'A one way ticket to the city, please!'€™ on young women leaving the Swedish peripheral region Västernorrland

• Most rural and peripheral regions in Sweden suffer from an outmigration of young adults and particularly young women are over-represented in this outmigration. The outmigration of young adults in general and young women in particular is headed for the major towns in southern Sweden and the capital city Stockholm. This sex-biased out-migration has been on-going for more than 40 years for some rural regions in Sweden. This paper aims at explaining the outmigration and return migration of women 18-34 to and from the peripheral region Västernorrland in Northern Sweden. A qualitative method will be used in the analysis in this study. The empirical material consists of expert interviews and interviews with young women leaving Västernorrland, returning to Västernorrland or moving in without any prior connection to the region. The conventional driving forces for out-migration of young women are connected to studies and moving to more female-friendly labour markets. The findings in this study suggest that bad infrastructure and general service are factors causing out-migration and repel women to return. Furthermore, young women with weak social networks in the region appear more willing to leave and the '€˜macho culture€™' in the region appears a push-factor.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Socialt arbete (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Social Work (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Social och ekonomisk geografi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Social and Economic Geography (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Gender biased migration

Regional migration

Social networks

Lifestyles

And regional labour markets

Socialt arbete

Social work

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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