Family Migration in a Cross-National Perspective: The Importance of Institutional and Cultural Context

Abstract

Migration rates of dual-earner couples are lower than those of male-breadwinner couples. We revisit this issue using a cross-national comparative perspective and argue that national levels of support towards female employment and normative expectations about gender roles moderate the relationships between couple type and family migration. To test this, we use harmonised longitudinal data from four large-scale datasets from Australia, Britain, Germany and Sweden covering the 1992-2011 period. Consistent with prior research, we find that male-breadwinner couples migrate more often than dual-earner couples in all countries, suggesting that traditional gender structures affecting family migration operate across very different contexts. After adjusting for theory-based confounders, we find no difference in the prevalence of family migration across couple types in Sweden, where institutions most actively promote female labour force participation and gender egalitarian practice and attitudes are dominant. We take this as evidence that institutional and cultural contexts that support female employment encourage gender equity in family migration decisions.