Lana Oh, intern at UNDP in Brussels, EC-UN Joint Migration for Development Initiative
There are approximately 200 million migrants in the world today of which nearly half are women. Over time, the percentage of female migrants has been rising,* from 46.7% in 1960 to 49.6% in 2005.**
What has changed more dramatically than the numbers are the reasons why females migrate. Women have increasingly been migrating as independent actors rather than as dependents. This phenomenon is often referred to as the “feminization of migration.” In 1960, for example, whether financially independent or not, women were classified as dependents migrating for family reunification purposes.
Women still migrate for various reasons, including family reunification and marriage. However, today more women are migrating for economic opportunities. For some women, migration leads to career enhancement. For others, it can lead to de-skilling as they accept lower skilled jobs for higher pay. Consequently, women are becoming the principal wage earners for their families and are increasingly involved in the sending, along with, the receipt and management of remittances. Women’s work and income contributes to their own well-being and sense of independence as well as of their families and to the development of both sending and receiving countries. Thus, they play an important role in determining the impact of migration on development. However, migration research and policy do not always take gender into account.
A recent initiative of the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW) aims to put gender at the forefront of the dialogue on migration and development. Last April, UN-INSTRAW launched their new Gender and Migration Virtual Community. The virtual community aims to bring together academic experts, practitioners and other stakeholders from all over the world to discuss the issues of migration, remittances and development from a gender perspective.
Laura Olsen of the Gender, Migration, Remittances and Development team at UN-INSTRAW describes the community as “a space for those who share an interest in gender and migration to debate and reflect on issues in the field, share information and learn from each other. The Community acts both as a network for dialogue between civil society groups, international organizations, governments, and researchers and as an information hub, by creating a space for its members to share publications, resources, contacts, and information about upcoming training and funding opportunities.”
"The Virtual community on Migration and Gender pioneered by UN-INSTRAW is an excellent opportunity for academics and activists alike to exchange information and engage in global debate on migration dynamics and gender," stated Bridget Wooding, Associate Researcher at Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) in the Dominican Republic, and one of the participants in the Virtual Community.
Applying a gender lens to migration patterns can contribute to identifying ways to enhance the positive aspects of migration on development and to mitigate the negative effects of the feminization of migration (e.g. exploitive work and trafficking), as well as to promote greater gender equality in both sending and receiving countries. The dialogue, exchange of information, and resources provided by the Gender and Migration Virtual Community will significantly highlight the critical role women’s contribution to development plays and serve as a platform to give migration issues from a gender perspective more recognition. ■
* The global picture does, however, hide some dramatic differences at the country level. For example, in the Philippines, female migrant labour is the country’s largest export. ** Maurice Schiff (ed). 'The International Migration of Women,’ November 2007
To learn more about gender, migration and development, please see the following:
There are approximately 200 million migrants in the world today of which nearly half are women. Over time, the percentage of female migrants has been rising,* from 46.7% in 1960 to 49.6% in 2005.**
What has changed more dramatically than the numbers are the reasons why females migrate. Women have increasingly been migrating as independent actors rather than as dependents. This phenomenon is often referred to as the “feminization of migration.” In 1960, for example, whether financially independent or not, women were classified as dependents migrating for family reunification purposes.
Women still migrate for various reasons, including family reunification and marriage. However, today more women are migrating for economic opportunities. For some women, migration leads to career enhancement. For others, it can lead to de-skilling as they accept lower skilled jobs for higher pay. Consequently, women are becoming the principal wage earners for their families and are increasingly involved in the sending, along with, the receipt and management of remittances. Women’s work and income contributes to their own well-being and sense of independence as well as of their families and to the development of both sending and receiving countries. Thus, they play an important role in determining the impact of migration on development. However, migration research and policy do not always take gender into account.
A recent initiative of the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW) aims to put gender at the forefront of the dialogue on migration and development. Last April, UN-INSTRAW launched their new Gender and Migration Virtual Community. The virtual community aims to bring together academic experts, practitioners and other stakeholders from all over the world to discuss the issues of migration, remittances and development from a gender perspective.
Laura Olsen of the Gender, Migration, Remittances and Development team at UN-INSTRAW describes the community as “a space for those who share an interest in gender and migration to debate and reflect on issues in the field, share information and learn from each other. The Community acts both as a network for dialogue between civil society groups, international organizations, governments, and researchers and as an information hub, by creating a space for its members to share publications, resources, contacts, and information about upcoming training and funding opportunities.”
"The Virtual community on Migration and Gender pioneered by UN-INSTRAW is an excellent opportunity for academics and activists alike to exchange information and engage in global debate on migration dynamics and gender," stated Bridget Wooding, Associate Researcher at Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) in the Dominican Republic, and one of the participants in the Virtual Community.
Applying a gender lens to migration patterns can contribute to identifying ways to enhance the positive aspects of migration on development and to mitigate the negative effects of the feminization of migration (e.g. exploitive work and trafficking), as well as to promote greater gender equality in both sending and receiving countries. The dialogue, exchange of information, and resources provided by the Gender and Migration Virtual Community will significantly highlight the critical role women’s contribution to development plays and serve as a platform to give migration issues from a gender perspective more recognition. ■
* The global picture does, however, hide some dramatic differences at the country level. For example, in the Philippines, female migrant labour is the country’s largest export. ** Maurice Schiff (ed). 'The International Migration of Women,’ November 2007
To learn more about gender, migration and development, please see the following:
- UN-INSTRAW’s Gender and Migration Virtual Community website. http://www.un-instraw.org/grvc/
- The EC-UN Joint Migration for Development Initiative. http://www.migration4development.org
- UNDP’s Human Development Report Research Paper 2009/4. “Migration and gender empowerment: Recent trends and emerging issues”. Downloadable at http://origin-hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2009/papers/
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