Gender Migration in Latin America

Abstract

This chapter focuses on gender and international migration in Latin America. It begins with a brief overview of the emergence and consolidation of the field, describing how it evolved from the study of women in migration (both those who migrated and those who stayed in origin countries) to a more complex and comprehensive understanding of the various ways in which gender systems affect migration processes in general. In other words, this chapter depicts how gender systems shape decision-making processes, migratory trajectories, integration processes, and return processes. In so doing, it tackles some salient topics, including the feminization of international migration; the relationship between migration and the family; gender and migration motivations (including gender, violence, and migration); social reproduction care systems and the work of women; and occupational sex segregation and migration, among others. Two analytical dimensions will be considered. The first relates to the commonalities and singularities of various migration systems, with the analysis distinguishing between South-North migrations (to the United States and Europe) and South-South migrations (within South America, Central America, and Mexico). The second important analytical dimension refers to the overlapping disadvantages (stemming from gender identities, social class, race, and ethnicity) more loosely understood as intersectionality. The paper depicts how specific groups are particularly vulnerable to discrimination and violence in the migratory processes. Finally, the chapter outlines the relationship between gender and current migratory processes in Latin America, particularly in the case of massive Venezuelan emigration; migration from Central America to the United States; and COVID-19s’ effects on gender and migration in the region