Geographies of Opportunity: A Regional Analysis of Gender-Specific Social and Spatial Mobilities in England and Wales, 1971–81

Abstract

First, a regional analysis of the social mobilities of men and women nonmigrants is carried out. Second, the way in which regional context structures the options open to men and women is discussed, and, third, the fortunes of male and female interregional migrants are traced. The principal empirical results are: (1) that nonmigrant social mobilities have gender-specific spatial structures; (2) that this gender specificity is greater for upward than for downward social mobility; (3) that women are especially likely to be upwardly mobile in the South East region, and particularly so for entry into managerial posts; (4) that migrant social mobilities have gender-specific spatial structures; (5) that flows to the South East involve upward social mobilities both for men and for women but are relatively to the advantage of women's careers; and (6) that flows from the South East often involve the exit of women from the labour market, imply sideways or upward mobility for men, but are strongly to the disadvantage of women's employment careers.

Housing costs and the geography of family migration outcomes

“…Gendered migration theory suggests that the detrimental aspect of family migration for wives will persist due to the differential labor-market attachment of women, the division of labor within dual-earner households, the persistent gender gap in wages, and women's geographic access to job opportunities in urban labor markets (Halfacree, 1995). Fielding and Halford (1993) have questioned whether it is always true that men benefit more than women from interregional migration regardless of origin and destination. Although their focus is the connection between spatial mobility and social mobility, they raise an important question regarding the spatial variation in benefits and returns to migration for men and women.…”

Spatial Flexibility in Job Mobility: Macrolevel Opportunities and Microlevel Restrictions

“…Fielding (1992) has shown for the United Kingdom that at the national level migration towards the employment-rich southeast of England generates positive labour-market outcomes (see also Fielding and Halford, 1993). At the regional level it is important to differentiate between social groups.…”

An analysis of ethnic differences in UK graduate migration behaviour

“…For the UK labour market as a whole, there is some empirical evidence regarding the effects of personal or social characteristics (McCann and Sheppard 2001), such as gender (Fielding 1993;Robinson 1993), on inter-regional migration behaviour. In terms of ethnicity, for the UK labour market as a whole, both Black and Asian ethnic groups are generally found to suffer both higher levels and higher variations in unemployment than Whites, even after controlling for differences in the spatial distribution of these various ethnic groups (Dorling and Thomas 2004) and unemployment rates (Fieldhouse and Gould 1998).…”