This study empirically measures the perceptions towards maternal and paternal migration of male and female children who stay behind in Ghana. It analyses survey data collected in 2010 among secondary school children aged 11–18 in four urban areas with high out-migration rates: the greater Accra region, Kumasi, Sunyani and Cape Coast (N = 1965). The results show significant gendered differences in how children perceive parental migration. Specifically, female children have more positive views towards maternal and paternal migration when parents are abroad and in a stable marital relationship, when the assessed parent is abroad but the other parent is the caregiver in Ghana, when there is a frequent change in the care arrangement, and when female children receive remittances. These findings were not replicated for male children. The analysis highlights the sensitivity of the results to the gender of the child and to the characteristics of children’s transnational lives that are being analysed. © 2016, The Author(s).

Transnational families Migration Children left-behind Child agency Child gender Africa Ghana

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