Bride kidnapping and gendered labor migration: evidence from Kyrgyzstan
Year: 2021
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Because the decision to migrate is a product of gendered negotiations within households, households formed through forced marriage may have different migration strategies than households formed through voluntary marriage. In Kyrgyzstan, we anticipate two possible effects of the traditional practice of bride kidnapping on migration. Households headed by a kidnap couple may be more cohesive and patriarchal, facilitating men's labor migration and remittance-sending. Alternately, women may use migration to escape such households. We test these two hypotheses using a sample of 1,171 households in rural Kyrgyzstan. Kidnap households are more likely to include women migrants, compared to other households. Kidnap households are also more likely to be receiving remittances, even when controlling for migrant household members. However, traditional beliefs about kidnapping are negatively associated with men's and women's migration. While higher levels of remittance receipt among kidnap households resembles the unified, patriarchal households envisioned in the New Economics of Labor Migration, it also appears that women use labor migration as a means to escape patriarchal constraints. We demonstrate that forced marriage in Kyrgyzstan plays a larger social role than is often believed, and highlight a new pathway through which gendered power dynamics can shape household migration strategies.
Authors: Erin Trouth Hofmann, Guangqing Chi
Institutions: Utah State University, Pennsylvania State University
Language: English
Topic: Migration and Labor Dynamics
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Pennsylvania State University, Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Social Science Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
OpenAlex ID: W3164621012