"Amar beton khub e kom"

Abstract

The 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development explicitly links the goal of reducing inequality between and within countries to the encouragement of orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration. Yet to date there has been little discussion on how migration processes, especially those which occur through commercialised recruitment intermediaries may, in fact, enhance rather than reduce socio-economic inequalities. In particular, existing research shows that migrant workers from the Global South, especially in Asia, are often recruited by intermediaries into low paid, temporary and precarious jobs such as domestic service and hospitality work, agriculture and construction, manufacturing and mining. Such workers are often recruited as cheap, flexible labour and denied access to the right to organise in trade unions. Moreover, intermediaries often charge migrants fees for recruitment which inhibit their ability to maximise their earnings and remit monies home. This article addresses one of the hitherto neglected yet most fundamental aspects of international migration: how commercialised recruitment intermediaries serve to reinforce racialised and gendered inequalities. The article draws on a content analysis of recent articles published in the media on Bangladeshi migrant workers, aiming to contribute to discussions of gender, race and inequality in international migration and domestic labour through the lens of intersectional analysis.

Cross‐border mobility, inequality and migration intermediaries: Labour migration from Nepal to Malaysia

“…They play crucial roles in facilitating the movement of migrants from one country to another, shaping migrants' experience as well as developmental outcomes (Martin, 2007; Sha, 2021a). Recent scholarship also shows that intermediaries play gatekeeping and regulatory roles linked to uneven and stratified mobility (Chau & Schwiter, 2021; Jones, 2021; Sha, 2021a; Sha & Bhuiyan, 2022). This scholarship was influenced by the concept of migration infrastructure developed by Xiang and Lindquist (2014), which is key to understanding how migration is mediated.…”

“…They charge high fees, which often put migrants in debt and, combined with precarious and temporary employment and strict migration policies, can constrain the mobility and freedom of migrant workers, locking them into vulnerable positions and often abusive power relations (Davidson, 2013; Kemp & Raijman, 2014; Kern & Müller‐Böker, 2015; Sha, 2021a). Some scholars call this ‘immobility in mobility’ (Bélanger & Silvey, 2020), whereas others have highlighted that migrant workers often lack rights, opportunities and protection in host societies, experiencing exclusion, exploitation and downward social mobility (e.g., Anderson, 2000; Constable, 2007; Deshingkar et al., 2019; Liang, 2011; Sha & Bhuiyan, 2022). Hence, some scholars argue that intermediaries are central to an exploitative global system of temporary labour (Awumbila et al., 2019; Sha, 2021a).…”

“…The 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development explicitly links the goal of reducing inequality between and within countries to the encouragement of orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration. However, interconnections between migration processes and outcomes in producing inequality have been little studied (Sha & Bhuiyan, 2022). Contemporary migration is, more than ever before, intensively mediated by a range of intermediaries (Xiang & Lindquist, 2014, 124) but existing empirical research on migration‐related inequality focuses on the impacts of remittances on sending communities (Adams Jr, 2006; Koczan & Loyola, 2018; Taylor & Wyatt, 1996) and income/wealth distribution at local and global level (Kapur & Mchale, 2009), and has neglected the fundamental role of migration intermediaries.…”

“…Some recent studies of migration intermediaries have shown how the gatekeeping roles of private sector intermediaries are linked to gendered and racialized inequalities experienced by migrant domestic workers (Chau & Schwiter, 2021; Sha, 2021a; Sha & Bhuiyan, 2022). We broaden this discussion by demonstrating the ambivalent, dual roles of migration intermediaries and analysing socioeconomic and power dimensions of inequality in mediated migration.…”

Overcoming and Reproducing Inequalities: Mediated Migration in the “Global South”

“…This can lead to discriminatory pay structures in countries of employment whereby migrants of one nationality may be paid significantly less than those of another. Through their discourse as well as their actions, intermediaries can influence migrants' "value" to employers and hence the wages they are paid (Jones, 2021;Sha & Bhuiyan, 2021). However, ultimately, migrants are made vulnerable by state policies which do not allow them access to the same rights and freedom of movement as citizens.…”