The Gender Perspective in Migration: Analysis of Third Country Nationals in Lithuania

Migration studies often benefit from inclusion of the gender perspective. Nevertheless, migration experiences of men and women are still not equally well represented in research on migration processes, policies, and migrant integration. Therefore, this study aims to 1) discuss the potential of the gender perspective in studies on migration and migration-related phenomena, and 2) describe and analyze the situation of third-country nationals in Lithuania from the gender perspective. Two empirical methods are employed in this study -- both an analysis of official registry data on migration, and interviews with experts. The study shows that gender is an important category for explaining both immigration flows from the third countries, as well as migrant integration in Lithuania. Men dominate the economic migration paths, while women are mostly excluded from economic migration to Lithuania due to the interaction of various factors. Economic migration paths, dominated by men, provide more legal protection for the incoming migrants, while family reunification paths taken by women make them dependent upon their families and social networks. The study also shows that possibilities of integration for each migrant group are best described by analyzing the intersections of gender, country of origin, ethnicity, language, religion, migration paths and openness of migrant communities. Adapted from the source document.