Female Migration from Upland of Northeast in the Service Work of Bangalore City, India

Globalization and post-liberalization era has resulted in the emergence of new types of services such as retail, beauty care industry, hospitality etc. that have become highly women concentrated globally. The Northeast women migration, like other transnational female migration, is observed to be highly dominant in the services sector, a labour market which is segmented based on gender, race and ethnicity. The emergence of new service sectors has become a strategic move for Northeast women that allowed them to be part of the new labour market and participate equally in migration. This article examines how they configure into the ‘service sector’ and how the organising of the service sectors is redefined or problematized by the gender identity. In this context, the paper also highlights the socio-demographic profile of the Northeast female migrant that helps in accelerating their migration and examines their practices of entry into the service sectors of Bangalore city.