Female ‘Birds of Passage’ a Decade Later: Gender and Immigration in the European Union

Abstract

Despite the increasing body of theoretical and case study literature about the feminization of international migration, general formulations of international migration have failed to include insights derived from this research. First, this article critically assesses the dominant accounts of the sequence of labor migration and family reunification and argues that it is time to reclaim the heterogencity of women's past migratory experiences in our understanding of European patterns of post-war immigration. Second, it examines family migration, covering diverse forms of family reunification and formation which, although the dominant form of legal immigration into Europe since the 1970s, has received relatively little attention. Third, it explores the implications of the diversification of contemporary female migration in the European Union and argues for the necessity of taking account of the reality of changing patterns of employment, households and social structures to advance our understanding of European immigration.