Rural to urban mobilities affect men and women differently, with the recreation of social and economic networks, access (or lack thereof) to state administrative services, justice, and bureaucracy – from property rights to inheritance to identity cards and voting registration, women have differential access to urban public service administration. Our research on rural to urban migrations in Kenya demonstrates that whereas most men return to “home” villages to have preferential access to administrative services based on social status and recognition, women are more likely to contend with displacement from home villages and are then more likely to rely on seeking services in the city. New technologies, however, help women adapt to the bifurcation of rural and urban offerings available to them: What’sApp communication networks help women share information and resources across geographic spaces and maintain communities of support that are not physically proximate. Mobile money allows transfer of economic resources between urban and rural that previously required physical transport and mobility. This study uses original survey data from Nairobi to provide an assessment of urban-rural linkages based on gender and the intersectionality with other types of identities (religion, ethnicity, marital status, class) and posits that highly accessible mobile technologies may help to bridge the gender gap that urban migration creates and transforms in relation to public and administrative services and justice. (Please note I am willing to present in English or French, depending on the preferences of the panel).
Mots clés : Urban-Rural Linkages|Technology|Gender|justice|administration
A102326RR