Abstract :
Migrant adolescent girls in India’s fast-growing urban-slum population face multiple intersecting vulnerabilities,
including gender, poverty and migrant-status.
The study aims to understand the opportunities and challenges for migrant adolescent girls in low-income urban
slum settings.
Qualitative data were collected through interviews with girls aged 12-19 who migrated during the past two years
and non-migrant adolescent girls for comparison to explore their experiences in fast-growing Indore. A groupinterview with slum women’s group members discussed ways to address challenges.
Push/pull factors linked with different employment/educational opportunities between rural and urban areas
motivated families of unmarried girls to migrate. Recently married girls joined city-based families or accompanied
husbands who were labor migrants. Neither married nor unmarried girls played decision-making roles in
migration.
Married migrant adolescent girls faced challenges in accessing education, employment, social opportunities and
services owing to restrictions on freedom of movement, weak social networks, and little awareness of
opportunities and services. Childbearing migrant girls faced particular risks. Contact with their natal families being
limited, the quality of relationship with husbands and marital families was crucial for married girls’ well-being.
Unmarried girls attending schools were positive about the migration experience, perceiving the city to offer
greater educational opportunities. Through school, they accessed opportunities for new relationships and social
activities. Not all unmarried adolescent-girls were able to access opportunities owing to family restrictions and
economic circumstances. These girls’ worlds remained small despite moving to a large city.
Where girls’ economic and/or family and social circumstances allowed, migration entailed a positive change that
enhanced their opportunities. Specific challenges of this population segment need focus in policies and programs,
prioritizing three particularly vulnerable groups: girls who are neither in education nor employment, pregnant
girls or new mothers, and those with difficult relationships in marital homes. Proactive outreach to raise
awareness about opportunities and services and fostering social networks through frontline workers and slumwomen’s groups are recommended.
Keyword :
Adolescent girls, Urban migrants, Married girls, Urban slums, Internal migration, Social network, Educational opportunities, Health services.