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Paper short abstract:

The challenges faced by Syrian refugee women in joining the labor force in Jordan and Norway often lead to entrepreneurship. Despite robust government policies and aid for individuals, structural barriers persist that push for self-employment, which is undersupported yet has strong potential.

Paper long abstract:

This paper provides ethnographic accounts of the experiences of Syrian refugee women as they attempt to join the labour force in Jordan and Norway. The experiences of Syrian refugee women in their (often unsuccessful) pursuit of traditional work opportunities and - for many - turn towards entrepreneurship sheds light on the intricate dynamics of female immigrant labor market integration. The Norwegian and Jordanian cases highlight the prevalence of government policies, aid programs, and work plans aimed at facilitating the integration of immigrant women into the workforce. However, the blocked mobility hypothesis proves relevant in both scenarios, illustrating that despite well-intentioned efforts, structural challenges persist, pushing female immigrants toward entrepreneurship. The paper also compares, in depth, the differing contexts in Norway and Jordan, and demonstrates that they converge on a common outcome: the path to self-employment as entrepreneurs is made more possible due to structural barriers in the labor market. The paper discusses that individual-focused policies and programs, which are the norm in these cases and often beneficial, are insufficient to overcome systemic barriers. At the same time, governments, private sector partners, and communities are slow to turn support towards female immigrant entrepreneurs, even as they proclaim positive socio-economic outcomes of a growing immigrant entrepreneurial base, particularly among women. Entrepreneurship emerges as a powerful - yet under explored and often "last resort" - mechanism for fostering socio-economic equality, healthy workplaces, financial inclusion, and immigrant integration.

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Drawing on ethnographic information, this paper analyses the identity processes, experiences of racism, and sense of belonging of girls coming from mixed families with one immigrant progenitor (from culturally stigmatised countries), paying attention to gender inequalities and internal heterogeneity

Paper long abstract:

This paper analyses identity processes, experiences of racism, and sense of belonging of girls coming from mixed families with one immigrant progenitor (from culturally stigmatised countries) and the other from national origin. Previous studies have indicated that the life trajectories of multiethnic youth are very heterogeneous, depending on multiple factors, such as the geographical and cultural origin, or the stereotypes and prejudices associated with their perceived ‘phenotype’, language or religious affiliation. But what about gender? We want to go deeper into a gender analysis to interpret statements from our female informants such as "Maybe it would have been different if I wore a headscarf" or "I couldn't take the role of Jaume the Conqueror in the school play because I was a girl and black". Drawing on ethnographic information, we explore the narratives of multiethnic girls to shed some light on their perceptions of identity and discrimination, paying attention to gender inequalities and internal heterogeneity among girls from different ehtno-cultural origins, in a context of increasing transnationalisation and virtualisation of social and cultural connections.

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Drawing on migrant women living in Ireland and their experiences applying a “situated intersectionality” approach, this paper aims to capture moments that reveal their agency, resilience, and self-determination to be amplified and supported in order to reduce their vulnerabilities to GBV.

Paper long abstract:

This paper draws on the Irish study of a seven-country project (Gender Net Plus GBV-MIG) examining the experience of migrant women for whom Gender-based Violence (GBV) is a significant concern. Based on 21 semi-structured interviews with women in Ireland, reflecting different legal, socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds, we present and analyse five illustrative stories of migrant women dealing with GBV while attempting to settle into Ireland as a "host" society and navigate the accompanying sense of loss of identity and belonging. Their accounts reveal how cumulative structural inequalities and entangled forms of discrimination operate not only to create hardships for migrant women experiencing GBV but to submerge their perspectives and voices and to obscure the nature of the hardships they contend with, as well as the moments of agency, self-determination and resilience, that are possible for them to take or to create in their respective contexts to survive. Applying a “situated intersectionality” approach, which centres migrant women's perspectives and sense of belonging, this article demonstrates the imperative of listening closely to their stories to capture moments that reveal their agency, resilience, and self-determination on their terms. In doing so, we deepen our understanding of the conditions under which such moments can be amplified and supported in order to reduce migrant women's vulnerabilities to GBV while challenging the practices of the host society and government, which reproduce the marginalisation of migrant women and the perpetuation of the GBV they experience.

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The paper analyses the interviews with educated Ukrainian women who were forced to leave Ukraine for Lithuania after the Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. I focus on the range and multidimensionality of crises narrated, as well as the narrators' agency in dealing with these crises.

Paper long abstract:

This paper focuses on the narratives of educated women from Ukraine who were forced to leave their homeland as a result of the full-scale Russia's invasion in 2022. The paper is based on on-going research in Lithuania and at the moment consists of more than ten in-depth interviews and participant observation. I argue that certain common structures and emotions are present in the narratives of the research participants. The stories told by the women who were forced to leave Ukraine contain narratives of crises that are experienced at different levels - at the individual, the family and the community level. However, in numerous cases the narrators refer to their experiences of empowerment and construct themselves as active agents in dealing with these crises. In other cases the narratives of disempowerment are constructed. My research and analysis is inspired by anthropological approaches to trauma narratives that see the very act of telling a story as an empowering and agency restoring action (see e.g. Michael Jackson (2013) "The Politics of Storytelling", Vieda Skultans (1998) "The Testimony of Lives: Narrative and Memory in Post-Soviet Latvia").

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Paper short abstract:

A culturalist rhetoric still dominates public discourses on migrant women's experiences of GBV obscuring structural barriers. In my paper I describe how the ethnographic approach allows the identification of migrant women's agency, enabling concrete innovation in the work of antiviolence operators.

Paper long abstract:

Migrant and asylum-seeking women are still portrayed as subjects outside of history, where migration to Western states offers them a chance for emancipation and liberation from their "traditional" cultural contexts (Pinelli, 2019, p. 8). My anthropological research on the advocacy practices of anti-violence centres shows how this rhetoric still dominates public discourses on migrant women's encounters with GBV in Italy and obscures the structural barriers they face. This calls for a feminist intersectional analysis of power relations that considers public representations of migrant women's experiences, institutional responses to them, and related advocacy practices. In this paper I present the different forms of culturalization and racialisation of GBV in the Italian context. In addition, I describe how the ethnographic approach and methodology allows the identification of migrant women's multiple forms of agency, which means focusing 'not on individual self-assertion but on the structural basis of gender [and race] inequalities' (Cornwall, 2016, p. 344). This has allowed me to promote concrete innovations in the practice of anti-violence centres and to provide specific training for workers from different agencies and services, offering a broader perspective on migrant and asylum-seeking women's experiences that takes into account power relations and the historical, cultural, social, economic and political conditions in which these relations take shape.

Cornwall, A. (2016). Women’s Empowerment: What Works? Journal of International Development, 28(3), 342–359. https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3210

Pinelli, B. (2019). Migranti e rifugiate: Antropologia, genere e politica. Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore.

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This paper will study the lived experiences of migrant women and their trajectories as participants of a pilot theatre project that has been set up by FMV (a socio-cultural civil society organisation in Flanders) as part of the Horizon Europe project ReIncluGen.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will study the lived experiences of migrant women and their trajectories as participants of a pilot theatre project that has been set up by FMV (a socio-cultural civil society organisation in Flanders) as part of the Horizon Europe project ReIncluGen. This participatory theatre project centralises the remembrance and honouring of migration narratives and labour migration histories in general and the role of migrant women and mothers in particular. Through the involvement of these migrant women as agents from the start of the trajectory we will shed light on the role of theatre as a tool for socio-cultural empowerment.

Also the authors will position themselves in this chapter as migrantized women using arts based (applied) research. The idea of this trajectory was initiated by a previous project called “Tesrith an Arif” of one of FMV’s member associations in which many migrant women got on stage for the first time and could speak in a safe environment that was a women’s only safe space. Additionally another artscience production of which the first author is a co-producer will be discussed. During the screening of the latter theatre play called “(Un)Certain Mothers” many of FMV’s participants showed a great interest in producing their own theatre play in which they could remember and honour their past experiences as in-between or second generation Moroccan women.

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Paper short abstract:

China's educated women has become an upwardly mobile group. However, some have international trajectories, and their aspirations are realised in the Western countries. This paper analyses if Chinese women mobility is an empowerment strategy to cope with the Chinese hegemonic femininity.

Paper long abstract:

In the 21st century, there are new mobilities of Chinese women to Europe. These more recent female migrants are defined by motivations and objectives closely related to their social position in Chinese society. The Chinese government’s economic policies have favoured the emergence and growth of the urban middle class, which is legitimized by the discourse of quality (suzhi 素质) and related policies, such as the One-Child Policy. These policies—which encourage the intensive education of urban only children—have had a great demographic and social impact on China and contributed to increasing the social and gender inequality gap between rural and urban areas. Daughters of urban families benefitted from the One-Child Policy. Therefore, the number of university-educated women has been growing throughout the 21st century, in parallel with the number of international students. Despite having good jobs in China, some high-skilled professional women decide to come to Europe to develop their careers, often in the business sector. China's growing global economic and social position has made it easier for these women to be among the most upwardly mobile group of women in society. However, their trajectories are international, and their aspirations are realised in the Western countries to which they move. This paper explores how Chinese women cope with Chinese hegemonic femininity through mobility and emotional distance from social and family obligations.

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Paper short abstract:

This paper explores migrant women and girls' views on 'gender empowerment’ and inclusion. Drawing on results of the Horizon Europe project ReIncluGen, it will contrast their narratives with Civil Social Organizations' narratives and practices, and those underlying public policies focusing on them.

Paper long abstract:

Since the Beijing World Conference (1995), ‘Gender empowerment’ has been used to refer to the promotion of women's participation in decision-making processes in any field as a means to advance equity and equality. In general, the current rhetoric adopted by inclusion policies in Europe seems to aim at the empowerment of women with an immigrant background. However, the empirical dimension of the actions carried out, are often limited about what migrant women and girls need to achieve. It is even more difficult to understand the views and imaginaries surrounding ‘gender empowerment’ and inclusion held by these women and girls and how they perceive the social problems associated with these concepts.

Applying a situated intersectional perspective (Yuval-Davis, 2015), this communication contributes to addressing this gap and answering how migrant women define gender empowerment and inclusion.

Drawing on results of the ReInclugen project (EU Horizon-RIA, 2023-25), this work explores the narratives of 30 migrant women involved in 3 different Spanish Civil Social Organizations (CSOs). Ethnographic fieldwork has been carried out including participant observation, focus group discussions and photo-voicing interviews.

The analyses will question if they define gender empowerment at all, if it’s relevant in their life story or what similar notions are used by them in contrast to the CSOs' definitions and those underlying the public equality or integration policies that focus on them.

We will present an analysis of approaches allocation acting as a counter-narrative of women and girls' emancipatory processes that can inform social policies beyond hegemonic discourses.