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Im/mobility as a form of gender-based violence: the case of transnationally abandoned wives in India

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Title: Im/mobility as a form of gender-based violence: the case of transnationally abandoned wives in India
Authors: Harshita Yalamarty, Sundari Anitha, Anupama Roy
Source: Journal of Gender-Based Violence. 9:291-307
Publisher Information: Bristol University Press, 2025.
Publication Year: 2025
Subject Terms: 5. Gender equality, 05 social sciences, 0509 other social sciences, 10. No inequality, 16. Peace & justice, 0505 law
Description: Transnational marriage abandonment (TMA) of women is a growing form of violence reported across India and South Asia. The spouse, most commonly a husband, lives and works in a foreign country and exploits the advantages derived from his citizenship or visa status to exercise coercion and control over the immigrating wife. TMA takes different forms, including when a woman is left behind with the in-laws while waiting for the husband to provide visa sponsorship for her migration. Such women are vulnerable to financial precarity, isolation and domestic violence from in-laws, may be dispossessed from their marital home and served with ex parte divorces. Drawing on life-history interviews with 35 ‘never-migrant’ women conducted between 2013 and 2016, and subsequent policy and legal developments in India and the UK, this article seeks to unpack the gendered dimensions of im/mobility within TMA. Women’s immobilisation results from state migration policies, legal obstacles, patriarchal socio-cultural norms and purposive actions by husbands and their families to perpetually defer visa sponsorship and extract labour and/or money from women. Our findings indicate that immobilisation is a key facet of violence against women and legal responses to TMA must utilise a gender-based violence framework that can incorporate immobilised ‘never-migrant’ women.
Document Type: Article
ISSN: 2398-6816
2398-6808
DOI: 10.1332/23986808y2024d000000040
Accession Number: edsair.doi...........b9d12363f16819fc9b51de266ced91ea
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  Data: Im/mobility as a form of gender-based violence: the case of transnationally abandoned wives in India
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Harshita+Yalamarty%22">Harshita Yalamarty</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Sundari+Anitha%22">Sundari Anitha</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Anupama+Roy%22">Anupama Roy</searchLink>
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  Data: <i>Journal of Gender-Based Violence</i>. 9:291-307
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  Data: Bristol University Press, 2025.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%225%2E+Gender+equality%22">5. Gender equality</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%2205+social+sciences%22">05 social sciences</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%220509+other+social+sciences%22">0509 other social sciences</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%2210%2E+No+inequality%22">10. No inequality</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%2216%2E+Peace+%26+justice%22">16. Peace & justice</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%220505+law%22">0505 law</searchLink>
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  Data: Transnational marriage abandonment (TMA) of women is a growing form of violence reported across India and South Asia. The spouse, most commonly a husband, lives and works in a foreign country and exploits the advantages derived from his citizenship or visa status to exercise coercion and control over the immigrating wife. TMA takes different forms, including when a woman is left behind with the in-laws while waiting for the husband to provide visa sponsorship for her migration. Such women are vulnerable to financial precarity, isolation and domestic violence from in-laws, may be dispossessed from their marital home and served with ex parte divorces. Drawing on life-history interviews with 35 ‘never-migrant’ women conducted between 2013 and 2016, and subsequent policy and legal developments in India and the UK, this article seeks to unpack the gendered dimensions of im/mobility within TMA. Women’s immobilisation results from state migration policies, legal obstacles, patriarchal socio-cultural norms and purposive actions by husbands and their families to perpetually defer visa sponsorship and extract labour and/or money from women. Our findings indicate that immobilisation is a key facet of violence against women and legal responses to TMA must utilise a gender-based violence framework that can incorporate immobilised ‘never-migrant’ women.
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