Seminar on Highly Skilled Migrant Women Integration into the Labour Market: Challenges, Opportunities and Responses

Vienna, 14 October, 2013

Gender-Sensitive Labour Migration Policies

by

Nina Lindroos-Kopolo

Feminization of labour migration

Source: UNDESA http://esa.un.org/migration/index.asp?panel=1

% of women amongst the total number of international migrants in the following regions:

Feminization of migration

Increasing demand for foreign female labour in a variety of labour markets sectors due to i.e. ageing populations and higher participation of native-born women in the labour market in destination countries: domestic and healthcare work hospitality, retail and agriculture education doctors, lawyers, scientists …

Economic situation and limited work opportunities in countries of origin

What happens when gender related aspects are not considered in LMP?

1. It may results in discriminatory and unfair situations for female labour migrants

When admission policies are not fully reflected of the demand for labour and a preference is made for high-skilled labour in more male dominated sectors higher percentage of irregular female than male labour

migrants, due to the nature of their work (e.g. domestic labour): worse working conditions and higher risks of exploitation

and abuse (e.g. working overtime without pay, low wages, psychological/physical abuses, etc.)

little labour protection and low if any social security coverage

and they are often overqualified

What happens when gender related aspects of LMP are not considered?

Source: Dumont J.C. and O. Monso: “Matching Educational Background and Employment: A Challenge for Immigrants in Host Countries” in International Migration Outlook. OECD, Paris, 2007

2. De-skilling and down-grading of skilled and highly skilled migrant women “Brain waste” and lost opportunities to contribute on a higher level

to economic progress, innovation and R&D Lost investment in human capital building Financial welfare loss through lower earnings and wealth

generation, lower remittances, lower consumptions, lower tax payments etc.

Social costs through family separation; personal frustration and unhappiness due to limited career development opportunities and unsatisfactory working/life conditions

SUMMARY: LOSS TO THE MIGRANT AND HER FAMILY, TO THE CoO and CoD

What happens when gender related aspects are not considered in LMP?

and seek to:

Develop enabling policy and legislative environments Follow a “two-way approach”, encompassing general provisions to

protect migrants and specific provisions that target female migrants; Introduce temporary special measures to compensate for past

discrimination

This can be mitigated by introducinggender sensitive LM policies

that recognize that:

Both men/women migrate for economic reasons / better employment The migration experience of men and women differs and female

migrant workers may experience more disadvantages and discrimination

Female migrant workers significantly contribute economically and socially both to their countries of origin and destination

Gender-sensitive policies can help to mitigate de-skilling, “brain waste” and downgrading FOR EXAMPLE

Raise awareness among employers to consider highly-skilled female migrants for a variety of job openings

Sensitize government policy-makers that certain admission criteria may have gender discriminatory effects

They can: Provide information and resource centers for migrants with job assistance Facilitate foreign diploma and degree recognition Provide opportunities to complement existing education Establish professional refresher courses Offer on-site and distance learning courses in technical language and

national specifications of a profession

They also help with integration through improved understanding of the host society, language skills and professional contribution commensurate with qualifications

Defining the problem

Agenda Setting

Implemen-ting the policy

Evaluating the policy

How to get to GSLMP – Main Steps for introducing gender into LMP

Gender Impact Assessments

Establish

Objectives

Adopting the policy Gather support for introducing

gender-sensitive measures

Determine impact of

introduced measures

and detect potential

policy mistakes

Build knowledge and capacity of implementing institutions

Formulating a labour

migration policy

Find who all needs

to be involved

Key issues

Gathering the correct data to do an in-depth gender analysis to define the problem, set the agenda and formulate a gender-sensitive policy. There are e.g. challenge of measuring irregular, informal, and short-term job arrangements

Building knowledge of the issue and a coalition of relevant stakeholders for the adoption and implementation of the new policy

Ensuring that all responsible for implementing the policy is aware of their roles and tasks and have adequate resources

Setting up a well functioning monitoring and evaluation mechanism

Best practice: Canada The Canadian Federal Government adopted in 1995 its Federal Plan for Gender Equality

The Canadian Minister of Immigration is required to submit each year an Annual Report toParliament containing a gender-based analysis of the impact of the Immigration and Refugee Act.

Results from the CIC 2002 gender-based analysis lead to a number of changes to the points system.

These are some of the challenges, opportunities and solutions that the OSCE tools discuss

They have been prepared to help policymakers, government officials, social partners and migrant associations improve their understanding of the difficulties faced by female migrant workers, and how carefully developed measures can help remove them to maximise the benefits of labour migration to all

Training courses using these tools can be provided by the OSCE to interested countries and institutions.

OSCE toolsUpdated version 2012

Available on: www.osce.org/eea

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

Contact information:

Nina.lindrooskopolo@gmail.com