Understanding brain waste: Unequal opportunities for skills development between highly skilled women and men, migrants and nonmigrants

Brain waste studies seldom analyse the skills development of tertiary-educated

workers according to gender and country of origin. Combining statistical analyses,

participatory workshops and 77 qualitative interviews on employment trajectories

with highly skilled workers in Switzerland, I offer three contributions. An

intersectional perspective reveals unequal opportunities of skills development:

Swiss-born men have the highest rates of employment, income and jobs commensurate

with their education, followed by foreign-born men, then Swiss-born women

and lastly foreign-born women. Second, a multiscalar perspective shows how actions

by individuals, families, employers and the state favour or constrain skills advancement

among women and men. Individual perceptions of gender roles and unequal

childcare responsibilities within couples constrain women's skills development. Further

constraints are set by the state and employers' policies and practices regarding

migration, childcare, taxation and hiring. Third, a spatial–temporal perspective unveils

that gender inequalities arise at particular moments (migration and childbirth) and

places (lacking childcare services and limited employment).