Gender, Power, and Emigration From Mexico.

ABSTRACT: The prevailing model of migration in developing countries conceives of a risk-diversifying household in which members act as a single entity when making migration decisions. Ethnographic studies challenge this model by documenting gender hierarchy in family decisions and arguing that, in many contexts, men and women have differing views on the value of migration. We assess these perspectives using longitudinal survey data from Mexico. We show that Mexican households are heterogeneous in terms of women's decision-making authority and control over resources, and this variation predicts the subsequent emigration of their male partners to the United States. We then use data from a policy experiment to demonstrate that an exogenous increase in a woman's control over household resources decrease

SUBMITTER: Nobles J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4607611 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature