Feminization of Migration

The term is feminisation of migration is misleading insofar as it suggests an absolute increase in the proportion of women migrants, when in fact by 1960 women already made up nearly 47 per cent of all international migrants, a percentage that increased by only two points during the next four decades, to about 49 per cent at present (Zlotnik, 2003). Although a net feminisation of flows has occurred in certain regions, what has really changed in the last decades is the fact that more women are migrating independently in search of jobs, rather than as ‘family dependants’ traveling with their husbands or joining them abroad. This working paper carries an analysis of the phenomena of feminisation of migration, as well as an area impact on the human development indicators of where it occurs.