All over South Asia, the ideal of purdah (seclusion of women) - which assigns a symbolic capital of honour and respectability to the control over women's realms of action30 - has hampered women’s mobility. Only in recent years have India (e.g., Kerala) and Nepal witnessed a feminization of international migration, linked to a global demand for domestic workers reproducing the traditional gendered division of labour.3’ The Government of Nepal issued temporary bans on women's labour migration in 2012 and 2015. This last ban was eventually lifted in 2016.32 Yet, as compared to other countries in the region (see Table 3-1), in Nepal there are fewer age restrictions, and in 2012 women officially accou nted for 13 per cent ofthe total absentee population.33 This figure certainly underestimates the magnitude of female migration, as it does not account for cross-border migration to India, and restrictive provisions on the mobility of women migrants often increase undocumented migration.