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Immigrants and Gender Roles: Assimilation vs. Culture

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  • Francine D. Blau

Abstract

This paper examines evidence on the role of assimilation versus source country culture in influencing immigrant women’s behavior in the United States—looking both over time with immigrants’ residence in the United States and across immigrant generations. It focuses particularly on labor supply but, for the second generation, also examines fertility and education. Considerable evidence is found that immigrant source country gender roles influence immigrant and second generation women’s behavior in the United States. At the same time, the results suggest considerable evidence of assimilation of immigrants.

Suggested Citation

  • Francine D. Blau, 2015. "Immigrants and Gender Roles: Assimilation vs. Culture," CESifo Working Paper Series 5620, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_5620
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    1. Immigrants and Gender Roles: Assimilation vs. Culture
      by maximorossi in NEP-LTV blog on 2016-02-12 18:25:12

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    Cited by:

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    3. Dias, Felipe A & Chance, Joseph, 2021. "COVID-19, Public Charge Rules, and Immigrant Employment in the United States," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt37f8w4sf, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    4. Adrian Haws & David R. Just & Joseph Price, 2025. "Who (actually) gets the farm? Intergenerational farm succession in the United States," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 107(1), pages 3-26, January.
    5. Nicola Fuchs‐Schündeln & Paolo Masella & Hannah Paule‐Paludkiewicz, 2020. "Cultural Determinants of Household Saving Behavior," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 52(5), pages 1035-1070, August.
    6. Åslund, Olof & Karimi, Arizo & Sundberg, Anton, 2025. "Origin, norms, and the motherhood penalty," Working Paper Series 2025:1, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    7. Fausto Galli & Giuseppe Russo, 2019. "Immigration restrictions and second-generation cultural assimilation: theory and quasi-experimental evidence," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(1), pages 23-51, January.
    8. Valentine Fays & Benoît Mahy & François Ryckx, 2024. "Do migrants displace native-born workers on the labour market? The impact of workers’ origin," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2024004, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    9. Boelmann, Barbara & Raute, Anna & Schönberg, Uta, 2020. "Wind of Change? Cultural Determinants of Maternal Labor Supply," IAB-Discussion Paper 202030, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    10. Lee, Taehoon & Peri, Giovanni & Viarengo, Martina, 2022. "The gender aspect of migrants’ assimilation in Europe," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    11. Xin Jin & Xu Xu, 2016. "The Autocratic Root of Social Distrust," Working Papers 0516, University of South Florida, Department of Economics.
    12. Grossbard Shoshana Amyra & Vernon Victoria, 2020. "Do immigrants pay a price when marrying natives? Lessons from the US time use survey," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-37, January.
    13. Li, Houjian & Zuo, Xingyi & Cao, Andi, 2024. "Empowering women brings change: The role of female cadres in enhancing elderly care public goods in Chinese villages," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 1063-1083.
    14. Barbara Boelmann & Anna Raute & Uta Schönberg, 2020. "Wind of Change? Cultural Determinants of Maternal Labor Supply," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 2020, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    15. Berggren, Niclas & Ljunge, Martin & Nilsson, Therese, 2022. "Immigrants’ Tolerance and Integration into Society," Working Paper Series 1447, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    16. Huber, Stefanie J. & Paule-Paludkiewicz, Hannah, 2024. "Gender norms and the gender gap in higher education," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    17. Smolny, Werner & Rieber, Alexander, 2016. "Labour market integration of immigrants - Evidence for the German guest workers," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145629, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    18. Ana Ferrer & Yazhuo (Annie) Pan & Tammy Schirle, 2023. "The Work Trajectories of Married Canadian Immigrant Women, 2006–2019," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 697-716, December.
    19. Berggren, Niclas & Ljunge, Martin & Nilsson, Therese, 2023. "Immigrants from more tolerant cultures integrate deeper into destination countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 1095-1108.
    20. Barbara Boelmann & Anna Christina Raute & Uta Schönberg, 2021. "Wind of Change? Cultural Determinants of Maternal Labor Supply," CESifo Working Paper Series 9094, CESifo.
    21. Kevin André Pineda-Hernández & François Rycx & Mélanie Volral, 2022. "Moving Up the Social Ladder? Wages of First- and Second-Generation Immigrants from Developing Countries," Working Papers CEB 22-012, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    22. Thomas Baudin & Keiti Kondi, 2023. "Integration Vs Cultural Persistence: Fertility and Working Time among Second-Generation Migrants in France," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2023002, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    23. Barbara Boelmann & Anna Raute & Uta Schönberg, 2021. "Wind of Change? Cultural Determinants of Maternal Labor Supply," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 090, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    24. Xu, Xu & Jin, Xin, 2018. "The autocratic roots of social distrust," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 362-380.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender; immigration; labor supply; wages; social capital; culture; human capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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