Description of the integration initiative implemented
This woman is a PhD student in feminist and post-colonial studies. Her testimony points out that the institution that welcomed and integrated her was the only one that showed willingness to receive her. The space is made up of an enormous multiplicity of subjects, integrated in a hierarchically structured system, but where she feels that her voice is heard.
At this point she has a research grant that has been in effect since September 2020 and it will end in May 2021.
The implementation measures were based on her resilience, who managed to maintain herself financially with her own savings and the help of family members, finally obtaining the scholarship for her research project.

Personal story
This woman has 30 years old. She was born in Brazil, in a town colonised by Germans. She belongs to a family with three younger brothers. At the moment, most of the family is in Brazil with the exception of her second brother who lives in Holland. Since her early childhood she has felt a strong influence of German culture and identity, aspects that were transformed when, at the age of 7, she moved with her family to Curitiba. In this period she creates a great resistance to German culture despite the bilingual capacity she has acquired. She feels that, at this moment, her identity crisis begins. At the age of 19, she arrived in Coimbra as an Erasmus student, in an initiative in which the motivation was the exchange facilities that were presented to her. It was 2010. At the time of her arrival she faced two impacts. One, which she brought back from Brazil, put her legal training in crisis and made her question the meaning of that training. Another was bringing her face to face with the effects of the economic crisis Portugal was facing at the time. She stayed in Portugal for a year, a period that was initially lived with some ingenuity and hope, but which gradually revealed itself as a time of drastic change. She started living in a university space, shared with other students. She felt strange in the university environment because in Brazil she was an active and participative subject in the associative student movements. At the time she was in Portugal, many students had lost scholarships due to the context of economic crisis and, nevertheless, what she observed was a certain passivity. The students "only wanted to party". On this specific point she felt very different from these students, despite being one of them. She felt that her training in law was too short and the need to learn subjects of a more critical nature. With the change of the Bologna process, she found a very practical approach to law in Coimbra. During this period she got involved with a young Portuguese man, from Oporto, with whom she lived a terrible experience that she could not identify at the time, but she came to understand that it was domestic violence. She thinks it had to do with the fact that she grew up in a men's household and being Brazilian. The factors of discrimination piled up: her partner's family never called her by her name. "To them I was the Brazilian"; when she met her partner's mother, the first thing she asked her was if she knew how to wash pants. After the end of her Erasmus stay in Portugal she returned to Brazil. She needed to decide on a direction for her life. Although she had worked as a lawyer and a teacher, she understood that the academy could be a good place for her professional aspirations. It was then that she decided to return to Europe, having first lived in Argentina. However, in her mind it was clear that she did not want to return to Portugal.
She did her MA between Poland and Spain with a stop in Ireland. Her purpose remained the same from the beginning: to improve her academic qualifications, focusing on issues of feminism and sociology. She was in Spain when she finished her Master's degree. It seemed to her that the natural next step would be a doctorate, also considering that she was in a relationship with a Spaniard, with whom she was living. The big obstacle was financial, as she couldn't get scholarships. It was during this time that she got closer, once again, to the research education institution in Coimbra.
When she returns to Portugal for the second time, ten years later (2019), she sees her previous stay differently. She thinks, above all, of the positive aspects she learned the first time around. With that feeling came a sense of hope and of migrating to Portugal: "That experience is one that I had somehow put deep in my memory, so it was nice to experience that."
This woman felt that in the research space where she was welcomed she had found the potential to develop a critical thought: "When I decided to come to Portugal and start a PhD in post-colonialism it was exactly to look for a critical space." She holds a PhD scholarship that has been running since September 2020 and expires in May 2021.
She continues to identify barriers. The one that weighs the most on her mind are the financial difficulties and the identity issue. As regards financial sacrifice, until September 2020 she had to live on her savings, with the help of her family and her partner. Added to this are bureaucratic difficulties for the recognition of degrees. In her case she had to pay 500 euros just for the recognition of the title that allowed her access to the doctorate.
On the other hand, she feels that the prejudice against Brazilian women, in Portugal, is very heavy because those who work in public institutions assume that Brazilians always want to take advantage of the system. She says that thinking of staying in Portugal becomes "exhausting". However, she also doesn't think of returning to Brazil. She thinks about the Brazilian political context and that being away from the space causes an absence that is difficult to fill.
The space in which she finds herself is what allows her to build links and bridges. She feels a great need to put down roots. She would like Granada to be her home but "Portugal has been the place that has given me the most work opportunities". While she is involved in research she meets people, creates links, and participates in projects and so "Portugal can and may in the future be the place where I continue working".
She identifies, in Portugal, as gender issues "the sexualisation of Brazilian women". In relation to men she believes that there is discrimination that has to do with reliability. "Brazilian men are never serious". To this extent, she understood that the strategy was to "be a migrant involves a performance". In fact, this strategy was used in other countries she passed through, such as Ireland, where she worked for the Red Cross and UNICEF. Otherwise, what she could get would be less qualified jobs.
She feels that there are "the intersections that tear at my body" but, still, she realises that she is white, with capabilities, in a privileged position. However, she remains in a precarious position. She understands that in the Portuguese imaginary there is the idea that everyone is open and welcoming. In reality, there are many stereotypes and prejudices that make difficult the visibility of "symbolic and non-symbolic violence" of the day-to-day. When she compares her experiences, she recognises that the one she has had in Portugal is more positive, for example, than the one she had in Poland. However, she states "I have a colonial wound that will not be healed".
In the last two years, her life has suffered a strong impact of mobility because of the pandemic crisis. She has been going through a number of major changes. Her home is in Spain but her university space and research grant is in Coimbra. Here, she began to create a feeling of community by attending classes and seminars. She felt the possibility of being integrated in feminist political movements. She participated in a theatre and played football. With the pandemic crisis that started in March, last year, everything changed. Relationships were distorted and suddenly it seemed that nothing made sense. The greatest certainty she has at the moment is that everything is uncertain but that in terms of expectations "Portugal is the country that has supported me".
She is seeking financial autonomy. She really wants to be independent and regain her self-confidence, because to get where she is she has heard many "no's". The research project gives her hope. The migrant woman who lives in her feminine body affirms herself "to be from nowhere but, at the same time, to be from many places".

Analysis of the initiative and individual story
The analysis of the case study requires a gender and intersectional perspective from the movement of women who seek to improve their academic qualifications and, as a result, conquer a space where they wish to have an intervening voice.
This woman's economic and social context is privileged. Her testimony refers precisely to this aspect. She is a white woman, with higher education, from a middle-class family. The objectives she sets out on her path to gaining an active voice are supported by her family network, which allows her not only the acquisition of knowledge but also the opportunity to acquire life experiences in various international territories. As a young adult she spent one year in Portugal. However, she has been in Argentina, returned to Europe and spent time in Spain, Poland, Germany and Ireland. In 2019, motivated by the approach to her research project, she returns to Portugal, where she finally feels welcome.
As a woman trained in gender and intersectionality, she is very knowledgeable about gender and intersectionality issues. She clearly identifies the factors of discrimination, namely, the stigma that Brazilian women carry regarding their sexuality. This discrimination is very obvious in the case of Brazilian women because all you have to do is strike up a conversation. To this extent, the strategy she devised to escape this stigma was the "performance" of pretending to be another nationality based on her dual nationality.
Another factor of discrimination that is pointed out by this woman concerns the labour market and work opportunities for immigrant women. Brazilian women are often thrown into less qualified jobs. In her case, she used, once again, the strategy of dual nationality which allowed her to obtain more qualified jobs. In her comparison with colleagues of other nationalities, she is clearly aware that she is in a privileged position. However, there is still the feeling of "intersections that tear at my body" and a feeling of precariousness.
From a social point of view, there has been a great change in Portugal over the last 10 years. She notes that, despite everything, there remains a collective unconsciousness about "symbolic violence" which prevents the visibility of crucial issues such as racism, discrimination, xenophobia, the "small" violence of everyday life. Public institutions and services tend not to facilitate integration. The procedures are very bureaucratic and require a sustained financial commitment. She said that it was very difficult to get her academic qualifications recognised as it was a long and excessively expensive process. Moreover, the recognition of her academic qualification, of legal training, does not entitle her to exercise her profession, but only to access an application for a doctoral project.
The path to success in this story is traced with a lot of individual resilience. The support she received for integration and reception only came about after much insistence in pursuing her goals and because she had the support of her partner and her family. The pandemic crisis had a strong impact on her relationships with the community. The whole process of occupation of the space was disaggregated given the demands regarding mobility restrictions and personal contacts.
Her testimony shows that her category of white woman, belonging to a privileged class, allows her greater opportunities. In her female body as an immigrant woman, she considers that the research experience in Portugal has been very positive and that she hopes to find her autonomy and financial independence here.

Results and Impact
The success story that is portrayed reflects the evidence of the gender dimension of immigrant women. In the Strategic Plan for Migration 2015-2020 it is reported that Portugal currently has a much polarised immigration with the entry of very qualified immigrants and low qualified immigrants who move in seasonal periods.
In axis I, immigrant integration policies, the gender perspective is referred to in measure 21 on the promotion of information on the rights and duties of immigrant workers and the gender perspective operates in the field of parenthood, salary equality and conciliation between family and professional life. In measure 23 it is again indicated the intention to promote working conditions measures combating illegal work, racial discrimination and trafficking in human beings.
The strategic plans reveal a set of good intentions. However, they do not seem to be reflected in the speech of this immigrant woman. Her integration is achieved by an enormous individual persistence to achieve her goals and by having the support of her family and personal context. The institutions seem to concede after many attempts and after the formalisation of all the administrative and bureaucratic procedures that are slow and stressful.
The pandemic has had a major impact on the way in which relationships are built, which shows, on the one hand, that institutions are not yet prepared for intervention in this particular type of reception and inclusion of immigrant women and, on the other, a clear revelation of gender inequalities.