Uzbekistan new indd

feminization of highly Skilled migration
The increasing number of women emigrating, includ-
ing highly skilled women, has generated a growing in-
terest by scholars and policymakers in the gender di-
mension of migration flows. According to the United 
Nations, between 1960 and 2005, the share of women 
in international migration increased from 46.8% to 
49.6% and outnumbered the number of male emi-
grants from developing countries.
12
 This trend is par-
ticularly noticeable for highly skilled women from de-
veloping countries.
13
 Dumont
14 
found that the average 
emigration rate of tertiary-educated women from non-
OECD countries exceeded that of men by 4.5%, where-
as there was no gender gap in emigration rates of men 
and women with primary and secondary education.
15
 
Those worldwide tendencies also hold true for the 
post-Soviet space. The proportion of women emigrants 
from the former Soviet Union increased dramatically 
over the past 25 years.
16
 Docquier et al.
17
 found that 
in 2000 the share of skilled female emigrants from 
Central Asia stood at 50.2% as opposed to 46.5% for 
their male counterparts. In Central Asia, the increase 
of the rate of skilled women emigrating as compared 
to the number of skilled men emigrating or the total 
number of women emigrating is particulary high.
18
 
11 Because of the lack of reliable and comprehensive statistics on the share of female and male emigrants with tertiary degrees, the present study is 
based on in-depth interviews.
12 See: Nejad and Young, “Female Brain Drains and Women’s Rights Gaps”; C. Spadavecchia, “Migration of Women from Sub-Saharan Africa to 
Europe: The Role of Highly Skilled Women,” Sociología y tecnociencia/Sociology and Technoscience 3, no. 3 (2013): 96–116; J. Bang and A. Mitra, 
“Gender bias and the female brain drain,” Applied Economics Letters 18, no. 9 (2011): 829–33; Ç. Özden and I. Neagu, “Immigrant Women’s 
Participation and Performance in the US Labor Market,” in A. Morrison, M. Schiff, and M. Sjoblom, eds., The International Migration of Women 
(Washington, D.C.: World Bank and Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), 153–83; F. Docquier, A. Marfouk, S. Salomone and K. Sekkat, “Are skilled women 
more migratory than skilled men?!,” World Development 40, no. 2 (2010): 251–265.
13 Docquier, Marfouk, Salomone, and Sekkat, “Are skilled women more migratory than skilled men?!”. 
14 Dumont, Martin, and Spielvogel, “Women on the Move: The Neglected Gender Dimension of the Brain Drain.”
15 Beneria, Deere, and Kabeer, “Gender and International Migration: Globalization, Development and Governance.”
16 A. Morrison, M. Schiff, and M. Sjoblom, “Overview,” in A. Morrison, M. Schiff, and M. Sjoblom, eds., The International Migration of Women 
(Washington, D.C.: World Bank and Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), 1–10.
17 Docquier, Marfouk, Salomone, and Sekkat, “Are skilled women more migratory than skilled men?!”. 
18 F. Docquier, L. Lowell, and A. Marfouk, “A Gendered Assessment of the Brain Drain,” IZA Discussion Paper No. 3235. Institute for the Study of 
Labour (IZA), Bonn, 2007.

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Marina Kayumova
54
Based on the data of Brücker, Capuano, and 
Marfouk I constructed a graph depicting the emigra-
tion of highly skilled labour as a percentage of total 
emigrants of Uzbekistan.
20
The graph clearly depicts the growing number 
of women emigrating and the widening gap be-
tween highly skilled female and male emigrants from 
Uzbekistan. These statistics suggest the need for an 
in-depth analysis of the gendered aspects of highly 
skilled emigration in Uzbekistan.
The literature points to two major motivations 
for highly skilled women to emigrate:
•  Traditional and conservative gender roles,
•  The lack of professional opportunities result-
ing from gender inequalities.
Gender differences in migration patterns are most 
likely to emerge from gender discrimination in the 
country of origin.
21
 Uzbekistan is a country and soci-
ety with very traditional gender roles. Such tradition-
al gender roles are also part of a new “nationalistic” 
narrative and a response to “westernization” be it in 
a Russian or global variant.
22
 Independent female 
migration is not encouraged and is not in tune with 
the image of a “traditional woman.”
23
 Most female 
respondents who took part in this study, while be-
ing supported by their families in their decision to 
independently move away from Uzbekistan, were 
also subject to many negative reactions from distant 
relatives, friends and acquaintances. To quote one 
female participant of the study: “They were trying to