Effects of spousal migration on access to healthcare for women left behind: A cross-sectional follow-up study

Migration, Gender, and Families: The Effects of Spousal Migration on Women's Empowerment

Labor migration has a profound effect on families, but evidence documenting the impact of migration on women left behind is still lacking. Utilizing the Matlab Health and Socioeconomic Surveys, we examined the roles of migration and families in four domains of empowerment for women in Bangladesh. We found that women with international migrant spouses saw significant improvements in economic empowerment, mobility, and decision-making relative to women with coresident spouses (p < .0001). However, women who lived in multigenerational households with their parents or in-laws experienced significant reductions in empowerment across these three domains. Both having a migrant spouse and living in a multigenerational household had negative effects on beliefs about gender equivalence and reduced joint decision-making for women. Results, which were robust to migration selection controls (including propensity approaches), indicate that the benefits of migration for women left behind might be diluted by family structures that perpetuate unequal gender dynamics.

Long-term Consequences of Men's Migration for Women's Well-being in a Rural African Setting

Labor migration is a massive global reality, and its effects on the well-being of nonmigrating household members vary considerably. However, much existing research is limited to cross-sectional or short-term assessments of these effects. This study uses unique longitudinal panel data collected over 12 years in rural Mozambique to examine long-term connections of women's exposure to husband's labor migration with women's material security, their perception of their households' relative economic standing in the community, their overall life satisfaction, and their expectations of future improvements in household conditions. To capture the cumulative quality of such exposure, we use two approaches: one based on migrant remittances ("objective") and the other based on woman's own assessment of migration's impact on the household ("subjective"). The multivariable analyses detect a significant positive association between "objective" migration quality and household assets, regardless of women's current marital status and other characteristics. However, net of household assets, "objective" quality shows a positive association with life satisfaction, but not with perceived relative standing of the household or future expectations. In comparison, "subjective" quality is positively associated with all the outcomes even after controlling for other characteristics. These findings illustrate the gendered complexities of long-term migration impact on nonmigrants' well-being.

The effects of spousal migration on perinatal healthcare utilization

Over the last three decades, out-migration has become a stable source of income for more than 12 million Bangladeshis. Of those migrants, 90% are men. Due to patriarchal cultural norms in Bangladeshi society, the migration of a male spouse may have significant consequences for the social well-being and health of left-behind women. In this study, we examine the impact of external (out of country) and internal (rural to urban) spousal migration on the perinatal healthcare utilization of left-behind women. We used data from the 2012 Matlab Health and Socioeconomic Survey (MHSS2) to examine use of antenatal care, presence of a medically qualified attendant at birth, and delivery at a healthcare facility for live births that occurred between 2007 and 2014 for currently married women aged 15-45 (N = 1,458 births among 1,180 women). Adjusted regression models indicated that for births occurring to women with a migrant spouse, odds of receiving antenatal care were significantly higher (OR: 4.1 for births to women with a domestic urban migrant spouse and 4.6 for births to women with an international migrant spouse, p < 0.01). Spousal migration was not linked to having a medically qualified attendant at birth or delivery at a clinic or hospital. Results suggest that spousal migration may be beneficial for receiving health care during a pregnancy, but not for the type of attendant or place of delivery at birth.

International Remittances and Women's Reproductive Health Care: Evidence from Pakistan

This paper determines the effect of international remittances on the healthcare utilization of childbearing mothers in Pakistan using the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) survey, 2018-19. The study reports a significant and positive effect of international remittances on the healthcare outcomes of childbearing mothers. Importantly, the remittance-receiving households have 0.615, 0.208 and 0.306 times the odds of the non-receiving households, utilizing prenatal healthcare, postnatal healthcare, and healthcare decision making, respectively, and all of them are statistically significant. Consequently, the analysis confirms that remittance receiving-households do in fact influence and increase the likelihood of utilizing prenatal healthcare, postnatal healthcare and decisions about medical treatment for women. As regression-based estimation of remittances is prone to selection bias due to the nature of the non-experimental data set, we also used propensity score matching methods, which also confirmed a significant and positive effect of international remittances on healthcare outcomes of the childbearing mothers. Thus, financial support or social development programs by the government or non-governmental organization are pivotal in enhancing the healthcare outcomes and ultimately the living standards of childbearing mothers.

Correction: Effects of spousal migration on access to healthcare for women left behind: A cross-sectional follow-up study

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260219.].