Cynthia Buckley Erin Hofmann University of Texas, Austin
This project studies how social norms and socioeconomic factors shape the experience of migration for men and women, focusing on three main research questions: How do social norms and socioeconomic conditions influence migration decisions? Does the influence of norms or socioeconomic conditions vary by gender? What are the mechanisms through which norms shape migration? The researcher will address these questions through a mixture of qualitative and quantitative data. Quantitative data from the Gender and Generations Survey and the National Household Survey, both conducted in Georgia in 2006, will identify the predictors of migration in national samples and determine if there are gender differences. Qualitative data from interviews with returned migrants and family members of migrants in two regions of Georgia will provide insight into the potential motivations for migration and the gendered nature of migration experiences. The economic and political conditions that motivate migration such as individual human capital, household socioeconomic status, social networks, state policies, and labor market demands are well documented, particularly in Latin America and Asia. Research on social norms and migration is less extensive, but demonstrates that norms can facilitate or discourage migration. Understanding the joint influence of norms and socioeconomic conditions is particularly important to understanding women's migration, because women are most likely to face conflict between economic conditions that encourage migration and social norms that discourage it. Examining social norms and migration in Georgia can expand existing migration theories, particularly those related to gender. The Georgian context of strong patriarchal norms coupled with high levels of human capital and labor market experience among women makes it an interesting case to explore the influence of norms and socioeconomic conditions on migration.
Broader Impacts
This project will provide an analysis of the selectivity of migration from Georgia, which will be beneficial to policymakers looking to take advantage of the development potential of migration. Findings from this research will be disseminated broadly to the academic community via professional conferences and publications, and shared with colleagues in the academic and migration communities in Georgia.
This dissertation project uses the case of migration from Republic of Georgia to examine the different factors that shape men’s and women’s labor migration. Previous research highlights the cultural patterns and social norms that influence migration, and these cultural aspects of migration are highly gendered. Both men and women participate in the process of migration, but they experience it in very different ways. While migration can be seen as acceptable or even desirable for young men, migration is often viewed much more negatively among women, because it comes into conflict with traditional female domestic responsibilities. The literature on gendered aspects of migration has remained largely separate from the larger body of literature on the political, social, and economic conditions that influence migration, leaving questions of how gender norms in origin countries might interact with other factors to shape migration processes. To investigate the factors that influence migration processes in Georgia, we use a combination of survey and interview data. We analyze data from three existing household surveys in Georgia: 1) The 2007 Caucasus Barometer; 2) The 2008 Development on the Move: Measuring and Optimizing Migration’s Economic and Social Impacts in Georgia (DOTM) survey, and 3) A 2008 migration survey conducted by Georgia’s national statistical department (GeoStat). In addition to the survey analysis, in the summer of 2010 we conducted 34 in-depth, semi structured interviews with former migrants and family members of current migrants in two Georgian cities, as well as 15 interviews with government officials, researchers, journalists and NGO workers in the capital city. Georgia provides a particularly interesting place to explore gender and migration because the Georgian context combines strong traditional gender norms with high levels of education and labor market experience among women. The emergence of large scale women’s labor migration is fairly recent, but today both men and women in Georgia migrate to a wide variety of different countries. Georgia therefore provides an opportunity to explore the influences of both traditional gender norms and economic incentives in a context where migration options for both men and women are extensive. Our research points to several key findings. First, the surveys show a shift towards a greater proportion of women among more recent migrants from Georgia, together with a shift in destinations. The proportion of Georgian migrants traveling to Russia has declined from some 70% of all migrants leaving in the early 1990s to around 30% of migrants in recent years. More recent migrants are more likely to go to Greece, Turkey, or Western Europe—destinations that appear to be more attractive to women. Second, the interviews add insight on this shift in destinations. Many respondents, particularly in Dusheti, decided to migrate and then picked what country they wanted to go to. People had clear opinions about the costs and benefits of different destination countries, and some countries were seen as more appropriate destinations for women, and others for men. Finally, the interviews demonstrate that women’s migration decisions are constrained in a way that men’s are not, because of their primary responsibility for childcare and domestic work and because they usually will not migrate without the permission of their husbands or other family members. The completed dissertation, which Erin Hofmann expects to defend in May 2012, will more fully explore these issues. Papers based on this research have been presented at the annual conventions of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, the Population Association of America, and the Association for the Study of Nationalities. Two articles drawn from the dissertation project: "Global Changes and Gendered Responses: The Feminization of Migration from Georgia" and "Doing Gender, Doing Migration: Men’s and Women’s Migration Decisions in the Republic of Georgia" are currently under review at sociology journals. Other products of this research include a collection of transcripts, translated into English, from all 34 in-depth interviews. Erin Hofmann also participated in outreach activities during her time in Georgia, including giving two interviews on the radio program "migraciis marshrutebi" (migration routes) on Georgia’s Radio 1.
