TY - JOUR
T1 - Bride kidnapping and gendered labor migration
T2 - evidence from Kyrgyzstan
AU - Hofmann, Erin Trouth
AU - Chi, Guangqing
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported in part by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Award # NNX15AP81G), the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture and Multistate Research Project #PEN04623 (Accession #1013257), the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Award # P2C HD041025), the Social Science Research Institute of Pennsylvania State University, and the Institutes of Energy and the Environment of the Pennsylvania State University. We are indebted to the people of the Alay Rayon of Osh Oblast in Kyrgyzstan for participating in this study. Appreciation is extended to Christian Scott, Geoffrey Henebry, Kamilya Kelgenbaeva, Myrzagul Mamadiyarova, Cholpon Dzhumagulov, and Asylbek Aidaraliev for their assistance in field work and data collection.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Because the decision to migrate is a product of gendered negotiations within households, households formed through forced marriage may have different migration strategies than households formed through voluntary marriage. In Kyrgyzstan, we anticipate two possible effects of the traditional practice of bride kidnapping on migration. Households headed by a kidnap couple may be more cohesive and patriarchal, facilitating men’s labour migration and remittance-sending. Alternately, women may use migration to escape such households. We test these two hypotheses using a sample of 1,171 households in rural Kyrgyzstan. Kidnap households are more likely to include women migrants, compared to other households. Kidnap households are also more likely to be receiving remittances, even when controlling for migrant household members. However, traditional beliefs about kidnapping are negatively associated with men’s and women’s migration. While higher levels of remittance receipt among kidnap households resembles the unified, patriarchal households envisioned in the New Economics of Labour Migration, it also appears that women use labour migration as a means to escape patriarchal constraints. We demonstrate that forced marriage in Kyrgyzstan plays a larger social role than is often believed, and highlight a new pathway through which gendered power dynamics can shape household migration strategies.
AB - Because the decision to migrate is a product of gendered negotiations within households, households formed through forced marriage may have different migration strategies than households formed through voluntary marriage. In Kyrgyzstan, we anticipate two possible effects of the traditional practice of bride kidnapping on migration. Households headed by a kidnap couple may be more cohesive and patriarchal, facilitating men’s labour migration and remittance-sending. Alternately, women may use migration to escape such households. We test these two hypotheses using a sample of 1,171 households in rural Kyrgyzstan. Kidnap households are more likely to include women migrants, compared to other households. Kidnap households are also more likely to be receiving remittances, even when controlling for migrant household members. However, traditional beliefs about kidnapping are negatively associated with men’s and women’s migration. While higher levels of remittance receipt among kidnap households resembles the unified, patriarchal households envisioned in the New Economics of Labour Migration, it also appears that women use labour migration as a means to escape patriarchal constraints. We demonstrate that forced marriage in Kyrgyzstan plays a larger social role than is often believed, and highlight a new pathway through which gendered power dynamics can shape household migration strategies.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85106218464&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85106218464&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/1369183X.2021.1931062
DO - 10.1080/1369183X.2021.1931062
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85106218464
SN - 1369-183X
VL - 48
SP - 2493
EP - 2514
JO - Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
JF - Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
IS - 11
ER -