Migrant Rights and Access to Citizenship: Gendered Naturalization Decisions

• In Event: Naturalization and the Drivers of Naturalization

Abstract

Citizenship is an important institutional mechanism for improving migrant rights. While our knowledge of naturalization requirements and migrants’ naturalization decisions has advanced, our understanding of the barriers to naturalization is incomplete. In this paper, we develop a gendered perspective to advance our knowledge. We hypothesize that when women’s gender status improves in the country of destination, women migrants are more likely to naturalize to protect that status, ceteris paribus. In contrast, we hypothesize that men’s naturalization decisions are colored by the country of destination’s passport value in terms of economic opportunities and prestige, relative to their country of origin, ceteris paribus. We evaluate our hypotheses via a quantitative analysis of naturalization decisions reflected in the American Community Survey, with the UN Gender Inequality Index providing a measure of women’s change in status through migration and the Henley Passport Index providing a measure of men’s change in access to travel and economic opportunity. Our preliminary evidence is consistent with our hypotheses, controlling for known determinants of naturalization decisions.

Authors

• Jeannette Money, University of California, Davis

• Sara Kazemian, University of California, Davis