The Unnoticed Side of Remittance Transportation: Women Encounters With Remittance Transporters-Omalayisha

Introduction

The existence of remittance systems which includes both formal and informal ones can be as old as migration itself. However different historical periods and geographical contexts are characterized by differences in the organisation of the informal remittance transporting systems. The contribution of remittances towards the development and poverty alleviation of receiving households and communities has attracted a veritable array of scholarly attention cutting across disciplines (Mitchell &Young, 2002; Narayan & Petesch, 2002; Wolock & Narayan, 2000). This literature has generated intriguing insights on economic contribution as a central aspect of remittances. Too much focus on the economic impact has however meant that other dimensions of remittances like gendered relations that play out have not been given much attention, yet they can help in enriching our understanding of remittances (Crush & Caesar, 2016). There is relatively little or no specific attention that is paid to the richly instructive gender relations at play in remittance transportation channels such as malayishas besides a mere mention of the various types of remitting channels found in different contexts The name malayisha is derived from the uniqueness of the trade in which case the malayishas transport bulky goods that are usually shown by trailers heavily loaded with goods transported to various destinations in Zimbabwe (Nyoni 2011 & 2012). The types that are usually mentioned in various studies include forex bureaus, transfer services offered by shops, social networks, cash in hand transfers, family members as well as informal couriers such as the bakkie drivers (Crush & Caesar, 2016). It is the latter category that constitutes the focus in this report and specific attention will be paid to the ‘community’ of cross border bakkie drivers who are popularly known as ‘omalayisha’. There have been many reasons given to explain why women migrants prefer informal remittance channels over formal channels. Whilst women mentioned the issue of documentation and other requirements needed by formal remittance transportation institutions, women also highlighted the issue of convenience associated with informal channels. They indicated that despite the risks involved malayishas, do not have requirements such as commission whilst the monies are also delivered to the recipients, something that they found an essential convenient for recipients who in many instances lack the means to travel into the urban centers where formal institutions are located (Nyoni, 2011).

Wong (2006) noted that growing literature on remittances has mainly focused on large scale quantitative analyses of data in particular when it comes to remittances. Focus has also been on global remittance trends, migrant networks and how they navigate through settlement hurdles with obligations to kin in countries of origin also being a hindrance (Ives, Hanley, Walsh, & Este, 2014; Kunz, 2008; Plambech, 2007). Attention on remittances has also been on remittance practices, types of items remitted and the migration flows as well as how remittances have become crucial in efforts to eradicate poverty (Crush & Caesar, 2016). Authors who have come closer to the issues related to women experiences within the remittance chain are McKenzie & Menjívar (2011), who have embraced a non-economic focus in which they have engaged with women’s interpretation of migration and its influence of their families. Although this non-economic approach has come closer to bringing in the much needed gender dimension to understanding migration, it still has not specifically engaged with some of the unnoticed experiences that women migrants within the host country have to negotiate.

The non-economic dimensions to migration trends presented by McKenzie & Menjívar (2011) and Vianellou (2013) whilst being crucial in enhancing value to the gender dimension and the issue of meanings women attach to diverse aspects of migration also have its limitations. The major limitation is that their view relates to experiences of women as wives receiving gifts and other forms of remittances which assist them in cementing their unions with husbands who are senders. Such a view perpetuates one of the stereotypes where women are defined within the marriage relations where they are recipients of remittances and associated gifts. It is a view that falls short to appreciating that despite women facing exploitation and risks especially within host countries ought to be appreciated as playing a key role within the remittance trail. The chapter thus uses the malayisha spaces to try to fill this void. Attention paid on understanding how gender and kinship bonds influence complex decision making processes underlying remittances has remained inadequate.