International Migrants Day: the role of women
On this International Migrants Day, I would like to focus on female migrants and labor migration policies that affect them.
I took a one day field trip to Arlington, Virginia last summer to observe how international migrant women contribute to development in their home countries, particularly through remittances and tapping the skills of diaspora communities.
It is evident that women (young and old) send remittances often to their home countries. Several of my younger friends from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and other Latin American countries do this. In the case of African countries, I noticed that older women tend to send money to their countries. They continue to work in order to support their families, even though it might be time for them to retire.
Case study evidence of migrant labor market performance in receiving countries shows that most immigrants from developing countries, regardless of their destination, suffer an earnings penalty and higher inactivity levels and unemployment rates than nationals. Additionally, recent arrivals from developing countries to developed ones face lower earnings and greater competition in labor markets, relative to more established immigrants. Unemployment rates for immigrants originating from developing countries are uniformly higher than those from more developed economies. This gap is more pronounced for women than men across all skill levels. The highest unemployment rates are encountered by immigrants from Africa, the Middle East, and Turkey.
Despite the fact that women are more impacted by lower wages and lack of recognition of degrees and work experience in their countries, some migrant women are entering into professions that were only being done by men. For example, in the past, the majority of managers of remittance service providers in US were only men. In 2008, there were 3 managers of these agencies that served Africa. Tapping to the skills and financial resources of women migrants will be key for the development of developing countries.
So this leads me to ask:
- Do the migration policies affect men and women differently?
- What is the impact of labor migration policies (points system, the prospect of the blue card) on professional migrant women?
- What are some ways to analyze the mobility of talent of female migrants?
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Sonia - just like you
Sonia - just like you mentioned, studies (e.g. Niimi and Reilly, 2008) have shown that women tend to exhibit more reliable remittance sending behavior than men. I think this has important implications when it comes to the overall wellbeing of households they support as this leads to more predictable income security for consumption, education, health costs, etc. This in turn allows for consistent risk coping capability which could result in more a positive impact on household welfare compared to households receiving remittances from men.
Regarding your example of women beginning to enter into previously male-dominated jobs in destination countries, do you think migration could become a potential channel to gender equality in the labor market? Also, the prominent role women migrants are playing in supporting their households back at home could result in gender equality at the social level (i.e. in countries were gender inequality exists) which is otherwise difficult to attain from within the home country. If so, this could eventually eliminate macro-level gender inequality at the economic and political level.
Farai:Certainly, women tend
Farai:
Certainly, women tend to exhibit different remittance sending behavior than men. Pleiffer & Taylor (2008) found evidence from rural Mexico indicates that households receive more remittances from female migrants compared to male migrants. In Ghana, Guzman, Morrisson and Sjoblom found that households with female remitters spend more on health and other goods.
You question on migration becoming a potential channel to gender equality in the labor market is a valid one. However, there is still more research to be done regarding the impact of migration on women's empowerment and gender equality (beyond wage equality).
International Migrants Day: the role of women
Sonia: While understanding how different countries’ migration policies affect women and men differently would require a thorough research, one can safely conclude that some countries’ national migration policies are affecting women and men differently.
There is no doubt in my mind that some countries migration policies are gender bias. Those policies can be restrictive, discriminatory, lenient, belief oriented, or household, societal and national responsibility driven. Migration policies are more skewed in countries and societies where the roles of men and women are perceived differently. For example, there is a very high propensity to limit women mobility in a society where raising kids is seen as women’s principle responsibility…. Similarly there are nations that had in the past limited male mobility when their country is in a war. So you can imagine how migration policy will look like in countries and societies where male and women roles are perceived differently.
While I will leave for a research to provide conclusive answer, I would like to encourage you continue your undertaking those field trips in which you will have the opportunity to learn from the real people who were and are still victim of discriminatory migration policies.
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