Gender Differences in the Urban to Rural Wage Gap and the Prevalence of the Male Migrant

Using data from Kenya this paper estimates the rural to urban earnings gap separately for male and female migrants and then explores the influence of the gaps on the migration decision of each gender from rural to urban areas. A non-trivial finding suggests that despite relatively higher positive returns to urban earnings the urban to rural earnings gap appears to have no significant influence on female migration. The gap, however, seems to have a positive and significant influence on male migration, suggesting cultural values may frown upon females taking full advantage of relatively higher paying job opportunities in urban areas.