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Gender and Migration Culture in the Peripheral
North: Challenges and Opportunities
Erika Anne Hayfield, Ph.D.
University of the Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands’ culture of migration
Key demographic issues
Changing demography of the Faroe Islands
Percent of cohort still in Faroe Islands
• Youth outmigration
• Female deficit
• Mobility as integral part
of Faroese culture (3000
LDW)
90
80
70
Percent of cohort
– Females more likely to
pursue tertiery
education than males
54%/46%
– Tertiery ratio education
abroad females/males
60%/40%
100
60
50
Boys
40
Girls
30
20
10
0
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Age primo January 2014
27
28
Gender gap 1901-2014
Female deficit for total population
3 000
Female deficit for population below 70 yrs
2 500
2 000
1 500
1 000
500
0
-500
-1 000
1901 1906 1911 1916 1921 1925 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1966 1970 1977 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2014
Faroe Islands culture of migration
Culture of migration
Youth outmigration as “natural” lifecourse
• Positive about growing up in the Faroe Islands (freedom)
• Natural part of growing-up, developing and “becoming”
• Majority of those aged 14-15 said they will leave the
Faroe Islands. All girls and half of the boys
• A necessity for improving and developing, but frequent
intentions of returning
• Youth outmigration as:
–
–
–
–
Pursuit of opportunities
Annonymity (free from social constraints)
Leaving safety net behind
Risk-taking
Culture of migration
Perpetuation of youth outmigration
• Social capital and migration
– Almost all showed reference to
others who currently/have
lived abroad
– The safe option
– Faroese community abroad
• Place polygamy (Beck, 2000)
• Migrants as integral part of
Faroese society
Culture of migration
To return or not to return
• Students: Just over 50% of students return (Studni, 2015)
• Key barriers
– Housing
– Unemployment benefit
– Welfare services (e.g. child care)
– Structures of opportunities
– Traditional culture
• Female, 23 yrs, studying in Denmark: You don’t move to the
Faroes until it is IT that you want to do...Because firstly, it is so
closed to get in and when you have finally got in then it is...it is
not something that you just can let go of (Føroya landsstýri,
2013)
Gender culture and the
welfare system
Gender culture
• Traditional gender culture
• Family capital (Gaini, 2010)
• Paternity leave: Females more against extending
earmarked paternity leave than males (Javnstøðunevndin,
2013)
Gender structures
• Labour market
– Relatively few females in management positions, especially
in private sector
– Few female leading politians compared to other Nordic
countries
– 51% of females work part-time (across all age groups)
– Family cultural model: Female part-time carer model of the
(male) breadwinner family (Phau-Effinger, 2004)
• Welfare services later than surrounding countries
– Nature of male work has held women in carer position
– Welfare services less advanced than other Nordic countries
– Familialism in Faroese welfare model (Sundström, 2006)
Migration and mobility in policy
Imaking
• Work with mobility
– Welfare opportunities for females behind
– Enable mobile lifestyles
• Incorporate the gendered nature of migration into policy
• Create educational opportunities and dynamic study
environment
• Provide opportunities for migrants to return (labour market
policy and facilate return)
Thank you
References
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Ali, S. (2007) “‘Go west young man’: The culture of migration among muslims in Hyderabad,
India”, Journal of ethnic and migration studies, 33 (1): 37 – 58
Beck, Ulrich (2000) ‘What is globalization. Cambridge: Polity Press
Dahlstrøm, M. (1996) “Young women in a male periphery – experiences from the Scandinavian
North”, Journal of rural studies. 12 (3): 259 – 271
Føroya landsstýri (2013) Heildarætlan: Fólkaflyting og fólkavøkstur. Tórshavn: Føroya landsstýri
Gaini, F. (2010) “Hvad har du lært i skolen i dag? Familiekapital og skole på Færøerne, Barn, 3: 729
Hoogensen, G.; Lotherington, A. T.; Hamilton, L. C- Savage. S-; Koukarenko, N. & Kalinina, M.
(2004) “Women’s migratoin from and in the Arctic” (chp. 11) In: Einarsson, N.; Larsen, J. N.;
Nilsson, A. & Young, O. R. (eds.) Arctic human development report. Akureyri: Stefansson Arctic
Institute
Paulgaard, G. (2012) “Geography of opportunity. Approaching adulthood at the margins of the
northern European periphery”. In: Bæck, U. K. and Paulgaard, G. (eds.). Rural futures. Stamsund:
Orkana Akademisk
Pfau-Effinger, B. (2004) Development of culture, welfare states and women’s employment in
Europe. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate
Stockdale, A. (2002) “Towards a typology of out-migration from peripheral areas: A Scottish case
study”, International Journal of Population Geography, 8: 365-364
Studni (2015) Lesandi á hægri útbúgvingum uttanlands – hvussu mong koma heim aftur,
http://www.studni.fo/get.file?ID=11916. Accessed 10. February 2015
Sundström, E. (2006) Välfärdspolitiska förhållanden i Västnorden: Färöarna, Grönland och Island.
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Tuhkunen, A., (2002) “Ideal life and proud feelings in the north”, Young, 10 (3/4): 42 - 60