Summary
Highlights
Massive migration during this period, primarily by men seeking jobs, led to a significant gender imbalance in their home societies. This forced women to take on roles traditionally reserved for men, such as farming and tending livestock. In places like South Africa, women-led households became common, and women gained financial independence by selling excess food.
A second major effect was the formation of ethnic enclaves in urban areas, where migrants of the same ethnicity and culture lived together. These enclaves provided a sense of familiarity, allowing migrants to practice their language, religion, and customs in a foreign land. They also contributed to cultural diffusion, introducing elements of home cultures into receiving societies, such as the growth of Catholicism in the US due to Irish immigrants.
Despite their economic contributions, immigrants often faced nativism, a policy protecting native-born interests over immigrants, rooted in prejudice and fear of cultural differences. Examples include the marginalization of Irish immigrants in the US due to their perceived race. This hostility led governments to enact restrictive policies, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act in the United States and the White Australia Policy, both aimed at limiting Asian immigration.