Europe:Project outlines approach to the integration of female immigrant workers

[Harold Schiffman]

Project outlines approach to the integration of female immigrant workers

Addressing the situation of female immigrants is extremely important
to the social cohesion of the European Union, believes FeMiPol
coordinator Dr Maria Kontos of the Institute of Social Research in
Frankfurt, Germany  A comprehensive approach should be taken when
developing policies for the integration of immigrant women in European
society, this is the main message coming from a raft of
recommendations published by the EU-funded project, FeMiPol (Female
Immigrants in Labour Market and Society Policy Assessment and Policy
Recommendations).

Addressing the situation of female immigrants is extremely important
to the social cohesion of the European Union, believes FeMiPol
coordinator Dr Maria Kontos of the Institute of Social Research in
Frankfurt, Germany. 'For a long time, women immigrants have been
overlooked because there was the assumption that they weren't part of
the labour market.' Instead they were seen as housewives, staying at
home to mind their children 'This idea is widespread in public opinion
and among policymakers,' Dr Kontos told CORDIS News.

However, research has shown that in the last 15 years, women coming to
Europe are in fact breadwinners, working in a variety of informal
labour sectors, such as domestic work, tourism and agriculture. In
fact, migrant women make up a significant section of the formal and
informal workforce.

The project set out to find just how labour, social and other related
policies affect this important population group. To do so, a team of
researchers conducted a series of document analyses and interviews
with experts on national policies from individual EU Member States, as
well as those set at EU level. The project also interviewed immigrant
women to find out about their personal experiences of working in the
EU and the strategies they adopted to improve their situation and to
cope with certain restrictive policies.

The research found that policies such as those preventing or combating
irregular work are not only ineffective and counterproductive, but
often worsen the plight of female migrant workers. 'Most migrant women
working in the informal labour sectors are undocumented [with no
official resident's permit] or are semi-legal,' notes Dr Kontos. This
makes them easy targets for exploitation by employers looking for
cheap labour.

Because their work is undeclared, these women have no job security and
are unable to benefit fully from health, welfare and other social
services. Also off limits to them are language and training programmes
and job schemes aimed at increasing integration into the labour
market. 'These women are invisible and have no rights,' says Dr
Kontos.

Steps have been taken in some Member States to formalise work in the
domestic sector, where many migrant women work. Other Member States
such as France have introduced tax deductions in an effort to absorb
undeclared workers in these sectors. Sweden, Germany and the UK have
also introduced tax breaks for domestic services. Meanwhile, several
Member States have acknowledged the need for migrant domestic and care
workers in their immigration legislation and have started immigrant
recruitment schemes. In Spain and Italy for instance, foreign domestic
and care workers are integrated in quota systems.

However, even when immigration and labour legislation recognise the
need for female migrant domestic and care workers, these women still
face poor working conditions. For instance, live-in arrangements,
which are more widespread in southern Europe, may provide a
transitional solution to housing problems. They may also help workers
to save money on rent, which is important for fulfilling their role as
breadwinner. But women who are live-in domestic helpers also run the
risk of becoming trapped in the sector and subjected to exploitation.
In northern Europe, live-out domestic work predominates, which often
implies having multiple employers and fragmented working hours.

Much more needs to be done and can be done at policy level, believes
Dr Kontos, to empower these women and improve their work conditions.
One important recommendation made by the project is to ensure that
legislation separates the rights associated with resident's status
from worker's rights. Giving all workers, both those with legal and
irregular status, the same rights would help reduce discrimination and
exploitation.

Other recommendations include: recognising the skills and
qualifications of women immigrants so that they can pursue their work
aspirations; providing increased access to training, language and
orientation courses; and re-evaluating domestic and care work so that
it is recognised not just as 'help' but 'work'.

In addition to improving the situation of women immigrants in the
domestic and care sectors, the project has also developed
recommendations on policies to increase civic participation among
immigrant women and on policies affecting migrant women who chose to
enter prostitution or were victims of trafficking.

Work has begun to share the project's recommendations with
policy-makers. Dr Kontos hopes that the response will be a
comprehensive set of policies. 'It will not suffice to develop single
policies in relation to immigrant workers because integration is
multilayered, so policies will need to interconnect. Migration
mainstreaming is needed,' she concludes.

http://www.newsfood.com/Articolo/International/2008-04/20080402-Project-outlines-approach-integration-female-immigrant-workers.asp


-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to
its members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner
or sponsor of
the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who
disagree with a
message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)
*******************************************