23 - Migration and Cross-Border Trading

Summary

Introduction

Since the 1990s, studies in migration have received significant attention in development studies in general and geographical studies in particular, with a focus on labour migration and its implications for development (see for instance Momsen, 1999; McDowell, 2018). Among human geographers and economic geographers in particular, the emphasis has been on the physical movement of persons from one place to another – either within one's country (internal migration) or outside one's country (international migration) – with a focus on the factors that influence people to migrate, and the effects on the lives of the migrants. Thus, the push and pull theories have traditionally been the focus of most geographical studies on migration (see Hanson and Pratt, 1988; de Haan, 1999; Castles et al, 2014) in understanding both the reasons that people move and the situation at the sending and destination areas (de Haas, 2011; Massey, 1990).

Following this, substantial bodies of work have been developed by feminist economic geographers in both the Global North and Global South to show how migrant women have been recruited and absorbed into the migration systems resulting in the feminization of global social reproduction and care work (Momsen, 1999; Silvey, 2007; McDowell, 2018; see also Chapters 2, 4 and 8 in this volume). While these major themes have been researched in both the Global North and Global South, there still remains limited focus on the linkages between gender, migration and cross-border trading and that is what this chapter seeks to highlight. It discusses scholarly work done within the African continent on women's experiences in informal cross-border trading and their opportunities, challenges and vulnerabilities, while highlighting grey research areas within this theme that economic geographers need to focus on.

We begin by discussing the migration research work conducted by feminist economic geographers broadly, followed by work done specifically within the African region along two major themes: migration and household poverty; and migration as a livelihood strategy for women using the case of women in informal cross-border trading, using Ghana as an example. The concluding section summarizes the key research areas that economic geographers have been involved in both globally and specifically in Africa while outlining new research agendas for economic geography.