Dealing with Female Brain-Drain in Rural Europe: Results from the CENTRAL EUROPE Project WOMEN

The volume refers to studies established in the framework of the WOMEN Project. The WOMEN Project was implemented through the CENTRAL EUROPE Programme co-financed by ERDF (European Regional Development Fund)
Erscheinungsjahr 2015
ISBN: 978-3-86082-094-0
Verlag: Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde

Buch, Englisch, Band 26, 114 Seiten, GB

Reihe: forum ifl

Selective migration and gendered mobility are phenomena which have been observed in rural Europe for decades. Women tend to leave rural areas at higher rates than men. These sex-selective differences in the migration patterns of young adults can be traced back to changes in the working world connected to the transition from agrarian and industrial to post-industrial labour market structures in conjunction with increasing educational aspirations of young women. Beyond that, previous research also points to traditional gender stereotypes and certain lifestyles as additional factors which influence the out-migration of young women from rural areas. Gendered migration is likely to hamper rural development and to negatively affect the social sustainability of rural areas. Moreover, there are concerns that a skills shortage in particular in female-dominated areas of the labour market is likely to become a negative locational factor. The out-migration of young well-educated women is supposed to exacerbate the economic, demographic and social problems of the regions concerned. Against this backdrop, the CENTRAL EUROPE project WOMEN was intended to develop concrete measures and to evaluate strategies that are useful to counteract the female brain-drain in rural Europe. The project activities were aimed at improving the regional job prospects of young women and at triggering positive effects on regional development via awareness raising campaigns that target young women in particular.

Based on the results of the WOMEN project the out-migration of young women from rural areas is highlighted from different angles within this volume. A detailed analysis of regional demographic typologies has been conducted to identify general demographic trends within Europe as well as diverging regional pathways. Against this backdrop, migration patterns, the socioeconomic structures and the conditions on the labour market of the six case study regions in Austria, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia, have been analysed with respect to the situation of young women based on statistical data and expert surveys. Those analyses were intended to shed light on the social, economic and demographic conditions in the case study regions and to set the frame for the implementation of concrete pilot actions. Based on the lessons learnt from the projects’ pilot actions, a joint transnational strategy intended to counteract the out-migration of young women from rural regions is introduced.

Zielgruppe

Fachwissenschaftler
Poliker
Unternehmen

Autoren/Hrsg.

Glöckner, Rick

Schaarwächter, Matthias

Schmidt, Anika

Wiest , Karin