Gender and Migration in Africa: Female Ethiopian Migration in Post-2008 Sudan

This paper discusses the relatively new phenomenon of female migration in Africa. Towards that end the paper examines contemporary trends of labor migration drawing examples from Asia and other parts of the world for the sake of comparison. The paper also reviews some theoretical and methodological aspects applied in current research on migration particularly in the endeavor to conceptualize female (labor) migration. To further understand the phenomenon the paper makes special focus on the current case of Ethiopian women (migrant) workers to Sudan especially after the recent oil exploration and the resulting attraction of major investment by international capital. The high demand on the part of the Sudanese society for domestic services jobs is efficiently met by Ethiopian women, with low level education; most often illegal migrants. The case involves both legal and illegal migration modes. Nonetheless much emphasis is made on the later, as vulnerability chances are much higher and more evident.