There has been an increasing feminization of internal labour migration in most developing countries over the past few decades [1–9]. Although the reason for internal migration among female migrants, as reported by existing secondary sources in India, is predominantly marriage, there has been an increase in migration for economic reasons [10–14]. While the only major data sources on migration in India (the Census and National Sample Survey [NSS]), provide information on various dimensions of migration, they fail to provide detailed information on the health-related vulnerabilities of migrants. National Family Health Survey (NFHS) of India too has only a proxy indicator to capture the migration status of the respondent, making migration-focussed analysis of health indicators difficult. Further, a few small-scale surveys were conducted to understand the mechanism of male migration, almost no primary study has been conducted on internal female migrants in India [15, 16]. Women migrants are more likely to be vulnerable than their male counterparts in destination areas with regard to health, physical safety and financial means. The Population Council conducted an exploratory study on internal female migrants in Delhi and Mumbai to better understand their socio-economic and health related vulnerabilities. The study entailed a cross-sectional bio-behavioural survey in Delhi and Mumbai. Women aged 18 years or older, who had migrated and were currently working in either of the two study sites, irrespective of their primary reason for migration, were recruited for the study. A total of 1000 female migrants were interviewed for the study. This comprised of 499 respondents from Delhi and 501 from Mumbai.
URL : http://r4d.dfid.gov.uk/pdf/outputs/Migrat_Health_SAsia/61263_Internal-Female-Migrants.pdf