GENDERED STATE: ‘GOVERNMENTALITY’ AND THE LABOUR MIGRATION POLICY OF SRI LANKA

Abstract

Governments’ use of its authority to control the behaviour of their citizens through ‘mechanisms of management’ such as education, laws, rules, and regulations is discussed widely in the Foucauldian concept of ‘governmentality’. This research broadly discusses the ‘Family Background Report’ which was introduced in 2013 by the Government of Sri Lanka as a part of their labour migration policy regulation, as an instance of a government effectively utilising the concept of ‘governmentality’ to intervene in the decision-making authority of individuals. The research concludes revealing how government re-establishes obsolete gender norms in society to achieve this purpose. It further reveals how movements of female migrant workers have been controlled over the years to accommodate policy interests of consecutive governments since 1980s