The Impact of Returnee Migrant Women on the Social and Political Involvement of Women in Post-conflict Countries

Abstract

This paper attempts to quantitatively find an answer for the puzzle: why an increase in the number of returnee migrant/refugee women increases women’s social and political involvement in some post-conflict countries, but not in others? I contend that returnee migrant women in post-conflict countries cause an increase in women’s social and political involvement. I argue this is because of women’s cultural assimilation to the host country where they migrate to and their active involvement and their interaction with other women after return to the country of origin. To test the hypothesis, I use data on percentage of seats held by women in national parliaments in order to measure political involvement of women. Also, female labor force participation rate, and more specifically the percentage of female employees in industry, and percentage of female teachers in tertiary education are used to gauge social involvement of women. In addition, to measure the impact of returnee migrant women, I have used the total number of returnee refugees. This paper will analyze the relationship between the number of returnee refugees and social and political involvement of women in their country of origin to see if an increase in number of returnee refugees has an impact on social and political involvement of women in post-conflict countries or not.