Women make up about half of the world's migrants, so it is little surprise that the international migration of women has been attracting significant attention in recent years. Most agree that global restructuring increasingly forces a large number of women in developing countries to emigrate to richer countries. But is poverty the only motivating factor?


In Women in Motion, Nana Oishi examines the cross-national patterns of international female migration in Asia. Drawing on fieldwork in ten countries—both migrant-sending and migrant-receiving—the author investigates the differential impact of globalization, state policies, individual autonomy, and various social factors. This is the first study of its kind to provide an integrative approach to and a comparative perspective on female migration flows from multiple countries.