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Friday, April 4, 2008

Project outlines approach to the integration of female immigrant workers

A comprehensive approach should be taken when developing policies for the integration of immigrant women in European societyThis 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).

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.This makes them easy targets for exploitation by employers looking for cheap labour.

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,FeMiPol coordinator, 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.

Source  Femipol

More information  Cordis

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