“Am I really doing enough?” Transnational Ghanaian mothers and fathers and regularisation in Portugal

Abstract

The paper compares the experiences of Ghanaian mothers and fathers in Portugal, showing how legal status and cultural expectations intersect to shape gendered experiences of “doing enough” as transnational parents. Drawing on qualitative interviews and using frameworks of gendered geographies of power and the materiality of care, it examines how both sustain emotional and material ties across borders through caregiving networks, while migration policies structure family reunification limitations. Parents navigate the reproduction and shifting of gender expectations: mothers improve material well-being via remittances yet face emotional strain, while fathers judged by economic provision may adopt caregiving roles. With a growing African migrant presence in Europe, the study offers timely insights on regularisation policies and transnational family care.