the migration literature has typically overlooked gender dynamics assuming that most women migrate only for family reunification reasons as wives mothers or daughters of male migrants zlotnik however the increasing magnitude of international migration in the recent decades led to a growing focus on women as independent migrants grieco and boyd cerrutti and massey erulkar et al looking at the noneconomic determinants of female migration previous studies differentiate three broad categories of factors individual factors including age marital status role and position in the family educational status and employment experience family factors including size structure status and societal factors including the community norms and cultural values that determine whether a woman can migrate or not and if she can how and with whom she can do it grieco and boyd few exceptions have looked at gender inequality as a driver of female migration with a particular focus on discrimination in the workplace