International labor migration and social change in rural Sindh, Pakistan

This study examines why and how labor migration from a village in Sindh, Pakistan to Saudi Arabia has influenced changes for the left-behind families and the community. We find that while migration impacts positively on the material conditions of individual migrants and their families in the village, the potential of migration to impact on other aspects of living conditions, social change and development at community levels is shaped and often limited by existing structures of power, including gender structures and other socio-political structures. In the absence of investment in school infrastructures by the state, remittances from migration have not translated into improved educational outcomes for the children of migrants. We also find that the male migrants are leveraging their new status in the family to exercise more choice in marriage matters with possible negative impact on women.