Gender and Rural-Urban Migration in the Ecuadorian Sierra

Elizabeth Katz, Barnard College, Columbia University.

This study is part of a larger inter-disciplinary study of female migration in Ecuador. The larger study is focused on the characteristics and economic survival strategies of men and women migrants in Quito. The USAID/WID funded component will develop an intrahousehold model of migration, as opposed to one which emphasizes an individual or household level decision process.

The model to be developed will capture negotiation of the migration decision and remittances on two distinct levels: 1) among non migrants and (2) between migrants and non migrants. It will also show the contribution of potential migrants to (not necessarily pooled) household income, either in the form of labor (if there is no migration) or remittances (if there is), and the tradeoffs that are involved in substituting one form of contribution for another.

Following model development, data will be collected at the individual, household, and community level covering up to 800 households in the rural migrant origin areas identified by the larger Quito survey.

The research objectives are:

• to gain insight into the intrahousehold determinants and consequences of rural urban migration in the Sierra (highland) region of Ecuador;
• to develop an analytical basis for the study of household formation and dissolution, including the determination of regional sex ratios and household headship;
• to provide a foundation for the examination of the gender-specific costs and benefits of migration, urban-rural income differentials and distribution;
• to develop a sound framework for development strategies and targeted assistance programs for both migrants, including labor, land, and capital market policies, particularly in rural migrant origin areas;
• to make an original contribution to the scholarly literature on both migration and intrahousehold resource allocation by developing an alternative, empirically tractable model of rural urban migration in developing countries; and
• to develop gender-sensitive survey and qualitative methodologies appropriate to the study of rural-urban migration in developing countries.