Gendered state: ‘Governmentality’ and the labour migration policy of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Governments’ use of their authority to control the behaviour of the citizens through ‘mechanisms of management’ such as education, laws, rules, and regulations is discussed widely in Michael Foucault’s concept of ‘governmentality’. Built on this standing, this paper intends to investigate how the government of Sri Lanka uses different policy initiatives over time to control the behaviour of a categorized group of its citizens i.e., unskilled female migrant workers. The research analyses the labour migration policies implemented by successive governments of Sri Lanka since late 1970s to post COVID-19 period to examine this statement. It argues that the government re-produces traditional gender norms through laws and regulations to regulate the movements of unskilled female migrant workers aiming to achieve its policy interests. The paper also discusses how the most recent labour migration policy controls women’s right to migration by interpreting the aspects of ‘Family Background Report’. This study adopts a combined method; while reviewing secondary data i.e., laws, regulations, and existing literature on related areas be the main source of data for the study, findings will be complemented by empirical data collected through structured interviews with government officials. This research concludes by revealing how the government of Sri Lanka has utilized its ‘mechanisms of management’ to control the right to work of a selected segment of females by applying its authority. It further explains how these laws and regulations have been changed over time to cater the policy interests of the succeeding governments.