Over half of all Nepali households have at least one family member currently abroad or living in Nepal as a returnee (IOM, 2018). Because of economic and social constraints and household responsibilities, men usually leave behind their spouses and children to work abroad (Lokshin & Glinskaya, 2009). It is important to understand how women who remain behind cope in a situation of long-term separation from their spouses. The primary objective of Shraddha Manandhar's research is to explore the impact of marital separation due to men’s international labour migration on the relationship and health of women who remain behind or non-migrating women (NMW) in Nepal. Manandhar collected data from two districts of Nepal, Nawalparasi in the central plains and Tanahun in the central hills of Nepal, from November 2021 to January 2022. These two districts were purposely selected due to their high proportion of international migration to the South-East Asian countries and countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia (MoLE, 2016), and to ensure representation from the hilly and terai (plain) regions of Nepal which have distinct geographic, cultural and ethnic contexts.

Shraddha Manandhar is a third year PhD student and Postgraduate Researcher with the School of Human and Health Sciences at the University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom. She is the recipient of a 2023 Turing Scheme grant and a visiting student in the School of Sociology.