‘Remittances are Beautiful’? Gender implications of the new global remittances trend

This article traces the emergence of a new trend within the international community—the global remittance trend (GRT)—and undertakes a critical gender analysis of the mainstream framing within it. The GRT refers to the heightened interest of different actors—such as governments, international organisations, non-governmental organisations and private sector actors—in the development potential of international migration and remittances, and in the strategies designed to harness this potential. The main argument advanced is that in the debate about the framing of the GRT gender dimensions have been largely absent and the mainstream framing is generally gender-blind. At the same time, however, it is infused with gendered representations and stereotypes, which have concrete gender-specific implications in terms of policy making. Illustrated with an example from rural Mexico, the paper demonstrates how policies based on such representations lead to complex and seemingly contradictory processes of gender exclusion and inclusion within the GRT, and may have adverse gender implications.