Linking migration, reproduction and wellbeing: exploring the strategies of low-income rural-urban migrants in Vietnam

Rural-urban migration is a core livelihood strategy for many poor people in the developing world. In post-socialist economics, like-Vietnam, its significance is growing rapidly. What does this mean for gendered family wellbeing, particularly during the critical years of early marriage when migrants are trying to build a family? This study explores the family strategies and dilemmas that migrant wives/mothers and husbands/fathers face.

The study analyses 77 qualitative life histories of low-income rural-urban migrants living in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh in 2008. The study concludes that:

• the costs of migration for those in their peak child-bearing years are strongly gendered in terms of migration experiences and fulfillment of social identities
• having a young family is a ‘window of opportunity’ for poor rural parents to migrate to try to improve their families’ lives
• in taking advantage of this opportunity, many end up enduring a lifetime of chronic family separation, whilst others who try to make a life for their family in the city may simply join the ranks of the urban poor.
  

The years of child-bearing and early child-rearing are vital developmentally for laying afoundation for social mobility and avoiding the inter-generational transmission of poverty.

The tensions and gendered trade-offs that migrants face between providing for their families and caring for them have potentially severe consequences for them, their children and society in general. Social policy challenges include:

• building effective and mobile social entitlements for migrants and their families
• revaluing social reproduction, both mothering and fathering, and investing in equity of social provisioning in rural and urban areas
• developing the social protection of migrants and their families particularly during family life events and transitions
  

Project outputs include two briefs (in English and Vietnamese), as well as research reports and papers available via link to full-text.

Authors: Catherine Locke (University of East Anglia, Norwich), Nguyen Thi Thanh Tam (Institute of Family and Gender Studies, Hanoi) and Nguyen Thi NGan Hoa (Centre for Gender and Family Studies, Ho Chi Minh).

In addition, the full dataset is available at the UK Data Archive (http://www.data-archive.ac.uk)