ABSTRACT
Introduction Feminist analyses of globalization have demonstrated that the phenomenon is a gendered process, impacting men and women differently. One of the most striking consequences of globalization has been the transformation of women’s roles and identities as new prospects for work and migration have opened up with global economic restructuring. Even as they respond to these opportunities to become players in the global economy (both as producers and consumers), women must confront the challenges presented by their traditional roles in the reproductive sphere. Women’s identities as mothers are particularly challenged by globalization processes and the cross-border opportunities it presents them. Increasingly, research is establishing that in responding to ‘multiple pressures to migrate, family separation [has become] a viable strategy for many … [despite the] tremendous human cost for couples, extended families, mothers and children’ (LARG 2005: 30). The desire to give their families, especially the children, better lives can lead to migration strategies that divide the family physically and geographically. Mothers, fathers and children may be transnationally located in two or more countries, as different family members take advantage of differentiated (and sometimes gendered) opportunities for work, careers, education and immigration offered globally. Enhanced border controls and strict migration policies actively contribute to the fragmentation of families by preventing family members from joining (im)migrants unless the latter demonstrate suffi cient earning power. As the transnational, multi-local family confi guration becomes increasingly common across a wide spectrum of social classes across the world, from those of overseas contract workers to elite astronaut families (Bryceson and Vuorela 2002; Yeoh, Huang and Lam 2005), new transnational mothering strategies have arisen.
