Modern slavery–an empirical analysis of source countries of human trafficking and the role of gender equality

Abstract

There are over 20 million victims of trafficking from more than 136 countries in the world. This thesis takes a closer look at this modern form of slavery, in particular the nonlinear relation between gender equality and human trafficking outflows. My main hypothesis is that an increase in gender equality first has a positive effect on the amount of trafficking outflows and then a negative effect as countries become more egalitarian. Using cross-national data from the World Bank and from the Trafficking in Persons Report 2006 (UNODC, 2006) I find a nonlinear relationship between female labour force participation, the share of women in parliament and trafficking outflows. In line with the literature on human trafficking I base my arguments on the assumption that factors that affect migration also affect trafficking. I argue that labour opportunities and power to make decisions for women affect the size of the trafficking outflows. In countries where women have some rights but are not seen as equal to men is where I find trafficking to be the most prominent. Information obtained through schools, Internet, mass media or migrants returning home is likely to drive the aspiration of migration in countries where there are few career opportunities and decision possibilities for women. Policies to reduce trafficking should thus aim at increasing female labour force participation and empowering women. In order to create well-functioning policies to reduce human trafficking more research is needed. Data of good quality is essential to improve the knowledge about trafficking and this is why I end my thesis with a call for the collection of better data.