ABSTRACT The earnings of Sri Lankan migrant women who work abroad as housemaids account for a significant proportion of overseas remittances to Sri Lanka. Literature on the “maid trade” of Sri Lanka shows that migrant women, 70% of whom are mothers, become primary wage earners for their left behind households. Central to this study is a focus on how the gendered construction of “breadwinner” and “mothering” plays out when left behind families are dependent on these women’s earnings for survival. Based on ethnographic data, it demonstrates that this results not in a reversal but in a reconfiguration of gendered roles in households.

中文翻译：

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当移民妇女返回时：斯里兰卡家庭中的性别角色重新配置

摘要 在国外做女佣的斯里兰卡移民妇女的收入占到斯里兰卡的海外汇款的很大一部分。关于斯里兰卡“女佣贸易”的文献表明，70% 是母亲的移民妇女成为留守家庭的主要工薪阶层。这项研究的核心是关注当留守家庭依赖这些妇女的收入生存时，“养家糊口”和“母亲”的性别结构如何发挥作用。根据人种学数据，它表明这不会导致家庭中性别角色的逆转，而是重新配置。