There and Back: Labor Migration, Return, & Female Empowerment in Cochabamba City

Abstract

Two migration trends, return migration and the feminization of migration, have risen to the top of the current migration and development research agenda. This investigation analyses the link between international labor migration, return, and female empowerment through quantitative data analysis and interviews conducted with return female migrants in Cochabamba City, Bolivia. This thesis argues that labor migration can effectively encourage the economic, and to some extent, the social empowerment processes of the female labor migrants. A subsequent return to the place of origin, however, can have mixed results on the women’s empowerment process, as the familiarity of the environment can encourage the women to invest financially upon return; while at the same time the social structures continue to place unequal burden women than they do on men. As a result, neither migration nor return advance the women’s process of political empowerment, for the patriarchal structures at the locality of origin discourage the women to enter the political sphere, as most prioritize their role as mothers over everything else.