Research

Abstract: Migration aspirations, the hope and ambition to leave the origin country, are recognized as the key initial step that may lead to actual migration. Drawing on data from a nationally representative survey conducted in Lebanon among 1,500 women aged 18-35, this study investigates the role of social networks and life aspirations (education, career, marriage and fertility) in shaping migration aspirations, in a context of severe economic crisis and massive emigration wave. Based on a stylized model that integrates aspirations into a standard utility maximization problem, we postulate that individuals aspire to migrate if their life aspirations cannot be locally fulfilled. Furthermore, we focus on local networks to examine their influence on women’s migration aspirations. Our analysis reveals a peer effect, where a higher share of women’s network planning migration increases their migration aspirations. Additionally, unlikely career and education aspirations, but not family aspirations, are associated with a stronger desire to emigrate. These findings highlight the need for a nuanced approach to understanding the interplay between social networks, aspirations, and migration decisions. They offer valuable insights for researchers and policymakers aiming to address the drivers of women’s emigration in Lebanon and other crisis contexts. 

Abstract: The Egyptian Revolution (2011-2014) has been shown to have triggered important socio-economic changes directly affecting women, who have played an unprecedented role in protests. Nonetheless, no consensus has been found on the consequences of exposure to Arab Spring protests on women's outcomes. Using a novel dataset from the Egypt Labour Market Panel Survey (2006, 2012, 2018), this paper investigates the middle-term changes in women's decision-making, self-perceived gender roles and freedom of mobility after the Arab Spring. While the first stages of the Egyptian revolution were accompanied by a positive shock to female's political representation and associated with weaker stereotypes, the election of the Muslim Brotherhood candidate and the state-led counter-revolution against women challenged gender equality and emancipation. Relying on district-level data, from the Statistical Database of the Egyptian Revolution on demonstrators who died during protests, I exploit the variation in exposure to extreme incidents to run a difference-in-difference strategy using pooled OLS. I find that women exposed to violent protests, participate less to household decision-making in 2018 compared to 2006 and 2012. Their views on gender roles also become more conservative, notably when it comes to the compatibility of work outside the house with motherhood and marriage. Additionally, an increase of exposure to protests' intensity is associated with a decline in freedom of mobility for women post-revolution. Preliminary analysis of mechanisms shows that this conservatism backlash seems to occur after the 2012 presidential election.