Immigration and Gender

According to the Social Science Research Council's Working Group on Gender and Migration, gender structures identities, practices, and institutions of immigration. Considering immigration with gender also is a way of understanding migration from the historically neglected perspective of women. Many racial and ethnic communities in the United States and throughout the world are shaped by changing constructions of gender and family in countries of ancestry, origin, and destination. Thus, a gendered perspective sheds light on social institutions such as migrant families, networks, and employment. The study of gender through migration also demonstrates that gender roles are not fixed in racial and ethnic communities; rather, masculinity and femininity shift over time and in different places. This entry discusses the contemporary feminization of migration related to globalization processes, offers an overview of the field of gender and migration studies, and discusses important arenas and debates on the role of families and households in immigration, the impacts of migration on gender relations and women's power, and gender and transnationalism.