The Global Dimensions of Female
Migration
By Hania Zlotnik
March 1, 2003
Until the late
1970s, most writings on international migration either focused
explicitly only on male migrants (usually conceived of as workers)
or seemed to assume implicitly that most migrants were male. That
assumption was particularly prevalent when attention was focused on
the economic aspects of international migration, because it was
widely believed that the participation of women in international
labor migration was negligible.
Of course, such beliefs were
rarely based on statistical evidence since, both then and now, data
on international migrants often were not classified by sex.
Consequently, when scholars began to call attention to the
participation of women in international migration, one of their
tasks was to refute those beliefs.
Until recently, a
comprehensive set of global estimates permitting an assessment of
the extent of female migration was not available. The first such
set, containing estimates for the period 1965-1990, was released by
the United Nations Population Division in 1998. Estimates at the
country level were derived from the number of foreign-born persons
enumerated by population censuses, complemented by information on
the number of refugees. In 2002, the UN extended estimates of the
overall number of migrants (both sexes combined) to 2000, setting
the stage for a similar extension of the estimates by sex. As a
result, it is now possible to trace the evolution of the number of
female migrants from 1960 to 2000.
New Revelations
The main revelation of the new set of global estimates by
sex is that women and girls have accounted for a very high
proportion of all international migrants for a long time. Already in
1960, female migrants accounted for nearly 47 out of every 100
migrants living outside of their countries of birth. (See Table 1)
Since then, the share of female migrants among all international
migrants has been rising steadily, to reach 48 percent in 1990 and
nearly 49 percent in 2000. Although this trend is consistent with an
increasing 'feminization' of international migration, the increase
recorded is small compared to the high level of feminization that
already existed in 1960.
Table 1. Percentage of female
migrants among the total number of international migrants, by
major area, 1960-2000 |
Major area |
1960 |
1970 |
1980 |
1990 |
2000 |
World |
46.6 |
47.2 |
47.4 |
47.9 |
48.8 |
More
developed regions |
47.9 |
48.2 |
49.4 |
50.8 |
50.9 |
Less
developed regions |
45.7 |
46.3 |
45.5 |
44.7 |
45.7 |
Europe |
48.5 |
48.0 |
48.5 |
51.7 |
52.4 |
Northern
America |
49.8 |
51.1 |
52.6 |
51.0 |
51.0 |
Oceania |
44.4 |
46.5 |
47.9 |
49.1 |
50.5 |
Northern Africa |
49.5 |
47.7 |
45.8 |
44.9 |
42.8 |
Sub-Saharan
Africa |
40.6 |
42.1 |
43.8 |
46.0 |
47.2 |
Southern Asia |
46.3 |
46.9 |
45.9 |
44.4 |
44.4 |
Eastern and South-eastern
Asia |
46.1 |
47.6 |
47.0 |
48.5 |
50.1 |
Western Asia |
45.2 |
46.6 |
47.2 |
47.9 |
48.3 |
Caribbean |
45.3 |
46.1 |
46.5 |
47.7 |
48.9 |
Latin America |
44.7 |
46.9 |
48.4 |
50.2 |
50.5 | | | |
For
more than 40 years, female migrants have been almost as numerous as
male migrants. In 1960 there were 35 million female migrants and 40
million male migrants; by 2000, although the total number of
migrants had more than doubled, the gap between females and males
remained about the same, 85 million female migrants versus 90
million male migrants.
Female Migrants Claim Larger
Proportion in Developed Countries
Female migrants have
generally accounted for a larger fraction of the migrant stock in
developed countries than in the developing world. In 1960, 48
percent of all migrants in developed countries were women or girls,
whereas the equivalent proportion in developing countries was 46
percent.
By 2000 the difference between the two had risen
further, since female migrants constituted nearly 51 percent of all
migrants in the developed world and still accounted for about 46
percent of all international migrants in developing countries. The
cause of these differences should be sought in the laws and
regulations governing the admission of migrants in countries of
destination and those governing their departure from countries of
origin, in conjunction with the interplay of factors determining the
status of women in countries of origin and countries of destination.
By permitting the family reunification of legally admitted
migrants, developed countries facilitate the admission of migrant
women. In addition, the social and economic situation of women in
developed countries, where women have access to a variety of
educational and employment opportunities, acts as a magnet for women
wishing to be economic and social actors in their own right.
Developing Countries See Increase in Female Migration
In contrast, in the developing world, countries that are
major receivers of international migrants generally admit them
exclusively for labor purposes, and male migrants tend to
predominate in labor migration flows. However, since the late 1970s,
the participation of women in labor migration flows directed to
developing countries has been increasing.
The major magnets
for female labor migration are located in Western Asia among the
oil-rich countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council and in the
countries of the Pacific Rim in Eastern and Southeastern Asia. In
both of those regions, the proportion of women among all
international migrants has been rising steadily since 1980. By 2000,
the number of female migrants was estimated to have surpassed the
number of male migrants in Eastern and Southeastern Asia (5 million
versus 4.9 million). The 7.6 million female migrants in Western Asia
were estimated to constitute 48 percent of all migrants in that
region.
It bears stressing that not all the female migrants
in those regions are migrant workers. In the oil-producing countries
of Western Asia, for instance, already by 1975 (before female
contract migration became a major component of their migration
flows) the number of female migrants was significant, amounting to
43 percent of the foreign population in Kuwait, 33 percent of that
in Saudi Arabia, about 30 percent of that in Bahrain, and 20 percent
of all foreign migrants in the United Arab Emirates. Most of those
female migrants were probably admitted as dependents of male migrant
workers, although some may have been hired as teachers or nurses, or
to work in other occupations reserved for women.
Proportion of Women Migrants Parallels Refugee Increases
in Africa
In Sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion of
female migrants rose in parallel with the increasing numbers of
refugees in the continent. In the early 1990s, when attention began
to focus on the plight of female refugees, those involved in
advocacy popularized the notion that 80 percent of all refugees were
women and children. Because data on refugees classified by age and
sex were not available, that estimate seemed plausible for the
high-fertility countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, where women and
children accounted for high proportions of the total population.
(See
article by Bela Hovy)
When the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) began in the late 1990s to publish
data on refugees classified by sex, female refugees in Africa turned
out to account for about half of all assisted refugees, implying
that they were not over-represented among the refugee population in
the continent. In fact, in 2000, women and girls accounted for 47
percent of all migrants in Sub-Saharan Africa, a figure only
slightly below the world average, and still indicating that men
outnumbered women among migrants in the continent.
Regional Differences in the Migration of Women
Female migrants have been particularly under-represented
among all migrants in Northern Africa and Southern Asia. In both
regions, the proportion of female migrants has declined since 1970,
partly because those regions have few magnets for international
migrants. Most countries of Northern Africa are sources of emigrants
rather than receivers. In Southern Asia, forced migration has led to
very sizable flows within the region, but data on the sex
composition of the migrant stock are scarce. Consequently, the
estimated levels presented here may not accurately reflect the
changes taking place in the share of female migration in the region.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, data on the stock of
international migrants is abundant and the trend toward the
increasing feminization of international migration is well
established. It is particularly noteworthy that Latin America was
the first region of the developing world to record parity in the
number of female and male migrants: in 1990, three million of the
region's six million international migrants were women. The number
of migrants in the region is estimated to have declined during the
1990s, but by 2000 women still constituted slightly more than half
of the five million migrants in the region.
Among the
developed regions, Northern America, which includes Canada and the
United States, is exceptional in that female migrants have
outnumbered male migrants since 1970, but the female numerical
advantage declined somewhat during the 1980s, largely as a result of
the high levels of undocumented migration converging on the United
States. As the regularization program carried out under the
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 revealed, women
constituted a somewhat low proportion of all those regularized (34
percent). However, women have tended to outnumber men among all
legally admitted immigrants.
Both Europe and Oceania have
displayed an increasing proportion of female migrants since 1970. In
Oceania, female migrants constituted slightly more than half of all
migrants present in the region in 2000 (2.9 million out of 5.8
million). In Europe, female migrants became more numerous than male
migrants were earlier. By 1990, nearly 52 percent of all migrants in
Europe were women or girls (25 million out of 48 million).
These estimates, however, are dependent on the assumptions
made about the percentage of women among the persons who became
international migrants at the time of the disintegration of the
former Soviet Union, because the estimates for 1990 already reflect
the effects of that disintegration. Lacking data on the sex
distribution of migrants in the successor states of the Soviet
Union, it was assumed that Soviet migrants had the same composition
by sex as the average of other European countries. As a result,
Europe becomes the region where female migrants outnumbered male
migrants by the widest margin in 2000. At that time, female migrants
constituted 52 percent of the 56 million migrants in Europe.
Conclusion
In sum, the data amply demonstrate
that globally, the number of female migrants has been large and
increasing, both in terms of the sheer number of women involved and
in terms of their share of the world's migrant stock. The majority
of female migrants, like the majority of all migrants, are currently
living in developed countries, particularly in Europe (29 million)
and Northern America (20 million). In those countries, women often
outnumber men among international migrants. In the developing world,
the 32 million female migrants present in 2000 were still
outnumbered by their male counterparts, but not by much. Clearly,
female migration is a key constituent of global migration.
Sources
United Nations. 2002.
International Migration Report: 2002.
Hania Zlotnik is Chief of the Population Estimates
and Projections Section of the United Nations Population Division.
The views and opinions expressed in this document are those of the
author and do not necessarily represent those of the United Nations.
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