The Impact of Migratory Origin, Family Configuration, and Sex on Professional Success

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[...] This is more than among women without a migratory background, who are 39.4% in this case. Another important fact is that nearly 40% of Maghrebi descendants of immigrants have become managers, intermediate professions or teachers as adults, while their fathers were workers in the majority of cases. And this phenomenon does not only concern Maghrebi families because 62% of children of immigrants from Southeast Asia obtain a higher education diploma, against 46% in the entire French population. Finally, this illustrates that social mobility is more important for women descendants of immigrants and in some ways their future is already traced in this direction. [...]

[...] II - My sex will have an impact on my career The weight of gender Secondly, it is essential to take into account the dimension of gender in the analysis of school and social trajectories, because girls and boys are not socialized in the same way according to gender. If sex refers to biological characteristics, gender refers to the roles, behaviors and expectations that society associates with individuals based on their sex. Thus, from a very young age, different social norms will influence the trajectories of girls and boys, sometimes in an unequal manner. In families from immigration, just as in French families, this gender differentiation is manifested in parental expectations. [...]

[...] III - My family configuration is one of the factors to consider in my chances of professional success The rank of the eldest Finally, family configuration can also have an impact. Indeed, this term refers to the characteristics of the family in which young people grow up, namely the place in the sibling group, the number of brothers and sisters . Among members of the same sibling group, expectations are not the same according to the child's rank. Parents are more demanding with older children in terms of academic and social success, especially if it's a girl since she will be given more responsibilities. [...]

[...] I had the opportunity to meet him in my first year and his testimony spoke to me a lot because I was able to recognize myself in his words as the eldest daughter of immigrant parents and I was able to understand that the case of the Belhoumi family is not isolated since it is the case in the majority of immigrant families. The eldest will be the driving force for the integration of the entire sibling group. Conclusion: In this way, if sociological studies may suggest that the destiny of the eldest daughters of immigrants is largely determined by their social, cultural and family origin, reality shows that they can also overcome these factors. Carried by family expectations, their position in the sibling group and their own desire to succeed, many of them experience a true social ascension. [...]

[...] Moreover, according to INSEE, it is the cultural capital of the child that will determine their success, not their migratory past. For example, according to INSEE, among the children of immigrants living in a home with more than 200 books, more than 94% have never repeated a grade before 6th grade. On the other hand, they are only 55% in the case of homes without books. We must also talk about social capital, which is another important lever in professional success. However, for people from immigration, this social capital will be immediately more limited. [...]