The impact of male migration on rural families a case study of rural area in Jaffna

Abstract

Male migration can play a key role in rural due to their family development at household level in rural area in Sri Lanka. The end of the three decade long civil war in Sri Lanka was declared in May 2009. During the war and its related processes resulted in significant levels of male migration and concerning the impact of high levels on rural community. Nevertheless, at present male migration from rural to outside of country is significantly an event of rural area in Sri Lanka. Given this social context, this study especially focuses on two major components such as male migration and rural families. Under these components, this research attempts to understand how various forms of male migration and their impact on families in a rural community by particularly focusing on the rural spaces. In this research, primary data were collected from a sample of 63 rural family’s respondents in the selected rural of Sri Lanka, Kaithady, Jaffna. The results of the study confirm a significant difference in the perceptions on male migration among rural families. The most influential socioeconomic factors affecting the male migration in rural are; age, education level, number of members in the family and gender role in rural area. The results of the study further reveal that the reasons for male migration from rural to outside of Sri Lanka were not only economic reason but it were related to some security reasons. Also, the male migrations give a social and economic mobility of the rural families in different scales.