Who Migrates? Tracking Gendered Access to Migration Within Households "In Flux" Across Time

Abstract

In Indonesia, traditional gender ideals tend to depict men as legitimate migrants while women who move are deemed "out of place." This male migrant-as-breadwinner household arrangement has been complicated in the past 30 years by gendered migration systems and practices in Asia that favor women. Drawing upon a household survey (N = 1,203) and in-depth interviews (N = 55), we use "time tracks" (Robertson, 2014) to interrogate gendered dynamics within the household "in flux" (Huijsmans, 2014). Foregrounding active negotiations within migrant households, we illustrate the continuously changing gender relations as they interact with, and respond to, the gendered migration systems and practices over time.