In Canada, the proportion of women among immigrants fluctuates around 50 percent, with a slight increase in recent years. Another important characteristic of immigration to the country is a radical change in the composition of origin of flows in the past three decades — European-dominated streams have been replaced by those originating mostly in Asia. This paper focuses on female Asian immigrants in Canada. The exploratory analysis of this population points to its significant diversity. This diversity is determined to a great extent by regional differences, and more precisely, by Asian countries' specific situations which produce distinct migration flows destined to Canada. Major Asian source countries of female immigrants (Hong Kong, Philippines, India, China, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Lebanon and Iran) give evidence to the growing importance of political push factors and sending countries' policies-facilitation factors as crucial determinants of international migration.
Introduction to the special issue “Climate of the past 2000 years: regional and trans-regional syntheses”
