Male out-migration is the most often adopted strategy in rural areas to surmount risks associated with agriculture and to diversify income. There are various reasons for the increased exodus of labor from rural areas, such as underdevelopment, unemployment, less availability of non-farm jobs and population pressure. Male persistent absence has many repercussions on women left behind. Migration can bring financial prosperity but it causes the absences of traditional cultural figure from family, which ultimately brings a changes in the lives of left behinds, the wives and children. After male migration, female members are expected to perform all the functions what the male person was taking care off. This over burden of responsibilities makes them to become more stressful. They also feel emotionally insecure because of physical separation from the husband. Hence, an attempt is made to analyze the problems faced by women in male out- migration families. The study was carried out in Bagalkot, Vijayapura, Dharwad, Gadag and Haveri districts of North Karnataka. A purposive random sampling technique was followed to select the blocks and villages with the sample size of 200 respondents. Wives of the migrants acted as the respondents who were interviewed personally and the data was collected using pre-tested, structured interview schedule. In the present study their problems are categorised as socio-personal, economic, psychological, reproductive health and agricultural problems. The findings revealed that major problems in male out migration families, cent per cent of the women said that work burden has increased and their husbands do not send them money on terms (irregular remittance), 87 per cent of them felt loneliness, 73.50 per cent of them faced eve teasing, 68 per cent of the woman felt insecure due to absence of their husbands, 45.50 per cent of the women were not able to visit gynecologists in the absence of their husbands and 95.87 per cent of the women did not have lands in their own names and so could not avail loans and other government facilities. The central and state government should create more livelihood opportunities for the people within rural area, by implementing suitable schemes to control the increasing trend of migration.

Download this article as