Introduction

This introductory chapter sets the scene by examining professional nursing in Nepal, an exclusively gendered profession, and highlights the fact that nurse migration is the only migration from Nepal of ‘professional women’ to date. International opportunities for professional nurses are regarded currently as the career of choice. As Nepali nurses have become increasingly mobile nationally and internationally, they have also become ‘economic agents’, as well as facilitators, of the international migration of their families. Many young educated and successful men now look for nurse-brides, highlighting a major shift in social and gender relations in Nepali society. The key questions and arguments of this book are outlined, and the inspiration for this research is recounted. This chapter also provides a detailed context of the study and of the practicalities in pursuing this work.