Did you know that male immigrants with asylum who have resided in Denmark up to 3 years, have an employment rate of 47%? On top of that, when they have lived in Denmark between 3-6 years, the employment levels rise to 60%.
These numbers are really nice to see, and it shows that the Danish integration strategies implemented throughout the years have had some good effects.
When we compare this to women in the same groups however, we see a rather different picture. Only 16% of immigrant women with 0-3 years’ asylum in Denmark have found their place in the labour market. Although there is a general tendency for employment levels in this group to rise after 10 years’ residency, namely to 42%, which is quite a large jump from 16%, it is still concerning that these levels are lower than the early numbers for men with asylum. Furthermore, most of these jobs are in unskilled sectors, where high concentrations of people from minority communities are prevalent. Now, it may be difficult to know what lies behind these statistics, as the data is not sensitive to attitudes, differences in age, background and/or origins. However, what we can read from this, is that there are great disparities between women and men when it comes to achieving a culturally diverse gender balance at all levels of the labour market.
With European democratic values such as respect for human dignity and human rights, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law, we still have some way to go, when it comes to ensuring equality for women with asylum in the EU. A democratic society needs to reflect the same diversity as the residents which it represents, but the data above indicates that this is not quite the case. And maybe we don’t need to worry about this, some may even say it’s a personal decision to be a woman who stays at home to care for the children, if you can finance that life choice yourself. This may very well be, but when this is something expected of you, because you are not a man, and if you would like to change this narrative, then it is a problem. For example, intimate partner violence (IPV) is considered the most persistent human rights violation in the world, and the prevalence of IPV is especially high against women, when cultural beliefs, gender inequality, and lack of resources stand in the way of leaving an abusive partner. So, when women are not provided with, or withheld from, opportunities of achieving financial dependence, alarm-bells should be ringing. Lack of resources and independence can mean, for some women, that they become more vulnerable and susceptible to abuse in their homes. When women who are residing in a culture that is foreign to them, they don’t necessarily have access to the pathways that lead to financial independence, nor to the networks and resources that can help them get there, then they are susceptible to violence and abuse. And in the bigger picture, their perspectives are unlikely to be considered by decision makers, as their struggles and needs are invisible to the broader society.
The UPSIM consortium is made up of a group of European organisations from Sweden, Denmark, Czech Republic, Portugal and Guadeloupe (France), who have joined forces to create opportunities for and to empower women of all cultures, and ensure the words “equal opportunities”, “inclusion of women” and “diversity” are not just clichés printed onto posters, mousepads and coffee cups. For these reasons, it is important for us to find ways of making the numbers even higher for the financial independence of women with asylum. To date, there aren't really any studies to find out why there is such a big gap between men and women in regards to their connections to the labour market. The consortium found a common purpose of wanting to find answers for this, with the purpose of creating real change which is accessible for the recipients. Starting with a demographic and qualitative study, we are trying to uncover what barriers may be causing these disparities, and what needs to be done to break them down. And that is how the idea of the UPSIM project was born!
Follow our blog, to find out what we discovered, and how we propose to change this!
Author: Cecilia Leboeuf-Coneqt
Sources:
Image from: unsplash.com
Denmark statistics: www.dst.dk
IPV: Heise et al. 2002 - Heise, L., Ellsberg, M., & Gottmoeller, M. (2002). A global overview of gender-based violence. International Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, 78(Suppl 1), S5–14.
