Female Migration, Remittances and Poverty Reduction in ECOWAS

The global trend of increased migration, driven by aspirations for improved family lives or compelled by natural disasters and conflicts, has emerged as a widespread issue. While gender migration is a global phenomenon, it is particularly pronounced in sub‐Saharan Africa. This research considers the effect of female migration and remittances on poverty reduction in ECOWAS countries from 1990 to 2020, using household per capita consumption expenditure as a proxy for poverty reduction. The estimation technique used in the study is the Prais–Winsten regression model with panel corrected errors and the feasible generalized least squares for robustness check. Data were obtained from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the World Development Indicators. The findings revealed that a 1% increase in female migration increases household poverty by 0.476, while a 1% increase in remittances reduces household poverty by 0.414. This implies that as more females migrate, poverty levels increase in the household. However, the result for remittances indicates that it exerts an adverse effect on poverty, which implies that remittances have a reducing effect on poverty. Lastly, the moderating effect of remittances on female migration, as it reduces poverty, revealed that a 1% increase in the joint effect of the two variables led to a reduction in poverty by 0.009 among ECOWAS countries. These adverse effects of female migration suggest distress migration rather than opportunities, thus leading to loss of female labor and caregiving roles at the household level. Thus, policies should focus on employment‐generating opportunities for women within their economies and the development of skills in order to reduce poverty‐induced migration pressures. Similarly, the poverty‐reducing effect of remittances reveals its importance as a household smoothing mechanism; therefore, policies should be made to facilitate remittance flows, which can be achieved through promoting financial inclusion, encouraging savings, and productive use of remittances. The focus of this study is on the gendered dimension of migration, specifically female migration that occurs in the ECOWAS region, as previous studies are based on total migration, and this is relevant because the patterns of migration differ across regions. The moderating effect of female migration and remittances on poverty alleviation is new, as previous studies have examined both factors individually. Lastly, this study contributes to the broader literature on migration and development, especially within the context of Africa, where migration and remittances are critical factors for household economies. 本研究考察了1990年至2020年间西非国家经济共同体(ECOWAS)成员国女性移民和汇款对减贫的影响, 并以家庭人均消费支出作为减贫的代理指标。研究采用的估计方法为Prais‐Winsten回归模型 (面板校正误差, PCSE), 并使用可行广义最小二乘法(FGLS)进行稳健性检验。数据来源于联合国经济和社会事务部(UNDESA)和世界发展指标(WDI)。研究结果表明, 女性移民率每增加1%, 家庭贫困率将上升0.476；而汇款额每增加1%, 家庭贫困率将下降0.414。这意味着随着更多女性移民, 家庭贫困率上升。然而, 汇款的结果显示其对减贫具有负面影响, 即汇款对减贫起到抑制作用。最后, 汇款对女性移民的调节作用 (因为它能减少贫困) 表明, 这两个变量的联合效应每增加1%, ECOWAS国家的贫困率就会降低0.009。 Esta investigación examina el efecto de la migración femenina y las remesas en la reducción de la pobreza en los países de la CEDEAO entre 1990 y 2020, utilizando el gasto de consumo per cápita de los hogares como variable proxy para la reducción de la pobreza. La técnica de estimación empleada en el estudio es el modelo de regresión de Prais‐Winsten con errores corregidos para datos de panel (PCSE), junto con los mínimos cuadrados generalizados factibles (FGLS) para la verificación de robustez. Los datos se obtuvieron del Departamento de Asuntos Económicos y Sociales de las Naciones Unidas (UNDESA) y de los Indicadores de Desarrollo Mundial (WDI). Los hallazgos revelaron que un aumento del 1% en la migración femenina incrementa la pobreza en los hogares en 0,476 unidades, mientras que un aumento del 1% en las remesas reduce la pobreza en los hogares en 0,414 unidades. Esto implica que, a medida que aumenta el número de mujeres que migran, se elevan los niveles de pobreza en los hogares. No obstante, el resultado relativo a las remesas indica que estas ejercen un efecto adverso sobre la pobreza, lo que sugiere que las remesas tienen un efecto reductor en la mitigación de la pobreza. Por último, el análisis del efecto moderador de las remesas sobre la migración femenina —en lo que respecta a la reducción de la pobreza— reveló que un aumento del 1% en el efecto conjunto de ambas variables condujo a una reducción de la pobreza de 0,009 unidades en los países de la CEDEAO.