This article examines the changes in agency of Nepalese women who returned home
from foreign employment in two geographical locations, based on their caste and
ethnic identity in addition to their locales. Based on oral history and in-depth
interviews with 28 returnee women and series of observations and interviews with
fellow villagers in two areas of Sunsari and Sindhupalchok, this paper studies the
agency of women in decision-making at the post-migration context.
This article investigates the factors that construct and constrain the agency and
argues that returned migrant women’s agency within family and social space have
enhanced despite the continuous patriarchal dominations and efforts to keep the
cultural ‘doxa’ intact within household and community.