The hidden agenda of post-war immigration: barriers to women's equal rights

Economic and political realities in Europe are in a process of change from industrial mass production and growth to a pattern of jobs which require new skills in the shrinking industrial sector, in information technology and the expanding service sector. Politics at national level are declining in importance and are being replaced by politics decided at supranational level. Ongoing developments in EU member-states bear witness to the profound transformations in labour market conditions and job opportunities as a consequence of structural change and technological renewal. We can also see the changes in progress caused by the consolidation of the Single Market and the establishment of the European Union itself. While there is an awareness that these processes will affect many areas at national and European level, the consequences for the economy, for politics and not least for social conditions are still difficult to overlook. What will the Single Market imply for people and job opportunities? What will the changes mean for different groups or categories of people? What will, for example, the outcome be for the nearly 55 million women who are economically active, and for all those women who want to enter or reenter the labour market? Will all women be affected in the same way or will there be winners and losers? Is it at all correct to speak about women as a coherent category or will access to work and social rights depend on nationality, region, class, ethnic or racial categorisation? One of the most burning questions for immigrants and ethnic minorities today is whether EU-citizenship will define insiders and outsiders when it comes to equal rights and social protection. In many respects, both women and men are affected by discrimination, segregation, and the powerlessness and lack of choice that is part of being an immigrant. This paper will, however, focus on the particular barriers and obstacles to equal rights and freedoms encountered by immigrant and minority women in Europe. In order to locate women in the dynamics of post-WW II worker immigration, I shall start out with a brief look at the history of post-war worker recruitment and detail its hidden agenda of discrimination. Next, I shall discuss and analyse the adverse effects of immigration policies on women with regard to family reunion, residence rights, the right to work and to social protection, with examples from some major countries of immigration. Against this background, I shall argue that the situation and function of immigrant and ethnic minority women in European societies and labour markets have been largely determined by the receiving countries and their economic needs on the hand; and, on the other hand, by restrictions imposed on immigrant women's equal rights. I shall finally discuss current developments and future trends for women in the context of changing labour market needs.