Uzbek Labor Migration to Russia and Its Impact on Gender Relations

Abstract

The lack of research linking gender, family relations and labor migration from Uzbekistan to Russia predetermined the relevance of this research. The present paper aimed at studying the changing gender relations affected by the labor migration and tried to identify its causes on the families left behind. Two sites using the multi-sited fieldwork approach were chosen for the present research which helped to build the links with the migrants in the country of destination with their families in the countries of origin and to see the direct effect from the labor migration in the same families. There were conducted in-depth semi structured interviews with the migrants in Saint-Petersburg and their family members, as well as with the other households in the Ferghana Valley. Using the three staged gender-based analysis (which includes the pre migration, the stage of the act of migration and the post migration stages) of the gained empirical data, it was identified that gender transforms at the stage of the act of migration. Thus, through facing with the actors of receiving countries (state, diaspora, employers), who follow the models of the economic, cultural and social capitals; migrants have an option to choose the models which best fit their interests. In case when migrants choose to maintain their traditional roles they follow the cultural capital, while those who want to totally integrate with the hosting society choose the economic and social capitals, thus, changing their traditional roles and the roles of the their families back in their home countries.