Return migration and the transfer of gender norms: Evidence from the Middle East

Tuccio, Michele and Wahba, Jackline (2018) Return migration and the transfer of gender norms: Evidence from the Middle East. Journal of Comparative Economics. (doi:10.1016/j.jce.2018.07.015).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Does international return migration transfer gender norms? Focusing on Jordan, an Arab country where gender inequality and emigration rates are high, this paper exploits unique data in which detailed information on female empowerment allows us to construct several measures of social norms in Jordan on the role of women, female freedom of mobility, and female decision-making power. Controlling for both emigration and return migration selections, we
find that women with a returnee family member are more likely to bear traditional gender norms than women in households with no migration experience. Further analysis shows that results are driven by returnees from more conservative Arab countries, suggesting a transfer of conservative norms from destinations with highly traditional gender roles. We also show the
implications of our results beyond perceptions for several economic and development outcomes, such as female labour force participation, education and fertility.

Text

JCEC final - Accepted Manuscript

Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.

Download (519kB)