Abstract:
Background: For nearly three decades, gender
equality and women’s health and well-being
have been priorities on the international
agenda. Empowered women have better health
outcomes, such as the use of modern
contraception and skilled birth attendance,
and women who migrate can access
opportunities that minimize inequality.
Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in
the world, is ranked low on the two indices
that rank country progress in gender
equality, the Gender Inequality Index and the
Gender Development Index. This study
describes and examines internal migration’s
relationship with empowerment of women.
Methods: This study analyzed data from
currently married women who ever migrated in
the Demographic and Health Surveys conducted
in Pakistan in 2012-13 and 2017-18. We
describe migration flows of currently married
women who have ever moved internally within
Pakistan, as well as trends of high
empowerment in three empowerment domains:
attitude to violence, social independence,
and decision making, by background
characteristics. After testing for difference
of proportions, we illustrate trends over
time in figures that display significant
changes between surveys. We conduct
multinomial logistic regression to compare
the most empowered and moderately empowered
with the least empowered women in terms of
empowerment’s relationship with our key
independent variable, migration, while
controlling for age, working status, region,
and wealth.
Results: Some migration distinctions are
significantly associated with high
empowerment. Rural-urban migrants have
decreased risk of high empowerment in the
social independence domain, while urban-rural
had an increased risk in the 2017-18 Pakistan
Demographic and Health Survey. In the 2012-13
Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey,
urban-urban migrant women had higher risk of
high empowerment than their non-migrant
counterparts in two empowerment domains:
attitude to violence and decision making.
Wealth and age were strong determinants of
empowerment.
Conclusions: Overall, we find that migrant
women who originated in urban areas had
positive associations with empowerment and
that rural-urban movers were disadvantaged.
Though women can access opportunities to
better empower themselves through migration,
migrant woman may also be disadvantaged and
vulnerable. Policy makers should focus on
creating pathways that increase the success
of women’s migration strategies.
Trends in Internal Migration and Women's Empowerment in Pakistan, 2012-2018 (PDF, 2566K)