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2015: Mobile Identities?

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Mobile Identities? Perspectives on Gender and Migration

Migration is as old as humanity itself. The landscape of international migration has become increasingly diverse as a result of broader changes, both in the global economy and in geopolitics. Women form an increasingly significant part of migration processes; global trends indicate a shift in traditional gendered patterns of migration. The ‘female face of migration’ becomes particularly evident in the Global South, where women account for more than half of all migrants.

These shifting migration patterns are challenging gender roles, including ideas of masculinity. Men might be ‘left behind’, where migrating women take the role of breadwinners in ‘transnational families’. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the feminisation of migration is not only characterised by ‘the growing participation of women in migration’, but also the increasing independence of female mobility. Family ties continue to play an important role, and multiple and complex gender identities evolve: from female migrant domestic workers fighting for their rights to the discrimination of homosexual and trans-gender migrants.

Conference Committee

Anna Boyechko

Alex Ma

Esther McConnell

Giles Pitts

Jana Ciernioch

Linn Aakvik

Swasti Istika

Theresa Crysmann