Document Details

This article confronts the notion that male migration and remittances sent home enable women’s autonomy and improve their living conditions. From the perspec- tive of structural crises, the implications of migration on women’s lives are generally negative, as inequality is further increased and violence towards women is not eliminated. Based on in-depth interviews with 30 women from the Estado de México between 2005 and 2006 and framed within the context of rural life, this article discusses how struc- tural crises reproduce patterns of violence, discrimination, and exclusion towards women. It also proposes some hypothesis concerning the role of structural violence as an instigator of gender-based violence. The article ends with a reflection on the role neoliberal welfare policies have on the degradation of women’s human condition.