Women, Gender Inequality, and Citizenship Among Immigrants in Western Europe
2025-08-27
This paper examines the gendered foundations of citizenship status among first-generation immigrants in Western Europe. It posits that foreign-born women are more likely than foreign-born men to become citizens in their new homeland if they originate from countries with greater gender inequality. Moreover, this relationship is amplified among highly educated female immigrants. In contrast, no gender gap in citizenship status exists among newcomers from origin countries with low gender inequality. The empirical analyses based on the individual-level data from the European Social Survey (ESS) 2010–22 confirm these expectations. These findings have important implications for our understanding of immigrant political integration in western democracies and the consequences of gender inequality around the world.