External publications

Eroding the Gains of Mobility: COVID-19 and the Impact on Low-income Migrant Zimbabwean Women

Jaji, Rose
External Publications (2021)

in: Christopher Zambakari / Steve Des Georges / Matthew Edwards / Giada Mannino / Gina M. Santangelo / Jessica Petney (eds.), Living in an Era of Emerging Pandemics, Phoenix: The Zambakari Advisory, 133–146

Information

This article draws attention to low-income migrant women’s pre-Covid-19 socioeconomic circumstances. It juxtaposes these circumstances with the women’s current situation in environments where the pandemic and accompanying restrictions and lockdowns have curtailed opportunities for employment and exacerbated an already difficult situation for many low-income migrant women. Covid-19 presents the women with untenable choices as they ponder the short-and long-term costs and benefits of returning to Zimbabwe or remaining in their receiving country without stable incomes, if any. Similar trends of return migration due to declining opportunities in the receiving countries and the negative impacts of Covid-19 are growing and have been noted elsewhere.