The paper is based upon a survey in 1998, and it shows a significant difference in the migration potential of women in different countries. The main motivation for migration is the presence of friends in other countries. Unemployment particularly encourages women to migrate. The article was first published in Ost-West Gegeninformationen.

Germany has become one of the major target zone of international migration, without having experience or significant tradition in this filed. This happened in a period when the scale of migration has become much greater than before due to the economic and social crises in the Third World and East Europe.