I Will Follow Him: Family Ties, Gender-Role Beliefs, and Reluctance to Relocate for a Better Job

Abstract

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Union dissolution and migration

“…First, the empirical evidence indicates that family migration decisions are gendered (Bielby and Bielby 1992;Halfacree 1995;Cooke 2008bCooke , 2008a. While the human capital characteristics of each spouse do influence the migration decisions of families, these decisions are biased toward the human capital characteristics of the husband (e.g., Compton and Pollak 2007).…”

“…Compared to those without children, separated parents tend to change residence over shorter distances (Mulder and Malmberg 2011) and to live closer to each other (Gram-Hanssen and Bech-Danielsen 2008;Stjernström and Strömgren 2012). Importantly, residential relocation associated with union dissolution also appears to be shaped by some of the same gendered dynamics that shape family migration decisions prior to union dissolution (Bielby and Bielby 1992;Halfacree 1995;Cooke 2008aCooke , 2008b: women need relatively more resources, such as income, than men to stay in the home , and therefore women seem to be more likely to leave the joint home than men (Mulder andWagner 2010, 2012). However, women are less likely to leave the family home if the couple has children (GramHanssen and Bech-Danielsen 2008;Mulder and Malmberg 2011).…”

“…This point has implications for the fundamental conceptualization of the family in migration research, suggesting that it extends to individuals who apparently have no desire to maintain their linked lives. Second, this research relies upon a gendered perspective of family migration to contextualize the effects of union dissolution on migration (see Bielby and Bielby 1992;Halfacree 1995;Cooke 2008bCooke , 2008a. The basic premise is that union dissolution provides an opportunity to realize migration ambitions that were previously constrained.…”

Family migration and relative earnings potentials

“…An alternative explanation of family migration is founded in gender role theory and argues that women are socialized to forgo own career opportunities in location decisions. The husband is the provider and families make location decisions with no or little regard to the job opportunities of the wife (Shihadeh, 1991;Bielby and Bielby, 1992;Tenn, 2010). 5 The model presented in this section captures behavior influenced by gender identity norms as a lower relative weight on the returns of the wife.…”

Moving with the military: Race, class, and gender differences in the employment consequences of tied migration

“…Bielby and Bielby (1992), using the 1977 Quality of Employment Survey also used by Markham and Pleck (1986), emphasize the importance of gender role ideology in the migration decision. They find that husbands who have traditional gender role beliefs tend to completely ignore the wife's employment situation, including her earnings (even if they are substantial), in deciding whether or not they would move.…”