Female Migration, Remittances and Poverty Reduction in ECOWAS

ABSTRACT 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.