Beyond Money: Does Migration Experience Transfer Gender Norms? Empirical Evidence from Kerala, India

43 Pages Posted: 15 Apr 2022

See all articles by George Joseph

George Joseph

World Bank

Qiao Wang

World Bank

Gnanaraj Chellaraj

World Bank

Emcet O. Taş

World Bank

Luis Alberto Andres

World Bank

Syed Usman Javaid

World Bank

Irudaya S. Rajan

Centre for Development Studies (CDS) India

Date Written: March 15, 2022

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of return migration from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf on the transfer of gender norms to the Indian state of Kerala. Migration to countries in the Middle East has led to significant remittance flows and economic prosperity, although the effects on social norms and attitudes remain largely unexplored. The paper finds that returning migrants from Saudi Arabia tend to exhibit conservative values regarding gender-based violence and extreme attitudes pertaining to the perpetration of physical violence against women. Compared with those who have no migration experience, the attitudes of returning migrants from Saudi Arabia toward gender-based violence were more conservative by three standard deviations, while the attitudes of those returning from the Gulf were less conservative by 0.5 standard deviation. Similarly, compared with those with no migration experience, returning migrants from Saudi Arabia were more conservative by 2.6 standard deviations regarding extreme attitudes related to gender norms, such as sexual assault, while those returning from the Gulf were less conservative by 0.7 standard deviation. These results show that migration experience can have a substantial impact on the gender attitudes of returning migrants, with potential implications for migration and gender policies in Kerala and for countries that send a large share of temporary migrants overseas for work.

Keywords: migration, gender, gender-based violence, attitudes, India

JEL Classification: F22, J16, B54

Suggested Citation

Joseph, George and Wang, Qiao and Chellaraj, Gnanaraj and Tas, Emcet Oktay and Andres, Luis Alberto and Javaid, Syed Usman and Rajan, Irudaya S., Beyond Money: Does Migration Experience Transfer Gender Norms? Empirical Evidence from Kerala, India (March 15, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4075206 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4075206

George Joseph (Contact Author)

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Qiao Wang

World Bank

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Gnanaraj Chellaraj

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Emcet Oktay Tas

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Luis Alberto Andres

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Syed Usman Javaid

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Irudaya S. Rajan

Centre for Development Studies (CDS) India ( email )

Trivandrum 695 011, Kerala
India

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