Transnational Remittances and Gendered Status Enhancement in Rural Bangladesh

Overseas migration from Bangladesh has grown rapidly over the last 30 years, involving around 8.4 million workers between 1976 and 2012. From about 50,000 in the 1980s, about 200,000–250,000 workers emigrated annually during 1992–1993 to 2004–2005. This figure stood at approximately 600,000 in 2011–2012 (http://www.bmet.gov.bd/BMET, accessed on 18 June 2013). Revenues from remittances, at a record high of USD 11 billion in 2010, now exceed various types of foreign exchange inflows, particularly official development assistance and net earnings from exports (http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/bangladesh, accessed on 6 November 2011). It is not surprising that 90 per cent of migrants remit regularly, as earning an income is the main purpose of the largely contract labour migration from Bangladesh (Orozco, 2010).