Male Migration and ‘Left–behind’ Women: Bane or Boon? AKM Ahsan Ullah 1 Abstract Women have traditionally been at disadvantage in many countries in the world, due partly to the strong patriarchal tradition which often impinges the rights of women. Hence women’s empowerment is a major concern in the developing world and is emerging as an important indicator of the development of a society as well as the status of women. This paper examines the impact of husbands’ migration on the lives of ‘left-behind’ women. The purpose of this research is to investigate how the ‘left-behind’ women turned around in the absence of their husbands and eventually how did they end up being empowered financially, socially and politically. This research analyzes left-behind women’s empowerment through three broad dimensions: resources, agency and achievements, specifically women’s autonomy and con- trol over their lives; financial issues, and women’s political and labour force participation. This research selected 53 women from five countries in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) (Yemen = 6; Jordan = 11; Iraq = 7; Morocco = 9; Egypt = 12; Indonesia = 8) (through snow-ball technique) whose husbands left their countries at least 6 years back. This study shows that the impact of male migration on the ‘left- behind’ women is complex to investigate. Change in gender role has occurred due to men’s migration irrespective of countries of origin. Entire responsibility of taking care of the welfare of left-behind siblings and children has been on the shoulders of the wives. This is, however, not to argue that migration of their counterparts rejuvenated their potential. I rather argue that they successfully used their potential to be leaders in absence of their husbands, meaning that they enjoyed the freedom to make decisions, and that freedom has contributed to their being empowered positively. They eventually have experienced change in their freedoms in terms of decision making, mobility and participation in political activities. 男性移民和“留守”妇女：苦难还是恩赐？ 在世界许多国家，妇女传统上处于不利地位，部分原因来自于强烈的父权传统往往侵犯妇女的 权利。因此，赋予妇女权力是发展中世界的一个主要关注点，并且和妇女地位一起，正在成为 社会发展的重要指标。本文考察了丈夫迁移对“留守妇女”生活的影响。这项研究的目的是调 查“留守妇女”在配偶缺席情况下的转变，并最终如何在经济、社会和政治上获得权力。这项 研究通过三个方面分析了留守妇女赋权：分别是资源、机构和成就，特别是妇女的自主权和对 自己生活的控制；以及财政问题、妇女政治和劳动力参与。研究通过滚雪球技术选择了来自 MENA（中东和北非）5个国家的妇女，她们的丈夫均离开所在国家至少6年以上。研究表明，男 Article Environment and Urbanization AsIA 8(1) 1–15 © 2017 National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) sAGE Publications sagepub.in/home.nav DOI: 10.1177/0975425316683862 http://eua.sagepub.com 1 Associate Professor of Geography, Environment and Development, University of Brunei Darussalam, Brunei. Corresponding author: AKM Ahsan Ullah, Associate Professor, Geography, Environment and Development, University of Brunei Darus-salam, Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong, Brunei. E-mail: akmahsanullah@gmail.com