The Gender Differences Of Immigration In Oecd Countries

Immigration has become a very significant topic in recent years. Over the centuries, millions of people have migrated, despite the accompanying physical, cultural and economic obstacles, to other lands in search of better lives for themselves and their children. Currently, the number of people living outside their country of birth is estimated to be over 180 million or 3 percent of the world’s population. Consequently, in the last few years the growing awareness of migration flows has focused on the gender perspective. Gender, in this case, refers to the norms, behaviours and expectations associated with being a female or a male immigrant. The aim of this study is to find out what gender differences there are in immigration in the OECD countries studied. According to our results, in the labour force women migrants are fewer than men. Thus, female migrants are more inactive and less employed than males. Moreover, the male migrants’ educational level is higher than that of women. Our conclusions also allow policy makers to identify potential needs for reforms, in relation to specific features of migration policies, and provides some evidence about which groups of migrants are in need of supplementary supports in other social and economic contexts, as well.