| Popis: |
This report is about gender dynamics in the governance of the reception and integration of asylum seekers and refugees in Sweden, with a particular focus on the region of Scania. It builds on work done in the previous GLIMER work packages about housing and accommodation (WP3), language training and education (WP4) and labour market integration (WP5) together with additional new empirical material about gender policy and third sector initiatives targeting gender dynamics. The additional material consists of policy documents applied on national and local levels, and interviews with personnel working in projects for female newcomers. The Swedish welfare state model is an important context for understanding issues of gender equality in the reception and integration of asylum seekers and refugees. The Swedish welfare state is based on an understanding of equality in terms of rights and contributions through labour market participation. This means that it relies on a dual-earner family model, a model introduced in the 1970s through a number of policy tools encouraging this way of life, including individual taxation (which replaced family taxation) and the introduction of public and affordable childcare (which was previously done by women in the home), together with the embracement of ideologies of gender equality (jämlikhet) and gender equality of opportunities (jämställdhet). Over time, these interventions have contributed to a change of the mind-set of the people. In a comparative study on care, work and welfare, Sweden was been depicted as a country with a small family and a big state, meaning that the state takes on a comparatively large proportion of care work, since both women and men are expected to enter the labour market (Daly and Rake 2003). Sweden has an outspoken policy about gender equality of opportunity aiming at women’s and men’s equal power to shape society and their lives; lately, the government has even branded itself as a feminist government. Sweden has repeatedly been top ranked in the Gender Equality Index (European Institute for Gender Equality 2017). It is probably no exaggeration to say that, when it comes to gender equality and gender equality policy, in international comparison, Sweden is an extreme example. The response to gender dynamics in the reception and integration of refugees and other migrants in Sweden must be understood against this backdrop. In the following, we first present the data this report is based on. Next we introduce gender equality policy as this plays out on the national level, this includes both a section about the historical development of gender equality policy and sections about gender dynamics in the reception of and labour market integration of refugees and asylum seekers. Following on this, and building on the previous GLIMER work packages, we discuss gender dynamics in housing and accommodation, Swedish language training and labour market integration. We then present three examples of local initiatives aiming at the integration of refugee and other immigrant women. The report is finalised with a conclusive discussion. |
