14
The decision to return is linked to structural and individual factors as well as policy
interventions
72
. All these aspects hold important gender dimensions:
- Structural aspects like the situation in the host and home country contain gender aspects
as for example the access to and demand of the labour market for women as well as the degree
of emancipation and the position of women in society in general.
- On the personal level individual attributes such as age, gender and family circumstances
as well as social relations form the individual return decision, whereby social relations are
again strongly determined by gender.
- Policy interventions such as incentives and disincentives for instance can be gender
biased in their design by not contemplating the role of women in their home societies and
offering male-oriented reintegration assistance.
Problems associated with return and reintegration
73
such as a difficult relation between
returnees and the local communities; stigma and feelings of being a failed migrant; frustration
with the political climate, corruption and the position of women; high expectations of family
and friends on the returnee; feeling estranged upon return; suffering identity conflicts; nostalgia
for the host country are all aspects with important gender implications and have to be
considered in all stages of the return migration.
During the migration process there are often changes of gender constructions and of the
identity- and life drafts and in order to address these there is a need for gender-sensitive return
counselling and a gendered approach to return and reintegration programs.
Studies have found for example that female returnees often report the loss of the gendered
gains made in metropolitan societies upon return
74
. This can take on the form of being more
dependent on male family members and/or women being less likely to work due to societal
expectations and constraints with more time spent on domestic work, child care, food
preparation, etc
75
. Another theme expressed by female returnees was the need to conform to
local gender norms, especially those connected with female respectability
76
.
UNMIK
77
advocates that the sustainability of return migration is only possible when a gender
and age perspective that incorporates fundamental approaches to physical security, human
security, economic and social welfare are included and maintained at all levels of the
development, implementation and evaluation of policies, strategies and action plans.
Gender seems to positively affect the sustainability of return and reintegration. A study on
circular migration and permanent return migration in Albania found for instance that women
and tertiary educated are more likely to permanently return
78
.
In Ghana, some unpublished studies suggest that female migrants are more likely to
return and invest back home. This is because women tend to re-integrate more easily because
of the long-term contacts they have maintained. They often find the way to reinsert themselves
in petty trading or the informal business with the capital they have acquired. A significant
72
See Black R. et al., 2004, Understanding Voluntary Return, Sussex Centre for Migration Research, Publication of the UK Home
Office
73
See also Gent S. and Black R., 2005, Defining, measuring and influencing sustainable return, Policy Brief No. 3 July 2005,
Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalistion and Poverty, University of Sussex
74
Condon S., 2005, Transatlantic French Caribbean connections: return migration in the context of increasing circulation between
France and the islands. In: Potter, R. B., Conway, D., and Phillips, J. (eds) The experience of return migration: Caribbean
perspectives. Aldershot, UK, and Burlington,VT: Ashgate, pp. 225–244.
75
Conway D. and Potter R., 2006, Caribbean Transnational Return Migrants as Agents of Change, Geography Compass 1
76
Phillips, J. and Potter, R. B. (2005). Incorporating race and gender into Caribbean return migration: the example of second-
generation ―Bajan-Brits.‖ In: Potter, R. B., Conway, D., and Phillips, J. (eds) The experience of return migration: Caribbean
perspectives. Aldershot, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, pp. 69–88.
77
UNMIK, 2006, Revised Manual on Sustainable Return
78
Vadean F. and Piracha M., 2009, Circular Migration or Permanent Return: What Determines Different Forms of Migration?, IZA
Discussion Paper Series, IZA DP No. 4287