In some countries, the possibility of women migrating may be influenced by religious and other sociocultural constraints. A study of Asian migration demonstrated that while women dominate migration flows from countries such as the Philippines and Sri Lanka, sociocultural factors in countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan apparently limit female emigration (Battistella 2003, 1-33). While highlighting the fact that women migrants may become ‘empowered’, one also has to keep in mind that migrating abroad for many women means facing long working hours, increased financial obligations (including remittances to relatives left behind) and new family responsibilities (. raising their children in the country of settlement or dealing with guilt and worry for having left their.
