Gender stereotyping in the Dutch asylum procedure: ‘Independent’ men versus

‘dependent’ women

Peter Mascini and Marjolein van Bochove

Erasmus University Rotterdam, The NetherlandsFaculty of Social Sciences

mascini@fsw.eur.nl

• To what extent do women still have a greater success rate in the Dutch asylum procedure than men after the introduction of both the gender guideline ‘Women in the asylum procedure’ and the ‘Aliens Act 2000’?

• Are male claimants more likely to resemble independent, rational individuals and female asylum seekers dependent, caring family members?

• To what extent are traditional gender characteristics responsible for the greater success rate of women in the Dutch asylum procedure?

Research questions

Traditionally gendered migration pattern

Males:

• Labor or asylum migration

• Single

• Arrival precedes wife and children

Females:

• Family reunification, family forming, female labor

• Married, with children

• Follows husband (with children)

Gender stereotyping and success rates in asylum procedures

Dependent family member (female refugees)• Depolitization of flight motives

– Privatisation– Emotionalization

• Victimization of patriachal domination

Independent rational individual (male refugees)• Prototypical political refugee• Depolitization of flight motives

– Attributing economic flight motives– Criminalization

Assumptions:

• The traditionally gendered migration pattern is reproduced in the asylum procedure

• The images associated with this pattern are responsible for the smaller success rate of men in the asylum procedure

Hypotheses:

• Male asylum seekers are more likely to apply for asylum without a spouse or children, are less likely to travel after their spouses to the country of destination and are more likely to originate from countries considered to be relatively safe

• This traditionally gendered migration pattern implies that male refugee seekers fit the image of a ‘bogus’ or ‘economic’ refugee in more respects, while female asylum seekers are a closer match to the image of ‘defenseless victims’. Therefore, female claimants have a higher success rate in de Dutch asylum procedure.

Data

• The information system of the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (Indis)

• The unit of analysis was asylum applications, not files

• Not: cases where the sex of the applicant was not registered

• Not: unmarried minors

• Not: applications without substantial decision

Chance that applications for residency were accepted or rejected: by gender (N=206,705)

Rejection Acceptance Total Male Female

71.0 58.8

29.0 41.2

100 100

Total 67.0 33.0 100

Chance that applications for residency were accepted or rejected: by gender, per cohort

Rejection Acceptance Before new guidelines

Male Female

62.7 48.9

37.3 51.1

58.1 41.9 After new guidelines

Male Female

75.2 65.0

24.8 35.0

71.8 28.2 After Aliens Act 2000

Male Female

79.6 67.7

20.4 32.3

76.0 24.0

Explanation of success rate; main effects (Log Odds ratio’s (B’s), N=161.897)

0 1 2 3 4 5 Gender (vs. female) Male Parenthood (vs. without child) With child Couple (vs. single) With spouse Following (vs. did not travel after spouse) Traveled after spouse Country of origin (vs. country of origin with low chance) Country of origin with high chance

-0.54*

-0.37*

0.50*

-0.38*

0.72*

-0.52*

1.11*

-0.48*

1.67*

-0.31*

0.24*

0.39*

0.71*

1.59* -2 Log Likelihood 23.6 13.0 884.8 791.8 85.5 1038.6

Explanation of success rate; interaction effects (Log Odds ratio’s (B’s), N=161.897)

0 6 7 8 9 Gender (vs. female) Male Gender*parenthood (vs. female*without child) Male*without child Gender*spouse (vs. female*without spouse) Male*without spouse Gender*country of origin (vs. female*low chance country of origin) Male*low chance country of origin Cohort (vs. cohort 3) Cohort 1 Cohort 2

-0.54*

-0.05*

-0.41*

-0.10*

-0.56*

-0.29*

-0.09*

0.03

-0.19*

-0.09*

-0.09*

0.66* -0.21*

-2 Log Likelihood 23.6 783.1 495.1 1025.1 1565.9

Conclusions

• Men have a smaller success rate in the Dutch asylum procedure than women because they are less often accompanied by a spouse or children, they are less likely to travel after their spouses to the country of destination, and they are more likely to come from countries considered to be relatively safe.

• This suggests men’s chances for success are smaller because they fit the image of a calculating ‘bogus’ refugee in more respects while female asylum seekers more closely match the image of a ‘victim of patriarchal domination’.

• Additional indications for this interpretation of the data:– Traditional role attitudes are already inherent in formal policy. – Having kin and originating from a country considered to be unsafe is even

more advantageous for men than for women.– Men belonging to the category ‘unsuccessful’ asylum seekers still have a much

smaller success rate than ‘unsuccessful’ women.

Policy implications

• It is understandable that interest groups will still call attention to the negative influence of stereotyping on female asylum seekers, but it would be even more obvious if they were to focus on the stereotyping of male asylum seekers.

• This does not require attention to gender-specific forms of persecution, but to a more general negative stereotyping of men by immigration officials.

Why has the smaller success rate of men not provoked action thus far?– Perhaps it offers fewer opportunities to exemplify the moral superiority of the

West in regards to the South, than when it concerns the patriarchal domination of women.

– Perhaps the idea of male dominance is so deeply entrenched in western culture that the possibility is overlooked that perceptions of masculinity can also be detrimental to men.