Gender-specific migration patterns in the context of political and economic upheaval : the case of Tunisia

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to understand the progressive feminization of migratory flows from Tunisia to Europe over the period 2010-2017. The observed increase in female migration took place in the context of economic crises in both sending and receiving countries. In Tunisia, it coincided with dramatic changes at the political, economic and social level that followed the 2011 revolution. In Europe, the issue of migration experienced another wave of politicization during the same period. In light of those developments, the paper studies the different behavior of male and female migrants. It applies a case-oriented approach, testing seven hypotheses derived from standard migration theories, as well as feminist approaches. The results of multivariate regression analyses confirm the importance of migratory networks and unemployment in receiving countries, while bivariate analysis suggests that the severe impact of the Tunisian economic crisis on women may have been an additional driver of female emigration rates. More importantly, a generation of increasingly well-educated women, with very restricted labor market access in Tunisia, are faced with European migration policies favoring the highly-skilled. Due to a growing demand in immigration countries for services traditionally performed by female workers, as well as the need for highly-skilled workers to support technological change, the trend towards a feminization of Tunisian emigration is likely to last.