Fatima. UNU-GCM. All rights reserved.In recent years, and in line with efforts to ‘mainstream gender’ into discourses on migration, it has become common parlance, mostly in discussions of economic remittances, to refer to the feminization of migration.
Upon reflection, this terminology seems somewhat absurd. Not only is migration as old as humanity itself, but logic tells us that humanity would not have survived to live out its endless migratory story if it had not been for women, as well as men, on the move. Indeed, in 2013, according to the United Nations Population Division, of the 232 million people living and working outside their own countries in order to support themselves and their families, approximately half were women.
