Abstract
A broad understanding of civic participation is adopted that includes any form of activism or involvement in political and/or community work, be it formal or informal. Civic participation is theorised as a form of ‘active citizenship’ which allows the authors to bring in the actual experiences of civic participation of migrant women in all their multifarious practices of belonging. This chapter provides a comparative country case analysis of formal participation, discussing how enabling national legislations for migrants’ political involvement are. A comparative analysis of relevant laws and procedures is complemented by a discussion of more informal experiences of civic participation, such as participation in various networks, migrant women’s organisations and their coping strategies.
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Notes
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1 Interviews were also conducted with relevant stakeholders and key informants, as well as state officials and administrative officers, in order to encompass the question of migrants’ practices and experiences with civic participation as widely as possible. The migrants’ narratives could thus be compared with explications of practices by the state employees, activists, NGO representatives and other informants, whose work puts them in frequent interaction with migrants.
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2 The situation of Germany’s Aussiedler, that is, co-ethnic repatriates from post-Soviet bloc countries, is a case in point, while examples of Greece and Cyprus also show that preferential treatment clauses may change with time and depend on political climate. Like in Greece with preferential treatment of Pontic Greeks and recently also Greek Albanians, also in Slovenia’s migration policy, special provisions are taken for migrants of ‘Slovene ethnic origin’.
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3 See, in particular, the European Commission’s Common Agenda for Integration (2005) and the Convention for the Participation of Foreigners in Public Life at Local Level (1992).
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4 The interviewees are identified by a pseudonym, their country of birth and country of their residence at the time of the interview.
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5 Listening centres, that is, guidance, assistance or counselling centres in Italy.
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6 Personal or home caregiver.
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7 A number of prominent positions in political and public life of Sweden are occupied by persons with migrant background.
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8 In Slovenia, the first Decree on Integration only came in force in 2008.
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Pajnik, M., Bajt, V. (2013). Civic Participation of Migrant Women: Employing Strategies of Active Citizenship. In: Anthias, F., Kontos, M., Morokvasic-Müller, M. (eds) Paradoxes of Integration: Female Migrants in Europe. International Perspectives on Migration, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4842-2_6
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