Migration and the lives of rural women in Costa Rica

Resumen

Migration is both a well studied area and something that is very much talked about in the global world of today. People go from one side of the world to another and it is nothing strange with that, even though it was not that long ago when it took weeks or even months to travel that far. When I decided what to focus on in this thesis I reflected over these precise notions. Before people were able to migrate across the world in search for a better life they stayed or went to the neighbouring country. For some reason migration studies and media are nowadays more interested international migration even if the majority of all migrants migrate within the same country they call home. If internal migration not is on top of the agenda neither is women and even less, in this context, are those women who do not migrate. For the same reason I got interested in investigate this myself and why not go to a country and see the affects with my own eyes. All these thoughts and ideas ended up in a Minor Field Study scholarship and the country I had decided for was Costa Rica. The reasons behind why I chose Costa Rica are many. First of all I speak Spanish which for me was a necessity so that I could speak freely with everyone. Secondly I got a really good contact in CCP (Centro Centroamericano de Población) who work with these questions in Costa Rica. Moreover it is a peaceful country where it is both easy and secure to travel alone, even as a woman.