Abstract:
This research was carried out between June and July 2008 among migrant
labour women who work in the clothes manufacturing industries of Lesotho. It
aimed at uncovering the effects that women's absence in families has on their
families, basing itself on the assumption that women employees of manufacturing
industries of Maseru are migrants from rural areas whose families remain in the
rural areas.
The three main findings in the research are that; men do not remain in rural
areas but migrate and work in the manufacturing industries in Maseru as well,
while children remain behind in the care of either maternal or paternal extended
family. Secondly, this set up (men migrating with their wives) has enhanced
marital relationships of migrant labour women, while children of migrant labour
women have been affected negatively by being separated from their mothers.
A third finding that emerged in this study is that women indulge in extramarital
affairs even when they live and stay in the same place with their husbands.
Finally, this paper recommends strategies that may ensure that mothers and
children maintain a healthy relationship and it makes suggestions pertaining to
the spread of HIV in the manufacturing industries.
