How Gender and Economics Shape Attitudes Towards Immigration

Immigration issues are at the forefront of political discourse across the developed world, galvanizing citizens and influencing electoral outcomes. But rarely do conversations about immigration cross paths with the topic of gender inequality in the workplace. Yet perhaps they should—many studies have shown that women in immigration destination countries express significantly less favorable attitudes toward immigrants than men do. But why?

The decisive factor in this gender divide on immigration appears to be women’s less-secure position in the labor market. Survey data of men and women in Japan reveal that economic factors influence differences in immigration perceptions between men and women. The impact of economic insecurity on those attitudes has broader implications for how we understand immigration backlash, and should help inform future immigration policies to ensure societal buy-in.

Explaining Gender and Immigration: The Case of Japan

Women may be no less tolerant than men, and their divide on immigration seems to come down to labor market vulnerability. As immigrants increasingly enter sectors traditionally dominated by women—particularly in care work and service industries—women are more likely to perceive newcomers as direct economic competitors threatening their already precarious positions in these sectors, defined as “nonprofessional” employment and typically characterized by lower wages and less job security. As a result of this observation, one theory suggests that differences in immigration attitudes should be analyzed through women’s vulnerability in the labor market.

Japan offers an ideal case for testing this theory. The country is a workplace gender-equality laggard in the rich world—it has the second-largest gender wage gap among members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a group of high-income developed countries. More than 53 percent of employed Japanese women aged 20–65 are hired on fixed-term contracts with lower wages and fewer protections, compared to just 14.1 percent of employed men in 2014.

In other words, the average Japanese woman in the workforce is significantly more vulnerable to labor competition than the average Japanese man. In addition, the country has experienced a significant influx of immigrant women, particularly in caregiving sectors, driven by its rapidly aging population and labor shortages.

To test the theory, I conducted two survey experiments with Japanese nationals. In the first study, participants read different mock articles about immigration—either focusing on white-collar professional immigrants or nonprofessional immigrant workers—before rating their attitudes toward them. The second study presented information about skilled or unskilled immigration and measured participants’ confidence in competing with immigrant workers on the labor market.

The results reveal clear patterns. When presented with information about the economic necessity of immigrants, Japanese men showed greater favorability toward both immigrant men and women. Conversely, Japanese women were generally less favorable under the same conditions. This effect was particularly pronounced when women were exposed to information about nonprofessional immigrant workers—the very immigrants most likely to enter the female-dominated service and caregiving sectors.

Employment status is a crucial factor. Women in nonprofessional jobs show significantly increased hostility toward immigrants when exposed to information about nonprofessional immigrant labor—a pattern not observed among men or professionally employed women. This demonstrates that women’s labor market vulnerability shapes their immigration attitudes. Furthermore, when presented with information about increasing immigrant labor, Japanese women expressed significantly higher levels of concern about job competition compared to Japanese men. This reinforces the conclusion that women’s immigration attitudes are closely tied to labor market fears.

Broader Implications

The implications extend well beyond Japan, and are important for understanding societal attitudes toward immigration and developing effective policies to address gender-based economic vulnerabilities. They suggest that opposition to immigration isn’t simply a matter of tolerance or compassion—it often reflects rational economic concerns shaped by the structure of labor markets. In societies where women face significant economic inequality and precarious employment, immigration policies focused on filling labor shortages may inadvertently exacerbate women’s economic vulnerabilities. This suggests that policymakers need to develop more gender-sensitive approaches that acknowledge and address these concerns. For example, rather than emphasizing only the general economic benefits of immigration, policymakers should clearly communicate how specific immigration initiatives might affect women in nonprofessional occupations, while implementing measures to strengthen job security and wage protections in female-dominated sectors.

An additional survey experiment conducted in the United States also provided support for the theory, demonstrating that labor market vulnerability helps to explain gender divides in immigration attitudes. This suggests that the relationship between immigration attitudes and individual economic factors applies across diverse contexts, particularly in countries with significant gender-economic disparities. It would be interesting to conduct similar studies in Nordic countries—where gender inequality is comparatively lower—to see if women’s attitudes toward immigration differ in contexts where they experience less economic vulnerability.

As countries continue to debate immigration policy, it is important to understand the gender and economic dynamics that influence societal attitudes. By doing so, policymakers can develop more nuanced approaches to addressing intergroup conflicts and fostering more inclusive societies. By formulating policies that are cognizant of women’s concerns, national immigration agendas can foster societal cohesion while also addressing labor shortages.

Jieun Park is a 2024–25 IGCC dissertation fellow and a PhD candidate in political science at UCLA. Park will join Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota as an assistant professor of political science in 2025. The full paper which this piece is based on can be read here.

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