Masculinisation or feminisation? Lebanese emigration and the dynamics of arranged cousin marriages in Australia

Abstract

This chapter explores the feminisation of emigration from Lebanon to Australia. Lebanon’s complex migration history, combined with the increasingly restrictive immigration policies pursued globally, including in Australia, have resulted in the feminisation of the homeland emigration flows, on the one hand, and the masculinisation of the sites of immigration in the Diaspora, on the other hand, resulting in increasingly skewed gender ratios. This chapter provides a case study on the dynamics of arranged cousin marriages-which account for an increasingly large portion of female transnational brides arriving in Australia from Lebanon-and examines the impact of this form of female migration on family dynamics and asks if the feminisation of emigration is a progressive or regressive form of mobility.