Gender Attitudes, Inequality and Migration Decision-Making

Abstract

We explore the role of gender-unequal attitudes towards gender norms and perceived structural gender inequality in the migration decision-making of men and women. Adopting a conceptual model based on possible selves theory, the research employs a contextual social identity perspective concerning gender. We posit that the disparate spheres of inequality experienced by women relative to men should have a distinct relationship with the constituent elements of migration decision-making per gender. We expect a negative (positive) relationship between more conservative gender attitudes and women's (men's) aspirations to migrate. Similarly, gender inequalities concerning structural opportunities should have a negative (positive) relationship with women's (men's) expectation to migrate. We explore these propositions using survey data from a sample of 11,563 young adults aged 18-39 from Afghanistan, Cabo Verde, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Tunisia and Turkey. The results provide insights regarding the role of gender-unequal attitudes and structural gender inequality in migration decision-making. More conservative gender-unequal attitudes are associated with a lower preference for migration among women. More conservative gender-unequal attitudes have no statistically significant relationship with a preference for migration among men. On the other hand, higher perceived structural gender inequality is linked to higher expectations of migration for men, but with no statistically significant indication for women.