Abstract
This chapter considers migrant women’s experiences with regard to welfare and labour market policies in Europe and in particular in relation to tendencies towards greater privatisation and deregulation of labour markets, along with the downsizing of welfare regimes. While the effects can be felt across European societies, the policies also impact on different groups in different ways. In contrast to the ‘inclusion’ and ‘cohesion’ promoted in policy agendas, our research shows that female migrants experience the impact of labour market deregulation and flexibilisation in ways which reinforce their already disadvantaged position. Furthermore, the insecurity and instability they experience as a result significantly impact on their long-term integration strategies. In this chapter, we are particularly concerned with examining the relationship between employment and the wider, long-term integration process into both the labour market and the wider society. In our account of migrant women’s employment experiences, we focus in particular on casual and informal work, on the one hand, and the ethnicisation of labour market sectors, on the other. In addition to considering the structural constraints faced by women migrants in European labour markets, we also explore the strategies they employ in order to negotiate these and some of the opportunities available which help them do so.
Keywords
- Labour Market
- Asylum Seeker
- Migrant Woman
- Migration Policy
- Labour Market Policy
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Notes
- 1.
1The characteristics of the Mediterranean model include spontaneous labour immigration, lack of comprehensive migration policies and significant informal labour market sectors, filled to a great extent by migrant workers. However, migration is increasingly recognised as a structural factor of Southern European societies, to some extent related to another characteristic shared by those countries, namely, a shortage of public provision of care, which has to a great extent come to be provided by female migrants (e.g. King and Zontini 2000; the relationship between welfare regimes, public care provision and female migrants’ employment is also discussed from a comparative European perspective by Kofman 2005).
- 2.
2 However, a recent evaluation of EU policies in this area suggests that they have not been successful in reaching ‘those furthest away from the labour market’, and that jobs have not always helped people overcome poverty (SEC(2010)114: 3–4).
- 3.
3Another component of the ‘inclusive’ labour market consists in the provision of rights and anti-discrimination measures. Both the legal framework protecting against discrimination on different grounds (e.g. the Racial Equality Directive 2000/43/EC and the Employment Equality Directive 2000/78/EC) and that which extends a number of employment rights to workers on atypical (part-time and temporary) contracts at an EU level (e.g. the Part-Time Work Directive 97/81/EC, the Fixed-Term Work Directive 99/70/EC and the Temporary and Agency Workers Directive 2008/104/EC) have extended the previous legal provisions in these areas in most member states. However, problems have been highlighted in regards to EU’s anti-discrimination framework, including the fact that it fails to deal with structural aspects of discrimination and inequality (see, e.g. Verloo 2006).
- 4.
4 Notably, registered domestic work has been regarded as a sector with potential for expansion, and we have seen the introduction of tax breaks for families in need of domestic services in countries such as France, Germany, the UK and Sweden.
- 5.
5 However, such practice is commonplace not just in northern Europe but also elsewhere. For example, in Slovenia, financial assistance can be refused if a person does not conform to requirements concerning labour market integration or activities that might lead to this.
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6 For many migrants, particularly in southern Europe as well as Poland, the problem is not unemployment per se but employment outside the regular job market.
- 7.
7 At the same time, the relationship between ethnic niches and language skills also depends on the nature of the job, where some service jobs (such as waitressing) can help improve women’s language skills, while others (such as cleaning in private households) often provide little opportunity for this, whether the employer is a migrant or non-migrant.
- 8.
8 This issue was raised also by a refugee and asylum worker in the UK who pointed towards some of the problems where women have taken informal and often anecdotal word of mouth advice, which has been wrong and in some cases left them in more vulnerable situations (Anthias and Cederberg 2006).
- 9.
9 Although as noted previously, having a French (or other native) employer does not necessarily imply an opportunity to practice the host language.
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Anthias, F., Cederberg, M., Barber, T., Ayres, R. (2013). Welfare Regimes, Markets and Policies: The Experiences of Migrant Women. In: Anthias, F., Kontos, M., Morokvasic-Müller, M. (eds) Paradoxes of Integration: Female Migrants in Europe. International Perspectives on Migration, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4842-2_3
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