Women, immigration attitudes, and immigration policies in Europe: EU immigrants vs non-EU immigrants

Abstract

Using 12 waves of the Eurobarometer survey during 2014-2020 that cover 331,864 individuals across 27 EU countries, this paper studies the role of gender in attitudes toward EU immigrants and non-EU immigrants. The analysis shows that women are more negative toward EU immigrants but more positive toward non-EU immigrants than men, and explores potential mechanisms behind the results and relates immigration attitudes to immigration policy preferences. The EU has recently experienced an increase in immigration from EU member countries and from outside the EU as well, and two types of immigrants have posed different challenges, such as humanitarian issues and free movement within the EU. As such, the EU would need different immigration policies, one for refugees and migrants and another for possible further enlargement of the EU and possible modifications of EU citizens’ rights. In addition, the number of female politicians and policymakers has increased, and women are expected to influence immigration policies more. For these reasons, this paper provides useful implications for the debate on further enlargement of the EU and non-EU immigrant policies such as the reform of the EU asylum and migration system.