70
Opening Doors: Gender Equality and Development in the Middle East and North Africa
FIGURE 2.6
Labor Force Participation of MENA Female Immigrants to the United States 90 80 70 Percent
60 50 40 30 20
roc co
bR Ara
Mo
ep .
a eri
pt,
Alg
ub ep bR
Ara ian
Syr
Eg y
lic
ia iA
rab
on
ud
ait
an
Sa
Leb
Ku w
n Jor da
q Ira
Ira
n,
Isla
mi
cR
ep .
10 0
Married
Single
Sources: Staff calculations based on 5% US Census in 2000; ACS surveys 2001–09 (US Census Bureau).
In both France and the US, the marital gap for these two group’s decreased by more than half. It may be argued that the changing employment outcomes reflect a simple selection bias: women who move away from the MENA Region are the same women who would have worked had they stayed in MENA. However, it is unlikely that selection bias, which would be systematically evident in different immigrant characteristics, explains much of the story. The female labor force participation rates for MENA emigrants do not differ dramatically from those of other immigrants to France and the United States. Moreover in these two countries, the changing trend across generations toward a narrower gap does not differ significantly between emigrants from MENA and elsewhere (figures 2.7 and 2.8). In addition, marital rates for emigrants closely mirror marital rates in MENA. Female emigrants from MENA who live in the United States are as highly educated as their counterparts in the Region, whereas in France they are less educated. Thus, the narrowing trend of the marital gap between immigrants to the United States and France suggests that, in an environment with job opportunities, greater mobility, and limited social sanctions, married women are better able to translate their aspirations into reality. This finding points to the important influence of deep-rooted social and cultural norms. These norms, in turn, can influence and be reinforced by legal constraints to women’s mobility and agency.