Labor Inclusion Strategies Implemented by Migrant Women in the Current Context
The employment situation of migrant women is generally mentioned to highlight the problems of discrimination, unemployment and the difficulties of integration. But this reality often tends to overshadow the diversity of responses made individually or collectively by immigrant women to address the very real difficulties in their integration into the labor market. As we mentioned in the first chapter, immigrant women work in less skilled jobs. In terms of employment conditions, immigrant women face greater insecurity and are more affected by part-time work.
Diversified strategies for accessing employment
Although migrant women have access to fewer jobs, they have specific resources that constitute assets in the labor market. They benefit from a social and community network that proves to be effective in finding a job and investing in entrepreneurship. The solidarity of their origins and affiliations is an important social resource. Knowledge of the host country and language skills can help in searching for jobs. The economic role of foreigners covers several dimensions. The first of these is the role of "support" for the economic development of the host country. By settling in Europe, immigrant women provide the necessary labor force for the expansion of certain sectors of the economy. Indeed, beyond the quantitative dimension, there is also a qualitative dimension to be taken into account: migrant women take on jobs that have been neglected for reasons of pay, working conditions, or social recognition. This allows these sectors to function properly and contributes to the maintenance of the economic system: the compulsory levies paid by immigrants allow the social and fiscal system to finance itself.
Beyond this economic role "by default", the resources of the different communities have allowed them to invest in particular professions and sectors, because of the strength of their networks. We can thus see that migrant women benefit from collective strategies linked to a community membership that provides them with non-market services, linked to mutual aid systems, information sharing, and a network logic conducive to the penetration and development of targeted markets. Thus, associative networks are structured in part around community bases that federate the various actors. It is possible to say that the collective strategies developed by immigrants make a form of response to the problems of the closed labour market. It is through the strength of networks that they can compensate for the significant handicaps they encounter in the labor market.
Entrepreneurship is another possible choice for these women since it allows them to bypass the difficulty of integrating a constraining, fluctuating, and discriminating job market. Economic activity goes beyond the simple logic of wealth creation. It develops the potential for social integration and socialization. More vulnerable with regard to employment, migrant women are more likely to set up businesses in order to acquire status or a job than with the aim of becoming rich. The sectors of activity in which immigrant women create their businesses tend to become "normalized": previously concentrated in the restaurant and local commerce sectors, they now invest in all sectors of the economy (service activities, liberal professions, etc.). Many of them are investing in ethnic niches and mobilizing their community networks.
Because of the difficulties to get a job corresponding to their qualifications, migrant women are often forced to redefine their professional expectations and it is not uncommon for them to accept a "survival job" to support themselves. This choice is often the result of strategies that require special attention, such as the family situation of these women and the redefinition of their role within the household.
Successive migrations and mobility projects are other strategies and appear as a plausible way out of a situation of exclusion from the labor market or a possible way out towards the achievement of a career. We highlight, for example, the phenomena of border workers who cross borders for a better future, especially in highly sought-after skilled professions, while at the same time evidencing the difficulties of access to housing; second mobility projects after obtaining a residence permit that broadens access to the labor market in other European countries.
Policy measures for the integration of migrant women during the Covid-1
The professional integration of migrant women is a major issue in many countries. At the confluence of solidarity, social impact and economic relevance, the subject is one of the major issues that has gained importance during this health crisis. The pandemic has made evident the indispensable role of migrant women working in care activities and other so-called "essential" services and occupations which keep society functioning.
On the one hand, the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated social inequalities, from which women were already suffering the most, exposing vulnerabilities in employment, access to education and health services. On the other hand, gender-based violence has also increased as a result of economic and social pressures in a context of movement restrictions and isolation measures. Thus, at the European level, specific integration measures for migrant women have been taken in order to mitigate the effects of periods of confinement linked to the Coronavirus. Many associations and institutions have been mobilized to continue the support and have adapted their care modalities to maintain the link with the public (individual telephone contact, WhatsApp group, development of online training modules, etc.).