Survival Strategies of left behind wives of labour migrants in Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast

Abstract

This thesis explores the impact of the husband‟s migration on the left-behind wives and the survival strategies the left-behind wives develop in the absence of their husbands in GBAO, Tajikistan. Although there are many studies on migration in general, there is very little research available about the phenomenon of migration in a post-Soviet Central Asian context. Moreover, the effects of migration on women‟s position in the society among the left-behind wives in such context have not been studied much either. There is media coverage of the topic, but no systematic studies have been conducted. This is the major reason for this study to research the economic and psychological impacts of husband‟s migration on the left-behind wives in GBAO, a remote region of Central Asia and Tajikistan.