This programme explores the effects of spatial mobility on the reconfiguration of gender vulnerabilities. It studies and compares different forms of spatial mobility (expatriation, migration, residential change, educational mobility) in order to establish their links to vulnerability processes. Resources may be mobilized to deal with mobility challenges. They can be of a material, relational or cognitive nature, implying the need to study vulnerability as distinct from social exclusion or precarity.
IP6–Gender & mobility identified two gaps:
- Clarification of “self-initiated expatriation” (represented as temporary and reversible) and “onward” or circulatory migration (viewed as durable and unidirectional).
- Introduction of a spatial dimension into the analysis of critical events, chronic stressors and coping mechanisms from an intersectional perspective.
Research questions
Are there meso-level patterns of accumulated gender dis/advantages over the life course?
Mid-range institutional environments and notably occupational cultures probably mediate the accumulation of gendered and intersectional disadvantages across the adult life course. This project explores the potential plurality of gender norms in different professional contexts. “Gender scripts” describe the ways in which occupational norms and structures (at the meso-level) can influence elements of the societal-level “gender regimes”. In fact, the notion of “gender regime” is not satisfactory enough for understanding the experiences of individuals who do not conform to social norms (e.g. mothers who work full-time in Switzerland, or illegal migrants who hold down jobs). Another hypothesis is that occupational settings provide unequal opportunities for individuals to adopt practices that are in conformity to, or in contradiction with, the normative foundations of the Swiss societal “gender regime”. (see also the DAISIE research project.)
How does transnational mobility influence spillover effects between life domains, particularly when individuals are confronted with potentially competing gender norms at different points in their trajectory?
This question enables to further explore the importance of “mobility skills” or “motility” for resisting vulnerability processes. This study investigates whether the increased unpredictability and desynchronization of gendered life courses is exacerbated by spatial mobility. The potential conflicts between the societal (gender regime) and the occupational (gender script) levels may reveal the “misleading” nature of a number of normative expectations. A particular focus is on what extend men and women perceive boundaries across life domains and whether or not they anticipate strains and resources being transferred from one domain to another.
What is the interrelation between spatial mobility and the accumulation, conversion and reactivation of reserves across time, gender and generations?
This study investigates the role of spatial mobility as a source of vulnerability, but also as a reserve for individuals to accumulate, store and reactivate at particular points in their life course. The main hypothesis is that mobility is a starting point from which the life courses of those concerned will progress in divergent directions according to their origins and accumulated resources. The composition and density of personal networks appear to be particularly important for the social integration of mobile individuals.
