Abstract
Objective: This chapter introduces the reader to the Special Issue "Female Employment and Migration in European Countries".
 Background: While there is a large body of research on the labour market performance of male migrants, women’s employment behaviour after migration has only recently moved into the focus of attention.
 Method: This Special Issue draws on various research methods and data sources, including register, census, and survey data. Some of the studies focus on specific national contexts, such as the German, Spanish, Dutch, and Belgian situations. Other studies compare female migrants across European countries and between origin and destination countries.
 Results: The contributions in this Special Issue help to disentangle the complex interplay of socio-economic factors, family and fertility behaviour, gender role attitudes, and institutional constraints and policies that shape the employment behaviour of migrant women after they migrate.
 Conclusion: In many European countries, the employment rates of first-generation female migrants, and particularly those of women from non-EU countries of origin, lag behind the employment rates of native women. While prior research has often reported that socio-economic and cultural factors play a role in shaping the employment behaviour of female migrants, the contributions in this volume also emphasise the strong relevance of institutional factors in the receiving country, including migration, family, and labour market policies.
Highlights
1.1 Cultural and economic determinants of female migrationIn 1885, Ernst George Ravenstein published his seminal work on the “Law of Migration”
While prior research has often reported that socio-economic and cultural factors play a role in shaping the employment behaviour of female migrants, the contributions in this volume emphasise the strong relevance of institutional factors in the receiving country, including migration, family, and labour market policies
The results indicate that women from countries that are characterised by low employment rates show higher levels of inter-generational stability than other migrant women; i.e., they are more likely to mimic their mothers’ employment behaviour
Summary
In 1885, Ernst George Ravenstein published his seminal work on the “Law of Migration”. Based on rich census data from the United Kingdom, he explored various facets of geographical mobility, described the migrants’ characteristics, and drew maps to illustrate the regional differences and similarities in migratory behaviour His aim was to search for distinct regularities that could be crystallised into overarching principles. The economic models of migration were primarily concerned with the pecuniary factors that guided the decision to migrate and shaped subsequent employment decisions (Lee 1966; Radu & Straubhaar 2012) Individual resources, such as education and qualifications, language skills, the availability of migrant networks (see Bilecen & Seibel in this Special Issue), and in some cases discrimination were identified as key factors that determine the later labour market success of both female and male migrants (Kalter & Kogan, 2014; Kogan, 2004a, 2004b, 2007). The focus on country of origin ties and influences has stimulated research on the intergenerational transmission of attitudes and values, and has raised the question of how gender roles have evolved, how they are transmitted across generations, and how they interact with economic and social conditions after migration (Nauck 2001, see Tsolak et al in this Special Issue)
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