Migration-induced transfers of norms: the case of female political empowerment

Abstract This paper empirically investigates the effect of transnational migrants on gender equality in the country of origin measured by the share of women enrolled in the lower chamber of National Parliaments. We test for a “migration-induced transfer of norm” using panel data from 1970 to 2010 in 10-year intervals. Total international migration has a positive and significant effect on female political empowerment in countries of origin conditional on the initial female parliamentary participation in both origin and destination countries. Endogeneity issues are taken into account and results are tested under specific geo-political subsamples.