Migration to U.S. Results in Families Without Men

[unhappycamper]

The Nation of Guatemala

Population: 13 million


Migration to U.S. Results in Families Without Men
Siglo Vientiuno, Guatemala
By Ana de Molina
Translated By Douglas Myles Rasmussen
August 23, 2007


Due to a lack of opportunity, one subject that has acquired particular importance is that of migration and remittances. The migratory flow began in the 1970s, due in part to the effects of the <1976> earthquake; due to the economic and political crisis in the 1980s, the number of emigrants quadrupled; the level continued to rise and eventually tripled during the 1990s, especially due to a lack of opportunity.

According to the International Organization for Migration, between 1960 and 2005 there has been a notable mobilization of people. About 10 percent of the Guatemalan population or 1.2 million have left the country; it is also estimated that about 90,000 people migrate each year looking for work (250 per day); the number of undocumented migrants - who travel primarily to the United States - has not been quantified; and about 72.7 percent of the emigrants are men.

Of these million-plus Guatemalans, 41.8 percent lived in urban areas before migrating and 58.2 percent in rural ones; 78.5 percent speak Spanish and 21.5 percent one of the Mayan languages. Six in 10 Guatemalan families have members residing in a foreign country and who have moved abroad permanently; thirty percent live off of agriculture or fishing and only 16 percent consider themselves indigenous Guatemalans. Ninety percent of Guatemalan immigrants leave when they are between 15 and 44 years old; Eighty six percent of the families of immigrants can read and write; over 7,000 immigrants have studied at universities and almost 19,000 university educators and professionals have left Guatemala.

~snip~

Nevertheless, the social costs have repercussions on Guatemalan families. The emigrants have left behind 4.2 million of their direct relatives, who represent 36 percent of the total number of families in Guatemala and who by and large - no longer have a head of the household. Seventy seven percent of emigrants don't visit their families back home, although 93.3 percent maintain contact with their families (88.4 percent by phone, 8.4 percent by mail and 0.5 percent by e-mail).

These social costs constitute the greatest impact of emigration; since families and social cohesion are affected, society itself is failing to prepare the next generation, an aspect of this that even influences the academic performance of students.


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[Demeter]

1. Do You Have Any Idea How Many US Families Are Without Men?

I'd say it's a social problem aimed at making marriage uneconomical--but in the US, it's a problem of addiction and lack of commitment to the family and social good.

[msongs]

2. aare you saying women have ".. lack of committment to the family and social good"

because of their uneconomical marriages?

Msongs
www.msongs.com