Male Worker Migration and Women Empowerment: The case of Bihar, India

Migration of population has been a recurrent phenomenon since the dawn of human history. Though its form has changed but it remains a dominant event in the global social system. In modern days also people migrate from underdeveloped areas to the developed ones in search of better opportunities. Several theories have been propounded to explain the occurrence of migration. A number of social, cultural, economic, spatial, climatic, demographic factors induce migration. Among them, the economic factors are considered as the primary reasons for inducing migration. Migration of male labour force from Bihar has increased during last two decades which prompted us to analyze its consequences on efficiency of input in agricultural production, livelihood through remittances and also the empowerment of women left behind at place of origin. It was observed that the efficiencies of human labour and irrigation in rice production were higher than non-migrant households and statistically significant, indicating rational use of these two critical inputs on migrant households in Bihar. The migration seems to have helped in judicious use of human labour at native place due to migration of surplus labour force for gainful employment to destination of migration. Remittances have been utilized for meeting consumption needs, improved livelihood, better education to children and better health care facilities which help in overall improvement in livelihood on migrant households in Bihar. Migrant households also preferred to save money to meet their requirements in unforeseen situations. It can thus be inferred that migration may be one of risk-coping strategies for the weaker sections of the society and has helped developing the saving habits among migrant households. The allocation of remittances on agricultural inputs could have increased if proper infrastructure facilities were present in rural areas for faster dissemination of modern agricultural technology for increasing agricultural production. Level of women employment has increased on migrant households, particularly on poor households; however, work load of women has also increased. It has been observed that role of women of migrant households changed from unpaid female labour to managers of the household, however, they face problem in management of fund, technology and input-output marketing. There is a need to launch a programme for their training to improve their knowledge in financial, technological and marketing management.