Proceedings of the 2020 International Conference "ECONOMIC SCIENCE FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT" No 54 Jelgava, LLU ESAF, 12-15 May 2020, pp. 13-20 DOI: 10.22616/ESRD.2020.54.001 13 CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF WOMAN RURAL-URBAN MIGRATION – FIELD STUDY AMONGST FEMALE STREET FOOD VENDORS IN TANGERANG-INDONESIA AND HAT YAI-THAILAND Dionisius Yusuf 1 , MSc.; Barbara Freytag-Leyer 2 , Dr.oec.troph./Prof. i.R. 1 University of Kassel; ² Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Germany Abstract. Rural-urban movements from poor rural areas to rich urban areas have been the dominant form of migration. A sharp increase in rural-urban migration is stated in recent years in Tangerang, Indonesia, and Hat Yai, Thailand. One of the important changes in internal movements in Indonesia and Thailand have been the rise in the participation of women in migration streams that were previously dominated by men. For studying the causes and effects of women migration, 200 female migrant vendors in Tangerang and 96 in Hat Yai were surveyed, 20 biographical interviews were recorded. Important differences in both study areas were in the proximity of the urban centres. In Tangerang, long-distance migration dominated, in contrast to the short- distance migration in Hat Yai. The start of the migration was slightly shorter in Hat Yai. The influencing decision makers showed wide differences. In Tangerang, the influence of the male-dominated society was strong, and husbands were the most important decision maker, while in Hat Yai females’ own decisions dominated. The information sources for migration were families, relatives and friends, whereas mass media played a minor role. The pull and push factors for migration differed in both study areas. Prospects were namely at first place in both study areas, but in different percentages. Remittances to the families were reported from a few number. The rural-urban migration and working as street food vendors had positive effects for the women, their families and relatives, but the agricultural production in rural areas can be hampered through the decrease of younger population. Key words: rural-urban migration, female street food vendors, Tangerang Indonesia, Hat Yai Thailand, feminization of internal migration. JEL code: D19, E 29, G 59, J 69, N35 Introduction Over the last decade, attention has been given to international migration. More recently, internal migration in general and rural-urban migration, in particular, was viewed favourably in the literature. Several studies indicate that internal migration is a driver of growth and an important route out of poverty with significant positive impacts on people’s livelihoods and well -being (Murrugarra E. et al., 2011; Hossain E., 2001; Siddiqui T., 2003; Sukamdi Mujahid G., 2015). Internal migrants in Indonesia constitute a significant population. Nearly 9.8 million individuals were estimated to be temporary internal migrants in 2010 against merely 450.601 people migrating internationally for work in 2012 (Ananta A. and Arifin E. N., 2014). In Thailand, according to the 2010 Thailand Population and Housing Census, 8.3% of the Thai population had migrated internally during the previous five years, and overall 21.8% of the population did not live in their hometown (National Statistical Office, 2010). The rural-urban migration trend in Indonesia can be explained by a number of so-called push and pull factors (Wadji N. et al., 2017). While the demand for labour in urban centres is the main pull factor for people to move from rural to urban area, Tirtosudarmo (2009), Susanti and Damayanti (2015), and Sukamdi and Mujahid (2015) summarize the main push factors of internal migration in Indonesia as being the decrease of job availability in agricultural sectors, working matters, a desire to rejoin family members, marriage, the search for better economic opportunities, and access to education. In Thailand, according to Amere et al. (2012), the lack of employment in rural areas, following family and educational opportunities are push factors which have driven people to migrate to urban