The children of migrant workers left behind at home face difficulties like insecurity and loneliness, revealed a Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) study.
With their parents abroad, the children also have to shoulder an additional responsibility for household management, it said.
A dissemination workshop on 'Social Cost of Migration on Left-Behind Migrant Spouses and Children in Bangladesh' was held at CIRDAP auditorium in the city on Wednesday.
The RMMRU research found that the participation of left-behind girl children increases in the areas of cooking, cleaning and taking care of siblings.
Boys engage themselves in performing additional responsibilities in the areas of day-to-day shopping, payment of bills and supporting agriculture.
The children face too many guardians, unnecessary admonition, inability to demand special food and toys. They have to do additional work during playtime.
The findings showed the social costs of migration are mostly borne by individual household members-spouses, children, the elderly and siblings.
The study, however, found that at-home spouses of international migrants receive huge remittance.
On average, the amount of remittance received by wives annually is Tk 178,656 and husbands Tk 148,321.
The study altogether covered 1,741 households. Of them, 279 are internal and 1,061 international migrants and 401 are non-migrant households.
A total of 4,884 household members were surveyed.
Dr Tasneem Siddiqui, founding chair of the RMMRU, said the husbands left behind face multiple social stigma.
"A general perception is that husbands permit their wives to go abroad as they are unable to maintain family expenses. So, societies underestimate them."
The husbands are stereotyped as "remarrying or making extramarital relationships" when their wives are away, Ms Siddiqui said.
But all husbands are not like that and they also undergo sufferings in the absence of their partners, she added.
Positive changes are in the making following female migration, Ms Siddiqui said, adding that husbands now perform household chores, including taking care of children.
This positive transformation should be promoted in society to help eliminate the male-female disparity, she continued.
Following migration, the number of nuclear families is also increasing in the country. For this reason, gender-based violence is lessening in migrant families.
Women are getting priority in making a decision about their children, Ms Siddiqui mentioned.
She said it was necessary to provide psychosocial support to migrant workers by non-governmental organisations and Wage Earners' Welfare Board.
Speaking as the chief guest, state minister for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam said the government would take steps to do a comprehensive study on social cost of such families.
"It's quite difficult to assess the monetary value of the social cost of the left-behind families of the migrant workers," he said.
Speaking as the guest of honour, lawmaker Israfil Alam said remittance is the lifeline for national economy.
The social cost of migration is staggering as female workers at times have to face problems, get abused and harassed in their destination countries, he added.
RMMRU executive director CR Abrar presided over the programme where human rights activists, migration experts and senior government officials also spoke.
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