International migrations of Congolese and Senegalese women: new forms of autonomous mobility or persistence of family migration patterns?

Prior research, mostly focused on Asian and Latin American contexts, found that women are increasingly present in international migration flows, especially so as independent economic actors. This paper examines the extent to which these two trends - the feminization of migration flows and an increase in autonomous female migration – can be observed in the African context. It uses data collected within the Migration between Africa and Europe (MAFE) project in Senegal, DR Congo and several European countries. Discrete-time event-history analysis reveals only moderate increases in the likelihood of female migration over time, but no decline in gender gaps. The collection of rich retrospective information from both current and return migrants allows a more in-depth investigation of the nature of women’s moves. Several indicators are used to grasp the extent to which women moved autonomously or in association to their partner. While some evidence of a rise in autonomous female migration was found among the Congolese, no salient change was visible in Senegal. This was interpreted in light of the more rigid patriarchal system prevailing in Senegal. The paper also shows that different indicators do not all point in the same direction suggesting that the borders between autonomous and associational moves are often blurred.