| Résumé: | Few studies focus on the gender of Mexican immigrants in the United States: it is taken for granted that most are men. However, that which applies for round-trip migrations ceases to do so for one way populations. This analysis considers some aspects of the international migration of Mexican women, seen under the light of two recent statistical sources: the North American 1990 census and the 1993-1994 Internacional Migration Survey at the Mexican Northern Border (EMIF, 1994). The joint analysis of migrations and migrant inventories reveals the hidden scope of feminine exile, as well as some of its peculiarities, and offers numerical answers to two questions: How does sex differentiate Mexican immigrants in the United States? How does the migration affect work, marriage, child-bearing, etc. of Mexican women? The results suggest the need to address migration no longer as an action of individuals, but of families (most immigrants are married), and to place the mother or the wife at the gravity center of the household migratory space. The fact that the women are in the United States instead of in Mexico modifies the journeys of male workers and, in an incidental manner, the extent of migration flows. In this sense, the multiplying effect of feminine migration magnifies considerably its small numbers, all of which has important demographic consequences.
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