Gender and Migration

Migrant workers: Gendered patterns of migration

Labour migration corridors constitute the main driver behind both the global gender gap and the wide variations in gender patterns of migration across regions worldwide. First, labour migration constitutes the main form of migration and displays an even greater gender gap than does the overall international migrant population. According to the latest available data, migrant workers represented the majority of migrants worldwide in 2019, accounting for 62 per cent of the international migrant population. Out of the 169 million migrant workers at that time globally, 99 million were males (58.5%) and 70 million females (41.5%), resulting in a global gender gap of 29 million individuals.

Second, labour migration corridors drive the geographic distribution of migrant workers and, thus, of international migrants across the world’s regions. As shown in Figure 4 below, and similar to the share of male and female international migrants by regions of destination, there is a stark imbalance in the demographics of migrant workers in the Arab States, North Africa and, to a lesser extent, in sub-Saharan Africa, where male migrant workers are disproportionately represented.

From WMR 2024 Ch. 6.

Regional migration patterns and country-to-country migration corridors reflect regional economic demand in occupational sectors that may be gender segregated. The Gulf countries are major destinations for male migrant workers: nearly 83 per cent of all migrant workers in the Arab States region in 2019 were male, primarily working in the industry sector as construction workers, due to an ever-rising demand since the oil shock of 1973. For female migrant workers, their main destinations and the top migration corridors reflect the high prevalence of female migrants in the service sector, especially in domestic work and as health-care workers. Figure 7 shows this gendered segregation and its intensification between 2013 and 2019, with male migrants increasingly working in the industry sector (from 19.8% to 35.6%) and female migrants in the service sector (from slightly less than 74% to nearly 80%).

From WMR 2024 Ch. 6.

These patterns demonstrate that the mantra of the feminization of migration must be nuanced. Not only is the migration gap increasing between female and male international migrants, but the gender patterns of occupational labour segregation remain prevalent worldwide and will likely be exacerbated, according to global historical trends in gendered labour segregation by sector of activity.