The idea that there has been a shift in migration gender ratios causing a feminisation of migration flows that has characterised a new period of migration, has been widely proclaimed by scholars over the past two decades. In this blog post, Dr Maria Villares-Varela argues that what has actually occurred has been a feminisation of the scientific interest in the issue of gender and migration, more than a feminisation of migration flows. She states that the absence of women within historic migration data is more due to the invisibility of women in research before the 1980s than an indication that women were not migrating. Finally pointing out that this lack of empirical descriptive work on the gender composition of historical migration flows leaves this aspect of migration patterns under-researched.
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