Invisible remittances
the hidden economy of migrant women
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21530/ci.v20n3.2025.1595Keywords:
Domestic work, Remittances, Female migration, Feminist political economy, CareAbstract
This article examines how care and emotional work by migrant women constitutes an
‘invisible remittance’ sustaining the global economy, while being excluded from official
statistics and policies. Using feminist political economy, it argues that productivism and the
devaluation of care underpin women’s precarization, especially within global care chains.
For this, it presents estimated data on women’s role in international monetary remittances
and discusses the invisibility of affective remittances. The article concludes that rethinking
economic concepts and adopting methodologies that recognize care as essential to economies
are needed, addressing gendered inequalities while valuing reproductive work — care an
emotional — sustaining global structures.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Georgia Paula Martins Faust
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