Familism and educational ambitions among the children of immigrants in Spain and Italy: A gender perspective

As Southern European countries have transitioned from countries of emigration to immigration, scholars have become increasingly interested in the adaptation of immigrant youth, particularly their educational achievements. However, the role of gender in defining the educational experiences and outcomes of immigrants is still almost unknown.
Our paper addresses this issue by determining whether there is a significant gender gap in educational ambitions among immigrant offspring in these two countries and if so, by examining the possible mechanisms related to familism which may drive the formation of a gender gap. We contrast Italy and Spain in order to assess whether the gender patterns in educational ambitions based on our findings are generalizable across countries of similarly recent immigration histories.