LIFE EXPERIENCES OF LEFT BEHIND WIVES:

Abstract

Movement of people from place to another to achieve their purpose is migration. This research is intended to identify and highlight the life experiences of wives of emigrants in terms of their social, psychological and economic aspects. In the last few years, a large number of people have moved out of Pakistan with an aim to alleviate their poverty burden. Pakistan comes under the top ten countries of the world with highest number of migrant. The inflow of foreign remittances is also on the rise as per the recent statistics about $ 23 billion were received by families in Pakistan. The main objectives of the present study was to explore the impact of husband out migration on their wives. The present study also identify the difficulties faced by left behind wives in the brought up of their children. The current study was conducted in District Chakwal, Punjab while applying the qualitative research design. For conducting this study, the researcher has interviewed 20 female respondents who were married to emigrants. The data was analyzed through thematic analysis technique. The researcher applied two theories to explain the phenomena of husband movement on the status of left behind wives which were The New Economics of Labour Migration (NELM) and the empowerment Theory. Moreover, findings of this study illustrated that in the absence of the husbands their respective wives had to face a lot of difficulties. Their husbands have migrated with an aim to fulfilling the basic needs of their families left behind. However due to which their wives and children had suffered a lot that includes social, psychological and economic. According to the results it can be concluded that these women face numerous problems i-e social insecurities, manage in budgeting. Furthermore, the finding of the study shows women also feels psychological issues like loneliness, tense, depression and anxiety. Keywords: Husband migration, left behind women, remittance, life experiences.