DOES GENDER CREATE A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE OF MIGRATION AND TO WHAT EXTENT, HOW DOES GENDER IMPACT UPON THE EXPERIENCE OF FORCED MIGRATION

Does gender create a different experience of migration and to what extent, how does gender impact upon the experience of forced migration

Does gender create a different experience of migration and to what extent, how does gender impact upon the experience of forced migration (Andall, 1995).

GENDER AND MIGRATION

Gender and Migration

Gender and Migration

Introduction

Until the 1970s, when the neoclassical views of human capital and the push-pull theories were predominant in the migration debate, immigrants were considered a homogeneous group; attributes such as ethnicity, gender and social class were largely ignored. Since the 1970s, the structural approach, present in the World System analysis and labour market segmentation theories , addresses the international immigration flows under an economical and political world order. Once again, however, the emphasis given to production relations as an answer to capitalist changes ignores the patriarchal structuring of such relations. Although not arriving until the 1980s, the feminist movement also left a legacy in migration studies . Already in the 1990s, the integrating approach started to connect different levels and units of analysis, in an attempt to overcome the “micro/macro” and “agency/structure” dichotomies (Andall, 1995).

Does gender create a different experience of migration and to what extent, how does gender impact upon the experience of forced migration? (Andall, 1995).

This approach clearly helps to make women visible in the foreign workforce, while at the same time embodies a number of problems. Most importantly, it considers the households and the social networks as analytical categories internally coherent and rational. The role of women in the migration process is strictly connected with the reproduction sphere, as the latest literature on transnationalism shows, even when the nature of patriarchal relations is taken into account. Networks of affection, care and financial support, which transcend national borders, are perceived as a unique opportunity to apply a gender approach to studies of transnationalism and migration, as exemplified in the study on “transnational motherhood”. Here, the household is considered as the unit of analysis and the maintenance of family ties are emphasised. Following Hondagneu-Sotelo and Ernestine the focus is on, “how the meanings of motherhood are rearranged to accommodate spatial and temporal separations”. At the same time, the recent literature examines the development of sexuality as a relational and culturally based concept and its effects on the pursuit of migration strategies (Anderson, 2000).

Yet another strand of the literature - analogous to the “brain-drain” concept - defines the flow of this feminised migration as a “care drain”. As a consequence, the focus is also on the reproductive sphere, rather than, for instance, on the growing deskilling process involved in the mobility of female migrant workers (see, for instance, Andall, 1995; Escrivá, 1997). Furthermore, the gender-blindness of the “brain-drain” concept, mainly regarding Eastern European migrants, needs to be re-evaluated . There are a few case studies on the deskilling of Eastern European women migrants, and some authors recognise the dearth of ...