93. Available at: http://www.radstats.org.uk/no093/OlsenMehta93.pdf (accessed 4 March 2020).
40.
PandePN (1996) Drudgery of the Hill Women. Delhi, India: Indus Publishing Company.
41.
PapolaTS (2002) Poverty in mountain areas of the Hindu Kush-Himalayas: some basic issues in measurement, diagnosis and alleviation. Talking Points 2/02. Kathmandu, Nepal: ICIMOD. Available at: https://lib.icimod.org/record/7430 (accessed 21 May 2021).
42.
RajuS (2010) Mapping of the World of Women’s Work: Regional Patterns and Perspective. ILO Asia-Pacific Working Paper Series, June. Geneva: International Labour Organisation.
43.
RodgersGRodgersJ (2001) A leap across time: when semi-feudalism met the market in rural Purnia. Economic and Political Weekly36(22): 1976–1983.
44.
SekharTV (1997) Migration and Social Change. Jaipur, India; New Delhi, India: Rawat Publication.
45.
SharmaAN (1997) People on the Move: Nature and Implications of Migration in a Backward Economy. Delhi, India: Vikas Publishing House.
46.
ShweWWJampaklayAChamratrithirongA, et al. (2020) Husband’s international migration Decision-making autonomy among left-behind wives in rural area of central Myanmar. Journal of Health Research34(1): 56–67.
47.
SinghR (2018) Impact of male out-migration on women left behind: a study of two villages in Uttar Pradesh. Remittances Review3(1): 75–92.
48.
SrivastavaNSrivastavaR (2010) Women, work, and employment outcomes in Rural India. Economic and Political Weekly45(28): 49–63.
49.
SrivastavaRS (1998) Migration and the labour market in India. The Indian Journal of Labour Economics41(4): 583–616.
50.
StarkO (1980) On the role of urban-to-rural remittances in rural development. The Journal of Development Studies16(3): 369–374.
51.
StarkO (1991) The Migration of Labour. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell.
52.
StarkOBloomDE (1985) The new economics of labor migration. The American Economic Review75(2): 173–178.
53.
StarkOLevhariD (1982) On migration and risk in less developed countries. Economic Development and Cultural Change31(1): 191–196.
54.
StarkOLucasREB (1988) Migration, remittances and the family. Economic Development and Cultural Change36(3): 465–481.
55.
SwaminathanP (2007) Precarious existence and deteriorating work conditions for women in India: implications for health. New Solutions: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy17(1–2): 57–69.
56.
ToyotaMYeohBSANguyenL (2007) Bringing the “left behind” back into view in Asia: a framework for understanding the “migration–left behind nexus.”Population, Space and Place13(3): 157–161.
57.
TUS (2020) Time Use Survey—(January—December—2019). National Statistical Office, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India, September.
58.
UnniJRaniU (2005) Home based work in India: a disappearing continuum of dependence? Working Paper No. 160. Ahmedabad, India: Gujarat Institute of Development Research.
59.
VepaSS (2005) Feminisation of agriculture and marginalisation of their economic stake. Economic and Political Weekly40(25): 2563–2568.
60.
VertovecS (2004) Migration transnationalism and modes of transformation. International Migration Review38(3): 970–1001.
61.
Walton-RobertsM (2004) Transnational migration theory in population geography: gendered practices in networks linking Canada and India. Population, Space and Place10(5): 361–373.
62.
WillisKDYeohBSA (2000) Gender and transnational household strategies: Singaporean migration to China. Regional Studies34(3): 253–264.
