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Gendered relations and filial duties along the Greek-Albanian remittance corridor

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 17:04 authored by Russell King, Adriana Castaldo, Julie Vullnetari
Remittances stand at the heart of the migrationdevelopment debate. However, they are overwhelmingly considered in ?nancial and economic terms, neglecting important dimensions, such as gender and patriarchal family structures. This article contributes to rectifying this oversight by analyzing ?ows of remittances resulting from Albanian migration to neighboring Greece. We draw on a detailed questionnaire survey with 350 remittance-recipient households in rural southeast Albania and 45 in-depth interviews with a selection of these respondents and with remitters living in the Greek city of Thessaloniki. We found that gender is interlinked with generation and life-course stages within the context of Albanian patriarchal norms and that remittances are shaped accordingly. Although remitting to older parents is a ?lial duty for unmarried sons, upon marriage only the youngest son has this responsibility—other sons send small amounts as tokens of respect and love. Sending remittances is overwhelmingly seen as a “male thing.” Single young women rarely migrate on their own for work abroad. Meanwhile any remittances sent by married daughters to their parents are considered “unof?cial,” referred to as “coffee money.” Within nuclear households, some increased power-sharing among husband remitters and wife recipients takes place. However, the latter are far from passive recipients, since they struggle to combine caring for children and the elderly with farmwork or day labor. We conclude that a deeper understanding of how remittances are gendered can be gained by placing their analysis within the migratory and sociocultural context into which they are embedded.ecge_1128 393..420

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Economic Geography

ISSN

0013-0095

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Issue

4

Volume

87

Page range

393-419

Department affiliated with

  • Geography Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

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