Cohort: ESOL 39

Topic of the thesis: Overtime changes in gender selection into migration in the European context

Abstract: Geographical mobility in the European context has been characterized by the gradual dismantling of internal borders accompanied by the strengthening of external ones. As a consequence, European migrant workers acquired more and more rights over time and became EU movers. Moreover, mobility within the continent (more specifically within the EU) has come to acquire some characteristics that make it resemble more an intra-country rather than a cross-countries migration. In these new dynamics of movements, gender differences in the propensity to move are still present. Migration remains mainly a male phenomenon, while women move more as tied to their husbands. In this regard, marital status is a relevant variable to consider in order to study how the gender gap in the propensity to migrate changes over time. At the same time, women usually prefer short-distance movements. Hence it would be interesting to study how this preference changes over time also controlling for marital status. Nonetheless, among graduates, women show to prefer long-distant movements more than men. In this case, the interaction between gender and educational title, both controlling and not for marital status and travel distance, can reveal other relevant points in the study of gender differences. Moreover, the propensity to migrate of highly educated individuals and those coming from a higher social background is higher and remains constant over time. In this case, gender differences in migratory attitudes will interact with educational attainments and social origin so to see whether and how the latter provokes changes in the former over time. Data produced for each country considered helps to study each country per se and also to compare them all in a systematic way. Going beyond the micro-level factors, there are also macro-level factors that may help in explaining gender differences in mobility propensity such as family laws, work-life balance policies, welfare state provisions, and so forth.

Research interests: Migration, social stratification, social inequalities, European integration, education, gender inequalities

Graduated from: Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca (BA), Università degli Studi di Milano (MA)

Degrees obtained: BA in Servizio Sociale, MA in Global Politics and Society

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