Gender Specific Remittances from Germany before and after the Economic Crisis

The ongoing international and European economic crisis (2008-2015) affects the social situation of migrants. From global perspective the UN states: “Shrinking markets in high- and middle income countries have also led to job losses by foreign women migrants from poorer regions and countries.“ (UNAIDS 2012: 5). In certain contrast the European Commission argues that “The most vulnerable group in this crisis are male migrants.” (European Union 2013: 17). So far, only few gender-oriented studies on remittances from industrialized countries in times of the actual crisis exist (for Spain Gioconda Herrera 2012).
To tackle these shortcomings, we analyze gender-specific remittances from Germany. In our study, we use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) which includes rich information on female and male migrants and their transnational networks. The paper is organized as follows. First, we take a look at the theoretical arguments for gender specific remittances in times of crises. Second, in the empirical part of the paper we focus on data from Germany and provide some insights into the gender-specific determinants of remittances. Third, we compare our results for the years of crises (2008-2013) to those from tranquil times (2001-2006). Finally, we offer some conclusions.