The “three ages” of left‐behind Moroccan wives: Status, decision‐making power, and access to resources

Abstract

The migration and development literature increasingly interrogates the effects of emigration on sociocultural change in the countries of origin, especially in relation to gender relations. Various studies conducted in the context of patriarchal societies have posited that male emigration may result in an empowerment of the women staying behind, with very mixed conclusions. Analysing in‐depth interviews with 12 women living in a southwestern Moroccan town in a region of historic emigration to France, this contribution seeks to further this investigation by considering how migration and remittances impact women's bargaining and decision‐making power within the household left behind. It examines how migration affects what is generally regarded as an enabling factor of women's empowerment, that is, the process of household nuclearisation through which migrants' wives can emancipate themselves from the control of their in‐laws and gain more control over finances. It shows how women's power and status change over time, following the important stages of the domestic cycle and the migratory trajectory of their husbands. This paper distinguishes three “ages” for wives left behind, corresponding to different power configurations in the local and transnational households. In contrast with the empowerment hypothesis, the interviews suggest that migration may actually contribute to the resilience of the traditional extended household structure rather than its demise. Overall, this contribution argues that migration systems predicated on a patriarchal social and family order are unlikely to bring about sustainable women's empowerment in the origin household and community.

Getting One’s Bearings: Re-integration in the Home Community

“…Although his grand house in central Tiznit is certainly indicative of his status, it also attests to a desire for space, privacy and better health. Furthermore, investment in housing also marks a crucial juncture in Moroccan wives' empowerment insofar as this heralds family nuclearisation and independence from the migrants' parents-inlaw (Lenoël 2017). As for Badr's house, standing empty most of the year, this is less obviously a case of productive investment.…”

Return to Sender: Remittances, Communication and Family Conflict

“…However over time, as Audrey Lenoël (2017) has found, left behind wives may gain in authority and responsibility, particularly if they no longer have to care for their husbands' (now-deceased) parents, enabling them to establish a separate nuclear household with their children. Nonetheless, such family dynamics are complex and left behind parents or siblings may strongly resist a wife's autonomous tendencies (Lenoël 2017).…”

“…This applied less to West African respondents however: while there are some West African testimonies on this theme, most of the voices below are North African. There was sometimes resentment from hostel residents at the authority which wives have been able to gain over time, particularly following residential and household independence from parents-in-law, as Lenoël (2017) describes. "A woman is like a wallet" said one North African resident, "she keeps your money."…”

“…In what follows, I will show that while a culture of male emigration emerged in places of origin which initially reinforced gendered family structures, for some hostel residents the spectre of continued family separation beyond retirement ends up disrupting such patriarchal norms, leading to greater autonomy for left behind wives. Thus, the term 'left behind' describes a heterogenous range of situations and is not necessarily always connoted with negative outcomes for non-migrant kin, as other authors have also found (Jónsson 2011;Lenoël 2017;Mondain and Diagne 2013). However, before analysing these developments further, it will be helpful to clarify the importance of remittances for hostel residents and their left behind relatives, and to provide information on how they are sent and spent.…”

Blessing or burden? Paradoxes and traps of female spatial emancipation

“…Благо или бремя?.. недеятельности в процессе исторического перемещения из приватной сферы в публичную как императива индустриализации и достижения пространственной свободы и права на автономную географическую мо-бильность [15].…”