Gender, Migration and the Global Race for Talent

The race in the labour market to attract skilled immigrants seeks the best workers on a global scale. In the pursuit of these individuals, governments may incidentally discriminate on gender grounds. Gender, migration and the global race for talent presents the first book-length account of the global race for talent from a gender perspective.Existing gendered differences in the global labour market relate to life course trajectories and pay gaps. Gendered divisions in occupational specialisation are also present in skilled immigration selection policies. This book analyses the gendered terrain of skilled immigration policies across twelve countries and thirty seven skilled immigration visas. It argues that while skilled immigration policies are often gendered, this outcome is not inevitable and that governments possess considerable scope in policy design. Explaining the reasons why governments adopt more or less gender aware skilled immigration policies, it brings attention to the engagement of feminist groups and ethnocultural organisations in the policy process. It draws upon 128 elite interviews undertaken with representatives of these organisations, as well as government officials, parliamentarians, trade unions and business associations in Australia and Canada over the period 1988-2013.Gender, migration and the global race for talent will be read by students, academics, policy-makers and practitioners in the fields of immigration studies, political science, public policy, sociology and gender studies, as well as Australian and Canadian studies.