‘I am going, with or without you’: autonomy in Bolivian transnational migrations

Abstract

Autonomy has often been seen as a precondition for achieving gender equality, yet feminist scholarship has been rather ambivalent towards it. In this article, I explore this ambivalence by drawing on the experiences of migrant women, particularly mothers, focusing on the ways in which they negotiated their mobility with their partners. By analysing women's experiences of migration within a context of multisited and longitudinal, itinerant ethnography, I historicise their life accounts and place them within a broader framework of social and economic structural changes. On this basis I explore the concept of autonomy, particularly in relation to the exercise of women's agency within a context of market-oriented neoliberal reforms. I also question the potential of women's autonomy for gender equality and argue that there are at least two reasons for feminist scholars to continue being ambivalent towards autonomy.

The salience of gender in return migration

“… Elucidating noneconomic factors in migration: Older migration theories have overwhelmingly focused on the economic motivations of migration (Massey et al, , ; Trager, ), and studies of return migration studies to tend to proliferate during times of economic downturn (Dustmann, ; Rendall et al, ). However, migration is not always purely economically motivated but can be induced by other reasons such as family reunification, major life changes such as marriage or divorce, retirement, or mental or physical health reasons (Bastia, ; Clark, ; Knodel & VanLandingham, ). As numerous studies have consistently noted, return migration “occurs despite persistently more favorable conditions in the host countries” (Adda, Dustmann, & Mestres, , p. 2).…”

Gender, migration, mobility and transnationalism

“…These papers and others have also brought to light the importance of recognising the unforeseen outcomes, or 'beneficial side effects' of migration. In the context of market-oriented neoliberal reforms, Bastia (2013), for example, argues that while Bolivian women on the surface enjoy considerable degrees of freedom in making transnational migration decisions, this 'autonomy' is usually embedded within moral obligations towards their families rather than linked to the pursuit of individual self-interests or greater gender equality. Such ambivalence towards the spaces of autonomy opened up by transnational migration is echoed in other papers in the journal.…”

Relational ageing: On intra‐gender and generational dynamism among ageing Latvian women

“…So far, the emphasis has been on global care arrangements (or, indeed, lack of these) for children and elderly who stayed “at home” (e.g., King & Vullnetari, ), and less on care that is directed towards a migrant woman herself (but see Bastia, ). The most promising conceptual achievements come from Baldassar et al.…”