85

TRANSFORMING LIVES
Listening to Sri Lankan Returnee Women Migrant Workers

Sepali Kottegoda
Ramani Jayasundere
Sumika Perera
Padma Atapattu

WOMEN AND MEDIA COLLECTIVE

December 2013

TRANSFORMING LIVES
Listening to Sri Lankan Returnee Women Migrant Workers

First Print 2013

Women and Media Collective
ISBN 978-955-1770-11-2
Compiled

Sepali Kottegoda
Ramani Jayasundere
Sumika Perera
Padma Atapattu

Cover Photo

Sharni Jayawardene

Design and Layout Velayudan Jayachithra

Research Team
Dr. Sepali Kottegoda (Concept Design, Advisor Research and Editor)
Ramani Jayasundere (Lead Researcher)
Manori Witharana (Research Coordinator)
Sumika Perera (Field Researcher)
Padma Atapattu (Field Researcher)
Dharshani Abeykoon (Statistical Data Analyst)

This Research and Publication were supported by Diakonia

Published by

The Women and Media Collective

56/1, Sarasavi Lane, Castle Street, Colombo - 08, Sri Lanka.

Telephone: 94-115632045, 5365800, 2690201. Fax: 94-112690201
Email: wmcsrilanka@gmail.com
Web: womenandmedia.org

Table of Content
Contents

Pg

Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................ 7

Overview: Overseas Employment Migration from Sri Lanka ................. 7
1.1 The WMC Study ........................................................................ 16
1.2 Methodology ............................................................................. 16
Chapter 2: Thirty returnee women migrant workers .............................. 18
2.1 Profile of returnee women migrant workers and their families...18
2.2 Overseas employment First time migration and
Re-migration ............................................................................. 22
2.3 Employment on return .............................................................. 23
2.4 Children of returnees ................................................................ 24
2.5 Social and financial status prior to migration ........................... 26
2.6 Duty and care for children in preparing for migration
employment ............................................................................... 27
2.7 A glimpse into the Returnees history of Employment
Overseas .................................................................................... 29
Chapter 3: Finding ones self as a primary income earner: ................... 33
3.1 Pre migration training ............................................................... 33
3.2 Re-migration ............................................................................. 34
3.3 Earnings and Remittances ......................................................... 33
3.4 Life as an overseas domestic worker ........................................ 35
3.5 In-service details ....................................................................... 37
Chapter 4: Re-negotiating relations of gender in households ................ 41
4.1 Arrangements for care: Gendered parenting ............................ 41
4.2 Perceptions Looking at Achievements ..................................... 42
4.3 Savings ..................................................................................... 44
4.4 Investment ................................................................................ 44
4.5 Regrets ..................................................................................... 46
4.6 Womans role in the family as migrant worker ........................ 49
4.7 Relationships with mothers and extended families .................. 50
4.8 The role of the husband left behind ......................................... 53
4.9 Returnees Social and political participation ........................... 55
4.10 Womans perceptions on migration for employment ............... 56

iii

Chapter 5: Conclusions: Lessons of Life ............................................... 58

5.1 Trade off: difficult working conditions vs enhanced
earning ability ......................................................................... 59
5.2 Securing permament shelter .................................................... 59
5.3 Impact on marital and family relationships ............................. 60
5.4 Gendering of Womans Identity: Wife, Mother. Daughter,
Income Contributor ................................................................ 61
5.5 Enhanced Social Recognition and Mobility of
Returnee Women .................................................................... 62
5.6 Recognising Marketable Skills ............................................... 62
5.7 Migration as a Generational Strategy? .................................... 63
5.8 Changing roles of women and men wife as the provider ..... 64
5.9 Changing roles of women and men Husband becomes
the homemaker and caregiver ................................................. 65
5.10 Moving upwards in society ..................................................... 65
5.11 Community interactions .......................................................... 66
Stories Told ............................................................................................ 68
List of Graphs
Graph 01 - Age distribution of Migrants .......................................... 18
Graph 02 - Ethnicity of Migrants ..................................................... 19
Graph 03 - Level of Education of Migrants ..................................... 20
Graph 04 - Status of current occupation of Migrants ...................... 23
List of Tables
Table 1 - Year of first migration ....................................................... 29
Table 2 - Means of migration ........................................................... 31
Table 3 - Payments made towards migration ................................... 32
Table 4 - Perceptions of benefits accrued through migration .......... 43
Annexes ................................................................................................. 79
Questionnaire ......................................................................................... 79
Maps
Map of Sri Lanka ............................................................................... v
Map of West-asia ............................................................................... vi

iv

Map of Sri Lanka

6vi

Map of West-asia

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/asia.html

Chapter One

Introduction

igration of Sri Lankan workers to West Asia commenced in

the late 1970s and grew steadily with state support for the
significance of remittances to the national coffers. Sri Lanka was
one of the first countries in South Asia to recognize the need to provide
formal institutional structures to promote and manage this
phenomenon.The Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau was set up
in 1985 and, for almost three decades, women comprised between
50-65% of all migrant workers. These women, who would otherwise
have been engaged in homesteads, cultivation, domestic work within
the country or in informal sector activities, have been transformed
into being a part of an international labour force, often becoming
primary income earners for their families during the period of overseas
employment. The impact can be seen on family, on household
economies on, gendered social relations, public policy and, national
income and expenditure frameworks. This study on returnee women
migrant workers seeks to examine the impact of overseas migration
on these womens lives,

Overview: Overseas Employment Migration from Sri Lanka

In 2011, the population of Sri Lanka was estimated at 20, 869 million
while the labour force was 8.5 million. Males comprised 5.6 million
and females 2.9 million of the labour force. 1 An estimated 262,000
1

Department of Census and Statistics (2012). Sri Lanka Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2011, p7.
Ministry of Finance and Planning. Colombo; Central Bank (2012). Economic and Social Statistics of Sri
Lanka 2012. Population and Labour Force. Migration for Foreign Employment 2003-2011.

persons, 23.8% of the labour force, left for foreign employment in

2011; 48.3% was female and 51.7% was male. Sri Lankas migrant
labour force is a vibrant and vital part of Sri Lankas economy.
Migrant workers contributed US$3.3 billion to the national economy
in 2011.2 Migrant workers continued to secure largely low skilled
employment in receiving countries, mostly in West Asia,
In the past few years a shift in the balance between female and male
overseas employment migration has been noted with an increase in
the number of male migrants. In 2003 the total number of Sri Lankan
migrants in foreign employment comprised 209,846, of whom 64.6%
were females and 35.5% were males.3 By the mid 2000s, government
policy on overseas labour migration had clearly shifted focus to
encouraging more males to take up short term employment overseas.
By 2011 the balance between male and female overseas employment
migrants had been reversed to 51.7% and 48.3%. 4 Significantly,
however, while the number of male migrants shows an increase, the
actual numbers of female migrants had not declined significantly;
the number of female migrants was 133,338 in 2003 and 127,090 in
2011.5
In South Asia, the distinctive phenomenon of women becoming key
players in international migration, and even more importantly,
emerging as a major contributor of foreign remittances to national
economies has been observed as a late 20th century development. UN
Women (2012) notes, increasing feminization of international
migration in general and from South Asia in particular has thrown
up new issues and poses new challenges relation to institutions,
processes and outcomes associated with female migration.6

Central Bank (2012). Economic and Social Statistics of Sri Lanka 2012. Population and Labour Force.
Migration for Foreign Employment 2003-2011. Table 3.13, p.21. Colombo. The data for labour force in
foreign employment in 2011 was not available.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid.

UN Women (2012). Migration of Women Workers from South Asia to the Gulf. V.V, Giri National
Labour Institute, NOIDA and UN Women South Asia Sub Regional Office, New Delhi. p.1.

Studies that focus on migrating overseas for employment in South

Asia in general, and in Sri Lankan in particular, shares two major
features:
(i) women as the main income contributors to their households
and to national economies
(ii) impact of womens absence from their families
Womens role as the main income earner to their households
necessarily brings about re-assessments/alignment of gender relations
within families, in the communities and in society. These phenomena
are now documented and analysed more consistently compared to
two decades ago.
The absence of women from their households and from the country
for periods of 2 to 4 years also has impact on the gender roles within
households in relation to practices in parenting and caring for children
and for the elderly who often comprise low income households in
South Asia. While revenue from overseas migrant worker remittances
increased annually, issues and grievances faced by mainly female
migrant workers and their families at all stages of the migration
process, pre departure, in service and return and reintegration, has
remained a focus of public attention. The phenomenon of womens
overseas migration often shifts uncomfortably between
acknowledgement of the importance of remittances to the national
economy and households, and the negative impact of womens
absence from the home. This unease is reflected in government policy
on migration. Measures to facilitate overseas employment
opportunities for women through attempts to promote better predeparture training, more scrutiny of foreign employment agencies,
providing insurance schemes for these workers, while at the sametime,
actively encouraging and securing more overseas employment
opportunities for male migrants have been developments in this area
over the last three decades.
These factors have to be examined in a context of more than a million
households where women have obtained employment overseas as
migrant workers over a period of three decades in Sri Lanka.

The distinctive features of women employment migrants are the types

of employment and their corresponding civil status per employment
category:
(i) housemaids, the majority of whom, are married
(ii) workers in the garment apparel industry, the majority of whom
are unmarried.
Extensive research has documented and analysed the phenomenon
of labour market demand for Sri Lankan in countries in West Asia
womens as domestic workers; the labour market profile is for women
who have or are perceived to have experience in the care economy,
Adult women are expected to have acquired these gendered skills
over a lifetime. 7 These workers receive monthly remuneration
between US $ 150 to 300. The relatively informal nature of domestic
work features very significantly in the numbers of complaints received
of Sri Lankan housemaids in West Asia who face various violations
of their rights, such as the non payment of wages, physical abuse and
even death.8 An estimated 5% of women migrant workers reportedly
are subject to a range of such violations. Despite these reports, 260,000
Sri Lankans migrated to West Asian countries in 2011 out which
107,000 found employment as housemaids.9

Returnee Migrant Workers

The return and reintegration of Sri Lankan migrant workers on
temporary employment overseas has been the focus of recent
discussion. An important step in the policy arena on overseas labour
7

Dias, M and R. Jayasundera (2002). Sri Lanka: Good Practices to Prevent Migrant Workers from
Going into Exploitatative Forms of Labour. GENPROM Working Paper No. 9. ILO. Geneva;
Brochman, G. (1993). Middle East Avenu: Femade Migration from Sri Lanka to the Gulf. Westview
Press. Oxford; Gamburd, M. R. (2000). The Kitchen Spoon Handle: Transnationalism and Sri Lankas
Migrant Housemaids. Cornell University Press, Ithaca; Yapa. K. (1995), The Decision Making Process
of International Labour Migrtion with Special Referene to the Sri Lankan Housemaid. ILO. Colombo;
Kottegoda, S. (2006). Bringing Home the Mondy: Migration and Gender Politics in Sri Lanka in,
Sadhna Arya and Anupama Roy (eds.) Poverty, Gender and Migration, Women and Migration in Asia
Vol.2. pp 49-72. Sage Publications. New Delhi; Perera, N. B. (2009). Weighing the Options: The
Gendered Representation of Care in Sri Lanka and its importance to Female Agency in relation to

Kottegoda, S and L.K.Ruhunage (2012).Strengthening Grievance and Complaint Handling Mechanisms

to Address Migrant Worker Grievances in Sri Lanka: A Review and Analysis of Mechanisms. ILO.

Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau. (2012). Annual Statistics Report of Foreign Employment 2011.

Migration for Work. Research Paper. ISIS, the Hague.

Colombo.
Colombo, Table 31.

10

migration in Sri Lanka was the development of a Sri Lanka National

Labour Migration Policy10 which was adopted in 2009. This process,
facilitated by the ILO office in Colombo, brought together policy
makers, representatives of foreign employment agencies, academics
and, representatives of civil society organizations that have a record
of working on migrant issues. A key focus of the National Policy is
the recognition of the importance of return and reintegration of
migrant workers back into their communities in Sri Lanka. The
National Policy sets out a number of steps to ensure effective
reintegration of returnee migrant workers.
Reintegration has been a neglected area in the process of migration
and return in Sri Lanka. However in the past few years, there has
been increased focus on the issue taking cognizance of the fact that
effective reintegration is imperative for returnee worker
empowerment, productivity and contribution to personal and national
development. This focus also takes into consideration that most often,
reintegration plans begin at the pre-departure stage and should be
promoted during or before the worker is employed overseas rather
than be confined to the actual return of the worker to her home country.
Thus, in 2010 extensive discussion was commenced on the need for
strategic and planned reintegration of migrant workers into their own
communities. The broader view of reintegration incorporates looking
at the issues from the pre migration stage where reintegration is
considered in the initial decision making process of a worker opting
for migrant employment.
With regard to reintegration, the National Labour Migration Policy
highlights that the State shall ensure that the return and reintegration
process takes place with full protection of rights and freedoms,
upholding of human dignity with access to resource and opportunities.
The role of civil society, employers and trade unions in reintegration
will be encouraged.11 The Policy states that the reintegration policy
of the State shall include due recognition of migrant workers and,
that a scheme be developed and implemented to support them. This
scheme will focus on but will not be limited to a number of specific
Government of Sri Lanka (2009). Sri Lanka National Labour Migration Policy. (2009). Ministry of
Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare. Sri Lanka. http://www.ilo.org/colombo/what wedo/
publications/WCMS_114003/langen/index.htm
11
Ibid.
10

11

provisions. In drafting the reintegration policy the National Policy

notes that the State will recognize the role of civil society organisations
and trade unions in assisting returnee migrant workers and their
families in the reintegration process, and that the State will facilitate
an environment where civil society organizations and trade unions
can work alongside the State to plan for successful reintegration.
The action plan set out in the National Policy, states that there will
be an enabling environment for civil society organizations and trade
unions to support the reintegration process and the empowerment of
migrant workers through the formation of community-based
organisations to enable them to articulate their concerns and for
these concerns to be then addressed. It also says that a coordination
system will be developed and implemented with recognized civil
society organizations and trade unions to complement the work
undertaken by such organizations.12
In South Asia, return and reintegration of migrant workers has often
been highlighted as an important aspect in the migration of women.
A 2009 study of returnee women migrant workers in six villages in
Kerala, India states that return migration to the place of origin is an
inevitable consequence of international migration. Return migration
has serious implication on the socio-economic changes in the place
of origin, especially in the rural areas. The most important problem
of return migrants is their readjustment in the place of origin after
return.13
The study further states that female migrants may have to face
difficult situations after their return. Some of the females who were
successful in migration may not face many problems after return while
some others who had returned without completing the contract and
without having much savings may face more problems. Thus, the
reasons of return migration and the status of return migrants are
greatly associated.14

Ibid.
Population Association of America (2009). Return of International Female Domestic Workers and
Their Reintegration: A Study of Six Villages in Kerala, India. Princeton.edu/papers/91205 Princeton
University.
14
Ibid.
12
13

12

In 2013, the first extensive study on reintegration was conducted in

Sri Lanka by the Social Policy Analysis and Research Centre (SPARC)
of the Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo15. The study titled
Reintegration with Home Community: Perspectives of Returnee
Migrant Workers in Sri Lanka included information gathered from
2000 returnee migrant workers (6% females and 24% males) from
15 Districts in Sri Lanka16.
The study attempted to identify problems and prospects of settling
back and reintegration of returnee migrant workers. The study found
that return and reintegration differed widely for different groups of
returnees depending on their own characteristics as well as the socioeconomic circumstances of their families and communities. The study
highlighted the importance of understanding reintegration issues of
returnee migrant workers: reintegration is a complex issue that
deserves careful study, particularly from the perspective of the
returnee migrants themselves. Given the sheer numbers and their
geographical spread across the country, effective reintegration of
returnee migrants remains a nationally important social and economic
policy issue that needs to be addressed without further delay. While
the economic dimension of reintegration is critically important, social
and psychological aspects are equally important for the overall
wellbeing of a family.17
Some of the key findings of the study are presented under three phases
of the migration process; pre departure, during overseas stay and postreturn. It finds that there are significant trends that are important in
determining (programme) interventions for returnee migrant workers.
It is important to note that the study concludes that many returnees
have mentioned that the families, children, the extended families and
the society are happy about their family-level and national-level
contribution but there is also a significant proportion of children,
families and societies that have little or no concern about their
contributions to their families. Only 10% of returnees have faced
Hettige, S.T., Fernando, N. And Punchihewa, A.G. (2013) Reintegration with Home Community:
Perspectives of Returnee Migrant Workers in Sri Lanka. SPARC. University of Colombo. Sri Lanka
(unpublished).
16
Ibid.
17
Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Galle, Matara, Ratnapura, Kegalle, Kandy, Matale, Badulla, Ampara,
15

Batticaloa, Anuradhapura, Kurunegala and Puttalam

13

problems in their reintegration process as the majority effectively

reintegrates socially. Looking at specifics of reintegration, the study
finds that, most investments have been done on consumable assets
such as electrical and electronic items and less on acquisition of
productive assets. Only a small number (13%) have moved into new
houses after returning, improvements in the housing condition were
seen in all study locations18.
The SPARC study separates its comments on economic reintegration,
and on social reintegration. In economic reintegration, it finds that
the majority of returnee migrant workers had been indecisive on what
they would do upon returning in terms of economic issues, while
54% females and 24% males had decided not to work upon return.
However 70% of the returnees had found jobs within 6 months of
returning while 20% have spent between 7 to 12 months to find a job
in Sri Lanka. The majority was satisfied with their new jobs. However,
their salary scales and the nature of jobs performed do not indicate
major changes, indicating either that they have not acquired skills or
the skills that they have acquired are not marketable. Most of the
women who migrated as domestic workers had mentioned that their
Arabic language knowledge had improved and that their cooking skills
and kitchen maintenance skills had improved. However none of these
skills is economically marketable at the moment.
Looking at social reintegration the study finds that there are no
insurmountable constraints that impede the process of social
reintegration of returnee migrant workers. It found that considerable
economic gains from foreign employment at the national level tends
to overshadow the family level and individual level consequences of
migration where family wellbeing is seen to be overlooked as a
compromise for economic benefits. The study notes many success
stories but also a significant number of families that show negative
social impacts of migration for employment. Specifically the study
looks at certain vulnerabilities of children and members of the family
as well as the returnees own integration with the wider community
in terms of community participation.

18

Ibid.

14

However, another recent study carried out in two districts in the east
of Sri Lanka on care giving of (female and/or male) migrant workers
children found that the, foremost feature is that care giving of children
left behind closely reflects general care giving patterns of the study
locations. The issues that children face (alcohol abuse, powervery,
corporal punishment, domestic violence), as well as the resultant
behaviour and life choices made by the children (dropping out of
school, child labour, alcohol fondness, early marriage) have a high
prevalence in the communities studied; Issues related to children of
migrant families is a reflection of this norm, which is aggravated by
the absence of either the mother or the father for extended period.19
The study is an important contribution to the discourse on women
and mens roles within the family, whether as parent in situ or as
absent migrant worker where poverty is the primary factor.
The main focus of the Sri Lankan government in the implementation
of the provisions on reintegration in the National Policy is the
Rataviruwo programme launched in 2012. This programme is
implemented by the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment
(SLBFE) and, is delivered at the Divisional Secretariat level. The
objective of the programme is to ensure the sustainable development
of the migrant workers and their family members by forming a
nationwide network of the migrant community.20 The programme
expects to enhance peoples access to information on migration, to
help maximise the benefits of earnings, to provide support for migrant
worker families to ensure education for children, financial
management, housing, access to micro finance and vocational training.
The programme also expects to provide counselling, career guidance,
legal support and health services to workers and their families. It
focuses on the promotion of safe migration, child protection and access
to government services.

19

Wettasinghe, K. G. Shanmugam and S. Emmanuel (2012). Alternate Care giving of Migrant Worlers
Children: Ampara and Batticaloa. Terre des Hommes (Tdh). Colombo.

20

Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (2012). Rataviru Organisation. Draft. Colombo.

15

1.1 The WMC Study

This current study by the Women and Media Collective was the
outcome of discussions with returnee women migrant workers, civil
society organizations working on issues of women migrant workers
and, desk a review of national level policies that are now recognizing
the role of returnee migrant workers to the national economy.
Women have sought and found employment overseas, for almost three
decades, mostly in countries in West Asia for periods ranging from
two to five years, there are more than a million women who have
worked overseas: primarily in West Asia and returned to Sri Lanka
during the past three decades. There have been few studies that have
focused on the immediate impact of this phenomenon on the lives of
these women, on the perceptions and experiences of these womens
roles, contributions and the challenges they face upon their return to
their homes. These were the key factors that informed the WMC study.
WMC was also interested to know how other, younger women in
these families looked at overseas employment migration and what
might be factors that result in successful migration, in terms of visible
upward economic mobility and of social security.
The WMC study attempts to capture some of the experiences of
returnee migrant women from the district of Kurunegala in the North
Western Province which is recorded as having the highest numbers
of outmigration to the Middle East and, the highest number of women
migrants.21

1.2 Methodology
This study comprises 30 case studies of women who had found
employment as overseas migrant workers. These are their stories of
return and reintegration.
The aim of this study is to explore and understand, from a womens
perspective, the experiences of women who migrated for employment.
The exploration involves looking at womens roles in the family, as
Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau. (2012). Annual Statistics Report of Foreign Employment 2011.
Colombo, Table 30.
21

16

contributors to the family income, their engagement in the world of

work and their participation in social and community life, before and
after migration. The study also looks at womens perceptions of
migrant work, their interpretations of the positive and negative impacts
of the process from a personal perspective and, how their identities
have evolved over time. The aim of the study is to comment on the
transformation that migrant employment has created in womens lives.
The study explores the lives of thirty women from the Sinhalese and
Muslim communities living in the Kurunegala district. The study was
conducted during the period November 2012 to February 2013. The
methodology was qualitative, carried out through guide questions
for in depth interviews leading to case studies. The field information
was gathered by two Researchers from the district. These Researchers
are attached to a Community based Organisation that advocates for
migrant worker rights including womens right to engage in any form
of employment. The Researchers were well versed in the subject and
knew the women interviewed, thus enabling access to respondents.
The information gathered was analysed in two ways; quantitatively
and qualitatively based on coding and a database.
The draft study was shared with policy makers, researchers, academics
and activists at a workshop held in Colombo in April 2013. Based on
the workshop, the draft report was revised and finalised for
publication.
It is expected that this study will add value to the existing body of
literature on women seeking migrant employment.

17

Chapter Two

Thirty returnee women

migrant workers

his study attempts to provide a snapshot of how thirty returnee

women migrant workers have changed their lives by engaging in
overseas migrant employment. The life stories present profiles of
returnee migrant workers, their perceptions on migrant employment,
benefits and drawbacks of working as domestic workers in foreign
lands, and their changing roles and identities in their households and
communities.

2.1 The profile of the returnee women migrant workers

and their families
The thirty returnee migrant workers are from an age range of 26 years
to 56 years and above, with the majority being over 35 years of age.
Graph 01 - Age distribution of Migrants

18

They are from the Muslim community (57%) and the Sinhala
community (43%), living in the Kurunegala District where the
population comprises largely Muslim and Sinhala families.
Graph 02 - Ethnicity of Migrants

The majority of returnees are currently married, and were married

prior to migration. Four women had never been married prior to their
first migration. Of the returnees, three had migrated first before, and
again after migration, while one had migrated before marriage but
not after marriage.
One woman had been abandoned by the husband when their child
was 8 months old and had divorced before migration. Two returnees
are separated from their husbands (one husband had left the marital
home while the wife was away), two are widowed and one is divorced
from her husband. One womans husband is serving a jail sentence
for sexually abusing their daughter during the womans employment
overseas.
The age and ethnicity of spouses are similar to those of the returnees.
The majority of husbands are over 35 years of age. All husbands and
wives are of the same ethnicity except for the household which was
of a mixed ethnicity marriage couple where a Muslim woman is
married to a Sinhalese man.
All returnee workers except for one have received some level of formal
education. Eighty percent had completed primary education and had
gone up to secondary level, having studied up to school grades
between grade six and the G.C.E. Ordinary Level (Grade 11). Ten
percent has studied only up to Grade five or less, thus receiving only
primary level education. One returnee is Advanced Level qualified
19

while another has two years of studying for a university degree in the
Arts stream. Only one woman is illiterate, having never been to school.
Graph 03 - Level of Education of Migrants

One returnee cannot read or write. . I can write my name. That is all.
But that did not deter me she says. She followed the Pre Departure
Training Course conducted by the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign
Employment (SLBFE) prior to migrating the first time. She has been
on five cycles of foreign employment from 2000 to 2009, returning
home at the end of each two year contract except the last time when
she ran away from the house she was working in prior to the end of
her contact and stayed in the Sri Lankan Embassy for 3 months before
being sent home. I am proud of my achievements she says.
Another returnee had followed 2 years of study courses for an external
university degree in Arts when she left on migrant work. She has
migrated twice to the same household working for five years in all as
a housemaid. Back home, she works as a daily wage worker in a
factory producing polythene.
One returnee worker had a preschool teaching certificate and had
worked as a pre school teachers assistant for two years before looking
to work overseas because she realised that the income was never
enough. She had sent in an application to the Ministry of Health in
Sri Lanka for training to be a Public Health Worker when she decided
to go abroad as a housemaid. I received my appointment as a Public
20

Health Worker (midwife) after I left Sri Lanka. I was bitterly

disappointed but I didnt come back to accept the post.
The husbands of the returnee workers are less educated than the
returnee workers. Fifty seven percent of the spouses had studied up
to levels between Grade Six (secondary level) and the G.C.E. Ordinary
Level grade against 80% of the returnee workers in this educational
qualifications range. Thirty percent of spouses had studied only up
to Grade Five (primary education) or less, the range that includes
only 10% of the returnee workers. No spouse has studied further
than the Ordinary Level while three (10%) have not gone to school
and are illiterate.
Returnee women workers say that neither they, nor their spouses have
any recognised vocational skills. Here recognised is articulated in
terms of institutional recognition and certification. However, nine
women speak of various skills they have and of occupations they
were engaged in prior to migrating for employment. Three women
are able to sew and two of them had undertaken sewing orders before
migrating. Two women are capable of a multitude of activities
including sewing, making ekle brooms, ornamental flower plants,
handicrafts, mushroom cultivation, fabric painting and curry powder
for commercial purposes. One woman knows how to make beedi
(local cigars), one knows to weave on a handloom, and one is trained
in dressing brides (bridal dressing). One has worked as an artist in a
factory manufacturing porcelain crockery, and later as a Quality
Controller in a garment manufacturing company before migrating as
a housemaid.
Of the husbands of the returnee workers, 70% are employed while
17% are unemployed (13% have not provided details of the husbands
employment status). Of those whose husbands are employed, the
majority says that their husbands do not possess any specific
employment oriented training or skills. However in discussion,
returnees describe their husbands as drivers, masons and carpenters.
Some are farmers working their own land or on land owned by others.
Four husbands had joined their wives in their place of employment
abroad as the household driver and arrangements for this had been
done by the wives. Of these four husbands, one husband had returned
in 6 months saying he cannot work abroad. Two other husbands are
21

currently working in the West Asia after the return of their wives.
One woman says that her husband did not like her going abroad again
and that he went to work as a driver instead of her to earn an income
for the family.

2.2 Overseas employment First time migration and

remigration
All returnees have experienced at least two stints of foreign
employment. On the first time abroad, one returnee had worked in a
garment factory while all the other returnees had been employed as
domestic workers. The garment factory worker, however, had retuned
prior to the end of her contract complaining of various illnesses. She
had then re-migrated as a domestic worker.
The women who went back for foreign employed had all worked as
as domestic workers.
Sixty percent of the women workers had migrated a third time, all as
domestic workers. Three women had migrated for a fourth time and
two for a fifth time. Every instance has been for domestic work
although one woman said that had been asked to work in the familys
goat farm during one stint. Even though some have migrated only
twice, there are women who have been away for over four years (which
was beyond the period housemaids are contracted for). Three women
who had migrated three times have worked in the same country for
cumulative periods of 19, 13 and 12 years respectively. These women
had stayed on in the same house willingly, returning to the same
households in the few times they had come to Sri Lanka to see thier
families. One woman who had migrated twice had stayed for 11 years
in the same household coming home once during that period.
While the majority has re-migrated within the space of two weeks to
one year of returning, two returnees had re-migrated the second time
8 years and 18 years respetively after returning home. The woman
who re-migrated after a gap of 8 years said that she had planned to go
back soon after her return after the first stint, but she could not do so
due to her parents being old and sickly, her husband fracturing his
arm in an accident and not being able to work, and because she needed
to attend to her childrens education. Following the death of her
22

parents, the recovery of her husband from his injury and, the children
finishing their education and being given in marriage, she re-migrated.
The other returnee invested in a small houseshop upon her return the
first time. This venture, however, did not provide sufficient income
for the family, and she explored several other income generating
ventures. After 18 years, when economic pressures became unbearable
she re-migrated.

2.3 Employment on return

All returnee workers in the study have gained a minimum of four
years of work experience working in the foreign country. Some have
extended period of overseas employment ranging from 12 to 19 years.
Yet on return home, 70% (21 women) do not engage in any income
earning activity and are unemployed.
Graph 04 - Status of current occupation of Migrants

Of the 9 women (30%) who currently earn an income, two work are
daily wage workers wage at a nearby polythene production factory
and one works for daily wage at a flower farm. Another does manual
labour on farms for a daily wage. She works infrequently. Five women
have their own small businesses; one has her own small scale rice
mill, one has a bridal dressing business, one undertakes sewing, one
makes and sells sweets and one makes all types of food which is
bought by the community from her home. The fifth woman, whos
husband also was employed overseas for a period of time had, on
their return, bought a tractor and a trailer with their earnings which
she hires out for payment. Although she earns an income from this,
she does not consider it an occupation.
23

Two returnees work as unpaid workers in the family farmland while

the others are not engaged in any occupation or any income generating
work.
Those who do not engage in any income generating work say that
there is no work that would bring an income.. One had started a
mushroom cultivation but the business had folded due to lack of
markets and lack of technical advice on disease management. One
had started a tea kiosk at her house but abandoned in because it was
not generating sufficient income for the work put into it.
Twenty three returnees (77%) say that they have not acquired any
training or skills during their employment to provide them access to
employment back at home. The other seven (23%) however say that
they have acquired some benefits that can contribute to future
employment. They cite these benefits as money management, all types
of domestic work and mobility.

2.4 Children of returnees

The average number of children among returnees is three. Two
returnees have no children while one returnee has six children. Of
the children 12 are of school going age (under 18). The others are all
adult children.
Only one child has been born after the mother returned from working
abroad and settled down permanently in Sri Lanka. We deliberately
didnt have children when we got married because I wanted to go
abroad and earn something first before having a child. She is the
only woman who had made a conscious decision about starting a
family after working overseas. Today after three period of
employment overseas, she has two daughters and a son all born after
her return to Sri Lanka. Her husband has now migrated on
employment.
One woman with two children has had a child each time she returned
from a stint of two years abroad. She has gone back overseas for
employment for a third time after the last child.

24

All children have been under 15 years when their mothers (and in
some occasions both parents) had found employment out of the
country.
All children have received some level of education. Of the children
in school currently, one child is in a preschool, four in primary school,
and 15 in secondary school.
Of those who are not currently in school (35 in number), three had
dropped out of school; in Grade 7, Grade 8 and Grade 9 respectively.
All others have sat the G.C.E. Ordinary Level examination and the
majority, 22, has passed the examination. Of these children10 have
passed the G.C.E. Advanced Level examination. Two of these (both
women) have university degrees and are permanently employed in
the government sector.
Compared to the levels of education of their mothers, the children
have excelled in their studies. Among the returnee mothers, 17
workers had studied up to the G.C.E. Ordinary Level grade, while,
one had studied only to grade 4, two up to grade 5, three up to grade
6, two up to grade 7 and seven up to grade 8. One had never been to
school. Only 2 mothers had sat the Advanced Level examination and
one had completed two years at university dropping out to go abroad.
There were no university graduates among the returnee women.
However in terms of employment, the children of migrant workers
have yet to excel. Of the adult children only approximately 25% is
employed.
Of the ten children who had passed the Advanced Level examination,
only four, all women, are employed/earn an income; one as a Police
Constable, one as a Womens Development Officer at the Divisional
Secretariat, one runs her own bridal dressing business and, the fourth
is herself a migrant domestic worker.
Of the 22 children who passed their Ordinary Level examination, 11
are employed. Six (all men) work as masons, labourers, a woodwork
artist and a three wheeler driver; none are in employment that brings
in a regular income. Two women work in garment factories, two men
run their own businesses and one woman is working abroad as a
domestic worker.
25

Out of the few offspring of migrant workers who have less education,
one man does farming, one man is in West Asia employed as a labourer
and, one woman works in a garment manufacturing factory. Therefore,
only a few children of returnees have gained any formal professional
or vocational qualifications.
Priyadarshani, a returnee mother said, After my son grew up, I took
him to the same household that I was working in. He worked there as
a driver. When he came home after his contract ended, he insisted
that I come home with him and stop going again because he said he
could not bear to watch me work so hard.

2.5 Social and financial status prior to migration

The vision of being able to overcome poverty is the driving force in
the lives of the women in the study, as narrated by them. Poverty
resulting in not being able to meet expenses for food and clothing,
not being able to build a house and providing for the childrens
education are the main reasons for migration for all 30 women. It is
the lack of employment or lack of sufficient income and resultant
levels of economic hardship experienced by the woman herself, her
children, spouse and extended families that has prompted all the
women to migrate. The pre migration aspirations are simple; to have
money to eat and meet the basic needs of the family, to educate the
children and, to build a house. Describing the state of poverty that
was her life before she found employment overseas, one woman says
We didnt have a grain of rice.
Another explained, My husband had mortgaged the land and then
wasted the money on alcohol.
Most women were not employed prior to migration. They complained
that the husbands earnings were not sufficient to even feed the
children. Lack of employment opportunities are also cited by those
who have tried to earn an income through employment in the country,
or by doing small scale income generating projects.
In terms of assets, while a number of households possessed a piece
of land (owned either by the husband or the returnee woman), the
houses were wattle and daub.
26

Women speak about other contributory factors as reasons for their

decision to seek overseas employment. such as one or both parents
being sick and needing money for their medical treatment, no one
giving them help.
Many women speak of childhoods lived in poverty. Although they
did not speak of having a dream of creating a different life for the
children, they did speak with determination that they wanted to change
the life they lived, and not have to be so poor anymore.
One woman, whose husband abandoned her when their baby was
only 8 months old, said she had no choice. My husband was a
labourer. One day he left home looking for work and never came
back. I waited for him for years but then I realised he was not coming
back.
One woman spoke of leaving the home because of poverty but also
to avoid marital problems. I didnt have children. My husband and
his family used to harass me. Call me names and call me a barren
woman. She worked on two stints overseas and today has built her
own home. She now lives alone and sells sweets to earn an income.
Several returnees speak of husbands being engaged in farming or in
agriculture. But the earnings were not sufficient to bring them out of
poverty. Some speak of having to mortgage their own land or land
owned by their husbands to find money to migrate. One speaks of
selling the family cow to pay for the expenses to migrate. These
narratives indicate that whatever assets they had were not adequate
to provide a decent life for their families.

2.6 Duty and care for children in preparing for migration

employment
Childcare arrangements made by the migrating women are not formal

or concrete. On the first cycle of migration, most had left their children
in the care of the husband (the childrens father), or with the husband
and her mother or mother in law. A few women had on return to Sri
Lanka, and prior to re-migrating changed the care giver, from husband
to their own mother or sisters; one had even left her children in the
care of a friend.
27

Where husbands had been left to care for the children, there are several
narratives where they had looked after the children well, feeding,
clothing and educating them. In one instance one father had cared for
three daughters and another had cared for both fathers two daughters
bringing them up and educating them. Although a correlation cannot
be made here, it is interesting that both these husbands were
considerably older than the migrant worker, one ten years older and
the other 17 years older.
Only one returnee faced serious issues with regard to her children
where the husband sexually abused her 14 year old daughter, on the
very day she left for work for the first time. The husband was left to
care for her two daughters and one son, and the incident was
discovered by the husbands mother and brothers several months later,
after months of sexual abuse. The mother and the brothers of the man
handed him over to the police and he is now serving a jail term. The
migrant worker did not return on being given this information, rather,
she sent money to her husband to post bail. Returning after the two
year contract she re-migrated for the fourth time. She had over the
previous fourteen years, worked overseas returning to Sri Lanka for
short visits each time her two year contract ended.
One mother regrets that while she was away her daughter had married
early (at 18) while studying in the advanced level class. At the time
the husband was caring for the child. I would not have allowed it to
happen if I was here. She was nine when I left, the youngest of my 6
children and she got involved with a boy at a tuition class. She got
married and did not study further. She went astray because I was
absent. But she adds that no one, not even her husband finds fault
with her for that. It was the childs fate. All her children, including
the youngest who got married at 18, have passed the ordinary level
exam. One of her older daughters obtained a university degree and is
employed as a government officer.
Some of the choices the returnees had made prior to migration about
the care of their children could be difficult to understand for one not
placed in such a position. One woman speaks of being continually
harassed by her mother in law during her marriage, but when she
migrated, she entrusted her two sons and daughter with her mother in
law, who looked after them well. Clearly, in this instance, the
28

perception of the daughter in law as an important income earner

changed the mother in laws attitude towards her.
Duties and obligations towards children are a priority for the migrating
mothers. These obligations and duties are expressed by the desire to
see children educated and married.
There is no discussion on the fundamental need among children for
the mothers physical love and affection.
Many returnees speak proudly of their children receiving education.
Returnees are proud of sons daughters who have found employment
in the government sector or have their own businesses. These however
are not many.
There is similar pride when they are able to see to it that their children,
especially the daughters but also sons, are given in marriage after
their education. One woman speaks of returning after the first time
working abroad and setting her eldest daughter in marriage. When
I returned after my second time abroad, I got my son married. After
the third time, I got my youngest daughter married. Dayawathi, a
returnee, says that she does not want her daughters to work as
housemaids but she has helped her son find employment as a driver
in the same country she is working.

2.7 A glimpse into the Returnees history of Employment

The returnees are a mixed group in terms of year of migration. Sixteen
had migrated for the first time between 1990 and 1995. Eight had
migrated for the first time between 1996 and 2000 while six had
migrated for the first time between 2001 and 2007.
Table 1 - Year of first migration

29

The number of years the returnee migrant workers have worked

overseas, as recounted by the women in the sample, is not precise but
can be estimated based on their life stories and sequences of narrated
life events. In the first migration, 43% had worked for two years and
returned on completion of the contract. 40% had stayed on for another
year while 7% (2 women) had worked for 4 years. Three women
(10%) had returned in one year due to illness and one due to problems
at the workplace.
I was working in a house in Singapore. I was fine but the lady in the
house was very cruel to her own children. She would hit them all the
time, sometimes hang them on the roof beams and hit them. She
wouldnt feed them properly. I think she was mentally ill. I couldnt
bear to watch this and in one year I came back home, says Soma,
mother of two children
During the second stint of employment, more than half had returned
after the end of the two year contract. Three had returned in one year
while five women had stayed on for 3 years. No one had stayed beyond
3 years in the second round of migration.
Of the eleven workers that migrated a third time, the pattern is similar
with most returning in 2 years and a few (3) staying for 4 years.
Most returnees had been to West Asian countries. Only one returnee
had been to Singapore once and had returned in one year. The most
common destinations in every migration cycle are Kuwait and Saudi
Arabia. It is to these two countries that most of the women have gone
for employment the first time, as well as on subsequent work stints.
Smaller numbers have been to Dubai, Oman, Singapore, Qatar and
Bahrain.
In terms of getting to know about opportunities for employment
overseas, returnees speak about being influenced by the successes
and economic gains of women in the neighbourhood who had migrated
overseas for employment. They also speak about sub agents visiting
their homes to chat to family members about the prospects of foreign
employment and enticing prospective women to migrate. This makes
access to foreign employment in the domestic worker category easy
as the opportunity is literally there at your doorstep.
30

Most women migrate by applying through a Foreign Employment

Agency or through a sub agent. A few (8) had migrated on their own
where a relative or friend had sent a ticket and work visa directly.
Table 2: Means of migration

The only woman who migrated for work in a garment manufacturing

enterprise found employment overseas through different means to
going through an agent. While working in a garment factory in Sri
Lanka, a large group of women from the factory received the
opportunity to go to a factory owned and run by the same company
abroad.
Despite all women (except one on her first migration as a factory
worker) migrating as domestic workers, returnees mention different
costs incurred in migrating including payments to sub agents and
agents, and spending on various pre departure preparations including
leaving some money at home with the family. In the first round of
migration, eight women had incurred no cost while four had spent
between five and ten thousand rupees and 16 had spent over ten
thousand rupees.
On the second cycle the costs had reduced significantly. Twenty two
women (73%) had not incurred any costs while four women had spent
between five and ten thousand rupees. Six had spent over ten thousand
rupees. On the third and subsequent cycles, the costs stated vary where
44% had not incurred costs but approximately the same number of
women had incurred over ten thousand rupees.

31

Table 3: Payments made towards migration

Meeting the cost of migration on the first cycle of employment has

been largely through borrowings. Most (21) had gathered the required
sums of money by borrowing from different sources; family and
friends, money lenders, by pawning jewellery and mortgaging land.
Only one person had used her savings.
On the second cycle however, more women (5) had used their savings
from the previous migration. Only four women (from 21 previously)
had borrowed from family, friends and the money lender. On the
third cycle women using their savings and those who had borrowed
money to migrate was similar to when they had migrated the second
time.
There is, at times, a lack of understanding of certain deductions from
wages. One returnee stated that her employer had sent her a ticket
and deducted the amount from her salary. But she says she did not
spend anything on migrating; since she did not have to physically
pay out any money for the migration process, the deduction from her
wages does not seem to have registered in her mind as actual payment.

32

Chapter Three

Finding ones self as a primary

income earner
3.1 Pre migration training
Participation in pre departure training programmes was not a key
issue in the study. However, the issue was raised in discussion but
returnees did not provide many details of training. Some say that
during the time they migrated for the first time, there was no training
provided. This however is not accurate as the first year of migration
for the women in the study was 1990 and the pre departure training
programmes of the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau (SLBFE)
were functioning at the time. Seven returnees spoke of having
undergone training at the SLBFE and stated that the training was
very useful. One woman said it was an (woman) official at the
SLBFE who advised her to open a bank account in her name and to
remit money to it. This returnee is the only one who remitted money
into her own account.
Ten women who said that they had no received training had largely
migrated through personal contacts where a visa and ticket were sent
directly to them through family or friends. One returnee who said
she had not received training had migrated through a sub agent. The
other 13 women did not provide any information on whether they
received training or not.

33

3.2 Re-migration
Every woman in the study had migrated at least twice, with some as
many as five and six times. The main push for re-migration, as
articulated by the returnees, is economic. The first cycle of migrant
employment for most women returnees has been to pay off debts,
and to provide for food, clothing and education of the children. For
many re-migration this was seen as a means of making life comfortable
while the main dream remained and that was to build a house.
There were women who re-migrated as they could not bear the
expenses of basic needs. Kumarihamy disclosed, I thought I would
not go again when I returned the first time but soon there was no
money to feed the children. My husband didnt have proper work and
sometimes there was no food at home. So I went the second time. I
returned the second time when my daughter attained age. I went the
third time because I wanted to build the house. She has educated
her daughters and says I never thought I would be able to do that
but she could not build her house completely as she used a large
portion of the money earned on the dowry and wedding of one of her
daughters.
For some it was to support a few more years of childrens education.
Priyadarshani said,I started working here, in Sri Lanka, but the
earnings were not enough to educate the children.

3.3 Earnings and Remittances

The information regarding earnings is not clearly and specifically
given by the returnees. However it is evident that in the first stint of
employment the majority of the returnees earned between five
thousand (US$ 45) and fifteen thousand rupees (US$ 140) a month.
Three women say they earned less than 5000 rupees a month while
three say they earned between fifteen and twenty thousand rupees
(US$ 140-180) a month. In the second cycle of migration earnings
have increased with more earning between ten and twenty thousand
rupees a month, the number earning less than five thousand rupees a
month being only one person. Three women had earned between
twenty and twenty five thousand rupees a month and one between
twenty five and thiry thousand rupees (US$ 220-280) a month. In the
34

third cycle, no one had earned less than 5000 thousand rupees a month,
only two between five and ten thousand rupees a month and the
majority had earned more than twenty five thousand rupees a month.
In the first cycle, all returnees had received their full wages while
one woman, in her third time, had not been paid at all. After 3 months
of not being paid, she had left the work place and gone to the Sri
Lankan Embassy in the country which sheltered her for 3 months
and repatriated her.

3.4 Life as an overseas domestic worker

All 30 returnees have sent money home. Some have sent their whole
salary while some have saved a portion before sending the larger part
of it home. The majority had sent money monthly while four women
whenever they could which was every two or three
months.
h

During the first migration, the money sent home had been
approximately Rs. 5000 and 15,000 a month. In the second cycle the
remittances were higher, between Rs. 10,000 and 25,000. However
by the third time, the amount remitted was reduced with the majority
sending between 5000 and 10,000 thousand rupees a month.
Cheque and bank transfers directly to the intended recipient have
been the most common form of sending money. In the first cycle
more women had used cheques. In the second and third cycles while
most continued to remit earnings through cheques, the number sending
money via bank transfers had increased. Not a single woman had
sent money through friends or to anyone in Sri Lanka other than to
the intended person. This contradicts to anecdotal information that
remittances are sometimes made via middle men/women who encash
the money and give the equivalent in rupees to the family of the
migrant worker, leaving open possibilities for sometimes cheating
them by giving less than the money that was sent.
The majority of married women had remitted the money to their
husbands on the first time abroad. The second choice had been the
mother and then the sister. The number sending money to the husband
had reduced over the second, third and subsequent cycles. Only one
returnee had sent money on one stint (her second) to her own bank
35

account. Mothers have been favoured over fathers, and sisters over
brothers. There are a few instances where money was remitted to the
sister in law but never to a brother in law. The remittance receiver
appears to have a direct linked to the individual who looked after the
children left behind.
There are mixed stories of the use of these remittances by the receiver
in the migrants home. In several cases, the remittances were sent to
the husband who had carefully managed the monies, on essentials as
well as on the childrens education. In other cases, the story is different.
Two women speak of their respective husbands as having squandered
all the money. In these two instances one husband had spent the
womans earnings on his sisters wedding and dowry while the other
had gone away with another woman and spent most of the money on
his illicit love affair.
Back home, the money received from the migrant worker are spent
on diverse ways. During the first months of the first cycle of migration,
most earnings are used for day to day today expenses in the home,
for food, clothing as well as for paying off debts (old debts as well as
those incurred to pay the costs of migration). One woman confessed
I had heard stories that he was with another woman but I kept sending
him money for my children. I wouldnt believe the stories until his
own brother and mother told me that they were true and that I should
not send any money to him. After that sent money to a friend.
Many of the women appear to have met demands for money from
home with patience and a certain amount of pride. Apart from money
sent to a husband or parents and children, these migrant workers speak
of sending money in response to demands for money from sisters
and brothers, for their education, to start businesses, from brothers to
obtain driving licenses, and even to repay their loans.
Despite most of the women stating that all the salary was sent home,
many had saved portions of it infrequently by keeping some money
with themselves at the place of work. This practice was evident in
the second cycle of migration rather than in the first where the
demands was high for essentials to meet basic needs of those back
home. Some of those who say they sent the whole salary home, have
also sent a portion to their own bank accounts back home. These
36

arrangements are not articulated clearly by most except to say

whatever I earned, I sent home.
One woman who sent her salary to her mother who was looking after
her two children found that her mother had saved her remittances
and spent her own money on the children. This was in stark contrast
to her experience during the first two periods of employment overseas,
the first time she went overseas had remitted her salary to her spouse
and found out later that he had used it it up entirely, and in the second
round of work overseas, her friend to whom she had remitted her
earnings had also used up all the money..
Another woman had sent her earnings to her daughter during the
third spell overseas and the daughter had saved everything. Again,
this was a clear contrast to what had happened in the two previous
stints overseas; she had remitted her earnings to her husband the first
time and he had used up everything, andthe second time, she had
remitted her earings to her mother in law who had also not saved any
of it.
Haleela had sent her earnings to her sister who had used part of the
money to build Haleelas house and also saved a portion of the money.
Her sister had kept meticulous accounts of what was sent and how it
was spent, even details of the small amounts she had taken to spend
on herself from time to time. During her two previous stints, Haleela
had sent her earnings to her sister in law as her own husband was
illiterate and she and my husband had got together and spent all the
money.
A fourth woman speaks of sending half her salary to her father and
depositing half in her savings account. When she returned home, the
father had saved the half sent home.

3.5 In-service details

While all returnees had been employed as domestic workers
overseas22, the descriptions of work differ for some. For many, the
work had been cooking and cleaning. Some have had the added work
22

except for the woman who worked in a garment manufacturing factory for 6 months and returned home
due too ill health

37

load of caring for young children, while others had to also care for
old and sick family members.
For some, their responsibilities and their relationships with the
household had been gradual. They were initially asked to clean the
house and wash clothes and later, when trust was built, asked to cook
and look after children. Two women said that their responsibility had
been to only look after elderly patients.
There are also unhappy stories. Returnees speak of not being given
enough food to eat. A common complaint is the lack of rest, having
to work from dawn to mid night every day. Another complaint is the
large numbers of people in the household, having to work in two
households at the same time, and delayed payment of salary. One
woman complained that she had not been paid for five months. She
had run away to the Sri Lankan Embassy and Embassy officials had
negotiated with the employer and obtained her wages for the full five
months before she was repatriated to Sri Lanka after a 3 month stay
at the Embassy. One woman had been tricked by the employer who
had told her that everything she had bought would be sent to her by
ship when the migrant workers was returning to Sri Lanka, but never
did. One returnee complained that the man of the house Boss had
a bad temper and would hit her. No woman complained about being
sexually harassed at the work place.
One returnee said that how she could not eat the food cooked in the
household. When she had mentioned this to her employer, she was
asked to buy her own provisions and cook her own food. But I felt a
sense of guilt to spend my earnings on my food thinking I must send
the money home. So I didnt eat well and got sick.
However there are many happy stories too. Overall the returnees relate
happy experiences of their migrant employment in terms of how they
worked and how they lived. Some relate unhappy stories at one place
of employment and happy ones at a second place.
Many returnees, when speaking about their working life abroad,
remember first not the amounts earned but about the workload, how
they were treated by the employers, the gifts they received and the
experiences they had.
38

Two returnees had run away from Arab families. It is difficult to

work for Arab employers and their families. I ran away to the agency
and asked to be sent to a non Arab households is the story they both
related. One of them was found employment with an American family
and the other worked for a Sri Lankan family and both relate happy
stories about their second employers. Many speak of receiving gifts
and love, and being taken on family vacations including to Mecca.
One returnee relates how when she told the employer and his family
that she was a single mother and that her husband had abandoned her
when their child was a baby, they had immediately increased her
salary and given her many things as gifts.
Two women had been trafficked on one of their stints where one
woman was promised employment as a cleaner in a hospital but told
on her arrival that she cannot work in a hospital without a certificate
and sent to a house for domestic work. One woman had been promised
employment in Malaysia and had been taken via Singapore where
she was detained and deported by the Singapore authorities.
One returnee speaks of how she fell ill mid way through the contract
and how the employer provided her with medical treatment and sent
her home to Sri Lanka.
Another speaks of how when she told her employer that she had got
into debt to find employment, he had given her three months salary
in advance to send home to pay her debts.
A woman recounted having to work in the household and look after
goats in the employers goat farm. She explains that it was a poor
area and the family was poor.
Having learnt new skills, a woman speaks of how the madam taught
her to cook. She relates how she would do office work for her madam
who was a teacher; when she helped prepare her work at home and
that madam would pay her separately for that.
A woman remembers how her employers would buy gifts, parcel them
and mail the packags to her home periodically for which she never
had to pay.
39

Appreciating her free time, one woman speaks of how she had the
weekend off and that she was allowed to invite friends. When her
friends came over, her madam would cook for them.
It is not that the many returnees who speak fondly of their work life
and employers did not work hard. Many speak of long days, the
number of people to look after (one household had 30 people with
one domestic help) and the diverse demanding tasks like cooking,
washing clothes, cleaning houses, washing cars, looking after pets,
looking after children, caring for the elderly - all expected of the one
domestic worker. Yet when these workers have been treated kindly,
where affection, humaneness and generosity has been shown, the
details of the work is not a litany but mere statements of facts.
Narrations by returnees clearly show the complexities of their
individual work situations; the mix of the positive and negative.
Narrations also show how women adapted to these situations, making
the best of the positives and managing the negative aspects with
patience, tolerance and a resilience that came out of focussing on
their goal of engaging in migrant work; to help their families.

40

Chapter Four

Re-negotiating relations of Gender

in households
4.1 Arrangements for Care: Gendered Parenting
The interpretation of a mothers duty to her children by returnees is
contextual. With regard to their own children, the migrant workers
see their duty as providing financial and material support to make
the lives of their children better by providing for basic needs, extra
comforts, a house and a chance of a good education. These are the
factors that primarily drive women to take up employment overseas.
Arrangements for the care of children left behind have inevitably
included dependence on the support of the womans kin (first) and
the spouses kin (second). Women recognize the enormous value of
these kin networks in their whole journey of transformation from
housewife to income earner employed away from family, the home
and the country.
One woman migrated with her husband (as a couple to work in one
house) when her second child was just one year old. Her mother
looked after the children. She migrated twice more spending altogether
10 years away from home.
The gendering of responsibilities for caring for family members,
especially for young children is also generational. As some of these
stories illustrate, women returnees speak of how they tried to ensure
the care of their children for the period they were out of the country
and how in turn, they accept that it is their responsibility to support
their own daughters in caring for the grandchildren. Most often the
41

returnees appear to take their role as nurturer and carer of

grandchildren as well as their own daughters. For example, one
returnee migrant declared:
My daughter is pregnant with her first child and I will not migrate
again. My daughter will have her baby soon and I must be with her.
A mother must be near her daughter at a time like this
Another woman had migrated twice working for 14 years with the
same household coming back twice to see her family. Her son was
six when she first left and twenty when she finally ended her
employment overseas and returned home. During her stay away, her
husband had fallen ill and she had spent for his medical treatment
and subsequently at his death she had paid for his funeral expenses
as well. Now her son is married and has a daughter of his own. The
grand daughter is this womans whole world. She loves me. She eats
with me and sleeps with me. I migrated again after my husband died
but my granddaughter was missing me so much that she was falling
sick. So I came back and will not go again. She is closer to me than
she is to her parents!.
Several women have returned due to illness of family members but
re-migrated as soon as the person recovered. Dayawathi came back
during her second stint abroad when her 7 year old daughter developed
a problem in her eyes. She stayed until the child was well and remigrated, twice after that.

4.2 Returnee perceptions of benefits of migration

Benefits of migration are related in terms of material and economic
benefits, as well as intangible benefits like education of children and
the ability to fulfil duties and obligations to children and extended
families.
In terms of benefits, returnees speak about several key issues which
they see as achievements.

42

Table 4: Perceptions of benefits accrued through migration

The majority returnee workers prioritise the building of a house or

at least owning the land to build a house and their childrens education
as the main focus of their earnings. Purchase of land for some (40%),
building a house on already owned land (77%), buying a ready built
house (6%) and also repairing or rebuilding existing small,
dilapidated, wattle and daub houses were the priorities for these
women.
When I came home, there were no savings in the bank. But the house
was completed. There was no electricity, no water connection but the
house was built. And I was so happy says Faumiya.
Seventy three percent (73%) of the returnees had spent on childrens
education. This includes expenses of sending children to school as
well as to private tuition classes (30%). Seven returnees had invested
in childrens secondary education (studying up to the Advanced Level)
and eleven children of returnees have studied up to the Advanced
Level. Five women had invested in childrens higher education. Of
these five children, two hold university degrees.
Fifty three percent (53%) spent their earnings on family events such
as weddings, funerals and coming of age parties(puberty) of their
daughters. 40% purchased land and 30% purchased jewellery. Only
23% invested the earnings in a business or self employment activity.
43

Savings in banks was minimal with only 7% depositing the earnings

in a savings account or fixed deposit. Other forms of spending included
purchase of electrical items and furniture. In terms of spending on
household goods, buying a television was the main purchase among
returnees. Next was a mobile phone and obtaining electricity to the
home while equal numbers had spent on buying a refrigerator, a cooker
and provision of ready water to the home. Other expenses were for
obtaining a telephone connection to the home, purchasing a sound
system and, a computer.

4.3 Savings
At the end of the migration cycle 67% of the returnees had
accumulated savings. Thirteen returnees had savings of Rs. 120,000
(approximately US$ 1000) and above, while one returnee had savings
between Rs. 100,000 and Rs.120,000. Four had savings between Rs.
40,000 and 60,000 while two had savings between Rs.20 and 40
thousand. Of the thirteen who has savings over Rs. 120,000, ten had
been employed on three migration cycles. The others had worked for
two stints. Nine returnees however had no savings at the end of the
work period. Of these nine returnees, three had completed three
migration cycles.
These remittances had been used to meet diverse expenses. Only three
percent each of the returnees had savings of their own in terms of
liquid cash either in savings accounts or in fixed deposits.

4.4 Investment
Investments were described by the returnee migrants as constituted
buying personal jewellery and jewellery for children, depositing
money in savings accounts, engaging in a new livelihood activity or
developing an existing livelihood activity. It is interesting to note
that for them investment did not necessarily include expenses within
the house, on consumption goods or childrens education. Only five
returnees are engaging in economic enterprises; these range from
operating on a commercial basis, a small rice mill, hiring out a tractor
and trailer, undertaking sewing, making food items for sale and bridal
dressing. All enterprises are based in their villages or towns and are
solicited by the community, hence income generation is through the
44

community. All five women are happy with their enterprises and have
not considered expansion. Two other returnees had started home based
enterprises, one cultivating mushrooms and the other running a tea
kiosk at her home, but both enterprises had collapsed. Today they do
not earn a living. The others who are employed are in temporary
manual labour work.
Returnees speak proudly of spending on weddings of children
including providing dowry, especially those from the Muslim
community. The ability to spend on wedding ceremonies and dowry
are seen as being able to fulfill a primary duty of a parent and women
are proud of having been able to do so.
Another item of spending that is common for the majority of returnees
is spending on obtaining an electrical connection to the house. This
is coupled with facilitating some form of water connection to the
home, be it water from the main pipes or digging a well, both of
which can be an expensive tasks.
Repayment of prior debt as well as debts incurred for obtaining
overseas employment are also key expenses for the returnees. This is
seen largely in the first cycle of migration. Returnees have used some
of their earnings to pay back loans they obtained prior to leaving.
Fifty three percent had used their earnings to pay back loans which
were paid mostly to money lenders, some to redeem jewellery and
some to family members and friends.
The majority of women spoke of being able to pay off debts including
those of their husbands, and of other family members. One woman
speaks of having been able to redeem all the land owned and
mortgaged by her husband to support his addiction to alcohol. I
redeemed them all and got them written in my name. Now I own
them she says.
The houses built by returnees are at different stages of completion.
Some are completed and furnished while some are still in the process
of being completed with unfinished walls or half built second floor
units. Yet, all women are uniformly happy and proud of their
achievement when it comes to speaking about the house.

45

A sense of duty towards the extended family is clear in many returnees.

Many speak of spending on the education of brothers and sisters,
helping siblings to purchase assets like bicycles and three wheelers,
and helping old and sometimes sick parents. One woman speaks of
buying a television for her father because he used to walk about the
village in the night going to neighbouring houses to watch television
and, sometimes he would fall and hurt himself. One woman speaks
of lending money to support her brothers political career in local
government and says he never returned the money and I never asked.
One woman speaks bitterly of her husband using the money she sent
home on his sisters wedding and dowry without asking her or without
saving for their own family.
Nimali has built a house and furnished it. She had bought an extra
piece of land, paid off all her debt, provided money to her brother to
get his drivers license, given lump sums of money to her children
whom she educated, paid her younger sisters education and, started
her own business. She also has a fixed deposit the interest of which
she uses for the day to day expenses.
The level of achievement in the returnees relates directly to the
management of the earnings sent home. Those whose husbands,
mothers or sisters managed the money well, keeping aside some for
day to day expenses, educating children and also building houses,
have more successful and happy stories to relate.
Podi Manike whose husband is ten years older than her, says I built
the perfect home. When I came home I bought electrical items,
furniture and goods for the house. And there was the house, all built,
waiting for me.. The same story is told by Adina whose husband
managed the money sent home.

4.5 Regrets
Returnee women also speak of regrets and heartaches while speaking
of successes. A few say they have no regrets at all and that their work
in foreign employment resulted in only positive impacts for
themselves and their families. Eighteen women (60%) speak about
regrets ranging from issues relating to children, husbands, and mothers
and about economic and material aspects.
46

Five women have deep regrets regarding their children with three
women saying that the children did not study enough meaning
beyond the Ordinary Level examination. While children of returnees
have all studied up to higher grades compared to their mothers and
fathers, a few have dropped out of school (one had dropped out in
Grade 7, another in Grade 8 and another in Grade 9). Sixty Three
percent had not studied further than the Ordinary Level examination.
My biggest regret is that my children did not study well. They would
have studied had I been here says one. One of her sons works as a
labourer but the second son works as a handicrafts artists, having
obtained his training by following a course of study that she financed.
It is clear that her expectations for her sons educational and
professional achievements were high. She has spent on secondary
education including on private tuition classes, on vocational education
including a course in the hotel trade for the elder son.
It is their dreams for the childrens education that have not been
achieved for these women. One womans son is a mason, a lucrative
occupation yet not accepted at the same level of regard as being
employed in government service or as being a professional. For
many of these women, the sense that children would have studied
more had they been home appears to be a niggling regret.
One returnee speaks sadly of how the husband did not look after the
childrens basic needs. They did not have enough to eat even when I
was sending money home. But it is his fault, not mine and I will not
take the blame for that. In that sense, I have no real regrets.
Another returnee who migrated with her husband (on a couples visa)
speaks with sadness of her children growing up without both parents.
One returnee has a sense of deep sadness about her mothers prolonged
illness, blaming herself for causing her mother to neglect her illnesses
as she had to care for her (the returnees) children. My mother looked
after my son and my sisters three children because my sister and I
were working abroad. She had no time for herself and neglected her
illnesses. I know she died an early death because of this burden and
I regret it every day of my life, says Mishiriya.
Three women speak of husbands leaving them for other women, more
with sadness than with bitterness. He took all my money and gave it
47

to another woman. I should have gone before I got married. Then I

would never have had to get married. Says Haleela.
My husband was having an affair with another woman even before
I went. I didnt know about it. My going was ideal for him. My only
fear is that the piece of land I bought with my earnings is in his name
as he bought it with my money while I was away. I must somehow get
this piece of land written in my youngest sons name saya Julaila.
Maybe my husband wouldnt have found another woman if I had
stayed. But if I didnt go, we would have so many problems that could
have never been solved. I did well in every other way, educated my
children, and built a house. He wasted four years of my earnings.But
the children are on my side, says Husaina who lived 11 years working
as a domestic worker in one single house.
In terms of regrets over material and economic issues, two women
speak of husbands squandering the money earned by them.
One regrets that the self employment project she started with her
earnings collapse, one regrets not being able to build a house while
another regrets not being able to complete the house she started
building. Haleema is despondent. She says she is still in the same
place as she was prior to migration. But she has paid off all her debts.
I have no house. I hope my sons will look after me.
One woman who is happy about her house being perfectly completed
has only one regret that her husband did not consult her on the
design of the house.
One woman is resentful that her mother used the money she sent
home to renovate their ancestral home and then wrote it in her
brothers name leaving her with no place to live.
One returnee whose employer lied to her when she promised her to
send her containers of good home and did not, deeply regrets that she
was unable to bring anything for her husband, children and her house.
I bought so many things including bicycles for my sons, electrical
items and other goods and packed them all in containers. They never
sent them to me. My husband scolds me even today, five years after
48

the incident. He says I have sent the container to someone else, he

still says that when he is angry, implying that I had an illicit affair
while I was there and sent the good to that person. But I am not a
woman like that. I was faithful and single mindedly worked hard for
my family. I built the house, spent on weddings and funerals of family
members, gave money to my husband for his fish business and bought
jewellery as a saving. But after all that, I have to hear this story.
Two others regret spending their earnings foolishly and regret not
saving at least some of earings in their own names or investing in
income generating enterprises. One woman speaks bitterly of her
husband using her earnings to start a business which he did not manage
well causing it to collapse.
One woman regrets not having started a self employment business of
running a small shop as soon as she returned.
Some stories are unique. One woman relates the story that a telegram
was sent to her informing of her mothers death. Those days (in
1990) we did not have access to telephones and my family could not
reach me by telephone. I was working in a good house but I was
devastated by the news and came home immediately. When I came
home my mother was there to greet me, it was a hoax. Someone in the
village had sent the telegram as a prank.
Risna lives alone. He first husband left her. She met her second
husband abroad, married him and worked together overseas. They
built a house in Sri Lanka. They returned to Sri Lanka and she remigrated. While she was away on her second term overseas, he had
passed away. She has no regrets and is happy because she feels like
she did her duty to her family built a home and, got her children
married.

4.6 Womans role in the family as migrant worker

Looking at the lives of the returnee women, it is clear that their roles
as supplementary income earner or non contributor to the family
income or contributory (unpaid) family worker have transformed into
that of the main income earner for the family. All the women migrated
for work to provide a better income for the family and to hep the
49

family out of poverty and, that appears to have transformed the women
into the primary income earner.
The availability of work specifically as migrant workers appears to
have created this role change for women. In many families, the woman
has found work as a migrant worker because the opportunity was
availabke for her and not for the man/men in the family.
Mala was the only girl in the family. She has six brothers. At 24 years
of age she stopped her studies for a special educational qualification
and, migrated as a domestic workers because there were no income
earning avenues in the village for herself or for her brothers. She
says two brothers were married and had financial troubles of their
own, two younger brothers were still studying and two were sick due
to a nervous disorder. They all lived on her fathers pension.I couldnt
bear to watch my family suffering, she says.
Although prior to migration, most of the married women lived on the
income of their husbands (supplemented by some of their own), many
do not speak about husbands contribution to the family income. A
few are single income earners for the family due to the absence of
the husband.
With the role of primary income earner, women returnees see
themselves as being transformed, into the person responsible for
educating children and siblings, for providing economic benefits for
immediate and extended family, for spending on social engagements
weddings, funerals and coming of age functions and for providing
savings for the future of the children including collecting dowries
for daughters. Some see their role as advising husbands to save money
and helping them in managing their earnings.

4.7 Relationships with mothers and extended families

For some returnee migrant workers, the main role played by the
extended family is caring for children and, saving earnings. Of this
the primary role played by the extended family is caring for the
children and it is the female family members, mothers and sisters,
who have played this role.

50

My mother encouraged me to go and said she would look after my

children. She would compare my life and that of my children with my
sisters family and feel sorry for me. My sister was working as a
migrant worker and her family was living well. My mother would
say at your sisters house, there is always a lot of food and things.
Your children have nothing in comparison. There are no jobs here.
You should go and provide for your family. I will take care of your
children.
In the above story, the mother is not a returnee migrant worker.
However for some returnees, the encouragement has come from their
mothers who had also worked as migrant domestic workers.
One returnee, whose mother encouraged her to migrate for temporary
employment as a domestic worker, speaks of the careful instructions
her mother gave her to follow in case of problems at the workplace.
When you go, if you are facing any kind of trouble, send us a letter
written in red ink. If you are doing well, send us a letter written in
blue ink. If we get a letter in red ink, we will do everything to get you
back.
One woman speaks of being able to spend on her mother life-saving
operation. She speaks dispassionately. Her mother left for the first
time when she was a small girl leaving her with her aunt (mothers
sister). She had migrated repeatedly during the years this woman
was growing up. The mother still works as a domestic workers
returning for brief periods to Sri Lanka. My father abandoned me
soon after my mother migrated for the first time. She never married
again because she said she could not trust a step father to protect
me. I have not known her and I am not close to her although I do my
duty by her she says.
In ensuring money sent home is saved, it is again the female family
members, returnees mothers and sisters who have played a key role;
a fewer numbers of fathers or husbands have also been key to the
success of a womans undertaking of employment migration. There
are positive and negative stories associated with this where their
mothers, sisters and fathers have ensured savings. Mothers have also
been associated with a few negative stories where returnees speak of
being cheated by their own mothers.
51

For example, one woman speaks of her mother saving her earnings
and building a house for her, while another returnees mother had
built up her own house with the returnees earnings and written the
house in her brothers name. Thus returnees have different
relationships with their mothers; some good and some negative.
Significantly, most of the returnees do not want their own daughters
to migrate as domestic workers. They feel that the daughters lives
are now comfortable compared to their own and also that domestic
work is too hard and demanding for their daughters to go through.
My youngest daughter wanted to go as a domestic worker but I said
no. How can I send my child to do such hard work? I dont mind her
going to work in a mosque or a school but not as a domenstic workers,
one woman says, whose daughter now works as a labourer in a factory
close by.
I wont send my daughter. My husband will not allow it anyway. But
if my daughters husband sends her, there is nothing we can do says
Manike, one of the returnees.
Some mention that they did not want their daughters to migrate as
domestic workers but they went anyway. Nusrath says her daughter
was angry with the mother and father for breaking up her love affair
with an unsuitable boy and migrated without sitting for the Advanced
Level examination. She also says the daughter remits all her earnings
to her father (and not to her) who saves all the money in a bank
account. She did not migrate because of poverty. She migrated out
of spite says the mother.
There is one returnee who has helped her daughter to migrate as a
machine operator in a garment manufacturing factory. She had pawned
her own jewellery and provided the money needed for the daughter
to migrate. She says the daughter sends money home which she saves
in the daughters bank account. The daughter also sends money
separately for her (the mothers) clothes and medicines. Every 3-4
months she sends some extra money for household expenses.

52

4.8 The role of the husband left behind

The profile of husbands can simply be categorised into two; supportive
husbands and, those who did not support their migrant worker wives.
Married returnees speak of positive family impacts of labour migration
largely where the husbands have played the role of parent, care giver
and home maker effectively.
Eleven women (37%) speak proudly, fondly and respectfully of how
their spouses, some with the support of the extended family and some
on their own, cared for the children and ensured that the home
remained untroubled by the absence of the wife. These men have
cared for the children, fed, clothed and educated them, ensured that
the children did not suffer any ill effects of growing up without a
mother, managed the home and the wifes earnings and even saved a
portion of the wifes earnings.
Two of the interviewees whose husbands are older than them (one 10
years and one 17 years older) speak of how the husbands cared for
their children (all daughters), educated them and managed the money
she sent home, even building the house. These men have stayed back
in the marital home and managed their lives smoothly and the returnee
women have integrated into their old lives effectively.
My husband did all the cooking and cleaning and the childrens
work. My children (two daughters and a son) say that growing up,
they felt their fathers love much more than they felt mine says
Nusrath, smiling. She has no regrets on hearing these words; on the
contrary she says it makes her happy. All this is worth it if the husband
is good. If not, everything is lost.
Several men have gone back to their ancestral homes on the departure
of their wives and cared for their children in the midst of their extended
families. Their mothers and sisters have helped in the caring of the
children while the husbands have continued their employment and
provided for the family using the migrants remittances carefully.
The husbands of these families have continued working while the
wives were away, as casual labourers, farmers, and masons. Only
one husband had given up work as a labourer in order to commit
fulltime to child care and home making. The majority of these
53

husbands have completed secondary education while one is Advanced

Level qualified and, one has not been to school.
The women whose husbands were not supportive, speak of sadness
and disappointment despite the improvement in their economic
conditions and material gains. Sixty three percent relate such stories
ranging from husbands not supporting their decisions to migrate, to
squandering their earnings, to deserting the wives. There was one
case where the husband sexually abused their eldest daughter.
Two husbands had migrated for work on the return of their wives.
The women whose husbands objected to them leaving on migrant
work speak of the dire economic reasons for her to make that decision:
My husband vehemently objected to my going but there was nothing
to eat for my children, no money to educate them what could I do?
However, not a single woman faults the husband for not earning
sufficiently to care for the family but rather speaks of economic
hardship that forced them to find employment abroad.
I passed the Advanced Level examination and could have found
employment in the government sector. But my husband did not want
me to work. His family was wealthy but he wasted all that money on
drinking. He objected to my leaving but in the end I paid off all his
debts and redeemed all the mortgaged property with my earnings as
a house maid. This woman has also ensured that all the husbands
property redeemed by her has been written in her name.
Despite posturing about their opposition to their wives finding
employment overseas, these same men squandered the earnings of
their wives, on themselves, on their natal families, and on extra martial
affairs.
Two husbands had abandoned the children on the departure of the
wife leaving the children with their grandmother and disappearing
from the childrens lives.
These husbands, similar to the supportive ones, are mostly educated
up to secondary level.

54

My husband left me for another woman when I was away. He left

the children with his mother and lived with the other woman. I found
out later that he was having an illicit affair with her even before I
went. Now he still comes home but he goes to that other woman too
says one woman who now lives alone with her children.
These returnees stories speak of the emotional abuse that they have
had to undergo from their spouses. One returnee speaks of physical
abuse as well. My husband is illiterate and had wasted all the money
I sent home. When I asked him about what he spent all my remittances
on soon after I returned, he beat me. He continues to beat me and I
have stopped asking him about the money. I have hidden away a
little bit of money for illness. I get bad headaches because of the
beatings and I have lost hearing in one ear.
Several women (4) secured employment for their husbands in the
same homes they were employed in. One husband returned to Sri
Lanka prematurely citing low wages, excessive work and, inability
to adjust to a foreign country.

4.9 Returnees Social and political participation

A key finding of this research is that despite the courage and resilience
shown by these women in finding employment overseas and managing
their lives in a foreign country, the majority have not sought to engage
in social activities in the community on their return. Their lives are
concentrated within the home and family and the extent of their social
participation is confined to religious activities and to activities of
children still in school. The majority are not active members of any
community level organisations, societies or groups, not even in the
womens groups in the community. Only two women participate
actively in womens societies while a third says that she attends
community meetings only when the husband is unable to attend;
and then too, I just sit and listen.
No woman is active in the political sphere although women are
conscious about their vote. All say that they vote at elections but
have not given thought to participating actively in party politics even
at local level.

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4.10 Womans perceptions on migration for employment

Returnees have diverse yet definite views about women migrating as
domestic workers, all based on their personal experiences. All
returnees see their employment in a positive sense, some overtly
appreciative while some are conditional in their appreciation.
However only two returnees say that they will go again if there was
an opportunity. Seven returnees state vehemently that they would
not send or allow their daughter to go abroad as domestic workers.
Only one says she would encourage her daughter to migrate, but that
the husbands of the daughters do not want their wives to migrate. I
like it if they go, it is a good opportunity says Dayawathi.
Some returnees feel that it is better for husbands and sons to migrate
for employment than daughter as the pay is better and the workplaces
safer.
Many returnees decisions against re-migration are based on the
welfare of their children although the majority did migrate leaving
small children behind. The government should ban mothers from
migrating says Ashima who has herself benefitted immensely in terms
of economic gains but regrets that her children did not excel in their
education.
Children must be looked after and my husband wants me to stay
home and look after them says Rifana, while Mala says that she will
not re-migrate because her children need her. Both returnees have
school going children, two under 10 years and three teenagers.
One returnee is of the view that there is no acceptance in the
community for women who work abroad. Society looks down on
women who go abroad, there is no acceptance even at the airport,
there is no dignity says Kusum. Her views are not shared by any of
the others who reject the notion that the community looks down on
women migrant workers. Returnees say that their families and the
community look up to them for their contribution to elevating the
economic and social status of their families.
The migration experience has been empowering from a deeply
personal sense as well to some returnees. They speak of freedom,
new experiences and sense of self respect and pride. I used to be
56

scared of going out of the home. But now I am confident. A common

statement made by returnees is, There is recognition of our worth in
the village.
Economic gains have supported this elevation of status for women.
The majority are happy and proud of their economic gains. Now I
have my house even if I am hungry says one woman. We are living
like this because I went abroad. People say that my family was saved
because of me says Nirosha.
It is a strong view among returnees that a good and supportive
husband is key in ensuring the positive outcomes of travelling out of
the country for work. Husband have to be good for foreign
employment to be beneficial to the family sums up one returnee.
Similarly one womans experience in foreign employment is woven
around her husband leaving her during her absence for another woman.
But it does not matter to me. It is no loss. I have my children and my
home. I am self sufficient and I did not even ask for maintenance or
compensation when he divorced me she says. Thus there is dignity
in the way she accepts what she describes as the only loss resulting
from her migration experience.
One returnee unlike any of the others yearns for her life as an
expatriate domestic worker. This is based on the happy experience
she had during a stint of seven years in a household where she was
treated well. I was happier there than I am at home says the mother
of one.
If men earn and provide for the family, women do not have to go is
the strong view of one returnee. This woman migrated to pay off the
debts incurred by her husband who had deserted her, leaving her
responsible for his debts. Since her returned to Sri Lanka, she lives
with her mother and brothers and cares for her nephews and nieces
as she has no children of her own.
Returnees who are happy with their economic gains are of the view
that women must learn to manage their earnings as many problems
back home are due to women not knowing how to manage finances.
Many are also of the view that it is important to save some money
for yourself for medicines and for security in old age.
57

Chapter 5

Conclusions: Transforming Lives

he narratives of these thiry women bring out the complexities

and the richness of womens choice of becoming an overseas
migrant worker. Poverty is the main factor that pushes women to
look to migrate overseas for work. For most, the first experience of
working overseas and earning relatively high wages is transformative
for themselves, as mothers, as income earners, as, individuals who
see their role in the family enhanced. Approximately 60% of the
women in this study had migrated for employment overseas between
two and three times, within one year and eight years after returning
from a stint of employment abroad. Based on personal experiences,
returnees have strong views on migrant employment.
The migration experience has been empowering from a personal sense
as well to many returnees. Returnees show a deep sense of personal
satisfaction in their role as the ones who made it possible for the
family to rise out of abject poverty. There is also a visible sense of
contentment when returnees speak of children being educated, being
married with dowry and, of their contribution to social obligations
like weddings, funerals and providing for medical assistance in times
of sickness. These stem from the womans identity as being a part of
a family (nuclear and extended), the sense of recognition given to
these migrant workers and, the from the ownership women feel in
their familys progress.
It is clear that for all returnees self worth comes primarily from the
acceptance within the family. There is strong evidence of gendered
58

notions of altruism among these women. Only a few returnees have

kept aside some earnings for themselves. This was found among a
few women who had thought ahead that they will need something to
fall back on when they can no longer work or if they fall sick. Others
have faith that the children who have benefitted from their earnings
will look after them. Many of these womens plans for the houses
built from their earnings are woven around the returnee (with or
without the spouse) living with an adult child. This also shows that
among most there has been little thought and no planning on securing
their own lives post return and especially in old age.
This chapter draws out the key elements in the transformation of
these womens lives from housewives and daughters to participants
in the international informal sector as overseas migrant workers.

5.1 Trade off: difficult working conditions vs enhanced

earning ability
Many returnees speak of the hard work they underwent during their
period of employment. They speak of long hours of hard work,
working for large numbers of people, at times two or three families
at once, the lack of rest and free time and, in a few cases, harassment
and infringements of their rights in terms of unpaid wages, delayed
wages, refusal to release the worker on completion of the contract
and in one incident physical violence. No woman spoke of any sexual
violence faced at the workplace, whether they did undergo such is
unknown due to the general reluctance to speak of such having
returned and reintegrated into society satisfactorily.
All the hardship endured during overseas employment appear to fade
in the presence of improved living standards. In the majority of women
there is fierce sense of pride in their contribution to helping the family
rise from poverty.

5.2 Securing permament shelter

The women speak of benefits in terms of economic gains as well as
of those gains associated with children. While the accumulation of
goods (electronic items, furniture, telephones, and vehicles) is seen
59

as a significant step in improving their living standards, all women

uniformly see the building of a house (either on land owned previously
or on land purchased with earnings) as the greatest achievement. Those
who have been unable to build a house or to complete the house they
started building cite this as one of their main regrets. Thus as stated
by one returnee we can earn enough to eat and live a meagre life in
Sri Lanka, but we will never be able to build a house with what we
can earn at home.
The building of a house has a bigger impact on the returnee than the
actual physical structure. It is identified with the ability and strength
to provide shelter for the family, especially for the children. Returnees
see this as women taking on the burden of meeting an essential
material need in addition to providing food, clothing and other inputs
towards improving the living standards of the family.

5.3 Impact on marital and family relationships

In terms of social benefits, returnees speak strongly of failed marital
relationships where husbands either squandered the earnings, or
spending their earnings on their (husbands) own families, husbands
being resentful about the earnings or, as had happened in some cases
husbands who left the family for relationships with other women.
Some speak with sadness about being let down by their own immediate
family members, a mother or a brother. There is a sense of guilt
among some returnees that they negative situations could have been
avoided had they been at home but, there is also a sense that these are
unavoidable; that the is not to blame for the lack of responsibility
and accountability of those who undertook to look after children and
manage remittances. The returnees show a resilience in the way they
narrate their stories of regrets and it is evident that all the women in
this study have found ways to come to terms with their losses. There
is a positive sense of looking forward, to earn an income either in the
country or through remigration or, to live comfortably in retirement
surrounded by family.

60

5.4 Gendering of Womans Identity: Wife, Mother.

Daughter, Income Contributor
For all returnees in this study, the decision to migrate for employment
is based on their identity as a wife, mother or daughter. The entire
exercise is seen as having been undertaken, not for herself, but for
her family, driven by a deep socially ingrained sense of altriusm that
has prompted all women to migrate. Expressed as the need to help
the family out of poverty, to educate the children, to make life
comfortable for immediate and extended families women speak of
themselves in this process in their identity of being situated within
the unit of the family and not as individuals.
Their perceptions of gains revolve a round benefits for the family.
For them economic gains are about building a house for the family,
buying goods for the family and making life more comfortable for
the family. The limited discussion on engaging in an income
generating activity post return is also expressed within this framework
of duty and wellbeing of the family. There is little discussion on the
womans own material wealth.
Sometimes negative impacts on the very family that the woman aimed
at helping are balanced by positive impacts. The complexities of
dealing with their gendered own social identities as wife and mother
are illustrated in the story of the woman who supported her husband
economically despite him being convicted of sexually abusing their
daughter while the mother was overseas. She speaks of economic
gains and of educating the children but does not refer to the sexual
violation the daughter had undergone in her absence. In her own
coping mechanism, she has come to terms with the abuse, refusing to
either blame herself or the abuser who is her husband. The compelling
notion of being a dutiful wife who was not with her husband to fulfil
his sexual desires, in this instance, seems to be stronger than that of
the mother of an abused child. In her perception, her daughter has
got the justice due to her through the law and through the support of
other family members.
This identity as being a part of the family extends strongly to the
returnees identity as a mother. Migration is largely about making
life better for children in terms of meeting basic needs, material
comforts and education.
61

5.5 Enhanced Social Recognition and Mobility of

Returnee Women
Positive impacts of employment migration are visible in the lives of
returnees in this study. Returnees speak of acceptance in their families
and communities due to the economic contribution and the resultant
improvement in the standard of living of the entire family. There is
acceptance of the contribution of earnings towards educating children,
fulfilling duties towards children such as giving daughters in marriage,
providing for income generating opportunities for family members
and, caring for sick parents. In contrast, negative impacts are also
clear where men have not taken on the role of home maker and
caregiver or, as in certain cases as provider of protection and security
to children. All these are factors affects the womans identity as an
individual.
There is also a personal growth that is clearly evident. Returnees
speak of the mobility, freedom of movement resulting from experience
of working overseas and the ability to make decisions that have all
been the outcomes of their time by themselves. There is a sense of
self worth, self respect and pride among the majority of women, even
among those who have faced adverse consequences at the workplace
and at home,. I used to be scared of going out of the home. But now
I am confident. For many, a result of their migration is,a recognition
of our worth in the village.

5.6 Recognising Marketable Skills

Returnee women workers say that neither they, nor their spouses have
any recognised vocational skills. Here recognised is articulated in
terms of institutional recognition and certification. Some women speak
of various skills they have and what they were engaged in prior to
migrating for employment. Three women are able to sew and two of
them had undertaken sewing orders before migrating. Two women
are capable of a multitude of activities including sewing, making
ekle brooms, making ornamental flower plants, making handicrafts,
mushroom cultivation, fabric painting and making curry powder for
commercial purposes. One knows how to make beedi (local cigars),
one knows to weave on a handloom, and one is trained in dressing
brides (bridal dressing). One has worked as an artist in a factory
62

manufacturing porcelain crockery, and later as a Quality Controller

in a garment manufacturing company before migrating as a
housemaid.

5.7 Migration as a Generational Strategy?

The large second generation comprising the children of migrant
domestic workers undoubtedly enjoy the benefits of their mothers
labours. The material gains and opportunities for education have been
felt by all children; only a small number have dropped out of school
before sitting for the Ordinary Level examination. Compared to the
levels of education of their mothers and fathers, these children are
better educated. Some have received vocational qualifications.
However, in terms of levels of education nationally, only a few have
gone on to higher studies, or secured recognised ( professional,
government sector, permanent or contract employment, higher wages)
employment. This appears to dishearten some returnee workers. This
raises the question about channelling earnings into profitable and
recognised avenues of education. While all returnees speak of earning
to educate children there is no discussion on helping children manage
the process of gaining education, guiding children on educational
paths according to their abilities and preferences, identifying suitable
paths for educational qualifications aimed at occupations.
Despite this however, sons and daughter s of these migrant workers
have been given a life that their parents did not have due to poverty
and lack of opportunity. Returnee mothers have specific views about
foreign employment. Based on their personal experiences many are
of the view that migrant domestic worker is not suitable for their
own daughters. This objection is woven into economic and social
reasons. It is because returnees (i) do not want their daughters to
undergo the hardships slaving they did as domestic workers overseas,
(ii) feel that the lives of their daughters have been improved because
of their earnings and (iii) feel migrant domestic workers are sometimes
looked down on and would cause problems in prospective marriages
for their daughters. Although returnees object to the migration of
daughters, even in instances where daughters wish to work as migrant
domestic workers, they support the migration of sons as the
employment opportunities and earning capacities are better for men.
63

Perceptions based on economic gains prompt all the women to say

that the migration experience is beneficial. They are uniformly of the
belief that the improvements in the lives of family members would
not have been possible if not for their contribution. Those whose
earnings have been squandered are of the same view, expressed with
a sense of regret that better use of their earnings had not been done.

5.8 Changing roles of women and men wife as the provider

Womens migration for employment has transformed womens roles
both on an individual basis and also within the family. The returnee
women domestic workers in the study had not been the main income
earner in their families. Most hadnot been engaged in productive
employment while some have worked as unpaid family workers in
farming. Those who had earned an income from informal sector work,
had contributed to the family income as supplementary earners.
With migrant employment most women are transformed into the
primary income earner in their families. The incomes are important
because of the amounts (far larger than those earned by other members
of the workers families including spouses) and because it is a
permanent income for at least two years. By taking on the role of the
main income earner while overseas, these women workers also speak
of being unexpectedly thrown into situations where they have to
handle a considerable amount of money for the first time in their
lives and, many were unprepared for it. However these women,
especially in the second migration cycle, learn to manage their
incomes, for example, keeping a portion back with them instead of
sending the entire earnings home.
Having handled considerable sums of money for two years and more,
most returnees revert to their original status as supplementary
contributors to household income within a few years of their return
home. Those who have invested in income earning opportunities
continue to contribute to the family income but often providing a
supplementary income than the primary income. Others who do not
engage in any income generating activities on their return, go back to
being unpaid family workers or become the non income earning
member of the family.
64

5.9 Changing roles of women and men Husband

becomes the homemaker and caregiver
One of the strongest views among returnees is the role of the husband
has to be a positive one. It is commonly expressed that a supportive
husband makes the difference in making good with earnings as migrant
workers. Here positive stories are of husbands who have taken on the
role of homemaker and carer of children, most along with their own
roles as income earner, while others are shown to have become
fulltime home makers. The income earnings husbands have accepted
their position of secondary income earner in relation to the earnings
of their wives and have prioritised the role of home maker and carer
of children. This role reversal of men taking on the traditional roles
that women performed prior to migration is seen as key to maximising
the benefits of womens migration for employment. In certain
situations where women migrants have entrusted the care of their
children to female members of their or to their husbands extended
families, children have been cared for. In these situations husbands
of these families are entrusted with the management of earnings. While
some have managed the remittances effectively spending on children,
building houses and some even saving a portion of the remittances,
others have not always managed the remittances well. The incidence
of squandering earnings by husbands is common. In the situations
where husbands have not taken responsibility for home making and
care giving in the absence of the wife, negative impacts are visible.

5.10 Moving upwards in society

The majority returnees feel that their status in the community has

increased due to the gains from foreign employment. A few returnees

are of the view that society looks down on migrant workers. But the
majority disagrees and says that there is acceptance as a person worthy
of recognition in the community.
Looking at the physical environment of the village, it is evident that
where the woman had migrated overseas, families have houses that
are better built, improved range of food consumed, clothing and
material comforts; the children lead comfortable lives. This in itself
is an empowering situation in terms of acceptance and recognition in
the community.
65

In addition most children in these families are satisfactorily educated

with some holding government jobs. Through improved status in the
community and the opportunities given to children, there is evidence
that a degree of upward mobility in terms of social class is being
created by these families. While issues such as ethnicity, religion
and caste that still prevail as forms of marginalisation within these
communities, and in the population at large, the movement of family
units within the social structures can be seen as being upwards and
therefore better.

5.11 Community interactions

Despite the mobility and independence women have gained from
migrant employment, these returnees lives remain very much
focussed within the family unit rather than on engaging with social
organisations. The majority of returnees were not active in social
organisations or community events before migration. The only social
interaction some had had prior to migration was with the Samurdhi
Poverty Alleviation Programme as recipients of Samurdhi grants
which requires them to be part of a community based society of
Samurdhi recipients. None had been actively involved in party politics
other than casting their vote at elections.
On return the majority of women appears to have returned to their
position of minimal participation in community organisations and in
political processes. Most do not hold membership in community
groups, not even with the Samurdhi programme, as, with the advent
of overseas migration, their income levels are deemed to have
improved and they have been removed from the Samurdhi receipts
list. The only social activities among these women are of participating
in religious activities in the community temples and mosques and,
for those with school going children, attending meetings in the schools
of their children. Not a single woman is active in party politics.
Returnees explain that it is not due to lack of interest that they do not
participate in community organisations but due to lack of opportunity.
Many had, in during the interviews, requested the field researchers
to help them gain access and membership to community organisations,
even set up such organisations in communities where such
organisations do not exist.
66

In this light, understanding the socio-cultural boundaries that these

women have been able to cross through their engagement in overseas
employment migration must factor in the transformation of their lives
from housewifery to recognition as economic agents in their
households, and their own trajectories towards self empowerment,
negotiating through a range of other social relations of power and
entitlements. This is a group of women who have challenged their
stereotyped gender roles and identities by entering economic and
social spheres that lend towards womens empowerment. The
drawbacks and shortcomings, some tragic and crippling, in the process
have been managed with courage and self developed coping
mechanisms that would have been unimaginable in their pre migration
lives.

67

Stories Told

Asheemas story
Asheema is a 54 year old Muslim woman. She studied up to grade 8.
She sews clothes for a living.
Asheema is married and has two daughters and a son. Her husband is
55 years old and is a trader. Two of her children are grown up; the
older daughter is working as a domestic worker, the son drives a
three wheeler and the 17 year old younger daughter is studying.
Asheema migrated for the first time in 2002 to Kuwait as a domestic
worker. She spent Rs.15,000 from her brother towards the cost of
procuring the job. Her salary was at this first place of employment
was around Rs. 10,000. She remitted her entire salary home to her
husband who had settled all the family loans . She returned in 2005
and re-migated in 2007 to the same house. The house work was not
very difficult. But there was little food. The food they ate was different,
sometimes I couldnt eat it. They said I can eat anything I like but I
have to bring it with my money. I didnt buy food for money and eat.
I thought I should save every penny and send it home. I didnt want to
spend money for that. Her monthly salary the second time was
Rs.16,000 which she sent home to her husband just as she did the
previous time. She returned in 2009 after the expiry of the 2 year
service contract.

68

Her economic achievements are that she settled all loans obtained
before going abroad, started building the house, laid the foundation
and built the walls, a toilet and a well. She had also, spent money for
schooling of the children, brought goods to the house, and purchased
gold jewellry for daughters. I didnt save anything for myself. I sent
everything home.
In 2011, Asheemas daughter went overseas for employment
Asheemas eldest daughter migrated in 2011 to Saudi Arabia as a
housemaid. She earns Rs. 28,000 per month. She didnt get married
as I couldnt get her married. She will work and complete the house
I started building. She sends her eanngs to her father. She sent her
brother money to buy a three wheeler. He is paying her back monthly.
She gave him money to get the driving license. She has sent around
4 lakhs now. Then my son in law said he wants money to build racks
for his shop. Rs. 40,000 was given to him.
My greatest heartbreak is that I could not get her married. Muslim
girls are difficult to be given in marriage when they get old. They
must be married off before 20 years. Otherwise it is difficult. If they
pass 25, it is difficult to find a marriage. They say too old. Boys dont
like to take them even if we give them money and gold. Now it is hard
to give her for marriage. She says that she will not get married and
she will educate her sister. But that cannot be done. Relatives and
the people in the village will blame us.
Researchers Notes: The family is spending the money the daughter
is earning. Asheema says her daughter is sending money to complete
the house. When asked her whether she would give the house to her
daughter. She replies that the house will be given to the son. If that
happens then the daughter will be vulnerable. But she does not have
any knowledge or understanding about it.

Anulas story
Anula is a 48 year old Sinhalese woman. She has studied up to grade
eight in the Sinhala medium. She is not employed at the moment.
She says she has no vocational skills but that she can wrap beedis
(local cigars). On her return from migrant work, she has worked as a
labourer in a plastics company for three years.
69

She is married but when she is asked about her husband, she is silent.
She signals with her eyes and hands that she is unable to speak about
him. (The researcher knows that Anulas husband is in prison
convicted of sexually abusing their daughter during Anulas absence
working overseas). Anulas husband is 54 years old. A Sinhalese
man who has studied up to grade six. He was working as a driver in
Sri Lanka when Anula migrated.
Anula has three children. The eldest is a daughter of 29 years, who
had studied up to to grade eleven but had not sat her Ordinary Level
examination. She is married and unemployed. The second is a son of
27 years who has studied up to grade 9. He is also married and
unemployed. The third us a daughter of 23 years who had studied up
to grade 11. She had got married before sitting the ordinary level
examination and is unemployed.
Anula migrated for the first time in 1997 to Kuwait to work as a
housemaid. She had paid Rs. 7000 to an employment agency. She
had raised this money from her own savings making beedi. Her salary
during the first employment has been Rs.7000.00 per month which
she remitted home in full to her husband by cheque. She returned
home in 1999 at the end of her two year contracts.
Anula migrated again in 1999 as a housemaid with the same employer.
She says she did not incure any expenses as her employer sent her a
ticket but she also says that the cost of the ticket was deducted by the
employer from her salary. He salary was rased to Rs. 10,000 per month
which she again sent home in full to her husband to by cheque. She
returne in 2000 and worked at a plastic goods making factory in the
vicinity of her village. But the wages were not sufficient for the
schooling expenses of her children and she re-migrated in 2003 to
Saudi Arabia to work again as a housemaid. She earned Rs. 10,000.00
a month which she sent home to her husband, his mother and to her
aunt. She returned in 2005 at the end of her contract and re-migrated
in 2007 to Oman where she worked as a domestic worker for only six
months before returning home due to illness. In 2009 she migrated to
Dubai but came back in one year and a month because of illness.
During her time in Dubai she earned a monthly salary of Rs. 25,000
and sent it all to her youngest daughter who saved all the money.
70

Anula speaks of her material accumulations. I bought this piece of

land from the earnings from foreign employment. I bought jewellry
from Kuwait on returning the second time. I pawned that jewellry to
buy this 10 perches of land for Rs.50,000.00. I obtained a bank loan
of Rs. 50,000.00 to build the house. That was during my work at
Nippon factory. I completed two rooms at the time. I got the electricity
supply and bought furniture for the home. Then I paid back the loan
from the money earned abroad.
During the first job abroad I sent the money to husband. He bought
all the household requisites. My husband bought what ever needed
for home and paid for the expenses of children. My savings are not
big. I have about fifty thousand rupees in my bank account. I didnt
invest. I spent all the money earned for children. I gave every child
two to three lakhs of rupees each. I gave money to my son in law to
purchase a motor bicycle.
Anula says she is satisfied with her work as a migrant woker. I am
happy that I earned a good income from foreign employment. We
achieved all this because I went abroad for employment. There were
lots of troubles in our family. But we overcame these because of my
earnings. Earlier we could not even dream of jewellry for our children.
Even in my last return I bought jewellry worth nearly one and a half
lakh for my younger daughter. I helped my son in law to buy a motor
cycle. Before, I was poorer than my siblings. My employment abroad
helped me to solve most of the problems of my family. Even if I suffered
a lot I did my best for my children. I am looking after my mother who
is 78 yrs. old now. I am buying for her medicines. I am happy that I
have my own place to spend the rest of life peacefully.
Troubles in the family.
Anula says there are no real negative impacts due to her migration.
There were some troubles in the family she says and the Field
Researchers additional note explains this.
When this woman went abroad for the first time she left the children
with her husband. Her elder daughter was 13 years at the time. This
daughter was sexually abused by her father from the first day her
mother left the country. The girl was threatened not to tell anybody.
71

But later she told her her grand mother (her fathers mother). The
grandmother informed the other males in the family about the abuse.
Then the young brothers of this man confronted him and handed him
over to police. They informed the mother who was abroad at the
time. But when the mother received the news of the abuse she said
couldnt return home without completing service agreement.
After that the family left the village and shifted to the present address.
The abused girl was hospitalized and the other children were handed
over to the care of the grand mother. The father was remanded by the
Police and later released on bail with a surety of Rs.19,000. He was
subsequently jailed for the crime.
Having first posted his bail, the returnee mother continues to visit
him in jail, now a convicted prisoner serving a 15 year imprisonment.
She takes her youngest daughter with her while her eldest who was
abused refuses to visit the father.
The case was pending at the Magistrate Court for 12 years and by the
time the case was taken for trial, the girl was married. Following the
trial Anulas husband was convicted and imprisoned for 15 years.
Anulas eldest daughter grew up with her grandmother. At 18 she
went to work in a factory in the Free Trade Zone. She hates her father
and for a long time wanted him killed. She was furious when she
came to know that her mother sent money to the father for his bail
and for the court trial. She faced some difficulties for not telling her
own husband of her being sexually abused by her own father.
Anula visits the prison to see her husband. She has done that every
time she came back from working overseas. Her younger daughter
also visits the father in prison.

Julailas story
Julaila is a 53 year old Muslim woman, a mother of three children.
She lives alone having given all her children in marriage with her
earnings working as a domestic worker. Her first husband left her
while she was away working and her second husband had died. This
is her story.
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I am Julaila. I studied only up to grade 4 at school. This is our

native village. I have lived in this house for 22 years. Earlier I was at
my mothers house. I made this house after my mothers house
collapsed. There are no children in this house. They have got married
and gone away. I stay alone. I dont have a job. Until a few months
ago I engaged in a trade buying and selling readymade clothes
keeping about a Rs. 50 profit on each item. But it is difficult to do
that because I have an ailment in my leg.
My second husband was 41 years old when he died. He was a labourer.
All my children are married. The eldest child is 32 years old, the
second is 31 years old and the third is 23 years old.
I first went abroad in 2000 to Oman as a domestic worker. I found
the job through a relative in Oman. Her husband told me that the
house next to the house she was working in was looking for someone
for house work. I agreed to go and they sent me the ticket and the
visa. I borrowed around Rs. 10,000 from family members to buy
clothes; about Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 3,000 from each person. I repaid all
that in the second month after I went abroad.
I had to cook, wash cloths, iron, and to wash 3 cars. It was a two
storied house and I was the only domestic help. My salary was 50
Riyal. When the madam had her baby they increased it by 5 Riyals. I
sent the money to my husband and my mother.
In 2002, I went for the second time and came again in 2004. I came
to arrange for my daughters marriage. I stayed for 2 months in Sri
Lanka. I married off my daughter with the money I earned. I gave
her 20 pounds of gold and also spent for the wedding. I spent for my
childrens education. I built a house. I had to spend a lot because my
father had an accident. I also spent money for my sisters weddings.
I helped them. I cant say no when I have money with me.
I got my second daughter married with the money I had in the bank.
Even though I gave 20 pounds to my elder daughter, I could not give
the same to my second daughter. Because gold was too expensive at
the time. I also spent for my sons wedding. I sold the necklace I
wore. Now I wear imitation jewellery.

73

I went abroad for the third time after getting divorced from my first
husband. My husband wasted the money I earned for 4 years. He got
involved with another person and married her. I separated from him
and kept to myself. What else could I have done? May be if I had not
gone abroad, he may not have become involved with another woman.
But if I didnt go how could I have solved the other problem we were
facing? But I had my children. I dont think about it now. Then I
married another person. He got sick and died when I was abroad. I
didnt come for the funeral but I sent money. I spent around Rs. 20,000
for my husbands funeral. Now I am alone.
But I am living freely after my children got married. But I dont have
any savings. When I came back to Sri Lanka the last time, I had Rs.
60,000 in my bank. But living is costly and I have spent it all. And I
am falling into debt now.

Kumarihamys story
Kumarihamy is a Sinhalese woman and the village she lives in is in a
very rural area with large areas of paddy field. The majority of people
here are engaged in farming. Kumarihamis house comprises 3 bed
rooms, a small verandah and a kitchen. Fruits and vegetables are
grown in the entire land. She is a happy woman, because she feels
she has done her duty by her children and because she has built a
house. This is her story
My name is Kumarihami. I am 53 years old. I do farming now. I also
grow vegetables. I came to live here after marriage in 1981. This is
the house we built. We all live in this house. My husband also does
farming when he can. He also goes for mason work as a helper. Ever
since he broke his hand, though he cant take much work these days.
I have studied only up to the G.C. Ordinary Level. I sat for the exam
but didnt get enough results to do the Advanced Level examination
and I didnt sit the O.L.exam again. There were six members in our
family. It was difficult for my mother to spend money on all of us to
study.
I have two daughters of 26 and 28. Both are married. The younger
one is a police officer.
74

I first went abroad in 1992 to Saudi Arabia. I decided to go for foreign

employment because of poverty. We could not make ends meet with
the income from farming. There was no other employment here for
us. There were very few garment jobs those days. Publicity was given
for foreign employment. When I got to hear about it I thought of
going. I went to a Foreign Empoyment Agency and got the
information.
I worked in Saudhi Arabia as a domestic worker. I did house work,
the cooking and cleaning. I also looked after a small child. There
were 6 children in that house. I didnt face any difficulties. I worked
hard but I had rest too.
My husband looked after the children while I was abroad. He did
farming. He sent the children to school. He also did all the house
work. He suffered a lot during my absence doing all this work. Today
my children say that they felt the fathers love more than their mothers
love. Our children look after him well because of that. I came to Sri
Lanka in 1995 after being way for three years. I didnt go back because
then because my husband had an accident and hurt his hand. My
parents were also old and needed looking after. The children were
small then and they had to be looked after and educated. So I stayed
back.
We didnt have anything before I went abroad the first time. I did
everything from what I send from there. I built the house. I built a
toilet. The money I earned was not wasted. I build the house for the
children.
Many years later in 2002 I re-migrated to Saudi Arabia. With four
months to complete the two years I had to come back to Sri Lanka
because my elder daughter had got involved with a young man and
my husband wanted me to come back to stop the relationship.
Later my elder daughter went abroad. I didnt want her to go but she
went against our will. She went because she was angry with us for
not letting her get married to the man she wanted. When we asked
her to sit for the O.L. exam again she refused and went abroad instead.
Not because of poverty but because of stubbornness. My younger
sister took her to the same house she worked. She said that she is her
75

daughter. She went as a domestic worker. My sister prepared all the

documentation and sent her every thing that was needed for her
employment. I didnt spend any money for her to go. She now gets a
salary of Rs.18,000 most of which she sends to her father and we
deposit it in her bank account. We have saved rupees three lakhs of
her money. She spends the rest of her earnings. When a daughter
goes abroad expenses are high. They dont understand poverty like
us.
I think women going abroad for employment is good. What can they
do by staying here? They can earn something by going abroad. But
the husband must be good. If he is good and responsible a woman
can earn and her family can benefit. Through the years of my
employment overseas, my husband did everything alone. We were
united as family.

76

References
Central Bank (2012). Economic and Social Statistics of Sri Lanka 2012.
Population and Labour Force. Migration for Foreign Employment 20032011. Table 3.13, p.21. Colombo.
Brochman, G. (1993). Middle East Avenu: Femade Migration from Sri
Lanka to the Gulf. Westview Press. Oxford
Department of Census and Statistics (2012). Sri Lanka Labour Force
Survey Annual Report 2011, p7. Ministry of Finance and Planning.
Colombo; Central Bank (2012). Economic and Social Statistics of Sri
Lanka 2012. Population and Labour Force. Migration for Foreign
Employment 2003-2011.
Dias, M and R. Jayasundera (2002). Sri Lanka: Good Practices to Prevent
Migrant Workers from Going into Exploitatative Forms of Labour.
GENPROM Working Paper No. 9. ILO. Geneva
Gamburd, M. R. (2000). The Kitchen Spoon Handle: Transnationalism
and Sri Lankas Migrant Housemaids. Cornell University Press, Ithaca
Government of Sri Lanka (2009). Sri Lanka National Labour Migration
Policy. (2009). Ministry of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare.
Sri Lanka. http://www.ilo.org/colombo/what wedo/publications/
WCMS_114003/langen/index.htm
Hettige, S.T., Fernando, N. And Punchihewa, A.G. (2013) Reintegration
with Home Community: Perspectives of Returnee Migrant Workers in Sri
Lanka. SPARC. University of Colombo. Sri Lanka (unpublished)
Kottegoda, S. (2006). Bringing Home the Mondy: Migration and Gender
Politics in Sri Lanka in, Sadhna Arya and Anupama Roy (eds.) Poverty,
Gender and Migration, Women and Migration in Asia Vol.2. pp 49-72.
Sage Publications. New Delhi
Kottegoda, S and L.K.Ruhunage (2012).Strengthening Grievance and
Complaint Handling Mechanisms to Address Migrant Worker Grievances
in Sri Lanka: A Review and Analysis of Mechanisms. ILO. Colombo.
Perera, N. B. (2009). Weighing the Options: The Gendered
Representation of Care in Sri Lanka and its importance to Female Agency
in relation to Migration for Work. Research Paper. ISIS, the Hague.
Population Association of America (2009). Return of International
Female Domestic Workers and Their Reintegration: A Study of Six
Villages in Kerala, India. Princeton.edu/papers/91205 Princeton
University.
77

Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (2012). Rataviru Organisation.

Draft. Colombo.
UN Women (2012). Migration of Women Workers from South Asia to the
Gulf. V.V, Giri National Labour Institute, NOIDA and UN Women South
Asia Sub Regional Office, New Delhi.
Wettasinghe, K. G. Shanmugam and S. Emmanuel (2012). Alternate Care
giving of Migrant Worlers Children: Ampara and Batticaloa. Terre des
Hommes (Tdh). Colombo.
Yapa. K. (1995), The Decision Making Process of International Labour
Migrtion with Special Referene to the Sri Lankan Housemaid. ILO.
Colombo

78

Annexes
Questionnaire
Research Team
Questionnaire
A.

Profile of Migrant Returnee:

1. Age :
2. Ethnicity:
3. Education:
4. Marital Status:
5. Current occupation:
6. Year of residence in current location:
7. Presence of own family in current location:
8. Presence of spouse / partners family in current location:
9. Any training / skills for employability (describe):

B.

Profile of Spouse/partner
10. Age
11. Ethnicity:
12. Education:
13. Current occupation
14. Any training / skills for employability (describe):

C.

Profile of children
15. Number of Children:

D.

Returnee Migrants History of Employment Migration

D.1 First time Employment overseas

16. When did you first go abroad for employment? (Year)
17. Where did you go to? (Name country)
18. What was your occupation during your first employment overseas?
Domestic Work / Garment Factory Worker / Other
79

19. How did you hear about the job?

i. Through family member (sister / mother / aunt / brother.
ii. Through newspaper advertisement, television ads, radio ads
iii. Through the SLBFE training centre
iv. Other
20. How much did you have to spend to obtain this job?
21. How did you find the funds to meet these expenses?
i. Mother / Father
ii. Brother / sister
iii. Aunt / Uncle
iv. Moneylender
v. Pawned jewellery
vi. Had savings
vii. Friend (with interest / without interest)
22. What was your monthly wage?
23. Did you remit money to Sri Lanka?
24. If so
i.
How much?
ii. How often did you remit money (monthly/annually/as and when
possible)
iii. To Whom?
iv. How did you remit money?
25. When did you return to Sri Lanka?
26. Why did you return to Sri Lanka? (end of contract/ other
reason..)
D.2

Second Time Employment overseas

27. When did you go abroad for the second time for employment? (Year)
28. Where did you go to? (Name country)
29. What was your occupation during your first employment overseas?
Domestic Work / Garment Factory Worker / Other
30. How did you hear about the job?
i. Through family member (sister / mother / aunt / brother.
ii. Through newspaper advertisement, television ads, radio ads
iii. Through the SLBFE training centre
iv. Other
31. How much did you have to spend to obtain this job?
32. How did you find the funds to meet these expenses?
i. Mother / Father
ii. Brother / sister
iii. Aunt / Uncle
iv. Moneylender
v. Pawned jewellery
vi. Had savings
vii. Friend (with interest / without interest)

80

33. What was your monthly wage?

34. Did you remit money to Sri Lanka?
35. If so
i. How much?
ii. How often did you remit money (monthly/annually/as and when
possible)
iii. To Whom?
iv. How did you remit money?
36. When did you return to Sri Lanka?
37. Why did you return to Sri Lanka? (end of contract/ other
reason..)
D.3 Third Time Employment overseas
38. When did you go abroad for the third time for employment? (Year)
39. Where did you go to? (Name country)
40. What was your occupation during your third period of employment
overseas? Domestic Work / Garment Factory Worker / Other

41. How did you hear about the job?

i. Through family member (sister / mother / aunt / brother.
ii. Through newspaper advertisement, television ads, radio ads
iii. Through the SLBFE training centre
iv. Other
42. How much did you have to spend to obtain this job?
43. How did you find the funds to meet these expenses?
i. Mother / Father
ii. Brother / sister
iii. Aunt / Uncle
iv. Moneylender
v. Pawned jewellery
vi. Had savings
vii. Friend (with interest / without interest)
44.
45.
46.
47.

What was your monthly wage?

What was your monthly wage?
Did you remit money to Sri Lanka?
If so
i. How much?
ii. How often did you remit money (monthly/annually/as and when
possible)
iii. To Whom?
iv. How did you remit money?

48. When did you return to Sri Lanka?

49. Why did you return to Sri Lanka? (end of contract/ other
reason..)

81

D. Utilisation of Remittances / Savings

50. How were your earnings spent?
i. purchase of land
ii. purchase of house
iii. construction of house
iv. childrens schooling
v. childrens tuition
vi. weddings, coming of age, funerals
vii. started a business
viii. bought a vehicle
ix. other (specify)
51. How much money did you save at the end of your work period?
52 Did you use your earnings to pay back loans taken to meet the
expenses of obtaining the job?
53 To whom were these loans repaid?
i. Mother / Father (with interest / without interest)
x. Brother / sister(with interest / without interest)
xi. Aunt / Uncle(with interest / without interest)
xii. Moneylender(with interest / without interest)
xiii. To redeem pawned jewellery(with interest / without interest)
ii. Friend (with interest / without interest)
54. How long did it take to repay these borrowed monies?
i. One year
ii. 18 months
iii. 2 years
iv. 3 years.
v. Other
55. If there were other loans repaid give details
56. If there were other major expenses give details
57. If there were other investments give details
F. Other women migrants in household
58. Have any other women in your household migrated overseas for
employment? Yes / No
Person 1
59. What is your relationship to this woman?
60. What was the reason for this person to migrate?
61. How did she find employment overseas?
62. Where did she go to? Name country
63. What is/was her occupation? Domestic Work / Garment Factory Worker
/ Other
64. How did she hear about that job?
i. Through family member (sister / mother / aunt / brother.
ii. Through newspaper advertisement, television ads, radio ads
iii. Through the SLBFE training centre
iv. Other
82

65. How much did she have to spend to obtain this job?
66. Did you give her any financial support to obtain the job or to leave for
employment overseas?
67. Is she still overseas working?
68. If she has returned to Sri Lanka when did she return to SL?
69. If she has returned to Sri Lanka how long was she employed
overseas?
70. What is/ was her monthly wage?
71. Does/did she remit money to Sri Lanka?
72. If so
i.
How much?
ii.
How often did you remit money (monthly/annually/as and when
possible)
iii. To Whom?
iv. How did you remit money?
Person 2
73. What is your relationship to this woman?
74. What was the reason for this person to migrate?
75. How did she find employment overseas?
76. Where did she go to? Name country
77. What is/was her occupation? Domestic Work / Garment Factory Worker
/ Other
78. How did she hear about that job?
i. Through family member (sister / mother / aunt / brother.
ii. Through newspaper advertisement, television ads, radio ads
iii. Through the SLBFE training centre
iv. Other
79. How much did she have to spend to obtain this job?
80. Did you give her any financial support to obtain the job or to leave for
employment overseas?
81. Is she still overseas working?
82. If she has returned to Sri Lanka when did she return to SL?
83. If she has returned to Sri Lanka how long was she employed
overseas?
84. What is/ was her monthly wage?
85. Does/did she remit money to Sri Lanka?
86. If so
i.
How much?
ii. How often did she remit money (monthly/annually/as and when
possible)
iii. To Whom?
iv. How did she remit money?
G. Economic Impact of Migration on the household?
87. Did you obtain any of the following through your earnings as a migrant
worker?
i.
Bought a piece of land Yes/No
83

ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
vii.
viii.
ix.
x.
xi.
xii.
xiii.

Bought a house Yes/No

Rented a house Yes/No
Obtained water connection Yes/No
Obtained electricity Yes/No
Obtained a telephone connection (land line) Yes/No
Bought a mobile phone Yes/No
Bought a television Yes/No
Bought a refrigerator Yes/No
Bought a sound system Yes/No
Bought a cooker Yes/No
Bought a computer Yes/No
Other

88. Investment in Livelihoods write descriptions:

i.
Development of existing livelihoods
ii.
Engagement in new livelihoods
iii. Investments (stocks and shares)
iv. Bank Accounts - Savings Accounts
v.
Bank Accounts Fixed Deposits
vi. Personal jewellery
vii. Jewellery for children
viii. Other
89. Education write descriptions:
i.
Investment in childrens secondary education (up to Advanced
Level)
ii. Investment in childrens higher education (university, technical
skills etc
iii. Investment in own skills training
H. Social Impact of Migration on the household
90. What do you see as the positive personal impacts of your migration?
91. What do you see as the positive social impacts of your migration?
(e.g. recognition in the village, children looked up to, ability to
contribute to social activities)
92. What do you see as the negative personal impacts of your migration?
93. What do you see as the negative social impacts of your migration?
I. Community participation/leadership/political mobility
94. Prior to your departure did you engage in community work? give
details. (government, non government etc)
95. On your return did you/do you engage in community work? give
details. (government, non government etc)
96. Do you engage/participate in politics?
(e.g. voting only, active support a politician, aspire to contest elections
myself, contest elections myself etc)

84

86