Gendered Migration and Gendered Development

In the past, migration seemed to have been forgotten by development practitioners and thinkers. Still, recently, it has been revived as an effective tool to promote development and reduce widening inequalities (Raghuram in Popul Space Place 15:103–117, 2009). When “humane, fair, and well-managed migration policies” are implemented, migration functions as an essential tool for development. The social, cultural, economic, and political environment in which migration occurs predominantly determines whether it leads to increased opportunity and prosperity or deprivation and vulnerability (Ullah et al. in Millenn Asia 13:1–15, 2022; UNESCO in Migration as a development challenge: analysis of root causes and policy implications, 2017). Simply put, migrants are often members of a much more affluent community or at least a society with sufficient resources to finance relocation. Individual-level development initiatives often target the poorest individuals and households to alleviate some of the most severe forms of poverty. While eradicating absolute poverty has long been a goal of development policy, effective programs may generate new potential migrants while doing little to reduce incentives for those who already want to move (Fratzke & Salant in Moving beyond “root causes”: the complicated relationship between development and migration. Migration Policy Institute, 2018).