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Gender, Environmental Change, and Migration Aspirations and Abilities in Tangier and Tinghir, Morocco

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Lore Van Praag at Erasmus University Rotterdam
Lore Van Praag
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Abstract

Gender plays a role in all aspects of migration but is underrepresented in migration theories, particularly relating to environmental migration. In this research I address how men and women experience vulnerabilities to environmental change differently and how these vulnerabilities are reflected in their aspirations and ability to migrate. I focus on two urban areas in Morocco with distinct migration histories and environmental contexts: Tangier and Tinghir. I conducted qualitative interviews with a total of 48 informants. My findings indicate that vulnerability to environmental change and aspirations and ability to migrate are influenced by access to social, financial, and economic resources, and are structured by gender. Further, my analyses identified interactions among gender, generation, migration networks, and place of residence and explain why populations most affected by environmental change are unable to migrate, increasing gender inequalities within these regions.
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https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-021-00296-z
Gender, Environmental Change, andMigration Aspirations
andAbilities inTangier andTinghir, Morocco
LoreVanPraag1
Accepted: 5 November 2021
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2021
Abstract
Gender plays a role in all aspects of migration but is underrepresented in migration theories, particularly relating to envi-
ronmental migration. In this research I address how men and women experience vulnerabilities to environmental change
differently and how these vulnerabilities are reflected in their aspirations and ability to migrate. I focus on two urban areas
in Morocco with distinct migration histories and environmental contexts: Tangier and Tinghir. I conducted qualitative inter-
views with a total of 48 informants. My findings indicate that vulnerability to environmental change and aspirations and
ability to migrate are influenced by access to social, financial, and economic resources, and are structured by gender. Further,
my analyses identified interactions among gender, generation, migration networks, and place of residence and explain why
populations most affected by environmental change are unable to migrate, increasing gender inequalities within these regions.
Keywords gender· environmental changes· migration aspirations· immobility· Tangier· Tinghir· Morocco
Introduction
Gender is a crucial factor in understanding of migration
dynamics. Men and women have different migration moti-
vations and trajectories, and they migrate under different cir-
cumstances (Van Praag & Timmerman, 2019; Van Praag et
al., 2021; Boyd & Grieco, 2003; Heering et al., 2004; Cur-
ran et al., 2006; Donato et al., 2006; Obokata et al., 2014;
Evertsen & van der Geest, 2020). These gender differences
in migration dynamics can be explained by prevailing gender
relationships and hierarchies, status and roles, and struc-
tural characteristics in the country of origin (Boyd & Grieco,
2003). Gender should be considered as it is shapes social
relations and structures that impact both drivers of migra-
tion and its consequences (Curran et al., 2006; Chindarkar,
2012; Gioli & Milan, 2018; Evertsen & van der Geest,
2020). Men and women have different vulnerabilities with
respect to environmental change and their livelihoods and
associated mobility aspirations and outcomes are impacted
to differing degrees by environmental stressors (Sundari
2005; Chindarkar, 2012).
Building further on this emerging field my research
addresses the question of how men and women experience
distinct vulnerabilities in relation to environmental change
and how this impacts aspirations and abilities to migrate in
two regions of Morocco, Tangier and Tinghir, which have
both faced increasing effects of slow-onset environmental
change over recent decades, including land degradation,
drought, water scarcity, and desertification (IPCC, 2014;
Warner et al., 2012). I first describe key notions in human
ecology (Duncan, 1959) with both a relative (Adger, 2006)
and intersectional (Crenshaw, 2017) approach. For concep-
tual clarity, I use the concept of “environmental change” to
encompass both climate change and all other types of envi-
ronmental change and avoid discussion of whether migration
aspirations and trajectories are specifically due to climate
change.
Introducing Gender totheStudy ofEnvironmental
Migration
According to early work in human ecology, both men and
women search for ways to cope with changing environments,
including technological and organizational adaptations, to
maintain or enhance their standard of living (Duncan, 1959),
although they may have different responses to these changes
(Gioli & Milan, 2018). To understand their responses, a
* Lore Van Praag
lore.vanpraag@uantwerpen.be
1 Centre forMigration andIntercultural Studies, University
ofAntwerp, Lange Nieuwsstraat 55, 2000Antwerp, Belgium
/ Published online: 29 November 2021
Human Ecology (2022) 50:23–34
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... The social networks, relations, and positionalities, in which both migrants and nonmigrants are embedded, are preconditions for, as well as outcomes of local and translocal social practices, and are the basis for translocal flows and exchange. Understanding these systems necessitates taking into account local and translocal networks; multiple social scales (42); intersectional differences (16,43,44); the three key dimensions of social, economic, and ecological migration outcomes (45, see also 46); as well as the time horizon of system trajectories. By including these three dimensions of sustainability and time, we avoid serious conflations (e.g., assessing generalized migration outcomes without considering the possibly large differences between economic and social dimensions, or looking only at short-term effects without considering longer-term demographic or ecological effects), and we open the concept of social resilience up for stronger integration with sustainability science. ...
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