Women and Migration: the Social Consequences of Gender

"This paper reviews the literature on the neglected role of women in migration. It argues that focusing on gender and the family can provide the necessary linkage of micro and macro levels of analyses. Striving to contribute to a gendered understanding of the social process of migration, the review organizes the literature along these major issues: How is gender related to the decision to migrate--i.e. what are the causes and consequences of female or male-dominated flows of migration? What are the patterns of labor market incorporation of women immigrants--i.e. what accounts for their participation in the labor force and their occupational concentration? What is the relationship of the public and the private--i.e. what is the impact of work roles on family roles and of the experience of migration on the immigrants themselves? Throughout, the necessity to understand how ethnicity, class, and gender interact in the process of migration and settlement is stressed."