MULTIPLE DISADVATANGES? The integration of refugee women on the Swedish labour market

Abstract

Despite generally high levels of female employment and an extensive provision of gender-specific institutions, refugee women still hold a marginalized position on the Swedish labour market. While there already exists a great deal of research covering the broader area of immigrant’s labour market integration, less is known about the specific needs and prerequisites of different subgroups within this heterogeneous population. Most previous research has also been of quantitative nature, focusing on the relationship between measurable labour outcomes and discrete characteristics of the host country, source country, or individual immigrant. In order to contribute to the existing research, this study address the hindrances refugee women face when seeking to enter and establish themselves on the Swedish labour market from a qualitative and intersectional perspective. Through the method of in-depth interviewing, it explores what refugee women’s own accounts of their labour market integration process can tell us about the key factors impeding a successful labour market integration. A lack of sufficient institutional support was found to be the most central factor, as it appeared to have an amplifying effect also on labour market obstacles identified on the individual and structural level. Furthermore, the intersectional approach helped illustrate how gender played an important role in shaping the integration process, but often in more subtle and indirect manners than what has been assumed by the cultural explanations put forward in previous research.