Gender and family dynamics of migration aspirations: a comparative analysis of sixteen areas of origin

This paper explores the multi-layered gender and family dynamics of migration aspirations. In many low- and middle-income countries, a substantial proportion of young adults wish to migrate internationally. In some cases, aspirations are similar between the sexes; in other cases, they differ. This paper explores the interactive determinants of men’s and women’s migration aspirations, taking into account their family circumstances. It does so on the basis of new survey data from 16 areas of origin of migration to Europe: four areas each in Morocco, Senegal, Turkey and Ukraine (N = 16 x 500). These areas differ with reference to migration history, social conservativeness and migration aspirations. In addition to personal migration aspirations, the survey data includes information on attitudes to the migration of men and women, family approval of migration, and interpersonal encouragement and discouragement of migration. This makes it possible to move beyond examining determinants of men’s and women’s aspirations separately. While the paper makes substantive contributions to the study of migration aspirations, it also aims to make methodological advances for comparative analyses of multi-sited survey data.