Paths of inequality: migration, inter-relationships and the gender division of labour

International migration and modern means of transportation and communication make it easier for people to meet and form relationships across borders and national origins. The growth of academic interest in marriage migration and family migration has led to greater attention being paid to (im)migrant families and couples and the formation of mixed unions between migrants and natives. While migrant women were long overlooked in migration studies, they are now established subjects of research. However, the (re)production of gender inequalities through migration remains neglected, especially in quantitative research. This PhD research seeks to address this gap through a comparative study of migrants’ couple formation and gendered dynamics in France and the United Kingdom. Starting with a critical, historical and political examination of survey data on mixedness and migration in both countries, it investigates the difficulty and the necessity of considering migration as a gendered experience of mobility. That is, not simply who migrates or how many migrate, but how they migrate, with whom and at what point in their life. Using Understanding Society and Trajectoires et Origines data, this PhD models and weighs the complex interlocking of migration in the life course through sequences of migration and family formation, which it ultimately connects to patterns of paid and unpaid labour division between partnered women and men. Through sequence analysis, it constructs a typology of union-migration trajectories which reveals the gendered paths of migration and mixedness. These trajectories, in turn, help make sense of why, for migrant women, both migration and mixing can be associated with heightened gender-specialisation of housework and care work on the one hand, and paid work on the other. By presenting an analysis which emphasizes trajectories and intermarriage (rather than profiles and endogamous unions), this PhD offers a complex analysis of how gender relations frame migration and how migration re-defines but often entrenches gender inequalities.