Ziway or Dubai: Can Flower Farms in Ethiopia Reduce Migration to the Middle East?

Authored by Kerilyn Schewel, this publication in the IOM Migration Research Series explores the aspirations, opportunities and constraints young women navigate as they transition into adulthood, and the rationale behind a decision to migrate as a domestic worker. Based on an in-depth study of the migration decision-making of young women in one rural district of Oromia, Ethiopia, it shows how migration to the Middle East is one way to avoid an early marriage and to access capital otherwise unavailable to low-skilled women in Ethiopia. It then evaluates work opportunities at one Dutch-owned flower farm in the same district, and shows why these jobs will not necessarily act as a substitute to international migration.