一般人口移動之研究分析的對象均以男性為主，或者男女兼顧不分性別。本文假設男性與女性之移動者因情況不一而具有其不同的移動決定過程及型態，以對遷移者性別差異作一初步之研究，由此可估計遷移性別之不同對移出地及目的地之影響，作為決策單位的參考，本研完之資料取自農家查訪之原始資料，樣本數為台灣中部500戶農家，研究對象為長期外移之就業人口，包括男性197人及女性88人，及未遷移而就業者包括另性452人及女性189人。首先將女性及男性遷移者之個人特性(年齡、排行、教育程度、職業、目的地)作一比較，發現男性外移者及女性外移者在年齡分配上差異相當顯著，而教育程度，職業及在家中排行則差異不顯著•遷移者的目的地有很明顯的差異，中部地區的女性大多遷往中部而男性大多遷往北部。遷往南部者男女均少。至於發動傾向，男性及女性遷移者在不同年齡組，家長教育程度及家長職業三個變數有不同傾向，而在排行，教育程度，土地所有權，農家收入及家庭結構方面移動傾向相似。由此分析只可知男性及女性外移者之特徵及移動傾向，至於如何有效的解釋這些差異還須作進一步之研究。

Many migration studies in Taiwan have focused their attention on male migrants explicitly or have not differentiated migration by sex. This paper hypothesizes that since men and women are subject to different migration situations we should expect some differences in their characteristics and propensities to migrate. Thus we may determine the impact of their movement on their place of origin and on their destination, in order to plan for social and economic facilities. In this paper, migration is viewed as a behavioral process. The focus is on micro-level variables concerning individuals and their families. Primary data is used for this study, including a population of 197 male migrants and 88 female migrants; as well as 452 male non-migrants and 189 female non-migrants from 500 rural households in cen­tral Taiwan. An attempt is made to compare male and female migrants in their individual characteristics and their propensities to migrate by selected individual and family variables. It is found that male and female migrants are similar in their characteristics of birth order, education, occupation; but different in age and destination. Migrant propensities vary greatly for male and female in terms of age, education of parent and occupation of parent and similar with regard to birth order, education, landownership, farm income and structure of the family. These findings suggest a first step for analysing differences between male and female migrants. We still need to find valid explanations for the above.