This article investigates the role of international labour migration from Pakistan's Northwest for the sending communities' social resilience. It focuses on the implications of male out-migration for the women who stay behind. This article refers to Bourdieu's Theory of Practice to shed light on the gendered nature of vulnerability and resilience. Contradictions identifi ed between heightened vulnerability at the level of individual women and strengthened resilience of the household underline the social construction of scale in the analysis of resilience. With his emphasis on material as well as symbolic resources determining opportunities and well-being, Bourdieu provides an analytical key for the identifi cation of such 'uncomfortable layers of resilience'. © 2010 SAGE Publications.

Migration Resilience Bourdieu Pakistan Gender Vulnerability

international migration labor migration Pakistan household structure gender identity vulnerability social construction variance analysis