Gender Differences in Motivation and Remittance Behaviour under the Effects of Crisis: The Case of Latvian Migrants

Gender roles are generally considered to be an important factor in fostering and shaping migration. However, gender-focused migration studies which adopt a quantitative approach are very rare. The presentation will discuss results of a quantitative study investigating gender-related differences with regard to the emigration motivations and remittance-related behaviour of Latvian migrants, taking into account the very dramatic shifts in the economic conditions under which migration from Latvia has occurred over the period since the global economic crisis in 2008-09.

The classical migration literature suggests that an unfavourable economic climate would make people more likely to move abroad. Thus, gender differences in migration motivation and remittance-related behaviour in the wake of structural socio-economic changes is one way to shed light on both individual decision-making and structural constraints. The analysis, which adopts binomial logistic regression as methodology, is based on an online survey of over 2,700 Latvians living in Germany, the UK, Ireland, Norway and Sweden. The main results of the study confirm the assumption that sharp gender differences with regard to the motivation to migrate, the view of the positive aspects of life abroad and remittance-related behaviour do exist among Latvian migrants, with economic aspects being more relevant among males, and family and education-related aspects more relevant among females; on the other hand the economic recession does not seem to have affected such differences in any significant way.

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