Remittances and inequality in Cape Verde: the impact of changing family organization

There is a risk that remittances exacerbate socio‐economic inequality among the recipients. In this case study of a Cape Verdean community I explore how variations in family organization interact with the distribution of remittances and their effects on local social stratification. Formerly, the typical migrant was male and directed the main part of his remittances to a nuclear household he had left behind. Households that included a male migrant were able to raise their standard of living over that of households without a migrant member. Today, relationships between women and men have become increasingly unstable and long‐lasting transnational family ties are now rarely based on a conjugal relationship. Both women and men migrate and they often start up a new family abroad. Consequently, when migrants send remittances to Cape Verde they do not invest in their own future lives as they did in the past. Instead, they try to support ageing parents and young children left behind. This means that migrants often have economic obligations to several households and that they are therefore only able to send limited amounts of money to each. This implies, first, that many households are recipients of remittances and, second, that they normally only receive small sums. In conclusion, it may be said that these changes in family organization have reduced the risk that remittances will exacerbate inequality.