FAMILIAL ADAPTATIONS TO THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF ...

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in agricultural production by landlords' families (e.g.,
baking,
helping
cleaning,
out with
and market purchases.), this occurs to a much
extent
more
than
limited
was the case formerly or even currently for sharecroppers'
kinswomen.
While there is general agreement that male outmigration
women's work
increases
load and prompts them to assume certain
traditionally
responsibilities
considered the province of males, the
increased
consequences
dependence
of
on women's work for family
patterns
welfare
has
and
stimulated
authority
much debate in the Women in Development
(Youssef
literature
et al. 1979). For rural Egypt, Khattab and El Daeif,
of
on
a
the
rare,
basis
though very limited anthropological study, hypothesize that
... wives of labour migrants who are forced to make
decisions
independent
during husbands' absences concerning management
property
of
and remittances will gain high status relative to husband
and in-laws, whereas women who are deprived of
remittances
managing husbands'
and property will experience little or no change
their
in
roles and status (1982:68).
They also assert that
Egyptian labour migrant wives are experiencing definite changes in
their traditional array of roles which in turn is affecting their
status within their families and the community at large (ibid.:52),
Khattab and El Daeif conclude their study questioning
Will the wife of the migrant retain this egalitarian relationship
in terms of decision-making ... and authority after the
her
return
husband?
of
Will she retreat to familial [?] roles and abandon
involvement in the public domain? (ibid.:71).
In contrast to this questioning, Mervat Hatem offers a more definitive
evaluation. She states that
... increased dependence on women's work in the labour exporting
economies ... [has] ... not significantly changed women's
in the family
position
and vis-a-vis men, in general ... while changes
women's
in
work roles could be observed ... , they did not constitute
a sufficient basis for challenging the character of the existing
patriarchies. Social/sexual relations maintained their
and
autonomy
succeeded in adapting the new roles to the existing
patriarchal value system (Hatem 1983:1).
In the same vein, Cynthia Myntti has observed that
... [in Yemen] ... male relatives remaining behind make the
decisions as surrogates for the absent emigrants (Population
Council 1978:30).