ABSTRACT
Introduction More women than ever before are migrating and, in many cases, providing the primary source of financial support for their families at home through remittances. As governments and international organizations continue to tout transnational migration as a strategy for economic development and poverty alleviation, women are increasingly gaining attention as agents of development. While migration and development discourse focuses heavily on migrants themselves, the women “left behind”1 play a central role in the reproduction of migrant labor. They care for families in sending communities and contribute to economic development by managing remittances and overseeing local projects funded by money transfers. While migration is viewed optimistically for its potential to generate household income and to spur development, the unseen costs to the left behind are rarely explored in-depth by state and international agencies that tend to concentrate primarily on perceived benefits. Yet, it is often the “immobile” who are most affected by migration, with the heaviest burdens falling on the women, children, elderly, sick and disabled who remain behind in origin communities.
