Remittance practices in rural Bangladesh: A gendered analysis

This paper presents a gendered analysis of remittance behaviour in households that depend on overseas earnings. Applying the conceptualisation of gender as ‘doing’ and ‘performativity’ to migrant communities in Bangladesh, it discovers the functioning of various subject positions adopted by men and women as remitters, receivers, providers and managers. While these fluid subjectivities face opposition from the prevailing gender norms, which see men as the providers and women as the carers of the household, the paper depicts the multiple ways in which men and women conform to and negotiate with these norms and thus normalise their position. It offers fresh insights into the linkages between remittance practices and gender beyond essentialist claims of dependency, empowerment and development.