Abstract
This chapter draws from case studies of undocumented Bangladeshi women who are engaged in various informal-sector occupations in Maharashtra to highlight the multiple vulnerabilities and threats that they face due to both their status as undocumented migrants and their gender positioning in the informal labour market. Women in Bangladesh have long dealt with patriarchal institutions in all spheres of their lives. This, coupled with stubborn levels of poverty, the lack of adequate employment opportunities, and regressive migration policies for women, has led to the proliferation of hidden and parallel pathways for migration. While Bangladeshi men mostly migrate to countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, India remains one of the dominant destinations for undocumented Bangladeshi women. Using a mixed-methods approach, the chapter highlights the vulnerabilities and agency of Bangladeshi women in the face of extortive labour relations, weak gender positions, and socio-political vulnerabilities.
Keywords: undocumented migration, Maharashtra, informal sector, gender, labour
Introduction
Taslima, an 18-year-old widow from Satkhira, is one of the many Bangladeshi women struggling to eke out a living in India. After her husband died of stomach cancer merely two years into their marriage, she and her one-year-old son were shunned by her in-laws. One of her relatives introduced her to a dalal (‘broker’), who promised her employment in Mumbai for a fee of about US$65. She now works as a labourer at a construction site some 300 kilometres away from Mumbai making a little over US$70 per month. Although the work is strenuous, she says that she prefers it to scrubbing pots and pans in exchange for meals at a relative's house in Bangladesh. Women like Taslima display agency in deciding to migrate for employment, given that their choices are limited by their geographical, social, and economic positioning. However, since their migration experiences do not fit into the statist conceptualizations of trafficked, coerced, or at-risk women, their vulnerabilities remain largely unaddressed within the migration paradigm.
Migration in South Asia follows gendered binaries: while most males are considered economic migrants, women are often seen as dependent migrants accompanying males – especially because of the prevalence of systems like virilocal marriage. The stereotypes of ‘exotic mail-order brides, docile domestic workers, and/or distressed refugees and sex workers’ typify the image of women migrants within this region (Joseph & Narendran 2013: 12).