Feminization of Pre-Migration Process of Male Migration: Changing Agency of Women in Rural Bangladesh

Abstract

This article explores how young women's life courses sooner or later adapt to local migration culture involving them in their husbands' migration abroad that eventually create space to express their agency. In doing so, it sheds light on the feminization of pre-migration process following an intersectional analysis that focuses on how pre-migration activity, mobility and trans-border communication of women work together to bring changes in gender roles and social relationships in a patriarchal society. The findings of the study suggest that by observing the mobility and activity of the left-behind women of migrant households, the women of aspirant migrant households are encouraged in many cases to support their husbands' migration to enjoy their freedom and develop their agency that ultimately transform local gender relationships as a whole.