In the Georgian village of Jandari, labor migration has touched nearly every family. Increasingly, it is the women who are leaving. While that is not a new trend for Georgia as a whole, it is a relatively radical development for Jandari.

The village is populated by ethnic Azerbaijanis and traditionally women have married young and stayed at home, financially dependent on their fathers and husbands.

But now that dynamic is changing.

There are few opportunities in the village, where most residents do not know the Georgian language and have difficulty finding work.

Men started to look for work in nearby countries — mainly Turkey, Russia and Ukraine — about 15 years ago. Local women began leaving about a decade ago. As more women left the village in search of work, the community learned there are more jobs available for them: while men are largely limited to employment in construction or other labor-intensive fields, women can work as a nurse, a nanny or a housecleaner.

Today locals say that about half of the female residents of Jandari have or are working abroad, mostly in Turkey. The younger generation is even more inclined to leave: ten years ago, most women who left were over the age of 40. Today, women as young as 25 are heading to Turkey to find jobs.

Is the trend simply a response to extreme poverty? Or does the act of going abroad provide these women with a chance at real independence?

The situation is complicated.

While they provide vital income for their families, the community views these women with suspicion. Villagers tend to look down on women who leave the community to work abroad, with some even labeling them as “immoral,” even though those who leave are making a huge personal sacrifice. By going abroad, the women are basically relinquishing their role as mothers, leaving their children in the care of their own mothers or mothers-in-laws. Marriages also suffer under the weight of extended absences.

In addition, the women face discrimination abroad, according to those who have worked in Turkey. They report employers force them to work more hours for the same pay locals receive.

The women say, however, that working abroad also gives them confidence and, in some cases, their first taste of financial independence.

Here are four stories about the women who have left to work abroad, told by those left behind, as well as by a migrant woman herself.

Their second mom

Ganira, 57 years old

Ganira’s daughter-in-law and son have been working in Turkey for more than four years, making her the sole caregiver for their children. Her grandchildren were very young when their parents left, and they have started to view Ganira as their second mom.

“The youngest is a little over two and, to him, I am his mother,” she says.

She added that while her daughter-in-law used to come home once every three months, it has now been over a year since her last visit, in part because the couple’s Turkish employers are paying them a lot less now.

“If their salary had been 700-800 dollars, they now only receive 400-500 lira. But there is no work here at all, so there is no point in quitting their jobs, even if the salary is low,” Ganira said.

In the village there are two types of work: selling crops or fresh milk in the local market or selling goods at a local shop. “And the shops in Jandari can be counted on the fingers of one hand,” she says.