Justificación del trabajo

The questions in the household survey that aimed to capture the incidence of migration in Baan Naam were based on rather loose definitional criteria. Heads of household were asked if any of their children or other household members were absent at the time of the survey or had been absent for a period of time over the past 12 months. Positive responses to these two questions triggered a series of follow-up questions. However, whether staying away from the household was in any way significant, and would consequently be

considered as a form of migration, was thus in the first place left to the respondents themselves.³⁶ Furthermore, given the sensitivity of migration in the Lao context and the pitfalls of one-off surveys, the household survey data are undoubtedly plagued by under-reporting and skewed towards particular forms of migration. This shortcoming is, in part, corrected for by adding observations obtained through alternative methods, which is explained in more detail below.

36 Here an unresolved methodological issue needs to be emphasised. As household surveys were conducted with parents predominantly, the answer to the question whether staying elsewhere was significant enough to be mentioned at all reflects an adult perspective which may not necessarily correspond with children and youth’s own perspectives on matters.

Household members who were on the basis of household survey data regarded as migrants were thus the ones who were recorded as either absent or mobile (currently present, but absent for a period of time over the past 12 months). Unsurprisingly, marriage featured as a prime reason why children were absent from the natal household. In 47 out of the 98 cases recorded as ‘absent’, it was marriage that was stated as the reason for this absenteeism.

Absenteeism for purposes of marriage can, as argued above, be regarded as a particular form of migration. Here, however, these records were removed from the sample and not analysed further since the focus of this study is on cases in which household members were staying elsewhere but were still regarded as being part of the natal household, which

mostly ceases to be the case following marriage.³⁷

Once the absent records referring to marriage were removed, a total of 67 records remained constituting a total migration rate of 18 percent.³⁸ These 67 migrants stem from a total of 39 different households. Hence, in nearly three quarters of the surveyed households, at least one household member was found to be involved in some form of migration. The migration ratio found in Baan Naam is significantly higher than the total migration rate (6.5%) found in a large scale survey covering three central and southern Lao provinces, using representative sampling methods (MoLSW et al. 2003). This difference is, however, unsurprising since border villages and villages located on the road network generally tend, in the Lao context, to have higher migration rates (MoLSW et al. 2003; Messerli et al.

2008). Both these geographical characteristics apply to Baan Naam.

The 67 migrants emerging from the household survey data can be subdivided into16

‘mobile’ records belonging to household member who had been absent for a period of time over the past 12 months but who were currently present, and 51 ‘absent’ household

members who were recorded as currently absent. Figure 6.1 organises the data by sex and age, combining the mobile and absent records. It needs re-emphasising though that for reasons stated in chapter five the chronological ages presented in any of the figures in this chapter need to be treated as approximation and not as precise figures.³⁹

37 Note that marriage may follow from migration. This is discussed below.

38 The precise procedure by which the total migrant population of Baan Naam is constructed is set out in detail in Appendix 5.

39 Note that chronological ages originally reported in the household survey are corrected if later research found these to be wrong.

Figure 6.1: Total migrant population in Baan Naam by age and sex, based on household survey data

9-11 12-14 15-17 18-20 21-23 24-26 27-29 30-35 36-40 above 40 Age-groups in years (by approximation)

Number of migrants

Male Female

The total migrant population presented in Figure 6.1 shows that, in total, there is no marked difference in overall participation in migration between the two sexes, with a total of 35 male and 32 female migrants. However, some differences can be observed between the distribution of male and female migrants across different age group. In general, in the age groups 15-17 years and 18-20 years, which contain most migrants, females dominate.

Since the household survey data lacks historical depth this pattern cannot be explained by era-level transformations, but, most likely follows from gender differences in educational attainment and age of marriage referred to in chapter five.

Table 6.1 takes a closer look at the marital status of the individual records of the migrant population and shows that nearly three quarters of the migrants left when still single, never-married. The observation that it is mainly youth that are involved in migration, and only few adults, bears relation with an observation from a study on Vocational training in the Lao PDR conducted by Concern Worldwide, the Gender & Development Group, and the Lao Women’s Union. One of the findings presented by this study was that most young people claimed to have few aspirations to remain as employees in small workplaces long term, but instead, aspired to setting up their own enterprise once they had learnt the skills and earned sufficient capital in order to be freed from the constraints inherent to working for someone else (note from research presentation, RD, 11/1/2008). The social position of employees vis-à-vis employers in small-scale Lao and Thai businesses, which is discussed in more detail in chapter eight, shows some similarities with that of children in adult-child relations, as they are dependent, can be ordered around and are seldom listened to in when it comes to decision-making. For young migrants this position is more or less a

continuation of their social position as children and youth. However, as young migrants become adults in other spheres of life, this conflicts increasingly with being ordered around in the workplace.

Of the young migrants migrating to Thailand, a good proportion, mainly constituting female migrants, found a partner at migration destinations in Thailand and subsequently settled in Thailand. In contrast, most of their non-migrant peers married and settled in the proximity of Baan Naam. Out of the 47 cases (17 male; 30 female) in which marriage seems to have been the reason why children no longer reside with the natal household, 33 (11 male, 22 female) are now residing in Baan Naam or in the district.⁴⁰ This suggests that particularly in the case of women, migration to Thailand is an important route through which young villagers become involved in extra-local marriages, and also, come to reside in Thailand. Furthermore, this pattern also suggests a reversal from observations of several decades ago in which it were mainly young men who were the ones meeting their marriage partners through migratory endeavours (Kirsch 1966).

Table 6.1: Marital status of total migrant population in Baan Naam based on household survey data Marital Status Male (% of all male

migrants)

Female (% of all female migrants)

Total (% of total)

Single, never-married 23 (66%) 19 (59%) 42 (63%)

Married at migration destination (Thailand)

2 (6%) 7 (22%) 9 (13%)

Divorced 2 (6%) 3 (9%) 5 (7%)

Widow 0 (0%) 1 (3%) 1 (2%)

Married before migration

8 (23%) 2 (6%) 10 (15%)

TOTAL 35 (100%) 32 (100%) 67 (100%)

Table 6.1 further shows that five migrants migrated following a divorce in Baan Naam.

The data further comprise one widow, and ten migrants who were already married when

40 This of course does not rule out that these children found a marriage partner through migration, but if so, they at least returned to their village, or district to settle. Furthermore in case married children settled beyond the district (7 cases; 3 male, 4 female), this seemed, but was not researched specifically, to be related to having relatives elsewhere. Lastly, in 7 cases (3 male, 4 female) current place of residency of married children was unclear.

becoming involved in migration. The widow and ten married migrants refer, with the exception of one, all to cases of migration in the age groups above 30 years. Note further that the two female migrants with a marital status of ‘married’ had migrated together with their husbands. The widowed lady had also originally migrated together with her husband;

he, however, subsequently died in a work-related accident at the construction site in Bangkok where the couple were employed. The relative absence of married women amongst the migrant population resonates with Mills’ (1999) work with migrants from North-eastern Thailand. Once young rural women, including former migrants, marry and set up a household in rural areas Mills found that they are unlikely to combine this new status with a continued involvement in independent migrant work.