Talking of children "left behind", I was reminded of the plight of thousands of Indian and Pakistani women who marry men from their own countries living in the West and then get abandoned by these very same "husbands". There are "left behind" - or more precisely, abandoned women too in the wake of migration.
I confine myself to the Indian cases of such abandoned women.
In India, a man who has gone to a rich Western country like the UK, US, Canada, Australia etc. is considered a fairly attractive catch by women back in India. These Non-Resident Indians or NRIs as they are often called, command a lot of respect when they get back to India - often undeserving respect. Their flashy clothes, sunglasses, thick wallets and the prospects they offer of emigrating out of India for brides are simply irresistible. These NRI men are a ticket out of the land of fake good days or "achche din" that the Indian government's propaganda promised with much fanfare. Alas, for many it women, it does not work out that way.
Many NRI men get back to India, marry, take fat dowries, often get the woman pregnant and then simply vanish. In patriarchal India, especially rural India, these left behind women live in legal and societal limbo - unable to decide which way to proceed. They are married but the husband is nowhere in her life economically or otherwise. Even those few brave women who decide to divorce - divorce being frowned upon in India - are unable to remarry as they are not legally divorced from their NRI husbands.
In some instances, the Indian woman realises that she has been duped as the NRI husband often has a local partner or children with a local woman. In the Indian context, men are usually expected to be without other serious ongoing "entanglements" or children when they marry young. Or at the very least be candid about their past such that the bride and her family can get to evaluate whether his past was acceptable to the bride. But too often, these relationships, especially with local European women are concealed and the man presents the clean slate that the bride and her family in India expect.
The problem has become so huge that many NGOs and even the Government of India has become aware of it. The Indian government even published a booklet "Marriages to Overseas Indians" in 2019.
Migration, whether happening within a country or between countries often throws up myriad social problems that adversely affect women and children.
Ref:
1. Network Of International Legal Activists (NILA) for Protection of Women & Child Rights at nilawcr.org
Talking of children "left behind", I was reminded of the plight of thousands of Indian and Pakistani women who marry men from their own countries living in the West and then get abandoned by these very same "husbands". There are "left behind" - or more precisely, abandoned women too in the wake of migration.
I confine myself to the Indian cases of such abandoned women.
In India, a man who has gone to a rich Western country like the UK, US, Canada, Australia etc. is considered a fairly attractive catch by women back in India. These Non-Resident Indians or NRIs as they are often called, command a lot of respect when they get back to India - often undeserving respect. Their flashy clothes, sunglasses, thick wallets and the prospects they offer of emigrating out of India for brides are simply irresistible. These NRI men are a ticket out of the land of fake good days or "achche din" that the Indian government's propaganda promised with much fanfare. Alas, for many it women, it does not work out that way.
Many NRI men get back to India, marry, take fat dowries, often get the woman pregnant and then simply vanish. In patriarchal India, especially rural India, these left behind women live in legal and societal limbo - unable to decide which way to proceed. They are married but the husband is nowhere in her life economically or otherwise. Even those few brave women who decide to divorce - divorce being frowned upon in India - are unable to remarry as they are not legally divorced from their NRI husbands.
In some instances, the Indian woman realises that she has been duped as the NRI husband often has a local partner or children with a local woman. In the Indian context, men are usually expected to be without other serious ongoing "entanglements" or children when they marry young. Or at the very least be candid about their past such that the bride and her family can get to evaluate whether his past was acceptable to the bride. But too often, these relationships, especially with local European women are concealed and the man presents the clean slate that the bride and her family in India expect.
The problem has become so huge that many NGOs and even the Government of India has become aware of it. The Indian government even published a booklet "Marriages to Overseas Indians" in 2019.
Migration, whether happening within a country or between countries often throws up myriad social problems that adversely affect women and children.
Ref:
1. Network Of International Legal Activists (NILA) for Protection of Women & Child Rights at nilawcr.org
2. Marriages to Overseas Indians available at: https://www.mea.gov.in/images/pdf/marriages-to-overseas-indians-booklet.pdf
Thank you Pallavi, an important article for anyone seeking to understand the social evolution of China. Greatly enjoyed it