The Decision to Flee: Analyzing Gender-Specific Determinants of International Refugee Migration

Using a gravity approach, we explore determinants and dynamics of refugee migration using a gendered cross-national dyadic dataset on refugee movements for the years 2000-2015. Along three dimensions (push, pull and cost factors), we analyze whether there are heterogeneous effects of flight determinants for men and women.

Our results suggest that within the push dimension there is only little difference in gender-specific responses. Most prominently, women react relatively stronger to the existence of sexual violence as a conflict strategy. When it comes to dyadic factors, we find that distance is a decisive factor for men and women. The most gender-sensitive dimension appears to be the pull factors: Neighboring countries attract more women in comparison to men as well as to non-neighbors. For non-neighbors, female flows are more sensitive to political stability, women's rights and the economic situation of the destination.

Laura Renner and Lena Schmid (University of Freiburg)

Speaker:

Dr. Laura Renner, Interim Professor for Econometrics and Statistics, University of Freiburg