Gender and spatial population mobility in Iran

Abstract

This paper examines the spatial redistribution of the population of Iran during 1976–1986, focusing on women's migration patterns within the context of the Islamic patriarchal cultural system. Specifically, it attempts to answer the following questions: (a) are Iranian men more mobile than Iranian women? (b) Do Iranian men move longer distances than Iranian women? (c) What was the impact of the Iran-Iraq War on the volume and direction of migration streams? (d) What are the causes and consequences of women's migration in Iran? Data from the 1986 census was organized into two inter-provincial migration matrixes for men and women. From these matrixes, population-adjusted migration rates and migration efficiency ratios were calculated for each of the possible 552 moves. The analysis reveals that the migration rates vary according to rural or urban destinations, migrants' genders, and the spatial scale of their moves. Since less than 10% of women are in the labor force, and usually do not travel alone, their migration decisions are more of an ‘associational’ than an ‘autonomous’ type. Most women migrate as part of a larger family unit or move to join their husbands. Thus, there is a great deal of similarity in the men and women's migration rates, direction of flows, and responses to distance. However, the causes and consequences of women's migration are substantially different from those of men, a pattern which is changing far too slowly.