In 2006, we performed a census of all 1,061 households of Tianeti, an immigrantsending community in North-Eastern Georgia, and conducted 23 in-depth interviews with returned emigrants, family members of current emigrants, and prospective emigrants. The overall number of emigrants was 413, or 13.5% of Tianeti’s permanent population. Only 32% of emigrants were male. Due to poor economic conditions, a shortage of wellpaid jobs, and a lack of social services, emigration from Tianeti is almost exclusively labororiented. Unlike the national average, emigration is mostly toward Western Europe, Israel, and the United States. The paper analyzes the socio-economic profi le of emigrants from Tianeti and investigates the reasons for the feminization of labor emigration from this community: (1) social acceptance of female labor; (2) increased demand for female labor in target countries; (3) avoidance of identity checks in target countries; (4) a sense of responsibility for the family.

In English, summary in Russian.