The focus of most research on Lesotho has been the political, social, and economic impact of male migrant labour. But under the resultant strains of agricultural decline, rural poverty, and marital instability, many Basotho women also went as migrants during the first half of this century, they are now prohibited from legally doing so by ‘influx control’ measures which maintain oscillating male migration. The social life of rural Basotho women has been profoundly affected by the experience of those who once lived and worked in South Africa but are now relegated to unemployment on the rural periphery.