Liminality, Gender, and Ethnic Dynamics in Urban Space: COVID-19 and its Consequences for Young Female Migrants (YFM) in Dhaka

Abstract

This chapter examines the lives of young female migrants in Bangladesh, primarily employed in the ready-made garment (RMG) industry or beauty parlors. It uses the concept of liminality, which is a period of fundamental uncertainty characterized by a reversal or dissolution of existing social hierarchies where futures once taken for granted are cast into doubt. It is based on several online conversations with different partners that are currently situated in Bangladesh, resulting in an in-depth ethnographic research project on young female migrants in Dhaka. The chapter explores how the liminal period provoked by COVID-19 has caused shifts and interruptions in the labor market, as well as in women's daily lives. It describes how the shifts and interruptions reinforced unequal gender relations and demanded both workers and management to rework and reshuffle pre-existing labor relations and daily household and livelihood routines.