Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: The Global Transformation of Borders and Mobility
- Section I Experiencing Borders in South Asia
- 1 Spaces of Refusal: Rethinking Sovereign Power and Resistance at the Border
- 2 Border Layers: Formal and Informal Markets Along the India-Bangladesh Border
- 3 Experiencing the Border: The Lushai People and Transnational Space
- Section II Mobility in and Beyond South Asia
- 4 Of Insiders, Outsiders, and Infiltrators: The Politics of Citizenship and Inclusion in Contemporary South Asia
- 5 Renegotiating Boundaries: Exploring the Lives of Undocumented Bangladeshi Women Workers in India
- 6 ‘The Immoral Traffic in Women’: Regulating Indian Emigration to the Persian Gulf
- 7 The Journey to Europe: A Young Afghan’s Experience on the Migrant Route
- 8 Hardening Regional Borders: Changes in Mobility from South Asia to the European Union
- Section III Representations of Borders and Mobility in Diaspora
- 9 The Borders of Integration: Paperwork between Bangladesh and Belgium
- 10 Disordering History and Collective Memory in Gunvantrai Acharya’s Dariyalal 229
- 11 Fragmented Lives: Locating ‘Home’ in the Poems of Sudesh Mishra
- Conclusion
- Index
5 - Renegotiating Boundaries: Exploring the Lives of Undocumented Bangladeshi Women Workers in India
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 December 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: The Global Transformation of Borders and Mobility
- Section I Experiencing Borders in South Asia
- 1 Spaces of Refusal: Rethinking Sovereign Power and Resistance at the Border
- 2 Border Layers: Formal and Informal Markets Along the India-Bangladesh Border
- 3 Experiencing the Border: The Lushai People and Transnational Space
- Section II Mobility in and Beyond South Asia
- 4 Of Insiders, Outsiders, and Infiltrators: The Politics of Citizenship and Inclusion in Contemporary South Asia
- 5 Renegotiating Boundaries: Exploring the Lives of Undocumented Bangladeshi Women Workers in India
- 6 ‘The Immoral Traffic in Women’: Regulating Indian Emigration to the Persian Gulf
- 7 The Journey to Europe: A Young Afghan’s Experience on the Migrant Route
- 8 Hardening Regional Borders: Changes in Mobility from South Asia to the European Union
- Section III Representations of Borders and Mobility in Diaspora
- 9 The Borders of Integration: Paperwork between Bangladesh and Belgium
- 10 Disordering History and Collective Memory in Gunvantrai Acharya’s Dariyalal 229
- 11 Fragmented Lives: Locating ‘Home’ in the Poems of Sudesh Mishra
- Conclusion
- Index
Summary
Abstract
This chapter draws from case studies of undocumented Bangladeshi women who are engaged in various informal-sector occupations in Maharashtra to highlight the multiple vulnerabilities and threats that they face due to both their status as undocumented migrants and their gender positioning in the informal labour market. Women in Bangladesh have long dealt with patriarchal institutions in all spheres of their lives. This, coupled with stubborn levels of poverty, the lack of adequate employment opportunities, and regressive migration policies for women, has led to the proliferation of hidden and parallel pathways for migration. While Bangladeshi men mostly migrate to countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, India remains one of the dominant destinations for undocumented Bangladeshi women. Using a mixed-methods approach, the chapter highlights the vulnerabilities and agency of Bangladeshi women in the face of extortive labour relations, weak gender positions, and socio-political vulnerabilities.
Keywords: undocumented migration, Maharashtra, informal sector, gender, labour
Introduction
Taslima, an 18-year-old widow from Satkhira, is one of the many Bangladeshi women struggling to eke out a living in India. After her husband died of stomach cancer merely two years into their marriage, she and her one-year-old son were shunned by her in-laws. One of her relatives introduced her to a dalal (‘broker’), who promised her employment in Mumbai for a fee of about US$65. She now works as a labourer at a construction site some 300 kilometres away from Mumbai making a little over US$70 per month. Although the work is strenuous, she says that she prefers it to scrubbing pots and pans in exchange for meals at a relative's house in Bangladesh. Women like Taslima display agency in deciding to migrate for employment, given that their choices are limited by their geographical, social, and economic positioning. However, since their migration experiences do not fit into the statist conceptualizations of trafficked, coerced, or at-risk women, their vulnerabilities remain largely unaddressed within the migration paradigm.
Migration in South Asia follows gendered binaries: while most males are considered economic migrants, women are often seen as dependent migrants accompanying males – especially because of the prevalence of systems like virilocal marriage. The stereotypes of ‘exotic mail-order brides, docile domestic workers, and/or distressed refugees and sex workers’ typify the image of women migrants within this region (Joseph & Narendran 2013: 12).
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- Information
- Borders and Mobility in South Asia and Beyond , pp. 123 - 144Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2018