Migration: An account of women empowerment in contemporary Namibia

The paper aims to shed lights on the phenomenon of human mobility in contemporary Namibia, concentrating in particular on the gender relations. The family's member/s by making the decision to move can be associated to agents that, despite the external structural constraints they are facing, and/or as a result of the interaction with them, are aiming at accomplishing their values and goals, acting in such a way to change their and/or the family life and conditions, (Giddens, 1991). The constructivist grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2014) has guided the research allowing the emergence of a "theory of migration", which has provided a better platform to assess the gender transformation caused by internal migration in Namibia, contributing in this way to the current debate on migration. Female migration is regarded here as a conscientising process, which empowers women, giving them the opportunity to tackle the gender power relations and challenge the existing structural institutional settings.