Paper short abstract:

Gender constructions are closely connected to both migration and labour positions. This presentation discusses how constructions of migrant masculinities that privilege men in one context, simultaneously work in tandem with capitalist interests to justify exploitative working conditions in another.

Paper long abstract:

Although migration theory for long has addressed men's migration for work, the significance of masculinities is rarely considered in analyses of male migrants' working conditions. Contrarily, a rich literature within critical feminist research addresses how specific constructions of femininity, that portray women as disposable "non-workers" whose primary responsibility is reproductive labour, effectively justify low wages and trivialise poor working conditions. While feminist approaches to migration have greatly nuanced the conceptualisation of men as gendered subjects, it remains under researched how specific masculinities are both privileging and marginalising male migrant workers at various stages of the migration process.

Through a review and integration of literatures on 'gender and migration' and 'labour exploitation', this presentation will discuss how specific constructions of masculinities that privilege men in one context, simultaneously work in tandem with capitalist interests to justify exploitative and dangerous working conditions in another. This will contribute to a conceptualisation of "men as men" in labour migration, i.e. going beyond Universalist approaches, which despite criticisms of androcentrism, fail to address the gendered dimensions of men's migration and labour positions.

This will serve as theoretical background for an empirical study of Nepalese labour migration to Malaysia - a migration corridor imbued with dangerous working conditions, low wages and poor living conditions. Moreover, it is a highly gendered phenomenon; firstly, it is almost exclusively young men that migrate in the corridor, and secondly, because states, recruitment agencies and employers each mobilise strong narratives of gender ideals in migration legislation, recruitment and employment, respectively.