Gendered Experiences, Gendered Perceptions: Transnationalism and Integration Patterns among Latino Immigrants in the U.S.

José Itzigsohn, Brown University
Silvia Elena Giorguli Saucedo, Brown University

The gender dimension has been absent in the traditional literature on international migration. Recent ethnographic studies, however, suggest that immigration is experienced differently by men and women. This paper analyzes the processes of immigrant incorporation and transnationalism as gendered experiences. We analyze the experiences of male and female Dominican, Salvadoran and Colombian immigrants in the U.S. We first build measures of transnationalism and incorporation. Second, we elaborate a model causally linking incorporation to transnationalism and other variables such as socioeconomic status and time in the U.S. The results from the latent variable structural equation model suggest some important differences in the experiences of Latino/a immigrants. For example, experiences of discrimination significantly increases the probabilities of engaging in transnational activities for men, but not so for women. Similarly, socioeconomic status is a significant predictor of men's closeness to American peers, but is not significant for women.