Migration, Education and Women’s Empowerment: A Case Study of Sub-Saharan African Women Immigrant in Gothenburg, Sweden

Abstract

Migration is a multidimensional phenomenon, which expands the opportunities for productive work and leads to a wider perspective among migrants. Female migration from sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to Western Europe has gained importance during recent years and has been linked to a variety of factors, including social and economic contexts, the level of poverty, gender equality and political instability in the sending countries. The aim of this study is to examine the relationships between migration, education and women’s empowerment among female migrants from SSA who moved to Sweden. The study seeks to assess factors determining female migration from SSA to Sweden; their integration process into the social life and labour market; their empowerment process and the role of education; as well as implications of female migration for the families and communities in the sending countries. Anti-oppressive, empowerment and feminist theories have been considered. The empirical data consists of qualitative data, using individual interviews with primary respondents. The findings indicate that some female migrants from SSA used voluntary migration (e.g. for studies reasons or family reunification) as strategy to move to Sweden. For other immigrants, the move to Sweden was dictated by the political instability in the sending countries. The data demonstrate that the main challenges faced by female migrants during their integration into the Swedish society were the knowledge of the Swedish language, lack of social relations/networks and access to the required information. For some migrants, the integration process was hard and slow, while for others ‒ it was easy because they already had family members who immigrated before to Sweden and had background information on Sweden. When it comes to accessing jobs, women even have more power than men as highlighted by respondents. Jobs were found to be in principle education-oriented and the knowledge of the Swedish language- a prerequisite. The data also confirm previous studies that there is still some segregation in the labour market, especially based on gender, ethnicity, educational background and the knowledge of the Swedish language. Gender equality between men and female migrants was illustrated by equal division of tasks for home work and child care. The findings revealed that women in Sweden have the power to take independent decisions regarding their lives, in accordance with the Swedish government policies on women’s empowerment. Finally, female migrant remittances were shown to have a positive impact on the families and communities left behind.