International migration, families and gender

Abstract

Research on international migration is interested more and more in family transformations, due to the greater visibility of female flow worldwide and the specific problems faced by migrant women. This article focuses on the influence of gender relations on sociodemographic dynamics, with the aim of analyzing jointly migration and family trajectories. The methodology is twofold: first, it is investigated whether there is a feminization of migrations in Latin America, based on estimates from the United Nations Population Division, between 2003 and 2019. And then, to analyze family and gender life courses in the context of migrations, several Latin American researches are reviewed, with empirical data on this perspective. The conclusions are that even if there is no general feminization of migrations in Latin America, to explain the characteristics of women’s migrations, it is necessary to identify the determinant variables explaining the relationships between migration, families and gender. Finally, the AGEVEN tab is proposed, as a tool for collecting and analyzing data on the life courses that relate migrations, family and gender. Among the important results of this article is that, despite new roles obtained during the migration process, gender inequality in societies of origin continues to be exercised across borders.