New Perspectives on Gender and Migration : Livelihood, Rights and Entitlements

This book discusses recent theoretical and empirical developments in international migration from a gender perspective. Its main objective is to analyse the diversification and stratification of gendered migratory streams with regard to skill level, labour market integration, and legal status. In turn a migrant’s position in relation to these axes influences access to entitlements and rights. Conceptually, the book builds upon the recent shift in scholarly research on migration, with women-centred research shifting more toward the analysis of gender. Migration is now viewed as a gendered phenomenon that requires more sophisticated theoretical and analytical tools than sex as a dichotomous variable. Theoretical formulations of gender as relational, and as spatially and temporally contextual have begun to inform gendered analyses of migration. The contributions to this book elaborate in more detail the broader social factors that influence migrating women’s and men’s roles, access to resources, facilities and services. Empirically, all major regions are discussed, pointing to common trends such as the increasing significance of the regionalization of migration flows as well as some noteworthy differences.