Double jeopardy within Swedish integration: Using South–North collaborations to explore the role of gender within transdisciplinary integration projects

• Sweden is now a highly multicultural society, and as such is dealing with a multiplicity of integration issues. Accordingly, approaches to integration must also be multifaceted in their nature, conducted by transdisciplinary teams within a diverse range of projects. The current approach is to integrate immigrants into the labour market, for which a lauded policy has been implemented (MIPEX). However, when looking at outcomes, the OECD data (2013) is placing Sweden at the bottom of its ranking, with 57% of 15-74-year-olds born outside of Sweden in employment, compared to 67% of native-born Swedes. A possible reason for the gap is the relatively high proportion of native-born women in employment. But, this does not explain why immigrant women’s levels of employment are consistently 10% lower than immigrant men’s. This creates a gender gap between immigrant men and women, and a gap between native-born and immigrant women. As such, immigrant women are experiencing a double-jeopardy in labour-market integration, both as women and as immigrants. Studies exploring instances of the double-jeopardy problem have been conducted in the US (De Jong et al 2001), Canada (Boyd 1984), Australia (Foroutan 2008) and Israel (Reijman & Semyonov 1997). However, this research is still considered novel as it utilises transdisciplinarity to explore the ways in which gender is being used to inform the process of integration. Drawing on the conceptualisation of transdisciplinarity from Zurich 2000, this research draws from a diversity of different projects and approaches to address the real-world problem of double jeopardy experienced by immigrant women. It does so by exploring the experiences and reflections from academics and researchers; government employees; sustainability strategists; social entrepreneurs and NGO volunteer and staff. The projects led by these actors are linked by the aim of providing social integration and the use of the concept of gender in doing so, albeit some more explicitly than others. This presentation explores how the hypothesis of double jeopardy plays out in practice. The aim of our research is to understand the ways in which a transdiciplinarity of actors apply the concept of gender within labour market integration and how this affects tangible outcomes for women. This has been undertaken through a South–North collaboration, using a Swedish-Kenyan collaboration programme within Mistra Urban Futures – SKILLs, aiming towards sustainable urban development. Our research applies a gender analysis of local case studies from impoverished areas of Gothenburg. The discussion is informed by challenges (and solutions) identified in Kisumu (Kenya) and provides a set of co-produced recommendations. The following research questions are pursued: 1. How does labour-market integration consider and use the concept of gender? 2. What effect(s) does the use of gender have upon the outcomes for women within labour-market integration projects? 3. How can the use of the concept of gender be improved within labour-market integration to provide outcomes for women that are equal, fair and sustainable? Initial findings suggest that gender as a concept is experienced differently by immigrant women and Swedish women. In questioning how women from the Global South experience integration projects in the context of the Global North, the collaboration has identified the following aspects: agency; choice of approach; cultural awareness; role modelling; stereotyping and; tokenism – within transdisciplinary projects from both research sites. With these challenges in mind, some integration projects may prove problematic at best and unsuccessful at worst because of this under-researched dimension.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Internationell migration och etniska relationer (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- International Migration and Ethnic Relations (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Genusstudier (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Gender Studies (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Social och ekonomisk geografi -- Kulturgeografi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Social and Economic Geography -- Human Geography (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Tvärvetenskapliga studier inom samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Statsvetenskap -- Globaliseringsstudier (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Political Science -- Globalisation Studies (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Statsvetenskap -- Studier av offentlig förvaltning (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Political Science -- Public Administration Studies (hsv//eng)

Keyword

double jeopardy

immigration

gender

South–North

collaboration

integration

Sweden

Human Geography

Kulturgeografi

Kultursociologi

Cultural Sociology

Gender Studies

Genusvetenskap

double jeopardy

immigration

gender

South–North

collaboration

integration

Sweden

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)