The consequences of temporary out-migration for the families left behind: the case of Jequitinhonha Valley Brazil.

Survey data from 2252 persons aged over 15 years from four rural villages in the Upper Jequitinhonha Valley in Brazil in 1988 were used to examine the impact of temporary migration on wives and families. 609 couples provided completed time-budget information. 450 sugar cane cutters were also interviewed at the 10 main destination sites. 1816 temporary moves occurred for harvesting sugar cane. The mean number of moves per household was 4.5. 35% of the entire sample had left the area at least once for periods ranging from 3-12 months. Over 17% of 800 households received remittances and 14% received no money. 67% of households used the money for basic household consumption and for repaying debt. Migrant wives received a positive status for paid employment but activities were undervalued by the norms and community institutions. Findings suggested that married women left behind had economic and psychological adjustment difficulties and children helped with male tasks unfilled after the temporary departure. There were few social or economic gains to women heads and upward mobility was not attained. Traditional attitudes about childbearing were maintained by migrant wives. Migrating husbands may have gained in knowledge but the changes may have reinforced subordinate roles for wives. Migration successfully served to prevent permanent migration to urban areas. Probit regression analyses confirmed that age and education squared were negative and highly significantly related to wives labor force participation. Electricity and number of children aged under 5 years were unrelated. The addition of the urbanization measure and several migration measures improved the fit of the model and were positively and significantly related. In the time budget model labor force participation of women was significantly positively related to age and education squared as was electricity and drought. Debt was not significant until the husbands migration measures were included.