Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/114099 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9216
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Does international return migration transfer gender norms? Focusing on Jordan, an Arab country where discrimination against women and emigration rates are high, this paper exploits unique data in which detailed information on female empowerment allows us to construct several measures of discriminatory social norms in Jordan on the role of women, female freedom of mobility, and female decision-making power. Controlling for both emigration and return migration selections, we find that women with a returnee family member are more likely to have internalized discriminatory gender norms than women in households with no migration experience. Further analysis shows that results are driven by returnees from conservative Arab countries, suggesting a transfer of negative norms from highly discriminatory destinations. We also show the implications of our results beyond perceptions for several economic and development outcomes, such as female labour force participation, education and fertility.
Subjects: 
international return migration
gender inequality
transfer of norms
JEL: 
F22
J16
O15
O53
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
506.45 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.