The role of kin and friends in male and female international mobility from Senegal and DR Congo

This paper uses recent longitudinal data collected in DR Congo and Senegal within the Migration between Africa and Europe (MAFE) project to investigate gender differences in the role of migrant networks in international migration. More precisely, it assesses the extent to which the effect of migrant networks on individual migration propensities varies according to the gender of the potential migrant. It further investigates whether men and women mobilize different types of ties in order to travel abroad, and examines whether networks influence their migration through different channels. Finally, it analyzes whether the interplay between gender and migrant networks varies between the Senegalese and the Congolese cases.