Women And Migration In Rural Europe

Fundamental societal changes in the globalising European countryside impact women's migration decisions. The chapters in this volume represent diverse attempts to explain women's movements from rural areas, taking prevailing labour market conditions as well as gender relations into account. Utilising empirical findings from countries including Austria, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Spain, this collection particularly aims to build bridges between research following the 'cultural turn' and functionalist explanations which refer to material and practiced ruralities. The international range of contributors to Women and Migration in Rural Europe focus on societal constructions of gender and rurality, and in doing so, address various female perspectives on rural life. The analysis of the different working and living conditions in different parts of rural Europe reveals distinct obstacles but also prospects for young women. Importantly, the book includes policy implications with respect to the challenges of demographic change, questions of gender equality and women's contribution to rural development.

Gender and International Migration in Europe is a unique work which introduces a gender dimension into theories of contemporary migrations. As the European Union seeks to extend equal opportunities, increasingly restrictionist immigration policies and the persistence of racism, deny autonomy and choice to migrant women. This work demonstrates how processes of globalisation and change in state policies on employment and welfare have maintained a demand for diverse forms of gendered immigration. The authors examine state and European Union policies of immigration control, family reunion, refugees and the management of immigrant and ethnic minority communities. Most importantly this work considers the opportunities created for political activity by migrant women and the extent to which they are able to influence and participate in mainstream policy-making. This volume will be essential reading for anyone involved in or interested in modern European immigration policy.

The important role women play in the process of migration to the Western bloc — and in particular to Southern Europe where they often find jobs in the domestic service, tourist or sex industries — has been increasingly recognized. This timely book provides essential new insights into the forms of migration and the impact of gender relations on the migration and accommodation process, and also raises general conceptual issues about ways of understanding migration in a global context. At a time when all the member states of the European Union have called for a reduction in immigration in response to its steady growth, the urgency of the topic is apparent. Contributors examine the possible legal, social and economic problems that increased immigration may produce, including: - female migration and its relation to changing gender relations in the country of migration; - different forms of exclusion faced by male and female migrants; working conditions and status; - migrant networks; - and women's role in reproducing and maintaining ethnic culture. This book will be essential reading for courses in migration, nationalism, Mediterranean and area studies, gender studies and a range of social science courses. It will also be of use to policy makers and those interested in European developments.

Scientific Essay from the year 2008 in the subject Sociology - Politics, Majorities, Minorities, grade: 2, University of Vienna (Institut für den Donauraum und Mitteleuropa), course: Modul Soziologie, language: English, abstract: Eighteen years ago, mobility in eastern and central Europe beyond national frontiers was rare. After the fall of the Berlin wall the migration from East to West was a significant trend in international patterns and mobility. The relation between Eastern and Western Europe has been determined by the intensification of a variety of political, economic, and cultural exchanges between East and West. It is this human mobility, the transnational migration, its physical, cultural, political, subjective and conceptual form of movement, which play a central role in these exchanges. We are living now in a world which is organised along multiple axes of mobility, circulation, flows of people and commodities. The number of the migrants and especially that of women migrants has marked an increase in the recent years. The movement of people across Europe is changing the landscape of the continent. The migrants are becoming active subjects to their own social life as well as to legal and political regulation amongst others. Although the majority of the migrants are born in East Europe they are part of the European identity and they are taking responsibility for this transnational space of mediation and exchange called Europe. Apart from countries and cultures there are also spaces of social interaction that determine the establishment of relationships. The transition from state socialism to capitalism has had a huge impact on the lives and the position of the women in Eastern European societies. This political change has been accompanied by the intensification of multi-level communication between the European East and the West.

Based on the oral histories of eighty migrant women and thirty additional interviews with ‘native’ women in the ‘receiving’ countries, this volume documents the contemporary phenomenon of the feminisation of migration through an exploration of the lives of women, who have moved from Bulgaria and Hungary to Italy and the Netherlands. It assumes migrants to be active subjects, creating possibilities and taking decisions in their own lives, as well as being subject to legal and political regulation, and the book analyses the new forms of subjectivity that come about through mobility. Part I is a largely conceptual exploration of subjectivity, mobility and gender in Europe. The chapters in Part II focus on love, work, home, communication, and food, themes which emerged from the migrant women’s accounts. In Part III, based on the interviews with ‘native’ women – employers, friends, or in associations relevant to migrant women – the chapters analyse their representations of migrants, and the book goes on to explore forms of intersubjectivity between European women of different cultural origins. A major contribution of this book is to consider how the movement of people across Europe is changing the cultural and social landscape with implications for how we think about what Europe means. Cover image: Painting by Carla Accardi. Reproduced with the kind permission of Luca Barsi of the Galleria Accademia, Via Accademia Albertina 3/e, 10123 Torino.

Providing interdisciplinary and empirically grounded insights into the issues surrounding gender and migration into and within Europe, this work presents a comprehensive and critical overview of the historical, legal, policy and cultural framework underpinning different types of European migration. Analysing the impact of migration on women's careers, the impact of migration on family life and gender perspectives on forced migration, the authors also examine the consequences of EU enlargement for women's migration opportunities and practices, as well as the impact of new regulatory mechanisms at EU level in addressing issues of forced migration and cross-national family breakdown. Recent interdisciplinary research also offers a new insight into the issue of skilled migration and the gendering of previously male-dominated sectors of the labour market.

This collection presents new research on gender and rural migration in Europe, North America, South America, China, and Australia. Scholars and practitioners from many disciplines highlight the impact of migration to non-urban centres for research, policy, and practice, as well as the significance of rurality to urban social relat