Abstract

In the paper, the migration processes and gender work are analysed from the perspective of biographies of migrating women. By a comparative detailed reconstruction of two autobiographical narratives, the purpose of this article is to show the ways gender work is interwoven in migration processes and how gender relations are reflected upon, challenged, negotiated or taken for granted contributing (or not) to biographical metamorphosis and social transformation. It is argued that migration per se is not necessarily empowering but it brings some transformative potential for women's life situation and their biographical development. Migration can be a trigger for undoing gender as a part of biographical metamorphosis but the process of transformation is shaped by the dynamics between structural and cultural conditions as well as the biographical work (Schütze 1992; 2008) of migrants: their reflexive elaboration of their past, present and future, including the reflection on their gender relations, their significant places and the movement between them.