05.05.2025New SNF grant approved: Per Block and Micol Morellini on «The Feminisation of Global Migration»

Per Block and Micol Morellini were awarded a grant for the project The Feminisation of Global Migration by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

The research project investigates how gender influences international migration. Women often migrate to escape oppressive conditions and gain autonomy, but they face unique challenges such as higher risks of human trafficking and underemployment. Starting from the late 1980s, theories of the feminisation of migration have highlighted the growing participation and independence of women in international moves. However, evidence of this feminisation remains mostly qualitative and localised. To address this gap, the project proposes the first comparative, quantitative evaluation of the feminisation hypothesis using large-scale data on women's and men's bilateral migration flows across all countries from 1960 to 2020. The project covers four main parts:

1. Data Development: The project will create new estimates of migration flows between countries from 1960 to 2020, disaggregated by gender. This addresses the lack of precise, large-scale gender-disaggregated migration data.
2. Methodological Innovation: Inspired by social network analysis, the project will develop new measures and statistical tests to analyse the diversity and globalization of migration flows. These methods will enhance understanding of migration patterns and have applications beyond migration studies.
3. Analysis of migration patterns: Using the new data and methods, the project will analyze how gendered migration patterns have evolved over the last six decades. This will provide a comprehensive understanding of the feminisation of migration.
4. Finding the gendered drivers of migration: The project will explain the factors driving gendered migration patterns, offering insights into the social, economic, and political contexts that shape migration flows.

The project entry on the SNF website is here.

Micol holds a module on Migration and Migrants between Theory and Practice. The course critically examines the gap between migration theory and practice by exploring how scholars conceptualize and model migration, how policymakers regulate it, and how migrants themselves experience it. It is held weekly on Wednesday, 12.15-13:45, during the semester.

In Sociological Imagination and Other Classic Texts, Per offers students insights into a variety of different theoretical perspecitves on Sociology, the ability to understand and reproduce the logical structure of an argument, and the opportunity to learn to write clearly structured essays of general perspectives on the social world, as well as approaches to specific sub-domains of the discipline. The module takes place weekly on Tuesdays, 10.00-12.00, during the semester.

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