This paper examines why young women in rural Ethiopia decide to migrate as domestic workers to the Middle East. Based on survey data and 84 in-depth interviews, it explores the forces shaping young women’s aspirations and capabilities to migrate, challenging the dominant narratives of trafficking, deception, and victimization that surround this migration corridor. It finds, first, that migration to the Middle East is one migration trajectory embedded within a broader urban transition occurring across Ethiopia. For rural women, labor emigration is often a long-distance, short-term strategy to access the capital needed to realize a long-term, short-distance move to town. Second, the aspiration to migrate emerges at a particular moment in the life course, as young women transition from adolescence into adulthood and when local opportunities do not provide promising pathways to achieve their life aspirations. This paper shows why labor emigration can simultaneously be a reasonable, capabilities-enhancing choice for young women and a response to a critical lack of capabilities in other domains of their lives. Finally, through applying an aspiration–capability framework, this paper advances a theoretical approach that avoids the common binary between “forced” and “voluntary” migration and thus contributes to advancing research on other forms of precarious migration occurring under highly constrained conditions.

中文翻译：

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渴望变革：埃塞俄比亚妇女到中东的劳务移民

本文探讨了为什么埃塞俄比亚农村的年轻女性决定以家庭佣工的身份移民到中东。根据调查数据和 84 次深入访谈，它探讨了塑造年轻女性移民愿望和能力的力量，挑战围绕这条移民走廊的人口贩运、欺骗和受害的主要叙述。首先，它发现，向中东的迁移是嵌入在整个埃塞俄比亚发生的更广泛的城市转型中的一个迁移轨迹。对于农村妇女来说，劳动力移民往往是一种长期、短期的战略，以获得实现长期、短期迁入城镇所需的资金。其次，移民的愿望出现在生命历程中的特定时刻，当年轻女性从青春期过渡到成年期时，以及当地机会无法为实现她们的人生抱负提供有希望的途径时。本文说明了为什么劳务移民可以同时成为年轻女性的合理、增强能力的选择，以及对她们生活其他领域严重缺乏能力的回应。最后，通过应用愿望-能力框架，本文提出了一种理论方法，避免了“强迫”和“自愿”迁移之间的共同二元论，从而有助于推进对在高度约束条件下发生的其他形式的不稳定迁移的研究。为年轻女性提供增强能力的选择，以及对她们生活其他领域严重缺乏能力的回应。最后，通过应用愿望-能力框架，本文提出了一种理论方法，避免了“强迫”和“自愿”迁移之间的共同二元论，从而有助于推进对在高度约束条件下发生的其他形式的不稳定迁移的研究。为年轻女性提供增强能力的选择，以及对她们生活其他领域严重缺乏能力的回应。最后，通过应用愿望-能力框架，本文提出了一种理论方法，避免了“强迫”和“自愿”迁移之间的共同二元论，从而有助于推进对在高度约束条件下发生的其他形式的不稳定迁移的研究。