In this review essay, I argue that migration theory can be advanced by analysing gender differences in migration processes. I bring together feminist empirical work from diverse settings within Latin America in order to illustrate and discuss theoretical extensions to migration research. In particular, the discussion focuses on the centrality of intrahousehold power relations and dynamics for understanding who migrates, and with what consequences. I further argue that these theoretical understandings emerge from the culturally and historically specific operation of processes in particular places within Latin America.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Allen, S. and Wolkowitz, C.1987: Homeworking: myths and realities. Basingstoke: Macmillan Education.
2.
Arguello, O.1981: Estrategias de Supervivencia: Un Concepto en Busca de su Contenido. Demo- grafia y Economica15, 190–203.
3.
Beneria, L. and Feldman, S., editors. 1992: Unequal burden. Economic crises, persistent poverty, and women's work. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
4.
Beneria, L. and Roldan, M.1987: The crossroads of class and gender. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
5.
Bilsborrow, R.1993: The feminization of internal migration in developing countries. New York: United Nations.
6.
Bilsborrow, R. and Peek, P. 1992: Peasant farming and labour migration: evidence from the Ecuadorian highlands. Paper presented at the IUSSP conference on ‘The Peopling of the Americas’, Verzcruz, Mexico.
7.
Brown, L. and Lawson, V.1985: Migration in third world settings, uneven development, and conventional modeling: a case Study of Costa Rica. Annals of the Association of American Geographers75, 29–47.
8.
Bruce, J.1989: Homes divided. World Development17, 979–991.
9.
Carney, J. and Watts, J.1990: Manufacturing dissent: work, gender and the politics of meaning in a peasant society. Africa60, 207–241.
10.
Chant, S., editor. 1992: Gender and migration in developing countries. London: Belhaven Press.
11.
Chant, S. and Brydon, L.1989: Women in the third world: gender issues in rural and urban areas. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
12.
Chant, S. and Radcliffe, S.1992: Migration and development: the importance of gender. In Chant, S., editor, Gender and migration in developing countries, London: Belhaven Press, 1–29.
13.
Collins, J.1986: The household relations of production in southern Peru. Comparative Studies in Society and History28, 651–671.
14.
Corden, W.M. and Findlay, R.1975: Urban unemployment, intersectoral capital mobility and development policy. Economica42, 143–157.
15.
Eastmond, M.1993: Reconstructing life: Chilean refugee women and the dilemmas of exile. In Buijs, G., editors, Migrant women. Crossing boundaries and changing identities, Oxford: Berg Publishers, 35–54.
16.
Eaton, D.1992: Rural-urban migration and under- employment among females in the Brazilian northeast. Journal of Economic IssuesXXVI, 385–395.
17.
Folbre, N.1986: Cleaning house: new perspectives on households and economic development. Journal of Development Economics22, 5–40.
18.
Folbre, N.1988: The black four of hearts: towards a new paradigm of household economics. In Dwyer, D. and Bruce, J., editors, A home divided: women and income in the third world, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 248–289.
19.
Folbre, N.1991: Women on their own: global patterns of female headship. In Gallin, R. and Ferguson, A., editors, The women and international development annual. Vol. 2, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 89–126.
20.
Fortuna, J.C. and Prates, S.1989: Informal sector versus informalized labor relations in Uruguay. In Portes, A., Castells, M. and Benton, L., editors, The informal economy: studies in advanced and less developed countries, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 78–94.
21.
Gilbertson, G. and Gurak, D.1992: Household transitions in the migration of Dominicans and Colombians to New York. International Migration Review26, 22–45.
22.
Gill, L. 1988: Senora y Servientes: women and domestic service in La Paz, Bolivia. Paper presented at the XIV international congress of the Latin American Studies Association, New Orleans.
23.
Gisbert, M.E., Painter, M. and Quiton, M.1994: Gender issues associated with labor migration and dependence on off-farm income in rural Bolivia. Human Organization53, 110–112.
24.
Gonzalez de la Rocha, M.1994: The resources of poverty: women and survival in a Mexican city. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
25.
Greenwood, M.J.1975: Research on internal migration in the United States: a survey. Journal of Economic Literature13, 397–433.
26.
Hanson, S. and Pratt, G.1995: Gender, work, and space. London: Routledge.
27.
Hart, G.1992: Imagined unities: constructions of the ‘Household’ in economic theory. In Ortiz, S. and Lees, S., editors, Understanding economic process, Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 111–130.
28.
Hondagneu-Sotelo, P.1994: Gendered transitions: Mexican experiences of immigration. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
29.
Jelin, E.1977: Migration and labor force participation of Latin American women: the domestic servants in the cities. Signs3, 129–141.
30.
Katz, E. and Stark, O.1986: Labor migration and risk aversion. Journal of Labor Economics4, 134–149.
31.
Lauby, J. and Stark, O.1988: Individual migration as a family strategy: young women in the Philippines. Population Studies4, 473–486.
32.
Lawson, V.1995: Beyond the firm: restructuring gender divisions of labor in Quito's garment industry under austerity. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space13, 415–444.
33.
Lawson, V.1997: Tailoring is a profession, seamstressing is just work: resiting work and gendered identities among artisnal garment workers in Quito. Working paper. Seattle, WA: Department of Geography, University of Washington.
34.
Lowry, I.A.1966: Migration and metropolitan growth: two analytical models. San Francisco, CA: Chandler.
35.
Lucas, R.E.B. and Stark, O.1988: Migration, remittances and the family. Economic Development and Cultural Change36, 465–482.
36.
Manser, M. and Brown, M.1980: Marriage and household decision making: a bargaining analysis. International Economic Review21, 31–44.
37.
Massey, D.1994: Space, place, and gender. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
38.
Mies, M.1986: Patriarchy and accumulation on a world scale: women in the international division of labor. Atlantic Heights, NJ: Zed Books
39.
Mincer, J.1978: Family migration decisions. Journal of Political Economy88, 749–773.
40.
Momsen, J.1992: Gender selectivity in Caribbean migration. In Chant, S., editors, Gender and migration in developing countries, London: Belhaven Press, 73–90.
41.
Mountz, A. and Wright, R. 1996: Daily life in the transnational migrant communty of San Agustin, Oaxaca and Poughkeepsie, New York. Paper presented at the University of Washington, February.
42.
Nash, J. and Fernandez-Kelly. M.P.1983: Women, men, and the international division of labor. Buffalo, NY: SUNY Press.
43.
Nash, J. and Safa, H.1986: Women and change in Latin America. New York: Bergin & Garvey.
44.
North American Commission for Latin America1993: NACLA. Report on the Americas27, 16-16.
45.
Orlansky, D. and Dubrovsky, S.1978: The effects of rural-urban migration on women's role and status in Latin America. Paris: UNESCO.
46.
Radcliffe, S.1990: Ethnicity, patriarchy and incorporation into the nation. Society and Space8, 379–393.
47.
Radcliffe, S.1991: The role of gender in peasant migration: conceptual issues from the Peruvian Andes. Review of Radical Political Economics23, 129–147.
48.
Roberts, B.1978: Cities of peasants: the political- economy of urbanization in the third world. London: Edward Arnold.
49.
Safa, H. and Antrobus, P.1992: Women and economic crisis in the Caribbean. In Beneria, L. and Feldman, S., editors, Unequal burden. Economic crises, persistent poverty, and women's work, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 49–82.
50.
Sen, A.1990: Gender and cooperative conflicts. In Tinker, I., editors, Persistent inequalities: women and world development, New York: Oxford University Press, 123–149.
51.
Shrethsa, N.1988: A structural perspective on labour migration in underdeveloped countries. Progress in Human Geography12, 179–207.
52.
Smith, J. and Wallerstein, I.1992: Creating and transforming households: the constraints of the world economy. Paris: Cambridge University Press.
53.
Staeheli, L. and Lawson, V.1995: Feminism, praxis and human geography. Geographical Analysis27, 312–338.
