86 Unlocking marriage migration towards manifesting migration linked hypergamy

EP1.4, e-Poster Terminal 1, September 4, 2025, 11:35 - 13:00 Introduction & Aim The phenomenon of migration is commonly examined to understand the types and patterns of mobility and is associated with gains and advantages for individuals and households. As per the 2011 Census of India, 309.64 million women were migrants by their last place of residence in India, and marriage was the prime reason for migration among women. Marriage migration is often discounted among the reasons for migration. But, among Indian women, marriages are mostly hypergamous and exogamous. Marriage migration acts as a signifier of mobility across social and economic classes. Its influence on the prospect of mobility may render them greater access to resources and autonomy in the new residence or vice versa. Thus, we try to indulge in this overlooked dimension, i.e., marriage migration, to understand hypergamy and exogamy involved in the case of migrant and resident women. Methods The three most recent National Sample Survey (NSS) rounds with migration details will be used. These are the 55th round in 1999-2000, the 64th round in 2007-08 and the 78th round in 2020-21. The question of whether each household member’s current place of enumeration differs from the last usual place of residence is available to get the migration status and the reason for migration. The differences between migrant women and the resident women controlling for all other attributes adopting a propensity score matching method would help us find evidence on hypergamy and exogamy. Expected results and conclusions This would give us insight into how migration serves towards exogamy and hypergamy when contrasted against resident married women. The economic implications underlying marriage migration are crucial to understanding women’s workforce participation, whether marriage migration is only about moving with spouses from their native to married homes or a disguised economic migration.