Lived Experiences and Challenges of Women International Migrants from Darjeeling District: An Empirical Study

Lived Experiences and Challenges of Women International Migrants from Darjeeling District: An Empirical Study

Dr. Ashlesha Rai

Department of Sociology, Mahishadal Raj College, India

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.905000353

Received: 11 May 2025; Accepted: 14 May 2025; Published: 16 June 2025

INTRODUCTION

The expansion of global markets and the concomitant socio-economic transformations in recent decades have integrated women as active agents in the discourse of migration in contemporary era. The pervasive assumption that the international migrant is a young, economically motivated male is overshadowed with the increased participation of women migrants in both national and the international level (Pedraza, 1991). The integration of women as anactive agents in the migration history is a resultant effect of the globalization process (Upreti, 2015), fledgling industrialization, expansion of job opportunities in business, health, education and service economy for women migrants in developed countries (Yamanaka and Piper, 2005) thus popularizing the notion of feminization of migration.

In recent times, outmigration from Darjeeling district has been a burning issue, showing a significant rise of migrants. There has been a dynamic flow of women migration for work purposes in skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled sectors. Varied factors such as the outgrowth of population, lack of employment opportunities, absence of private sectors, the closure of tea industries etc. in the hills has stagnated the socio-economic development of the region, thereby enforcing women to migrate in foreign countries. Thus, keeping in mind the opportunities migration bring forth into the lives of migrants, it comes with multiple challenges and repercussions, especially for female migrants who majorly has been working in unskilled or unregulated sectors of the economy, one of which is the domestic sector.

Like wise women from Darjeeling district are not an exception in this matter. Majority of the women migrants from Darjeeling district has been working in low skilled jobs where they are affected by precarious, low paying jobs and have become more prone to exploitation and vulnerable situations. In addition the recruitment procedures, a lack of social security and work permits, weakness of governmental assistance and immigration policies for female migrants in the host country has exacerbated the situation of women in the destined countries. Women migrants from Darjeeling district has become victims of exploitation, often falling victim to the lures of unscrupulous middlemen/ individual agents and dealt with physical and mental tortures while working abroad. With this backdrop, the paper has highlighted the pre-migration and post-migration challenges of women migrants from Darjeeling district, thereby shedding light on the coping strategies adopted by them in the foreign lands.

METHODOLOGY

This study is a culmination of a narrative analysis of 200 women international migrants’ (both current and returnee migrants) migrating to three dominant labor recipient countries such as Middle East, Gulf Countries and South East Asian Countries from Darjeeling district. The field work was conducted in Darjeeling Sadar (Aloobari and Darjeeling town) by reviewing the permit issues registered by the migrants from Foreign Registration Office in Darjeeling. Purposive sampling and Snowball sampling techniques were adopted to collect the data. Qualitative data in the form of narratives, experiences and case studies was collected through in depth interviews. The study has made use of social media such as facebook, whatsapp, skype etc. to interview those women migrants who were still abroad. Although 13 migrants were contacted via social media but in-depth interview was carried out with only 8 respondents as they were reluctant to share their experiences or due to lack of time they could not interact enough to get the in-depth information. In order to compensate his gap, those migrants who have returned back home for vacations were contacted and incorporated in the sample for the study.

Pre-Migration Challenges

Family Consent and Support

The challenges of migration begin to be felt long before the migrant actually leaves home. From the question of convincing the family members and dealing with patriarchal and gender norms in the society, to the question of women’s security and facing exploitation in the host country, women had to undergo various difficulties in the process of migration (Sijapati, 2015). Likewise getting consent and support from the family members to migrate, fulfilling her role and responsibilities during her absence was a crucial process for respondents in the pre-migration phases. Though women and men do not enter the migration process equally, but given the diverse historical and social contexts in which migration occurs, women in the same culture and in similar circumstances may encounter different types of patriarchal obstacles to migration (Sotelo 1992). Empirically the study also revealed that, women migrants from Darjeeling district had often struggled to negotiate with their family members/ male counterparts in their decision of planning and carrying out the migration process. Many women respondents from Darjeeling districts although reported of family support, there were respondents whose families were not convinced or encountered restrictions thus went without their consent.

Therefore, one prominent aspect that was explored in the present study is the question of how many respondents have self decided themselves or planned their journey with family members’ consent vis-a-vis without the consent of family. 4% of women migrants from the district have migrated despite the restrictions from family members, which in few cases resulted in strained and disruption of their relationship. These migrants were determined to improve their life and wanted to get out from the agony of poverty and unemployment that has been plaguing the region. 56% from Darjeeling stated that it was their own self decision to migrant and this section of respondents belonged to nuclear families or are separated/single mothers. The decision to migrate for remaining respondents was reported to be influenced and supported by family members and their close relatives. Therefore it is evident that migration cannot be analyzed only within the framework of individual rational choices and their motives but multiple factors like negotiations that take place within the family and society are seen to be equally significant and relevant. It is however concomitant with the financial necessity in the family which is largely rooted to the structural factors like limited resources, poverty, increasing unemployment in the regions that have greatly influenced the decision making of the migrants.

Migration through Informal Channels

Since the gendered laws and policies of both the regions do not give much assurance to their rights and safeguards for women domestic workers, it has resulted in the growing number of private recruitment agencies/local individual agents in the region that stimulates illegal migration and migrants ‘exploitation in the foreign lands. It was revealed during the fieldwork that the recruitment through manpower agencies is considered as a more reliable source than depending on the individual local agents. Tandukar (2014) has also argued that migrating through government procedures/permits seems expensive for migrants, so they prefer to migrate through informal channels such as individual agents, migrant social networks or through manpower agencies.

In the case of Darjeeling district, majority (40.8%) of them have contacted the local/ individual agents to migrate abroad as there is an existence of very few manpower agencies in the district. In this context, it should also be noted that the manpower agencies in Darjeeling recruit only those women migrants working in semi-skilled sectors, which explains the migrant’s dependence on local agents. Only 28.8% have migrated through the main power agencies. An interaction with the office bearers of these agencies revealed that, they rather concentrate on recruiting more male migrants and do not risk sending women migrants in domestic sectors. As there are high chances of migrant’s exploitation abroad, they do not want to take the risk, for fear of ruining their reputation and business in the long run. However, in recent times, the percentage of women migrating exclusively for the semi-skilled sectors through the Milky Way manpower agency in Darjeeling has raised from mere 19.35% in 2015 to 48.38% in 2018 is evident of an increasing trend of women migrants using this channel. Manpower agencies of Darjeeling prefer to recruit only male migrants in unskilled sectors as in construction works or other physical labored jobs over women migrants working in domestic works, making many women aspirants to depend on unscrupulous individual agents, who take advantage of migrant’s situations.

Managing Exorbitant Cost of Migration

Financing the cost of migration was another challenge women migrants had to endure during the recruitment process. The migrants have to spend a large amount of money for visa and ticket charges, agent fees and other miscellaneous expenses during the process of migration. As majority of the migrants had used the channels of individual agents, they were aware of the exorbitant fees charged by them and the consequences they might have to face in the future. But the urge to move at the earliest, to quash the pressure of financial afflictions and to recover the debts was the major issue or concern expressed by these migrants. Those who were not able to pay the cost of migration totally relied on the agents in financing their cost. For instance, in Gulf countries, workers are recruited through the kafeel^[1] sponsored system, where a contract is signed between the sponsor and the worker. Khalaf and Alkobaisi (1999) have mentioned that visas obtained through a local kafeel (sponsor) or labour agency are now more costly as migration has become commercialized.

In some cases, the migrants had to repay the migration cost to the agents by working free for more than three months without getting any salaries in return from their employers. Instead their salaries get deposited in agents’ accounts for a prescribed period of time. As revealed by these migrants, the whole salary goes into the hands of the agents to compensate for their transportation cost before migration which is the most taxing and exhausting experience. 28 years old, Pushpa Kharel, a returnee migrant from Darjeeling working as a domestic worker in Singapore stated that, “Initially my three months salary was not given by the employer. It was given to the agent. Just imagine working so hard for months and not sending any money home makes us feel, so pathetic and deplorable.”  Such problematic issues were mostly reported by women migrants working as domestic workers.

The study also revealed that semi-skilled migrants are better placed and seem to be devoid of such vulnerable situations. The well established and reputed companies facilitate migrants by providing free visas while in some sectors; migrants have to bear their own cost. Since migrants working in these sectors are not bounded by specific restrictions and do not have to share the same roof with the employers there are less chances of exploitation in semi-skilled sectors as compared to unskilled sectors.

Post Migration Challenges

Transnational Motherhood

Moving to a new place itself has been a big challenge alongside dealing with emotions of excitement, nervousness, social isolation, homesickness and the fear of overcoming troubles while working abroad. However, the departure of women is seen as a vacuum for the families and children, who are left behind as it creates many emotional and psychological distress in the family. Although the male members carry out the household task, it is widely presumed that they cannot handle care giving roles as efficiently as women. The vacant role of the women who have left their children behind experience a phenomenon what Piper (2008) referred to as “transnational motherhood” that entails reversed gender roles by which women become the breadwinner and the husband supposed to attend the children and household activities. Empirically, the interaction with the household members of respondents revealed that, the absence of women is highly felt in the house by the family members and more importantly by the children. Subsequently mothering from a distance also had an emotional ramification both for mothers who migrate and children who are left behind. Many of them have shared their painful experience they embarked in their journey, a feeling of guilt and remorse at some point of time. Though migration can be an important aspect of personal development and freedom as well as higher economic status, however, distancing themselves from the loved ones seems to be an agonizing decision taken by the women migrants. The study also revealed several negative consequences like marital discord, separation, indifference or alienation with their children and families as evident in the following narratives. Reena, 33 years old migrant from Darjeeling district, shared similar feelings after migrating abroad, “It feels bad when we have to take care of other children rather than taking care of our own children back home. But sometimes I used to think that every sacrifice I have done and have been doing till now is for my own children. So I used to feel content about my decision to migrate to Hong Kong.” As argued by Ikuomola (2015), the absence of motherly attention through migration and exposing children and male companions (husbands and fathers) to a lot of vices capable of breaking down family values and bond leading to internal conflicts and separation with their loved ones; such instances also have been reported during the fieldwork, which according to them is the most traumatic situation and negative consequences of migration.

Similar traumatic incident was cited by women migrants from Darjeeling. Shardha Rana, 30 years old, a returnee migrant who had to come back home after working for only two years as her relationship with her only child seemed to deteriorate. In her words, “I and my husband do not share a cordial relation before and even now. We used to have petty quarrels quite often even before migration. But after migrating to Singapore, my son also started avoiding me. He ignored my calls and hated talking with me for more than five minutes. He used to talk with me only for money or material things. That made me quit my job and come back for my son. Even today, he stays at her aunt’s place but I am trying my best to make him feel loved and comfortable when he is at home.” The children suffering from the emotional challenges with feelings of loneliness and ignorance by their mothers have been reported by many respondents as happened in Shardha’s case, where the children are unable to understand the motives and sacrifice behind their parents/mothers decision to migrate abroad. In the process, they try to overcome the emotional cost of separation by taking advantage of material gain, which in many cases has resulted in negative consequences.

However, regardless of all the challenges faced by women migrants immediate renouncing from the job was not something that they had favored or opted for. The respondent cited various reasons in this context, out of which economic afflictions were the primary reason, which made them stick to their decision to continue working abroad for themselves and for their families. Regardless of such challenges as loneliness, vulnerability and insecurities, they had learned to deal with the situation and negotiate with their emotional strains, which at times is a big challenge for them. These transnational women therefore pose a new conception of motherhood, where they cater towards their own economic independence thereby shouldering the familial responsibilities, rather than staying ideally at home.

Experiences of Unmarried Women Migrants

The experiences with regard to the unmarried women migrants are of different nature. As reported by women migrants especially the unmarried ones, there was difficulty in adjustment and reintegration in society, after they come back as most of the contemporary friends are either married or settled somewhere, which makes them lonely and having a sense of social isolation.

In addition to the feelings of homesickness and loneliness, these migrants have experienced social detachment and weakening of relationships with their friends and relatives in the home country as evident in the narration of 34 years old Renuka Sharma from Darjeeling, “After coming home from Israel, I realized that I was not able to socialize with my friends and neighbors’ around. My conversation with them became limited. But, being far away from my home, I missed many things that were happening in the society which I was not aware of. So I get bored when my friends start having conversations about many such events. As Soco (2008) has pointed out that the changes in the identities and subjectivities of returning migrants creates a gap and the migrants have to negotiate upon return in order to be reintegrated into the expectations and values of the household and community.

Challenges in the Workplace

International migration of women are more likely to be affected by precarious, low paying jobs and those who are concentrated in less skilled jobs and are more prone to exploitation and vulnerable situations (Goff, 2016). Along with dealing with adjustment process, linguistic barriers in the initial phases, migrants have uncovered difficult situations that they had not anticipated in their migration journey. As mentioned earlier, the illegal migration or migrating through informal channels has exacerbated the situation of women especially those working in the destined countries which lead to their subjugation and exploitation in different forms. The empirical situation revealed many such issues and instances in relation to adjustment faced by the migrants which are presented in the following section:

Confiscation of Documents

The first problem of migrants working as domestic workers begins with the employers/agents holding their passport and travel documents so that they would not escape or run away without consulting them. Such cases was reported by domestic workers from Darjeeling district, where most of the migrant’s documents were confiscated after joining the work, which is evident in the narration of Nirupama Shrestha, “My documents were kept by the employers on the plea that it is for the security concern. But later I found out that it was not for that purpose. It was confiscated so that we would not be able to run away from home despite dire situations. We have to stay till our contract is over.” Such conditions make them even more vulnerable especially for those who have migrated illegally in the destined countries. The way migrants fall into the traps of the agents and the employers was reported by many migrants working in domestic sectors which make their situations more prone to exploitation. As revealed by the respondents, such vulnerable and exploitative situations of migrants in the destined countries have a long term impact on the mental health of migrants.

Long Working Hours

Closely related with the confiscation of documents is the long working hours of the migrant workers. The strenuous working hours experience was narrated by 29 years old Jiya Limbu, from Darjeeling district, “I am working in Hong Kong as a domestic worker but my main duty is to take care of the children. During the daytime, I get some spare time from work because the children go to school. But in the evening I get busy taking care of the children. The most difficult time for me is at night when they wake up at 3 am sometimes craving for food. I had to wake up and look for their requirements. I had to stay alert even during the nights.”

Women migrants working in semi-skilled sectors in general have pre-scheduled or fixed hours of work that covers an average of 9-10 hours a day depending on the type of job. But in some sectors, during the tourist seasons, the workers had to go through a compact work schedule with overtime duties. As explained by 27 years old Roshni Tamang, a migrant from Darjeeling district “I am working as a waitress in Dubai. Normally my work schedule starts from 7:30 am till 5.30 pm. But during the tourist seasons, we have to work more than 15 hours a day which becomes exhaustive and tiresome. But we cannot complain about it. Either we work and earn money or come back home.” Although migrants working in semi- skilled sectors were spared from violent physical abuses, frequent verbal abuse in the form of scolding in front of co-workers and customers has been reported by many.

Physical and Mental Abuse

Exploitation of women migrants varies with regards to the destination they choose to migrate. As mentioned earlier, domestic sectors are outside the purview of labor laws, their preference and choices are not taken into consideration. Situations for domestic sectors become even worse when along with the work pressures; they often get abused by the employers. As reported by 30 years old Unnati Rai from Darjeeling district, who is a returnee migrant from Singapore, “As a housemaid, I had to carry out multiple tasks. Because of the work loads and pressure, I used to forget some tasks instructed by the owner. In that case, either I was scolded using abusive language or got slapped by them multiple times.” The unregulated and neglected nature of employment has given the employer the freedom of imposing their own terms and conditions on domestic workers that exacerbate the situations of migrant women. The findings have also been substantiated by the study by Reshmi (2009) that states even though women are more victimised, the abuse is less visible due to the “hidden” character of domestic work.

The domestic worker is not only dominated by the dictates and demands of the employer but without their permission, they do not have access to even the most basic items (Gulati, 1997). The problem was not only confined to women migrating to Gulf countries but it was also reported by those who migrated to Israel earlier. As narrated by 38 years old Devika Rai from Darjeeling district, a returnee migrant, “I went to Israel in 2006 as a caretaker. I had to look after an old woman suffering from mental illness. The owner of the house was very greedy. I was never given enough food to eat. During three months, I lost almost 6 kgs. So I left the job and started working in another house.” Notably such cases were witnessed only by those migrants who migrated to Israel before the implementation of strict rules by the government, against violation of migrant workers rights and security in Israel. However no such cases have been reported by the recent migrants in Israel.

Non-Payment of Wages

One of the most common problems faced by women migrants is the non-payment of wages. Even after toiling for months, women migrant workers either get half paid or denied payment for several months. In such cases, consulting with the agents also does not work in their favor and only few of them try to negotiate with the employers. Non-payment of wages therefore had become one of the primary reasons for many women migrants to quit their job and return back home as evident in the case of Nita Bhujel from Darjeeling district, a returnee migrant who narrated, “I went in 2017 to work as a housemaid in Singapore. But every time, my employer used to either deduct the salary on the condition that he would pay me later or sometimes did not pay me at all. I received only a salary for 14 months while I worked for more than 19 months. So, finally I quit the job and came back home”.

The non-payment issues were also reported by women migrants in semi-skilled sectors as well. 27 years old, Shila Gurung from Darjeeling district, a returnee migrant shared such an incident, She stated, “I went to Dubai to work as a receptionist.  In the interview, I was assured that I will get a salary of Rs 40,000/- salary per month. But I was paid only Rs 30000/- which was against the contract. I complained to my head owner but he did not show any interest rather told me to deal with the agent. So I gave up.”  She explained that the agent took advantage of the situation by knowing their helplessness that they needed to earn for themselves or the family and had no option left, if they go back home or quit the job. The empirical finding is evident of the fact that the status of being a migrant and “women” in general make them more vulnerable to exploitation and discrimination in the foreign countries, which corresponds to findings by Reshmi (2009) that the working and living condition of women migrants is also a gender issue.

Health Issues

Piper (2005) argued that migrants’ health is complex and involves broader issues revolving around access to health care services, availability of appropriate care, as well as types of illnesses they are exposed to, which is directly related to the types of jobs they carry out. Most of the trauma of health hazards was faced by the domestic workers, who were devoid of even the basic facilities. Long working hours, change of the work place, physical and mental torture is likely to be the main cause of their subsequent health problems. Empirically, there were cases when migrants due to their health issues had to quit their jobs and return back home without earning much before the completion of their contract. As reported by Ranjita Darji (33) from Darjeeling district working as a housemaid in Qatar, “I had to do almost every task in the house; cooking, cleaning the house, laundering, taking care of the children etc. One day, I was hurriedly cleaning the stairs of the house, as I was getting late for preparing lunch; I slipped down from the stairs and fell down. My legs got fractured and in no time instead of taking care of me, my owner deported me back home the other day.”

The deterioration of health of the migrants had its direct effect on the economic stability of the migrants. Along with quitting the job, the cost of medical expenses tends to cease all their savings, which amplifies their economic crises and debts after migration. This situation is evident in the case of 29 years old Tripti Lepcha, from Darjeeling district who was working as a housemaid in Hong Kong. According to her, “Not having food on time and sometimes skipping lunch due to the work pressure has started to affect my health leading to gastritis problems. Later, it became so severe that I was diagnosed with gastric ulcer. So I had to come back home. All my saved money was spent on medical expenses. The situation has become worse than before and right now I am in debt.”

The story of health issues was not only limited to domestic workers only but such cases were also reported by migrants working in semi-skilled workers as evident in the case of Pratima Subba from Darjeeling district, a returnee migrant, “I was working as a waitress in a hotel in Dubai. I had to work 17/18 hours a day. Sometimes at night I used to have leg cramps because of working for long hours. I also started having minor health issues, so I had to quit the job as they do not allow any workers to work who are dealing with any health problems.” Since, there were no complaints and redressal forums, migrants cannot even complain about it. These migrants who have gone through all these traumatic situations abroad have made the realization and do not consider migrating abroad without any safety assurance in the future.

Survival Strategies and Coping Mechanism

Khalaf and Alkobaisi, (1999) refers to a coping strategy as the rearrangement of resources and behaviour to deal with a given short-term situation or problem so as to give the migrant, as an actor, a better chance of accommodation and adaptation. Coping, therefore, is a strategy employed by individuals to comprehend, respond or counter the negative experience (Samuel, 2009). Migrants have adopted various strategies to cope up with the dire consequences they had faced in the foreign lands. Most of the migrants from Darjeeling district have gone through terrible situations; however they had tried all the way to move out of the situation as well. The initial approach they adopted was to contact the agents to get them back home or transfer them to another employer or seek help from friends. The empirical study found out that, not all migrants were fortunate to get help from the agents. But this did not discourage the migrant workers to remain as the silent recipients. They have shared the stories of not getting any support from the agents and some had to file a complaint arrest which eventually did not happened in the host country. In such cases, they asked help from the friends and relatives working abroad to escape from problematic situations or either resort to changing jobs to remain employed that will help them to survive until they get back home. Khalaf and Alkobaisi (1999)  has pointed out that unlike professionals and highly skilled artisans, unskilled and semi-skilled migrant workers resort to changing jobs often as a way of coping and surviving strategy to remain employed. Such evidence was also found in the narration of Goma Bimali, 35 years old returnee migrant “I ran away from my previous workplace as I was facing lots of problems and started working in another house which is considered illegal in Israel. I was caught and was jailed. After one month, fortunately one lady who was working in the police department offered me some financial help to get a lawyer and I was out of jail. Then I returned back home. I am so thankful to her”. For those migrants, getting out of such traumatic situations and returning home was their first priority than preferring to remain employed in such hostile environment without any safety measures. So such experiences have not only affected the migrants’ mental, physical and financial status but hearing such stories of struggle to some extent widespread apathy and fear among the aspiring migrants and returnee migrants to re-migrate abroad.

CONCLUSION

The decision and aspirations to migrate abroad for various socio-economic reasons is not an easy and smooth transition but accompanied by many issues and challenges. Likewise women migrants from Darjeeling district have encountered various challenges and consequences prior to and after migrating abroad. The status of being a migrant and ‘women’ in the first place poses challenges of decision making, access to resources and information, including certain legal restrictions on women migrating to work in unskilled sectors or as domestic workers. Women migrants using informal channels to migrate abroad explains a lot about their risk taking and their lack of access to information and knowledge prior to their migration. The absolute dependency on the agents in many cases has led towards exploitation and mistreatment of women migrants even before reaching the destined country. Moreover, the study also revealed that, the challenges faced by migrants depends on their situational condition or job sectors they have preferred to work. Working conditions of migrants in semi-skilled sectors was reported to be quite decent in comparison with the women migrants working in unskilled sectors. Working long hours, depriving sufficient sleep and irregular and negligence in the payment of wages have been reported by many. Such unintended consequences of migration in the form of exploitative and vulnerable situations which the migrant workers have gone through and its effect on the physical, emotional and mental health cannot be ignored.

However amidst the challenges, women migrants had to use certain strategies and adapt coping mechanism to survive in the host country. From dealing with the employers unpleasant behaviors, adapting with the environment, dealing with isolation and emotional crises and facing the problematic situations created by the unscrupulous agents, these women migrants had made every effort to adapt, adjust and cope with the situations. The moral and emotional support from their networks like friends, kins’ relatives was instrumental in dealing with difficult situations they endured during their migration journey. In cases of abuses and maltreatment in the employer’s house many reported taking the bold decisions like contacting the agents or embassies to get rid of the situations. However, because of the unregulated nature of the job very few of the migrants were able to get help from the agents or the immigration officials. In other cases, the only option left for them is to get help from their social networks and return back home.

Thus looking at the holistic experiences and challenges of women migration, it can be argued that despite being the active agents and key contributor to the global economy, they are disproportionately affected by gender immigration policies and labor laws that failed to protect women migrants from vulnerable situations and exploitation, especially those who are working in low-wage, informal, or care work sectors. To improve their economic and personal well being, both origin and host country should strengthen their labor laws and implement legal support networks for women migrants, facing exploitation and abuses in the foreign lands. In addition, government should also regulate and monitor recruitment agencies and private agents to prevent frauds and illegal practices in their recruitment process, thereby allowing transparency of work contracts between the employers and employee to ensure safer migration pathways for women migrants from any regions.

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FOOTNOTE

[1]   More specifically, this means that the sponsor is required to take full economic and legal responsibility of the worker, including the worker’s recruitment fee, medical examination and issuance of national identity card, or the iqama, upon arrival in the GCC (Gulf Council Cooperation) countries (Bajracharya and Sijapati, 2012). In a way, the sponsors have a complete control on the mobility of the worker which in itself caters towards an exploitative condition of migrants.