Human mobility and development, a theoretical framework: Female migration in Moldova (Part I)

This paper untangles some new aspect in the nexus human mobility - development using both a broader socio-economic viewpoint and a gendered perspective. The study departs from an economistic vision of development considering it as a process of structural changes that transforms and defines interaction between individuals, communities and society. Development is considered in the perspective of the individuals who satisfying their individual needs, create better lives for themselves and their families, (Sen, 2011; Nussbaum, 2011). The migrants are considered as agents who, while attaining their own needs and expectations, transform their social and economic status. As result the relationships with their families, the home community, and ultimately the country's socio economic environment is modified (Venditto 2018a). Financial and social remittances represent one of the ways in which such modifications are manifested. This theoretical approach is applied to female migration in Moldova providing a preliminary descriptive analysis of such phenomenon. The investigative angle of the non-economic effects of social remittances (Levitt, 1998) is then proposed as future areas of investigation on gender migration in Moldova.