Paper short abstract:

I explore the complex relationship between female rural-urban migration, domestic work, and education in the context of Ethiopia's

Paper long abstract:

Increasing numbers of rural girls and young women in Ethiopia are migrating to urban towns and cities and taking up employment as domestic workers, some of whom continue their education in urban schools. For urban households, rural migrants help to fill the domestic work gaps created by the entry of urban women into employment. For poor rural young women, migrating as a domestic worker is an important strategy for social mobility and empowerment. Yet, rural domestic workers remain largely hidden in the city and we know little about their lived experiences. In this paper, we start to address this gap, drawing on interviews with eight rural domestic workers living in the city and attending evening classes. We reveal the extent to which intersecting inequalities in rural areas disempower these young women, and how migration and education become important strategies for improving their lives. We show how the support of social network members is crucial in enabling participants' migration, yet how this also leads to power asymmetries and exploitation. We reflect on how the ability of rural young women to achieve better futures is limited due to their status as poor, rural, female migrants, yet how many wait in the city in the hope of a better future. Our analysis highlights how the lives and experienced of rural young women must be considered in the context of deeply entrenched structural inequalities that underpin the experiences and choices of rural girls and young women.