Understood as a social construction of femininity and masculinity and inequalities consequent upon these constructions, gender fundamentally influences migration and its impacts on societies and individuals. It shapes migration processes at different levels: who migrates, why, where, for how long and with what consequences? Gender ideologies also (often implicitly) inform migration policies and institutions which try to control migration flows. Gender analysis can, for example, explain increasing feminisation of migration as a result of reproduction of gender inequalities in the context of global capitalism. It offers answers to a question: Why the majority of migrant women perform “women’s work” as carers, cleaners or sex workers – the worst occupational niches in terms of working conditions and social recognition – while men predominate among the highly qualified mobile workers?

This thematic section aims at discussing gender and migration at different levels of analysis and asks how gender differentiates migrants’ experiences, formation of migrant women’s and men’s identities and how it permeates migration practices, policies and institutions. The focus is on migration processes in the context of Central and Eastern Europe – seen both as a source and a destination region for migrants.

Gender and Migration" theme is coordinated by Adéla Souralová, who can be contacted at asouralo(at)fss.muni.cz. Between 2004 and 2009 the theme was coordinated by Alice Szczepaniková.