CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2013
| Author | Livingstone, Kathleen Helena |
|---|---|
| Title | An Albanian in the House? Men's and Women's Divergent Experiences of Migration and Integration in Italy |
| Summary | Paradoxically, Albanians are said to be at once the most integrated and most despised migrant group in Italy. Because of the indelible impact of gender on social processes and therefore migratory phenomena, to explore what has caused the asymmetrical integration found in the case of Albanians in Italy, in this study I examine the experiences and perceptions of migration and integration of a mixed-gender group of Albanian migrants through a gendered analysis of life stories. Firstly, I explore the context of the recent migratory trends in the region, linking the present labor gap and demand for workers in Italy to its weak welfare state, care work crisis, and gender equality woes, in parallel with the creation of a labor supply from politically and economically tumultuous Albania. Secondly, I demonstrate that male and female Albanian migrants have divergent migratory experiences in Italy because of gendered and ethnicized stereotypes present in both their native and host societies. Finally, I show how the combination of this environment with pre-existing gendered and ethnicized stereotypes structures migrants' ultimate integration, allowing for greater employment and legalization opportunities for women and, consequently, causing more migrant women to become deeply embedded in Italian society than men, despite the fact that female migrants explicitly suffer more hardship due to their gender. I relate these findings to Rubery's (1988) theory concerning the 'silver-lining' of gendered job segregation, concluding that gendered and ethnicized stereotypes have a similarly protective effect on migrant communities in Italy. Further, I propose using the concepts of 'inclusion' and 'integration' to differentiate between male and female migrants' insertion into host societies, respectively, so as to be able to better map and understand migrant group integration and individual migrant experiences and opportunities. |
| Supervisor | Fodor, Eva |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2013/livingstone_kathleen.pdf |
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