Women Labor Migration to Middle East Countries and its Socio- Economic Impact on Sri Lanka (Special Reference to Rural Areas)

Abstract

Migration between nations is a phenomenon with a long history. Increased participation of females as labors become the significant change in the labor market in the Middle East. With this new trend Sri Lankan women have become both home makers and breadwinners. Earning of female migrants is the second largest source of external revenue after garment industry in Sri Lanka. The main intention of these female labor migrants are to find jobs to earn for their poor families. Under this movement it impacts our country’s socio-economic system. In one hand remittances are used as a key strategy for poverty reduction and on the other hand sometimes it badly affects their children’s life because they live without their mothers. In Sri Lanka most of the women who migrate to Middle East countries are from rural areas. The main reason for that is, women who live in that areas suffer from many problems. The objective of the study is to explore the real motives behind the women labor migration and also find out the socio-economic impact of women labor migration from Sri Lanka to Middle East. This qualitative research is based on numerical data from graphs and bar charts and also with the secondary data. In total, according to the 2018 International Organization for Migration statistics 11,062 females have departed from Sri Lanka to Middle East countries. The paper concludes that the women who migrate as female laborers to Middle East countries impact on Sri Lanka’s socio and the economic system both negatively and positively.