Introduction

This chapter focuses on the experiences of highly educated female internal migrants in Albania. Since the fall of socialism in 1991 and the erosion of state infrastructures that strictly regulated internal and international migration, an estimated 1.5 million people have left Albania, more than half of the current resident population (Gëdeshi and Jorgoni, 2012, p. 6; Vullnetari, 2012, p. 15). While the first decade of post-socialism witnessed a predominantly male migration, data gathered since 2001 points to a shift: the gap between male and female migrants who leave Albania to migrate abroad is becoming less and less significant. Data on internal Albanian migration reveals that women are more likely to migrate internally than men. In Albania, during the decade of 2001–11, women accounted for 59% of internal migrants (Galanxhi et al, 2014, p. 25). The predominance of women in internal movements is not, however, surprising, since Ravenstein (1885) explicitly stated how women are more involved in internal short-distance movements compared to men who migrate out of the country.

The chapter is based on the analysis of in-depth interviews of eight young female migrants who moved to Tirana, the capital of Albania, for education purposes. They all originated from different cities and villages in Albania, but after completing their studies in Tirana they did not return to their native communities. The aim of this chapter is to investigate how gender is embedded in the process of migration of these young women, and the effects of migration in shaping gendered subjectivities and gender relations.

Theoretical context of gender and youth migration

Gender is considered as a social construct; it is produced and reproduced consistently through social practices and interactions, and experienced through multiple social institutions such as the family, labor market, and state, among others (West and Fenstermaker, 1995; Mahler and Pessar, 2001). Gender refers to socially created meanings, relationships and identities organized around reproductive differences (Scott, 1986; Connell, 2002). From a feminist perspective, gender is not only an identity but also an organizing principle of collectivities, social institutions, historical processes, and social practices (Nakano Glenn, 2000, p. 5). Subjectivities are constructed in relation to others, are made and remade through negotiation, mediation, and resistance (Gill, 2008, p. 439), and shaped by various categories such as gender, class, and sexuality.