The existing sources of data in India provide limited insights on the gendered composition of internal migrants in India undercounting the incidence of migration among the female participants. The most reliable and representative sources of data such as Census of India and National Sample Survey report a significant share of women migrants but remains limited about women’s reasons to migrate as well as their work-participation status after migration resulting in undercounting of women migrant laborers. Though feminist interventions have tried to correct the data bias they have not been able to adequately challenge the normative understanding of a migrant laborer which derives from a relatively privileged male experience. Consequently, the definitions of duration, sector, vulnerability, cycles of migration that informs policy making continue to remain biased. The identification of migrant workers through male-normative definitions and methods also restricts the coverage and effectiveness of state service delivery for women migrant laborers due to their systemic exclusion. It becomes especially significant in the case of short-term migration. Drawing upon the recently concluded Jharkhand Migration Survey (JMS) we seek to further elucidate our argument. The ethnographic observations suggest that while a significant number of women migrate out to labor from Jharkhand, their frequency and duration of migration is often shorter than men ranging from a single day to a few weeks. On the other hand there are women migrants involved in the textile industry and also those who work as domestic workers. Here too, the duration, nature of contract, kinds of exploitation experienced at work vary from the experiences of male migrants such as those employed in the construction sector. Further, these migrant women laborers largely belong to the SC or ST communities and often engage as unskilled laborers in under-paid and precarious sectors of work which adds to their existing vulnerabilities.
