Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-v5vhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-22T04:33:10.816Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Gendered Selectivity: U.S. Mexican Immigrants and Mexican Nonmigrants, 1960–2000

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Cynthia Feliciano
Cynthia Feliciano*
Affiliation:
University of California, Irvine
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Previous research suggests that Mexican female migrants face more barriers than their male counterparts. However, few studies examine how the educational characteristics of female migrants differ from those of male migrants and how selectivity may have changed in the context of evolving gender dynamics in both countries. This study uses U.S. and Mexican census data from 1960 to 2000 to compare the educational attainments of recent Mexican immigrants to Mexican nonmigrants. Both male and female immigrants are positively selected—that is, more educated than nonmigrants in Mexico—and that selectivity increased from 1960 to 2000. Women are more highly selected than men throughout the past four decades, but earlier female migrants tended to have more education than more recent female migrants, who tend to come from the middle of the educational distribution.

Resumo

Resumo

Investigaciones previas sugieren que las mujeres emigrantes mexicanas encuentran más desafíos que sus contrapartes masculinas. Sin embargo, pocos estudios examinan las diferencias del nivel educativo entre hombres y mujeres y cómo la decisión de emigrar podría haber cambiado con la evolución de las dinámicas de género en ambos países. Este estudio utiliza datos de los censos de Estados Unidos y México desde los años 1960 al 2000 para comparar los logros educativos de mexicanos que recientemente emigraron y los de aquellos que no emigraron. Los resultados de la investigación muestran que los emigrantes, tanto masculinos como femeninos, tienen mayor nivel de educación que aquellos que no emigraron, y que estas diferencias aumentaron entre el año 1960 y el 2000. Durante las últimas cuatro décadas, la diferencia educativa entre las emigrantes y aquellas que no emigraron fue más grande que la diferencia entre los emigrantes masculinos y aquellos que no emigraron.. Sin embargo, las primeras emigrantes tenían un mayor nivel educativo que las de años recientes quienes en contraste, poseen un nivel educativo intermedio.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 43 , Issue 1 , 2008 , pp. 139 - 160
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

*

The author thanks participants at the University of California, Irvine, Immigration Brown Bag Series and the anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on previous versions of this work.

References

Bean, Frank D., and Stevens, Gillian 2003 America's Newcomers and the Dynamics of Diversity. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Bean, Frank D., Corona, Rodolfo, Tuiran, Rodolfo, Woodrow-Lafield, Karen A., and Hook, Jennifer Van 2001 “Circular, Invisible, and Ambiguous Migrants: Components of Difference in Estimates of the Number of Unauthorized Mexican Migrants in the United States.” Demography 38 (3): 411–422.10.1353/dem.2001.0023CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bean, Frank D., and Hook, Jennifer Van 1998 “Estimating Underenumeration among Unauthorized Mexican Migrants to the United States: Applications of Mortality Analyses.” In Migration between the United States and Mexico, Binational Study, Thematic Chapters, 2:551–571. Mexico City and Washington, DC: Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform.Google Scholar
Borjas, George J. 1987 “Self-Selection and the Earnings of Immigrants.” The American Economic Review 77 (4): 531–553.Google Scholar
Borjas, George J. 1991 “Immigration and Self-Selection.” In Immigration, Trade, and the Labor Market, edited by Abowd, John M., 29–76. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.10.3386/w3761CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borjas, George J. 1996 “The Earnings of Mexican Immigrants in the United States.” Journal of Development Economics 51 (1): 69–98.10.1016/S0304-3878(96)00426-9CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bray, David 1984 “Economic Development: The Middle Class and International Migration in the Dominican Republic.” International Migration Review 18 (2): 217–236.10.1177/019791838401800202CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bustamante, Jorge A., Jasso, Guillermina, Taylor, J. Edward, and Legarreta, Paz Trigueros 1998 “Characteristics of Migrants: Mexicans in the United States.” In Migration between Mexico and the United States: Binational Study, edited by Mexico-United States Binational Migration Study, 91–162. Mexico City and Washington, DC: Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform.Google Scholar
Canales, Alejandro I. 2003 “Mexican Labour Migration to the United States in the Age of Globalisation.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 29 (4): 741–761.10.1080/1369183032000123486CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cerrutti, Marcela, and Massey, Douglas S. 2004 “Trends in Mexican Migration to the United States, 1965–1995.” In Crossing the Border: Research from the Mexican Migration Project, edited by Durand, Jorge and Massey, Douglas S., 17–44. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Chiquiar, Daniel, and Hanson, Gordon H. 2005 “International Migration, Self-Selection, and the Distribution of Wages: Evidence from Mexico and the United States.” Journal of Political Economy 113 (2): 239–281.10.1086/427464CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiswick, Barry R. 1978 “The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign-Born Men.” Journal of Political Economy 86 (5): 897–921.10.1086/260717CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiswick, Barry R. 2000 “Are Immigrants Favorably Self-Selected?” In Migration Theory: Talking across Disciplines, edited by Brettell, Caroline B. and Hollifield, James F., 61–76. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Curran, Sara R., and Rivero-Fuentes, Estela 2003 “Engendering Migrant Networks: The Case of Mexican Migration.” Demography 40 (2): 289–307.10.1353/dem.2003.0011CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Donato, Katharine M. 1993 “Current Trends and Patterns of Female Migration: Evidence from Mexico.” International Migration Review 27 (4): 748–771.10.1177/019791839302700402CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Durand, Jorge, Massey, Douglas S., and Zenteno, Rene M. 2001 “Mexican Immigration to the United States: Continuities and Changes.” Latin American Research Review 36 (1): 107–127.Google Scholar
Feliciano, Cynthia 2005 “Educational Selectivity in U.S. Immigration: How Do Immigrants Compare to Those Left Behind?” Demography 42 (1): 131–152.10.1353/dem.2005.0001CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fussell, Elizabeth 2004 “Sources of Mexico's Migration Stream: Rural, Urban, and Border Migrants to the United States.” Social Forces 82 (3): 937–967.10.1353/sof.2004.0039CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fussell, Elizabeth, and Massey, Douglas S. 2004 “The Limits to Cumulative Causation: International Migration from Mexican Urban Areas.” Demography 41 (1): 151–171.10.1353/dem.2004.0003CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gonzalez, Gilbert G. 2006 Guest Workers or Colonized Labor? Mexican Labor Migration to the United States. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.Google Scholar
Gonzalez, Gilbert G., and Fernandez, Raul A. 2003 A Century of Chicano History: Empire, Nations, and Migration. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Granberry, Phillip, and Marcelli, Enrico A. Forthcoming “ Tn the Hood and on the Job': Social Capital among Legal and Unauthorized Mexican Immigrants.” Sociological Perspectives.Google Scholar
Heer, David M. 2002 “When Cumulative Causation Conflicts with Relative Economic Opportunity: Recent Change in the Hispanic Population of the United States.” Migraciones Internacionales 1 (3): 32–53.Google Scholar
Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette 1994 Gendered Transitions: Mexican Experiences of Immigration. Berkeley: University of California Press.10.1525/9780520911529CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette 2003 “Gender and Immigration: A Retrospective and Introduction.” In Gender and U. S. Immigration: Contemporary Trends, edited by Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette, 3–19. Berkeley: University of California Press.10.1525/9780520929869CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kanaiaupuni, Shawn M. 2000 “Reframing the Migration Question: An Analysis of Men, Women, and Gender in Mexico.” Social Forces 78 (4): 1311–1347.10.2307/3006176CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lieberson, Stanley 1976 “Rank-Sum Comparisons between Groups.” Sociological Methodology 7:276–291.10.2307/270713CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lieberson, Stanley 1980 A Piece of the Pie: Blacks and White Immigrants since 1880. Berkeley: University of California Press.10.1525/9780520352865CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liebig, Thomas, and Sousa-Poza, Alfonso 2004 “Migration, Self-Selection and Income Inequality: An International Analysis.” Kyklos 57 (1): 125–146.10.1111/j.0023-5962.2004.00246.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marcelli, Enrico A., and Cornelius, Wayne A. 2001 “The Changing Profile of Mexican Migrants to the United States: New Evidence from California and Mexico.” Latin American Research Review 36 (3): 105–131.Google Scholar
Marcelli, Enrico A., and Ong, Paul M. 2002 “Estimating the Sources of the 2000 Census Undercount among Foreign-Born Mexicans in Los Angeles County.” In Annual Meetings of the Population Association of America. Atlanta: Population Association of America.Google Scholar
Marroni, María da Gloria, and Meneses, Guillermo Alonzo 2006 “El fin del sueño americano: Mujeres migrantes muertas en la frontera de México-Estados Unidos.” Migraciones Internacionales 3 (3): 5–30.Google Scholar
Massey, Douglas S. 1987a “Do Undocumented Immigrants Earn Lower Wages Than Legal Immigrants?” International Migration Review 21 (Summer): 236–274.10.1177/019791838702100201CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massey, Douglas S. 1987b “Understanding Mexican Migration to the United States.” American Journal of Sociology 92 (6): 1372–1403.10.1086/228669CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massey, Douglas S. 1993 “Theories of International Migration: A Review and Appraisal.” Population and Development Review 19 (3): 431–466.10.2307/2938462CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massey, Douglas S. 1998 “Contemporary Theories of International Migration.” In Worlds in Motion: Understanding International Migration at the End of the Millennium, edited by Massey, Douglas S., Arango, Joaquin, Hugo, Graeme, Kouaouci, Ali, Pellegrino, Adela, and Taylor, J. Edward, 17–59. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Massey, Douglas S. 1999 “Why Does Immigration Occur? A Theoretical Synthesis.” In Handbook of International Migration, edited by Hirschman, Charles, Kasinitz, Philip, and DeWind, Josh, 34–52. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Massey, Douglas, Durand, Jorge, and Malone, Nolan J. 2002 Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Massey, Douglas S. and Espinosa, Kristen E. 1997 “What's Driving Mexico-U.S. Migration? A Theoretical, Empirical, and Policy Analysis.” American Journal of Sociology 102 (4): 939–999.10.1086/231037CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menjivar, Cecilia 2000 Fragmented Ties: Salvadoran Immigrant Networks in America. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Minnesota Population Center 2006 Integrated Public Use Microdata Series-International: Version 2.0. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.Google Scholar
Orrenius, Pia M., and Zavodny, Madeline 2005 “Self-Selection among Undocumented Immigrants from Mexico.” Journal of Development Economics 78 (1): 215–240.10.1016/j.jdeveco.2004.07.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palloni, Alberto, Massey, Douglas S., Ceballos, Miguel, Espinosa, Kristin, and Spittel, Michael 2001 “Social Capital and International Migration: A Test Using Information on Family Networks.” American Journal of Sociology 106 (5): 1262–1298.10.1086/320817CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker, Susan W., and Pederzini, Carla 2000 Gender Differences in Education in Mexico. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Pessar, Patricia 1986 “The Role of Gender in Dominican Settlement in the United States.” In Women and Change in Latin America, edited by Nash, June and Safa, Helen, 173–194. South Hadley, MA: Bergin & Garvey Publishers Inc.Google Scholar
Piore, Michael J. 1979 Birds of Passage: Migrant Labor and Industrial Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511572210CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Portes, Alejandro 1979 “Illegal Immigrants and the International System: Lessons from Recent Legal Mexican Immigrants to the United States.” Social Problems 26 (April): 425–438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, Bryan R., Frank, Reanne, and Lozano-Ascencio, Fernando 1999 “Transnational Migrant Communities and Mexican Migration to the US.” Ethnic & Racial Studies 22 (2): 238–266.10.1080/014198799329477CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treiman, Donald J., and Lee, Hye-kyung 1996 “Income Differences among 31 Ethnic Groups in Los Angeles.” in Social Differentiation and Social Inequality: Essays in Honor of John Pock, edited by Baron, James N., Grusky, David B., and Treiman, Donald J., 37–82. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Warren, Robert 2003 “Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: 1990–2000.” Washington, DC: Office of Policy and Planning, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.Google Scholar