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Contributions to Political Science
Muhammad Wajid Tahir
Responding to Women Migrant’s Needs Gender and Integration Sensitivity of Legislation in Germany and Sweden
Contributions to Political Science
The series Contributions to Political Science contains publications in all areas of political science, such as public policy and administration, political economy, comparative politics, European politics and European integration, electoral systems and voting behavior, international relations and others. Publications are primarily monographs and multiple author works containing new research results, but conference and congress reports are also considered. The series covers both theoretical and empirical aspects and is addressed to researchers and policy makers.
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Muhammad Wajid Tahir
Responding to Women Migrant’s Needs Gender and Integration Sensitivity of Legislation in Germany and Sweden
Muhammad Wajid Tahir Department of Politics & Gender Relations Philipps-University Marburg Marburg, Germany
ISSN 2198-7289 ISSN 2198-7297 (electronic) Contributions to Political Science ISBN 978-3-030-63734-7 ISBN 978-3-030-63735-4 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63735-4 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Dedicated to all migrant women striving for their equal rights in destination places
Acknowledgements
The monograph is an outcome of a post-doc research fellowship to implement a project tilted “Challenges of Integration for Immigrant Women in Europe (Germany & Sweden): Nexus between Gender Mainstreaming of Public Policies/Legislation and Gender Ideology” funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation (Az. 40.17.0.012PO).
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Executive Summary
This study contributes to the discourses of liberal and post-colonial feminism through new methodological and empirical insights. I observe the compliance of existing legislation with international/regional forums and observe their ‘genderand integration-sensitivity’ in destination countries using an analytical tool which guided both the qualitative and quantitative methods and techniques. Newly developed ‘gender and integration analytical framework’ reveals that the reviewed legislation partly comply with the recommendations of international/regional forums to incorporate the practical and strategic gender-integration needs of women migrants to address discriminatory practices in German and Swedish workplaces. Experts in both Germany and Sweden assert that gender-specific clauses compensate for the absence of integration-specific clauses in relevant legislation, but the reality is quite different. Existing legislation could be an outcome of ‘Eurocentric’ and ‘Civilization’ approaches, mainly driven by destination history, cultural norms and political developments that more likely aim to protect equal rights of native women but are less likely to address women migrant’s needs in workplaces. Nonetheless, the reviewed legal provisions and labor market response neither protect the rights of the former or the latter group adequately. The gender- and integration-neutral or -blind nature of the legislation either reduce women migrant’s chances of entering the labor market or encourages them to accept employment under precarious working conditions. This happens in many ways. First, selective legal support through subsidized language programs entitles refugees or asylum-seekers to improve their employability but is inaccessible to women with other residence permits. By not acknowledging the gender dynamics of migrant families, wherein men are often preferred for advancing their language skills, especially when finances are limited, the skills gap is widened between men and women and traditional divisions of labor are reinforced. Second, inadequate language skills shape employer’s perspectives and organizational dynamics in ways that disadvantage women migrants in the workplace. Often, these women work in isolation without the ability to read work protocols, understanding operational procedures, be vigilant about safety, and participate in decision-making forums. Delayed promotions, scarce supervisory roles, and unequal wages are the ultimate outcomes. Third, labor markets expect women migrants to enter with qualifications and skills ix
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Executive Summary
compatible to destination market standards but slow accreditation in Germany and non-compliance to European Qualifications Framework (EQF) in Sweden either delay their entry or promote deskilling. Fourth, state-managed ‘workplace-based’ childcare centres have limited coverage in Germany and private providers frequently fail to offer uninterrupted services in Sweden. Conventional daycare systems are under extreme pressure since the new wave of migrants and fail to accommodate applicants promptly. Fifth, the care of other family members is managed entirely in the private sphere and is untouched by legislation in either country. Although German civil society has undertaken a few initiatives, they do not demarcate financial implications to beneficiaries and do not have access to state subsidies. Sixth, parental leaves are far more commonly taken by women migrants, as their partners may view the activity as un-masculine, although the situation is not ideal in native parents either. Seventh, German legislation has a transparent definition of sexual harassment with objectively measurable indicators that are absent in the Swedish. Women migrant do experience harassment frequently, but less likely report their experiences. Key barriers are a lack of coordination between state institutions/agencies; absence of internal vigilance committees; marginalized representation of women migrants at all levels; missing educational programs on sexual harassment and anti-harassment legislation; limited access to relevant information; and limited coverage/presence of Anti-harassment Institutions in both countries. Additional financial burdens, pressures on existing resources, and a lack of interest hold employers back forming educational programs to correct these deficiencies. Eighth, labor markets do not offer training or counselling to women migrants to cope with stress produced by the intersection of professional and caregiving responsibilities. Ninth, although Trade Unions and other collaborative forums are vigilant on wages related matters, a huge segment of the labor market violates wage-related regulations because these forums do not cover all sectors and segments uniformly. Tenth, although institutions are moving towards ICTs based work-culture, the pace is very slow in both countries. Digitalization is still not a priority for either state. Larger enterprises are turning towards digitalized work flexibility wherever possible, but medium and small enterprises only either partly adopt these alternatives or neglect them altogether. Eleventh, the labor market discourages the proposal of ‘Internal Monitoring Units’ in workplaces to observe compliance with relevant legislation in Germany. Although Swedish legislation endorses this idea, the labor market rarely adheres. The reviewed legislation do not promote the concept of ‘Tripartite Consultation’ or the presence of ‘gender’ and ‘integration’ experts for designing monitoring activities in workplaces in either country. The private sector prefers little political interference into its functioning, and therefore political will lacks significantly. Finally, I conclude that the inclusion of ‘gender-integration’ practical and strategic needs in legislation including effective implementation strategies, especially through engaging the private sector, are preliminary steps to bring women migrants in the labor market and to maintain their confidence for the continuation of employment in both countries.
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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2 Conceptual Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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3 Methods and Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 Proposed Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Tool 1: Needs Assessment of Practical and Strategic (Gender-Integration) at Workplaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Tool 2: Gender and Migration Analysis of National Legislation . . . 3.4 Tool 3: Women Migrant’s Subjective Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5 Tool 4: Expert’s Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.6 Tool 5: Gender- and Integration-Analysis Outcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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4 Theme-I: Occupational Segregation—Genderand Integration-Sensitivity of Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Discourage Lower-Paid Jobs for Women Migrants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Increase Women’s Representation in Under-Represented Sectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Identical Promotion Criteria to Ensure Equal Chances of Upward Mobility at Workplaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4 Equal Participation of Women and Men in Decision-Making Forums at Workplaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 Ranking Reviewed Legislation for Their Genderand Integration-Responsiveness to Discourage Sexand Ethnic-Segregation at Workplaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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5 Theme-II: Wage Inequalities—Genderand Integration-Sensitivity of Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 Equality in Minimum Wages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Financial Increments Based on Genderand Ethnicity-Sensitive Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 Gender- and Integration-Sensitive Overtime Regulations and Financial Incentives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4 Equal Pay for Equal Work or Work of Equal Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.5 Ranking Reviewed Legislation for Their Genderand Integration-Responsiveness to Narrow Wage Gaps at Workplaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Theme-III: Reconciliation of Professional Work with Family Responsibilities—Gender- and Integration-Sensitivity of Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1 Decent and Gender-Integration Sensitive Working Hours . . . . . . . . . 6.2 Short- or Long-Term Leaves to Reconcile Professional and Caregiving Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3 Services for Reconciliation of Professional and Caregiving Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4 Flexible Working Hours Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.5 Information Package and Counseling Services for Reconciliation of Professional and Family Responsibilities . . . . 6.6 Ranking Reviewed Legislation for Their Genderand Integration-Responsiveness for Reconciling Professional and Family Responsibilities of Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.7 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Theme-IV: Sexual Harassment—Genderand Integration-Sensitivity of Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1 Clear Definition of Sexual Harassment Along with Operational Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2 Education of Employees on Different Dimensions of Sexual Harassment at Workplaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3 Internal Mechanism to Combat Sexual Harassment at Workplaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4 Access to Justice and Transparency in Penalties Against Sexual Harassment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5 Ranking Reviewed Legislation for Their Genderand Integration-Responsiveness to Discourage Sexual Harassment at Workplaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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8 Theme-V: Monitoring Mechanism to Observe the Compliance of Relevant Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1 Establishment of Internal Monitoring Units at Workplaces . . . . . . . . 8.2 Promotion of Tripartite Consultation on the Constitution of Monitoring Mechanisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3 Appointment of Gender and Integration Experts for Designing Monitoring Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4 Ranking Reviewed Legislation for Their Genderand Integration-Responsiveness to Improve Effectiveness of Monitoring Mechanisms at Workplaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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9 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 9.1 Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Annex-I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Abbreviations
ACEOWM ACEOWN APITCN BPA BPA+5 BPA+10
BPA+15
CEDAW CERD CESCR CFR CPRMWMF DDRX DEOTWW DR DWC DWI DWR
Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men 2011 Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men 2014 Action Plan on the Integration of Third Country Nationals Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action Five-year Review of the Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Beijing + 5) Review of the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the Outcome Documents of the Special Session of the General Assembly entitled “Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-first Century 15-year Review of the Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) and the Outcomes of the Twentythird Special Session of the General Assembly The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families Dublin Declaration: World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and related Intolerance Deceleration of Equality of Opportunity and Treatment for Women Workers 1974 Discrimination (employment and occupation) Recommendation Domestic Worker Convention Tripartite Meeting of Experts on Measurement of Decent Work Domestic Workers Recommendation xv
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ER(WF) ERR ERR ESC ESC(A) ESC(R) FWH HELMPCOD HSWR HW MEC MFLM MPC MPR MWFC MWR NPEWN OSHC PTW RPM SDGs SPFR TEU WFRC
Abbreviations
Employment (women with family responsibilities) Recommendation 1965 Employment Relationship Recommendation Equal Remuneration Recommendation 1951 The European Social Charter 1961 Additional Protocol to the European Social Charter 1988 The European Social Charter (Revised) 1996 Forty-Hour Week Convention 1935 Handbook on Establishing Effective Labor Migration Policies in Countries of Origin and Destination Health and Safety at Work (general workplace conditions) Regulations Hours of Work (commerce and offices) Convention 1930 Migration for Employment Convention 1949 Multilateral Framework on Labor Migration Non-binding Principles and Guidelines for a Rights-based Approach to Labor Migration Maternity Protection Convention Maternity Protection Recommendation Minimum Wage Fixing Convention 1970 Migrant Workers Recommendation 1975 New European Pact for Equality between Women and Men for the Period 2011–2020 Occupational Safety and Health Convention 1981 Part-time Work Convention Protection of Migrants: Resolution Adopted by the General Assembly 2014 Sustainable Development Goals Social Protection Floors Recommendation Consolidated Version of the Treaty on European Union Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention
Chapter 1
Introduction
Gender equality and women’s empowerment is the 5th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) and cannot be achieved without allocating sufficient effort and resources to the concerned institutions serving at different hierarchical levels. To achieve 5th SDG in different spheres of life, political actors are expected to expound transparent gender equality targets in their political agendas, while governing bodies are supposed to devise effective gender equality policies, followed by gender-sensitive legislation. Besides, a sub-goal of SDG 8, decent work, and economic growth, is equal access to decent employment opportunities. Past research asserts that prevailing gender stereotypes and discriminatory practices in the workplace could be the main hindrance to achieve this goal (Gorman, 2005; Hainmueller & Hiscox, 2010; Safi, 2010). In the recent era, global political crises, regional anarchies, domestic unrest, and the sprawl of terrorism have made many countries unsafe and pushed thousands of people to migrate internationally. Based on historical trends, security measures, and economic development, migrants perceive Europe as a safer place of residence relative to other regions (Röder & Mühlau, 2014; Sigona, 2012). Hence, Europe is the primary destination of many migrants (IOM, 2019; Kapur, 2014). According to Eurostat, 22.3 million non-European immigrants are residing in Europe, representing 4.4% of the European population. Out of them 9.7 million are living in Germany, 6.3 million in the UK, 5.1 million in Italy, 4.9 million in France, 4.6 million in Spain, and 0.6 million in Sweden (Eurostat, 2019). Although the majority of migrants are men, their families accompany them in many cases. In 2017, men migrants (54%) slightly outnumbered women migrants (46%) in Europe, but the number of women is steadily increasing (Eurostat, 2019), indicating a quick turn toward the ‘feminization of migration.’ Women are entering the Union with short- or long-term objectives such as permanent residency, family reunification, contractual or temporary employment, highly skilled employment,
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. W. Tahir, Responding to Women Migrant’s Needs, Contributions to Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63735-4_1
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self-employment, asylum and refugee protection (Fleury, 2016; Haaken & O’Neill, 2014). Although economic well-being is not a goal of many, a plausible number focus on it in making migration-related decisions rather than only familial reunion (IOM, 2019; OSCE, 2009). The state must provide equal access to decent employment opportunities so that these women, too, can integrate into their destination countries smoothly. In this context, the SDGs have also shown a special concern through the sub-goal (8.8) protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment (United Nations, 2015). Despite these objectives, existing work arrangements do not seem well-aligned with the growing needs of women migrants in destination countries (European Commission, 2018; Martín et al., 2016). Often, it is because women workers are first ‘women’ and then ‘workers’ (OSCE, 2009). This stereotype is widely popular across the world even in countries that claim to be relatively gender-egalitarian (Röder & Mühlau, 2014; Diehl & Koenig, 2009). This perception has stigmatized women as less invested and less reliable workers, especially in anticipation of their domestic and caregiving-related career interruptions (Bobbitt-Zeher, 2011). Many other factors further exacerbate vulnerabilities of women migrant such as language deficiencies, cultural shocks, unfamiliarity with institutions in destination countries, ambiguity in legal protections, and dependent residence permits (EU/OECD, 2016; Padavic & Reskin, 2002; United Nations 2004), which frequently end in exploitation and discrimination. Generally, prevailing discriminatory practices in the workplace are classified into seven categories: expulsion, exclusion, sexual harassment, other harassment, mobility, material conditions, and working conditions (Bobbitt-Zeher, 2011). Primary causes of discrimination are grounded in gender ideology and stereotypes regarding women’s roles and responsibilities, but secondary causes are associated with the inability of relevant legal frameworks to address these challenges (Inglehart & Norris, 2003; Ridgeway & England, 2007). It presents particular challenges for women migrants to integrate with destination labor markets, especially those who have a desire for career development or who strive for their own and their family’s livelihood. Why does discrimination prevail in the workplace even if states claim to have adopted the recommended measures? The answer is deeply embedded in state-labor market coordination on employment issues. Although labor markets, the private sector, in particular, are mostly autonomous, the gendered nature and outcomes of a labor market are shaped through national policies and legislation that regulate employment affairs (Knize Estrada, 2018). Usually, the state has overarching guiding and governing roles, where employers and human resource departments are responsible for interpreting, revising, and implementing relevant policies and legislation meant to combat discriminatory practices in recruitments, promotions, transfers, training, and performance evaluations (Bobbitt-Zeher, 2011; Briscoe & Schuler, 2004). To what extent do states incorporate ‘gender’ perspectives in national policies and legislation and to what extent do labor markets extract genderspecific information from legal frameworks to formulate operational strategies in the workplace?
1 Introduction
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Evidence is more likely based on the exclusion of ‘gender’ (Martin, 2003; Ridgeway & England, 2007). States and labor markets appear with superficially ‘gender-neutral’ proposals that result in differing realities for women and men, regardless of whether the outcome is intended or imagined (OSCE, 2009). The tragic part is that both partners neither perceive themselves discriminating nor they expect others to perceive them biased (Bobbitt-Zeher, 2011). Thus, although most employers claim to shield women against all forms of discrimination, they frequently prefer men over women in competing circumstances (Ridgeway & Correll, 2004). Corresponding institutional mechanisms do not show a great deal of interest in taking these issues seriously. For instance, state-funded institutional studies in Germany assert that women migrants disadvantaged position is largely associated with ‘agency-specific’ limitations such as inadequate qualifications, insufficient professional experience, poor language skills, and family obligations (Scholten & Penninx, 2016; Worbs & Baraulina, 2017). These studies do not acknowledge the inability of and lack of desire within Androcentric and Eurocentric legal frameworks to bring enlightened change in the ‘gendered’ attitudes of labor markets and to improve the employability of women migrants in light of emerging market needs. Recent scholarship demonstrates that women and men migrants both desire to stay and work in destination countries (Helbling & Leblang, 2019; Romiti et al., 2016), but the relevant legal framework does not seem conducive to their goals at a national or local level. How the state and labor market work together for regulating employment affairs through ‘gender- and integration-sensitive’ initiatives?1 Although attitudinal change toward the gendered composition of labor markets is a lengthy and lethargic process, some have suggested that states mainstream ‘gender’ into every aspect of organizational procedures to eliminate gendered stereotypes that stigmatize women in the workplace (OSCE, 2009; United Nations, 2002). Since the Beijing Platform for Actions (1995), gender mainstreaming of public policies and legislation has been perceived as an effective tool to alter traditional gendered beliefs of employers toward women’s suitability as good employees. United Nations conceptually defines ‘gender mainstreaming’ as a process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality (United Nations, 1997). Other international institutions (United Nations, International Labour Organization, International Organization for Migration, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, etc.) have called upon destination countries to adopt adequate policy measures to facilitate women migrant’s integration with their societies. These 1 Gender-
and integration-sensitive legislation are operationalized as legal instruments which have the ability to recognize prevailing stereotypes based on ‘gender’ and ‘migration’ that serve as the foundation of discrimination against women migrants on professional matters in workplaces. They further intensify through intersectional marginalization of ethnicity, race, and religion.
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institutions have issued specific instructions, through various conventions, working papers, and reports to incorporate gender- and integration-specific needs into their public policies and legislation to protect their rights and to empower them for deciding their roles in destination countries (Kring & Kawar, 2009). Since the declaration of Beijing Platform for Action (1995), many international organizations, regional alliances, and states have adopted ‘gender mainstreaming’ as an official strategy to eliminate gender inequalities and improve women’s status in their societies (Lombardo, 2005; Mazey, 2002). Although states claim incorporation of ‘gender’ in their legal frameworks, the outcome varies across the world: from Europe (Woodward, 2008); South Asia (Kelkar, 2005); South Korea (Kim & Kim, 2011); and Malawi (Tiessen, 2004). These variations call to question the adequacy and effectiveness of the proposed strategies for the inclusion of ‘gender’ in relevant instruments. Buvini´c (1986) believes researchers should pay attention to three issues for mainstreaming ‘gender’ into different initiatives: the political context of institutions/organizations, the establishment of women/gender-specific machinery, and the development of tools and capabilities. Moser (1993) concurs that gender mainstreaming of policies, programs, and projects is not possible without the provision of well-prescribed principals and methodological tools. Here, March, Smyth, and Mukhopadhyay (1999) suggest the development of a mechanism that could underline prevailing gaps in gender relations, assess the potential of targeted interventions, and envisage desired outcomes regarding gender equality. The present research focuses on the third component proposed by Buvini´c (1986). Past researchers and development practitioners have developed different gender analysis frameworks (tools) in collaboration with various development agencies in the lines of various feminist development discourses: Women in Development (WID), and Gender and Development (GAD). The most commonly used frameworks are the Harvard Analytical Framework (Overholt, Anderson, and Austin, 1985), People-oriented Planning (UNHCR, 1992), the Moser Framework (Moser, 1993), the Gender Analysis Matrix (Parker, 1993), the Capacities and Vulnerabilities Analysis Framework (Anderson & Woodrow, 1989), the Women’s Empowerment Framework (Longwe, 1991), and the Social Relations Approach (Kabeer, 1994). Development and gender experts analyze the gender-responsiveness of different programs and projects with these frameworks across the world. These frameworks offer different concepts for understanding gendered needs, evaluating proposed interventions, and estimating the benefits to women and men. Recent scholarship has also cited a few modified frameworks (OECD, 2018; OSCE, 2009; OSCE, IOM, & ILO, 2007; United Nations-ESCAP, 2018; UNICEF, 2018), but neither old nor new offer a set of guidelines to evaluate the gender-responsiveness of legislation. Although past literature cites a few frameworks that examine the effectiveness of migration laws (De Haas & Czaika, 2013; Mitsilegas, 2014; Thym, 2016), they do not measure their genderresponsiveness simultaneously. This gap underlines a need for the construction of a ‘gender and integration analytical framework’ for relevant legislation in destination countries.
1.1 Case Studies
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1.1 Case Studies My research utilizes delicate methods and techniques to assess the inclusion of ‘gender’ and ‘integration’ in the legal frameworks meant to integrate women migrants in the labor markets of Germany and Sweden. These countries are selected on the following grounds: First, since 2015, Germany and Sweden have appeared as central countries of destination for migrants in the European Union (DESTATIS, 2015; Eurostat, 2019; Migrationsverket, 2015). The median age of these migrants is 31.4 years in Germany (DESTATIS, 2015) and 41.6 years in Sweden (Statistics Sweden, 2015), yielding a majority of working-age people. Almost half are women, often in need of suitable employment opportunities for better integration with destination societies, which seem impossible without comprehensive gender-integrated analyses of targeted state measures. Second, different indicators2 have categorized the world into three gender regimes: gender-inegalitarian, gender-transitional, and gender-egalitarian. In the first regime, the countries reinforce traditional gender ideology and do not pay special attention to raising women’s status. In the second regime, the countries experience transition in gender ideology and adopt measures to improve their status. In the third regime, the countries introduce several policies to empower women in all spheres of life (Guo & Gilbert, 2012; Inglehart & Norris, 2003; Röder & Mühlau, 2014). The current study is an extension of previous work (Tahir, 2017) on the issue of ‘women and employment’ from Pakistan (a gender-inegalitarian regime with GDI: 0.538 & GGI: 135) to Germany (a gender-transitional regime with GDI: 0.963 & GGI: 46) and Sweden (a gender-egalitarian regime with GDI: 0.999 & GGI: 4). My previous research findings (Tahir, 2017) reveal that despite signing/ratifying international forums and conventions relating to gender equality, Pakistan is unlikely to mainstream ‘gender’ in its employment-related policies and legislation as per given guidelines. I found that women are experiencing eleven specific structural barriers in the workplace that influence their employment-related decisions negatively. Conversely, literature from Germany and Sweden provides sufficient evidence that gender-focused policies and legislation have helped native women enter the labor market (Cascio, Haiderm, & Nielsen, 2015; Evertsson, 2016; Fagnani, 2012; Lewis, Knijn, Martin, and Ostner, 2008; Lundström & Andersson, 2012; Misra, Moller, Strader, & Wemlinger, 2012; Van Lancker & Ghysels, 2012), but outcomes in terms of their participation vary between the countries (Eurostat, 2019). These studies have mainly explained women’s employment patterns through family policies, tax systems, gender wage gaps, occupational segregation, sexual harassment, and working hours. My previous work has identified a wide range of structural barriers that women do experience in a gender-inegalitarian regime, and it is presumed that these barriers also prevail in other regimes. Do women migrants experience the same structural barriers in entering the labor market in gender-transitional and gender-egalitarian regimes? To what extent do these regimes address these barriers 2 Gender
Development Index & Gender Gap Index.
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1 Introduction
through gender-sensitive policies and legislation? To answer these questions, we must first develop a gender and integration analysis framework to evaluate the responsiveness of relevant legislation in Germany and Sweden. Third, gender is a complex social category and policy-makers often neglect important aspects of ‘gender’ while designing relevant policies and legislation. As a result, these instruments fall short of expectations and gender stereotypes are not removed from relevant segments of society completely. It has already been noted that different international forums offer a substitute for gender expertise in the form of precise guidelines to incorporate ‘gender’ in the policy and legal framework. In this context, Germany3 and Sweden4 have already signed and ratified relevant platforms of actions and various conventions of the above-mentioned forums to improve gender equality in their societies. It is not clear to what extent, however, these gender regimes (transitional or egalitarian) mainstream ‘gender’ into their policy and legal frameworks to facilitate women’s entry into the labor market as per given guidelines? Besides, the recent stream of international migration has placed a lot of pressure on policy-makers to find appropriate solutions to accommodate migrants both in Germany and Sweden. Despite several efforts and alternative solutions, women migrants integrate less in both countries, especially based on their experiences in workplaces (EU/OECD, 2016; Tangermann & Grote, 2018 from Germany; Aldén & Hammarstedt, 2014; Bursell, 2014 from Sweden). This indicates that there are several shortcomings in measures designed to assist integration that need to be highlighted through extensive research. It is presumed that varying outcomes are associated with the exclusion of gender- and integration-specific needs in legislation meant to protect women migrants against discriminatory practices in the workplace. My analytical framework highlights the missing needs in relevant legislation and underlines barriers to their ‘inclusion’ through multistage research. My research, therefore, presents a framework that answers the following questions: 1. Do existing work- and migration-related legislation respond to recommendations/expectations of international forums such as UN, EU, and OECD to meet the practical and strategic (gender-integration) needs of women migrants to combat discriminatory practices in the workplace? 2. Do women migrants find given legal provisions and subsequent arrangements made by employers sufficient to combat discriminatory practices in the workplace? 3. What are the key challenges to protect women migrants against discriminatory practices in the workplace?
3 Federal
Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (2000), ILO (2016a), and Spieß (2007). 4 Ministry of Education and Research Sweden (2014), ILO (2016b), and UNICEF (n.d.).
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Chapter 2
Conceptual Framework
Migration and feminist theories intersect in different ways on the matter of women migrant’s integration into destination countries. A huge part of contemporary migration research draws on the assimilation theory (Alba & Nee, 1997; Cohen, 2012; Lesthaeghe & Moors, 2000; Portes & Zhou, 1993) or the transnational migration approach (Brown & Bean, 2006; King, 2012; Robinson, 1998; Samers, 2010), whereas feminist theories offer different explanations about women’s empowerment as well as employment patterns under the radical (Crow, 2000; Firestone, 2003), socialist (Haraway, 2006; Mitchell, 1966), liberal (Friedan, 2010; Nussbaum, 1999), and post-colonial (Chow, 2002; Dechaufour, 2008; Mohanty, 1988; Said, 1979; Sassen, 2003) perspectives. Migration theories shed light on the integration processes with destination societies; enablers, constraints, and outcomes, whereas feminist approaches point out sociocultural and political barriers to women’s empowerment in general, and toward their participation in the labor market in particular. The main tenets of the above schools have been consulted to develop a guiding conceptual framework, tested by empirical data in the present research. Starting with liberal feminism and gender regimes, Inglehart and Norris (2003) in their work on “Rising Tide of Gender Equality” assert that economic development, culture, religion, and the state determine gender equality in societies. Each factor can influence the status of women and gender relations separately. They distinguish the situation of women based on four factors in Southern (mostly origin) and Northern (mostly destination) countries. In their opinion, the situation that women are in does not improve in the former countries (e.g., countries from Africa and Asia) where cultural norms and religious beliefs reinforce the patriarchal division of labor, and the state does not initiate adequate legal measures to reduce gender-based inequalities in different segments of society. On the other hand, in the latter countries (e.g., Western European, Scandinavian, United States, and Canada), persistent economic growth and the prevalence of relatively gender-sensitive policies, diffusion
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. W. Tahir, Responding to Women Migrant’s Needs, Contributions to Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63735-4_2
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of liberal cultural norms and values, and religious enlightenment have contributed to women’s empowerment in different spheres of life. Women naturally anticipate that their level of empowerment and gender relations will change when they or their families emigrate from South (more likely gender-inegalitarian) to North (more likely gender-egalitarian). Assimilation and transnational approaches dictate that it does not happen solely by changing a place of living from relatively inegalitarian to egalitarian regimes (Cohen, 2012; King, 2012). Special measures are required to facilitate the ideological transition in gender relations of transnational migrants (Kapur, 2015; Röder & Mühlau, 2014; Samers, 2010). Women migrants’ sociocultural and economic integration patterns are contingent on political and gender ideologies of origin as well as destination countries, which vary from conservative to liberal (Fuwa, 2004; Hoyt, 2012; Iversen, Rosenbluth, & Rosenbluth, 2010). Both ideologies work together to shape each other’s liberal or conservative outlooks that further determine gender relations at individual, familial, and societal levels. Post-colonial feminists categorize European (destination) ideologies as superior due to improved socio-political values of enlightenment, freedom of speech, and democracy that mostly lack in Asian or African (origin) countries (Mohanty, 1988; Said, 1979). In the recent era, a majority of migrants are coming from latter societies where unequal gender relations more likely to prevail due to wide abidance in traditional ideologies (Dechaufour, 2008; Inglehart & Norris, 2003; Tahir, 2019). Nevertheless, migration provides a platform to interact with destination ideologies that can reinforce or alter their emigrated gender beliefs. This interaction takes place through cultural exchange and exposure to policies and legislation in destinations (legal frames). Destination political and gender ideologies determine outlook as well as the outcome of public policies and legislation meant to ensure gender equality and facilitate the integration of women migrants. Liberal feminists assert that gender-blind or gender-biased policies and legislation are products of conservative ideologies, whereas gender-sensitive policies and legislation are an outcome of liberal ideologies. In gender-inegalitarian regimes, absence or inappropriate implementation of gender-specific legal frameworks relating to employment more likely reinforce traditional divisions of labor (Inglehart and Norris, 2003; Tahir, 2017), whereas the European literature asserts that women are more likely supported for outside opportunities through gender-sensitive legal interventions (Currier, 2007; Herbst & Barnow, 2008; Inglehart & Norris, 2003). Member states differ on the matter of gender-sensitive legal frameworks, resulting in the varying levels of gender equality across Europe (Guo & Gilbert, 2012; Sundström, 2003; Sümer, 2016; Walby, 2004). One of the outcomes is the varying level of women’s labor market participation, in general (Eurostat, 2019) and that of women migrants, in particular (Rubin et al., 2008). Political and gender ideologies cannot wholly explain these variations but certain analytical gaps of legal frameworks also matter greatly. The literature argues that if the state’s measures do not guarantee equal benefits for women migrants (Walsh & Heppner, 2006), they may not translate ‘integration’ needs into effective public policies and legislation. Post-colonial feminist critics associate it
2 Conceptual Framework
15
with a prevailing notion of the cultural superiority of destination (Western) countries that try to find remedies to gender inequality for others based on their own experiences and perspectives (Mohanty, 1988). What they highlight in the name of gender differences in ‘others’ seem exclusionary and illogical because of the differences in the way patriarchy operates in societies (Baer, 2009). The present approach cannot help assess the nature of gender relations and figure out challenges to women migrant’s empowerment without including their perspectives in targeted interventions. Inclusion of women migrant’s perspectives and needs is contingent on their representation in destination discourses and institutions: either someone represents them or they represent themselves (Worbs & Baraulina, 2017; Said, 1979). The present situation reflects a higher probability of the former approach because western discourses propose a ‘civilization’ approach (Dechaufour, 2008), which discards the proposal of migrant’s representation and can promote ethnocentric biases, racial prejudice, and stabilization of prevailing hierarchies about ‘others’ (Suleri, 1995). Those at the helm may neglect to see that white women have to deal with gender issues only, whereas women migrants encounter gender as well as race/ethnicity/religiosity issues that can exacerbate their hardships if they are overlooked (Mohanty, 1988). Varying barriers for natives and women migrants require a careful intersectional analysis of targeted interventions designed for their smooth sociocultural and economic integration with destination countries (Llacer, Unzunegui, Del Amo, Mazarrasa, & Bol˚umar, 2007). Nonetheless, Suleri (1995) asks an important question of this research. What comes first in relevant discourses; either gender or integration (race/ethnicity/religiosity)? The answer is unclear in existing literature because gender and integration discourses come up with varying explanations. For instance, legal feminists criticize the legislative system because they believe that law has been an instrument of male supremacy that has been unresponsive to women’s concerns historically (Baer, 2009; Konner, 2015). These scholars demarcate that women’s experiences differ from men, thus patriarchal legal doctrine does not only ignore women’s genuine concerns but also entails male bias (Smart, 1992). Liberal feminists, therefore, advocate women’s engagement in theoretical as well as practical phases for the promulgation of legislation (Baer, 2009; France, 2002) so that they can challenge the gendered implications of legislation that seem gender-neutral apparently (Bartlett, 1990). Nonetheless, a lack of representation in the legislature for women, in general (Galligan & Clavero, 2008), and women migrants, in particular (Bloemraad & Schönwälder, 2013), makes it very hard to include their voices in policies and legislation. It does not help that western policy-makers often perceive women migrants as ignorant, poor, and dependent in comparison with their levels of modernity and freedom (Dechaufour, 2008; Suleri, 1995). This permits them to ignore their direct feedback in policy- and law-making processes. Critics within the gender and migration school assert that most migration research that produces inferences with a genderless lens is Androcentric actually (HondagneuSotelo, 2011; Nawyn, 2010). Almost half of the migrants are women, and they constitute a huge proportion of the workforce (Biffl & Bock-Schappelwein, 2013; Lutz, 2008). Studies of ‘guest workers’ in Germany are dominated by male perspectives but ignored female’s concerns, though they have also entered professions such as
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2 Conceptual Framework
textile, food, and the services industry. Nevertheless, their concerns are less likely observed for policy- or law-making processes (Gatt, Hazibar, Sauermann, Preglau, & Ralser, 2016). The literature on gendered dimensions of migration often overlooks intersectionality thus does not analyze gender relations through the lens of ethnicity, race, class, and religion (Baer, 2009; Gatt et al., 2016; Hooks, 2000). Importantly, Eurocentric western migration discourse entails post-colonial arrogance and ensures the monopoly of the Global North on proposing various emancipatory models for the ‘civilization’ of the Global South (Varela & Dhawan, 2015), but ignores deeply rooted gender inequalities within their social institutions. It is commonly believed that ‘civilizational’ maturity is the best way to minimize the cultural difference between first and third world gender perspectives (Spivak, 1988) but a marginal focus is placed on social consequences of gender- and migration-related stereotypes while drafting integration strategies for ‘others.’ The key focus of ‘civilization’ initiatives is men migrants, whereas women migrants’ concerns are left undealt with due to biased beliefs about their inferiority (Varela & Dhawan, 2009). Today media discourse also exclusively focuses on male migrants in discussing their economic gains or criminal, violent, and religious identities, whereas women migrants are neglected but presumed to be vulnerable clusters (Krause, 2017). Legal reforms structured under ‘civilization’ missions focus on women’s bodies but ignore their previous cultural identities, which is an attempt to forge new cultural and national identities (Kapur, 2015). This approach produces legal frames to preserve the equal rights of natives but does not include women migrants’ exclusive gender and integration needs (Kapur, 2015). Thus, third world feminists ask for alternative initiatives that differ from western notions of ideal gender equality for a balanced integration approach (Ray, 2000). Public policies and legislation shape operational mechanisms in destination labor markets to a large extent, especially of the public sector. Social feminists elaborate that employment policies and legislation that result in varying outcome for men and women in the workplace are masculine-centered (Estevez-Abe, 2006; Mandel & Shalev, 2009). Targeted interventions solely address standard operational procedures but overlook implicit conditions that perpetuate different treatments for women and men based on their class, race, ethnic, religious, or gender identities (Gottfried, 2015; Iversen, Rosenbluth, & Rosenbluth, 2010). Importantly, particular exemptions or thresholds to be qualified for different entitlements hold a male preference. These policies assume basically that individuals enter the labor market without family responsibilities (care and domestic), which make them available for employment contracts and professional relations in the workplace (Bradley, 2016; Ranson, 2012). This approach is almost equally common in the public and private sectors. Nonetheless, women, having obligations to family responsibilities, cannot enter the labor market as men can. Hence, gender-neutral policies and legislation often end in inequality and suppression of women in the workplace, resulting in delayed promotions, exclusion from training, wage gaps, and career interruptions (Bradley, 2016). Within a state, production and observation mechanisms of employment-related policies/legislation differ across agencies based on the classification of employees
2 Conceptual Framework
17
(Hatton, 2015). For instance, employment-related agencies formulate rules and regulations for natives but migration agencies devise different policies for migrants. Many instruments put forth by migration agencies indirectly promote inequalities and exclusions (Le Feuvre & Roseneil, 2014) through regulating entry procedures, a period of stay, eligibility for employment categories, and the granting of extensions (Tahir, 2019). A lack of coordination between agencies causes contradictions in policy/legislation. These variations are more pronounced in market economies aiming to utilize the workforce for specific assignments based on their ‘identities’ (Estevez-Abe, 2006; Gottfried, 2015). Considering the above, the likelihood of policies and legislation meant to govern employment issues in the workplace with genderand ethnicity-biased is quite high. In the present study, women migrants’ integration within the labor market of destination countries will be studied through employment, gender equality, and integration-related legislation in compliance to conventions, recommendations, and guidelines of international/regional forums (elaborated in the following chapter). The guiding documents produced by these institutions direct countries to mainstream the gender- and integration-specific needs of women migrants in state measures so that they can integrate socially as well as economically with destination societies. Centrally, it is hypothesized that the provision of ‘gender- and integration-sensitive’ legal frameworks can increase women migrants’ likelihood to find and keep meaningful employment in destination countries. Three types of empirical data have been collected to test this hypothesis from Germany and Sweden.
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Crow, B. A. (2000). Radical feminism: A documentary reader. New York: New York University Press. Currier, C. L. (2007). Redefining “labour” in Beijing: Women’s attitudes on work and reform. Asian Journal of Women’s Studies, 16(7), 334–348. https://doi.org/10.1080/12259276.2007.11666030. Dechaufour, L. (2008). Introduction Au Féminisme Postcolonial. Nouvelles Questions Féministes, 27(2), 99–110. Eurostat. (2019, August). Europe 2020 indicators—Employment. Retrieved from https://ec.eur opa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Europe_2020_indicators_-_employment& oldid=452428 on 08.04.2020 at 12:13 pm. Estevez-Abe, M. (2006). Gendering the varieties of capitalism: A study of occupational segregation by sex in advanced industrial societies. World Politics, 59(1), 142–175. https://www.jstor.org/sta ble/40060158. Firestone, S. (2003). The dialectic of sex: The case for feminist revolution. New York: Macmillan. France, A. (2002). The Red Lily. Rockville: Wildside Press. Friedan, B. (2010). The feminine mystique. New York: W. W. Norton. Fuwa, M. (2004). Macro-level gender inequality and the division of household labour in 22 countries. American Sociological Review, 69(6), 751–767. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240406900601. Galligan, Y., & Clavero, S. (2008). Prospects for women’s legislative representation in post socialist Europe: The views of female politicians. Gender & Society, 22(2), 149–171. https://doi.org/10. 1177/0891243207312268. Gatt, S., Hazibar, K., Sauermann, V., Preglau, M., & Ralser, M. (2016). Migration from a gendercritical, postcolonial and interdisciplinary perspective. Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie, 41(3), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11614-016-0236-4. Gottfried, H. (2015). Why workers’ rights are not women’s rights. Laws, 4(2), 139–163. https://doi. org/10.3390/laws4020139. Guo, J., & Gilbert, N. (2012). Public attitudes and gender policy regimes: Coherence and stability in hard times. Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 39(1), 163–182. Haraway, D. (2006). A cyborg manifesto: Science, technology, and socialist-feminism in the late 20th century (pp. 117–158). Netherlands: Springer. Hatton, E. (2015). Work beyond the bounds: A boundary analysis of the fragmentation of work. Work, Employment & Society, 29(6), 1007–1018. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017014568141. Herbst, M. C., & Barnow, S. B. (2008). Close to home: A simultaneous equations model of the relationship between child care accessibility and female labour force participation. Journal of Family Economic Issues, 29(1), 128–151. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-007-9092-5. Hondagneu-Sotelo, P. (2011). Gender and migration scholarship: An overview from a 21st century perspective. Migraciones Internacionales, 6(1), 219–233. Hooks, B. (2000). Where we stand: Class matters. London: Routledge. Hoyt, L. C. (2012). Gender bias in employment contexts: A closer examination of the role incongruity principle. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(1), 86–96. https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.jesp.2011.08.004. Inglehart, R., & Norris, P. (2003). Rising tide gender equality and cultural change around the world. New York: Cambridge University Press. Iversen, T., Rosenbluth, F. M., & Rosenbluth, F. (2010). Women, work, and politics: The political economy of gender inequality. New Haven: Yale University Press. Kapur, R. (2015). Precarious desires and ungrievable lives: Human rights and postcolonial critiques of legal justice. London Review of International Law, 3(2), 267–294. https://doi.org/10.1093/lril/ lrv006. King, R. (2012). Theories and typologies of migration: An overview and a primer. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260096281_Theories_and_Typologies_of_Migr ation_An_Overview_and_A_Primer on 19.09.2016 at 11:45 am. Konner, M. (2015). Women after all: Sex, evolution, and the end of male supremacy. New York: W. W. Norton.
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Krause, U. (2017). Escaping conflicts and being safe? Post-conflict refugee camps and the continuum of violence. In K. Ulrike & B. Susanne (Eds.), Gender, violence, refugees (pp. 173–196). New York: Berghahn Books. Le Feuvre, N., & Roseneil, S. (2014). Entanglements of economic and intimate citizenship: Individualization and gender (in) equality in a changing Europe. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 21(4), 529–561. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxu010. Lesthaeghe, R., & Moors, G. (2000). Recent trends in fertility and household formation in the industrialized World. Review of Population and Social Policy, 9(1), 121–170. Llacer, A., Zunzunegui, M. V., Del Amo, J., Mazarrasa, L., & Bol˚umar, F. (2007). The contribution of a gender perspective to the understanding of migrants’ health. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 61(Suppl. 2): ii4–ii10. Lutz, H. (2008). Migrations- und Geschlechterforschung: Zur Genese einer komplizierten Beziehung. In R. Becker & B. Kortendiek (Eds.), Handbuch Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung. Theorien, Methoden, Empirie (pp. 565–573). Wiesbaden: Springer. Mandel, H., & Shalev, M. (2009). Gender, class, and varieties of capitalism. Social Politics, 16(2), 161–181. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxp006. Mitchell, J. (1966). Women: The longest revolution. New Left Review, 11(40), 11–37. Mohanty, C. (1988). Under western eyes: Feminist scholarship and colonial discourses. Feminist Review, 30(1), 61–88. https://doi.org/10.1057/fr.1988.42. Nawyn, S. J. (2010). Gender and migration: Integrating feminist theory into migration studies. Sociology Compass, 4(9), 749–765. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2010.00318.x. Nussbaum, M. (1999). The feminist critique of liberalism. In her sex and social justice. New York: Oxford University Press. Portes, A., & Zhou, M. (1993). The new second generation: Segmented assimilation and its variants. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 530(1), 74–96. http://www. jstor.org/stable/1047678. Ranson, G. (2012). Men, paid employment and family responsibilities: Conceptualizing the ‘working father’. Gender, Work & Organization, 19(6), 741–761. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.14680432.2011.00549.x. Ray, S. (2000). En-gendering India: Woman and nation in colonial and postcolonial narratives. Duke: University Press. Robinson, W. I. (1998). Beyond nation-state paradigms: Globalization, sociology, and the challenge of transnational studies. Sociological Forum, 13(4), 561–594. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:102280 6016167. Röder, A., & Mühlau, P. (2014). Are they acculturating? Europe’s immigrants and gender egalitarianism. Social Forces, 92(3), 899–928. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/537774/summary. Rubin, J., Rendall, M. S., Rabinovich, L., Tsang, F., van Oranje-Nassau, C., & Janta, B. (2008). Migrant women in the European Labour Force. Cambridge: Rand Europe. Said, E. W. (1979). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books. Samers, M. (2010). Migration. London: Routledge. Sassen, S. (2003). The feminization of survival: Alternative global circuits. In M. Morokvasic, U. Erel, & K. Shinozaki (Eds.), Crossing borders and shifting boundaries (pp. 59–77). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Smart, C. (1992). The woman of legal discourse. Social & Legal Studies, 1(1), 29–44. https://doi. org/10.1177/096466399200100103. Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the subaltern speak? In R. C. Morris (Ed.), Can the subaltern speak? Reflections on the history of an idea (pp. 21–78). New York: Columbia University. Suleri, S. (1995). Woman skin deep: Feminism and the postcolonial condition. In B. Ashcroft, G., Gareth, & T. Helen (Eds.), The post-colonial studies reader (pp. 273–288). London: Routledge. Sümer, S. (2016). European gender regimes and policies: Comparative perspectives. London and New York: Routledge.
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Sundström, E. (2003). Gender regimes, family policies and attitudes to female employment: A comparison of Germany, Italy and Sweden. Retrieved from http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/ get/diva2:142190/FULLTEXT01.pdf on 14.11.2016 at 18:25 pm. Tahir, M. W. (2017). Is higher education enough? Explaining barriers to women’s employment in Pakistan. Germany: Shaker. Tahir, M. W. (2019). Transition in gender ideology and women migrant’s empowerment in Germany and Sweden: Inclusion of ‘gender’ and ‘integration’ needs in relevant policies/legislation. Gender Issues, 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-019-09247-x. Varela, M. D. M. C., & Dhawan, N. (2009). Queer mobil? Heteronormativität und Migrationsforschung. In H. Lutz (Ed.), Gender Mobil? Geschlecht und Migration in transnationalen Räumen (pp. 102–121). Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot. Varela, M. D. M. C., & Dhawan, N. (2015). Postkoloniale Theorie: Eine kritische Einführung. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag. Walby, S. (2004). The European Union and gender equality: Emergent varieties of gender regime. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 11(1), 4–29. https://doi.org/10. 1093/sp/jxh024. Walsh, W. B., & Heppner, M. (Eds.). (2006). Handbook of career counseling for women. London: Routledge. Worbs, S., & Baraulina, T. (2017, January). Female refugees in Germany: Language, education and employment. Retrieved from https://www.bamf.de/SharedDocs/Anlagen/EN/Forschung/Kur zanalysen/kurzanalyse7_gefluchetete-frauen.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=11 on 01.02.2020 at 10:15 am.
Chapter 3
Methods and Material
I have adopted a triangular research approach to answer the questions listed above. Initially, I have reviewed and analyzed conventions and recommendations of various international and regional forums such as the United Nations (UN) and its allied institutions, i.e., International Labour Organization (ILO) and International Organization of Migration (IOM), and European Union (EU) relating to employment, migration, and gender equality to prepare an ‘International Legal Frame (ILF).’ In the second stage, I have reviewed selected national legislation (German and Swedish) addressing issues relating to employment and gender equality to construct a ‘National Legal Frame (NLF).’ The NLF has compared with the ILF based on selected indicators to find similarities and differences between international and national legal approaches toward equal, just, and smooth integration of women migrants with labor markets. In the third stage, the experiences of discriminatory practices at the workplace, faced by employed women migrants (n = 40), have recorded by a survey. Reported experiences are interpreted by the presence or absence of needed legal provisions in the NLF. Finally, women migrant’s experiences of workplace discriminations, in context of differences or similarities between ILF and NLF in both countries, are addressed by perspectives of various experts from employment, migration, and gender equality-related ministries, institutions and agencies, through in-depth interviews.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. W. Tahir, Responding to Women Migrant’s Needs, Contributions to Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63735-4_3
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3.1 Proposed Framework1 Initially, a set of guidelines to include gender- and integration-specific needs in relevant legislation is proposed in this analytical framework. Further, it examines the effectiveness of already given legal provisions related to practical and strategic gender-integration needs of migrants. Also, it analyzes the impact of current legislation on combating discrimination against women migrants at the workplace. These goals are achieved by using the following five tools in this framework.
3.2 Tool 1: Needs Assessment of Practical and Strategic (Gender-Integration) at Workplaces Identification of gender differences and inequalities is the first line of action for gender mainstreaming, then comes the reduction of inequalities through the provision of appropriate opportunities (United Nations, 2002). For this purpose, a tool, reported by Molyneux (1985) and Moser (1993), has used to recognize prevailing gender differences and inequalities at the workplace. This tool splits gender needs into two categories: practical and strategic. The definition of practical gender needs as ‘those needs that, if they were met, would assist women in their current activities’ comes from Moser’s work (Moser, 1993) while citing Molyneux (1985). The interventions addressing practical needs bring a quick solution to prevailing inequalities, however, in the long run, these interventions do not result in a change to traditional gender relations. On the other hand, ‘the needs that, if they were met, would enable women to transform existing imbalances of power between women and men’ are defined as strategic gender needs (Moser, 1993). The interventions to fulfill strategic gender needs are feasible strategies to eliminate gender stereotypes. The same also make sure equality in access to resources, control, and practices. Mostly, the discrimination faced by women at the workplace is gender-based, however, ethnicity, race, or religious identities also add to the vulnerability of women migrants for being discriminated. To avoid discriminatory practices against women migrants through NLF, the ILF provides instructions to the states to include ‘gender’ and ‘integration’ perspectives into public policies and legislation. Therefore, as per Molyneux (1985) and Moser (1993), the recommendations of the ILF are categorized into ‘practical’ or ‘strategic’ (gender-integration) needs at workplaces. A semantic approach-based thematic analysis (Maguire & Delahunt, 2017; Nowell, Norris, White, & Moules, 2017) of 42 international documents is performed here. As per (Braun & Clarke, 1 The
monograph is an outcome of a post-doc research fellowship to implement a project tilted ‘Challenges of Integration for Immigrant Women in Europe (Germany & Sweden): Nexus between Gender Mainstreaming of Public Policies/Legislation and Gender Ideology’ funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation. I have collected qualitative and quantitative data in four stages, which has helped produce three research papers too. Due to same methodological approach, the framework has also discussed in another research paper (see Tahir, 2020).
3.2 Tool 1: Needs Assessment of Practical and Strategic …
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2006) semantic analysis believes, ‘the analyst is not looking for anything beyond what a participant has said or what has been written.’ The ILF is comprised of clauses which address different gender and integration needs, coded and categorized into various practical and strategic needs. These clauses are further classified into five thematic areas (case studies).
3.3 Tool 2: Gender and Migration Analysis of National Legislation This analysis is carried out in two phases. Thirty-six legislation, eighteen from each Germany and Sweden, are reviewed through a semantic analysis approach, in the first phase. The second phase aims to analyze available legislation on ‘gender’ and ‘integration’ aspects, through the latent analysis approach. The latent analysis looks beyond what has been said or written, and thus starts to identify or examine the underlying ideas, assumptions, and conceptualizations—and ideologies—that are theorized as shaping or informing the semantic content of the data (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The NLF is developed by highlighting, coding, categorizing, and interpreting the given legal provisions. Later, a comparison is made between NLF and ILF to find similarities or differences. This highlights the extent of incorporation of laws related to ‘gender’ and ‘integration’ in the relevant legislation as per directions of the above-mentioned international forums.
3.4 Tool 3: Women Migrant’s Subjective Experiences According to Bowen (2009), document analysis is an excellent way to identify questions to be answered through other methods. Here, a triangulation method is used to generate a confluence of evidence that breeds credibility (Eisner, 1991). Thus, the comparison of ILF and NLF provides the basis to develop a structured questionnaire to observe the effectiveness of given legal provisions, meant to combat discriminatory practices at the workplaces. The questionnaire is administrated through a (face-toface and online) survey. The style of formulation of questions is either three-point Likert scale or dichotomous. The median value of categorical responses and the mean value of binary responses are converted to ‘more likely’ or ‘less likely’ values. A comparison is made between the findings of the survey and the outcome of the gender and integration analysis of relevant legislation. The comparison reveals the extent of protection felt by women migrants from any type of discrimination at the workplace in both countries. Another key finding of the comparison is the identification of alternative arrangements, the respondents reported, if the legislation does not meet specific practical or strategic gender-integration needs at the workplace.
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3.5 Tool 4: Expert’s Perspective A limitation of the document analysis approach is ‘biased selectivity’ (Yin, 1994) that has the potential to affect the outcome of my analytical framework. Therefore, different experts from German and Swedish institutions2 are invited for in-depth conversations to have their perspectives toward missing clauses in the NLF. This approach has also helped identify prevailing challenges to the revision or implementation of given legal provisions at workplaces. The obtained data have transcribed, coded, categorized, and analyzed using MAXQDA.
3.6 Tool 5: Gender- and Integration-Analysis Outcome Finally, the analysis of legal documents, survey-based subjective experiences of women migrants, and feedback from relevant experts provide sufficient basis to classify the reviewed legislation in terms of its effectiveness. For this purpose, a tool ‘Social Relations Approach’ related to gender analysis framework, reported by Kabeer (1994), has adapted. According to Kabeer, gender policies can be divided into two categories: (1) gender-blind and (2) gender-aware. Kabeer further divides gender-aware policies into three classes: gender-neutral, gender-specific, and genderredistributive. The gender-blind policies possess biasedness toward women, therefore propagate traditional gender relations. Existing knowledge of gender differences which mainly focuses on meeting practical gender needs in society is usually the source of gender-neutral and gender-specific policies. However, gender-redistributive policies aim to challenge conventional divisions of labor, and empower women in all aspects of life. These kinds of policies target strategic gender needs, which help meet practical gender needs, eventually. There are slight variations between conceptual definitions of gender-neutral and gender-specific classification of policies. Thus, with a slight modification to the classification of Kabeer (1994), the NLF is categorized into three classes based on gender-responsiveness: (1) gender-blind, (2) genderneutral, and (3) gender-sensitive legislation. In literature, there is a lack of reports on a similar order of legislation, intended to combat migration-based discrimination at workplaces in destination countries. Therefore, identical criteria have been adopted to perform analysis of international documents and national legislation with an emphasis on their integration-responsiveness. Thus, the outcome of the reviewed legislation is also classified into three classes: integration-blind, integration-neutral, and integration-sensitive. Table 3.1 describes the matrix of the gender-integration analysis framework. The legislation ‘gender-integration sensitive’ would instruct a direct clause to the relevant authorities to meet specific practical or strategic needs of women migrants. The target institutions will respond to translate the given legal provisions into tangible action plans. As a result of this cascade, women migrants will experience less discrimination 2 Ministries,
Institutions, and Agencies relating to Employment, Migration, and Gender Equality.
–
Yes
Yes
–
–
Yes
–
–
–
–
Yes
Yes
–
–
–
–
–
Yes
–
Yes
–
Yes
–
Yes
–
Yes
–
Less likely satisfactory
–
Yes
Yes
More likely satisfactory
Indirect
Direct
No
Subjective experience of women migrants
Legal provisions (clauses)
Table 3.1 Gender-integration analysis matrix
–
–
–
Yes
–
Yes
Effective
–
–
Yes
–
Yes
–
Ineffective
Implementation
Gender-blind
Gender-neutral
Gender-neutral
Gender-neutral
Gender-neutral
Gender-sensitive
Gender-outcome
Integration-blind
Integration-neutral
Integration-neutral
Integration-neutral
Integration-neutral
Integration-sensitive
Integration-outcome
3.6 Tool 5: Gender- and Integration-Analysis Outcome 25
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3 Methods and Material
at workplaces. Despite the provision of direct clauses, ineffective execution of legal provisions or unsatisfactory experiences of migrant women put the relevant legislation to the category of other outcomes. Second, a gender- or integration-neutral legislation would offer an indirect clause that will instruct relevant authorities to provide the necessary support to meet the specific needs of employees, without acknowledgment of gender-based differences at the workplace. This approach prompts the labor market to adopt an implementation strategy in gender- or integration-neutral manner, which may or may not protect women migrants against particular discrimination types. This way, an implementation strategy or experiences of women migrants do not alter the outcome classification. Lastly, a gender- or integration-blind legislation will not recommend directions to meet the relevant practical or strategic gender needs of women migrants. To meet the desired needs, these methods are least concerned. This eventually increases the probability of discrimination against women at the workplace, and again, experiences of women migrants do not influence the outcome. Finally, a review of documents served by international or regional forums outlines five thematic areas outlining various practical and strategic gender-integration needs of women migrants, which are expected to be met through legal measures. The thematic areas are (1) occupational sex-segregation, (2) wage discrimination, (3) reconciliation of professional work with family responsibilities, (4) protections against sexual harassment, and (5) monitoring mechanism to observe the implementation of relevant policies and legislation in the workplace. How do prevailing national legislations respond to eliminate discriminatory practices in the workplace within each thematic area? Case studies in the following chapters shed light on it.
References Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27–40. https://doi.org/10.3316/QRJ0902027. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa. Eisner, E. W. (1991). The enlightened eye: Qualitative inquiry and the enhancement of educational practice. Toronto: Collier Macmillan. Kabeer, N. (1994). Reversed realities: Gender hierarchies in development thought. London: Verso. Maguire, M., & Delahunt, B. (2017). Doing a thematic analysis: A practical, step-by-step guide for learning and teaching scholars. AISHE-J: The All Ireland Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 9(3), 3351–33514. Molyneux, M. (1985). Mobilization without emancipation? Women’s interests, the state, and revolution in Nicaragua. Feminist Studies, 11(2), 227–254. https://doi.org/10.2307/3177922. Moser, C. O. (1993). Gender planning and development: Theory, practice and training. London: Routledge. Nowell, L. S., Norris, J. M., White, D. E., & Moules, N. J. (2017). Thematic analysis: Striving to meet the trustworthiness criteria. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 16(1). https:// doi.org/10.1177/1609406917733847. Tahir, M. W. (2020). Combating discrimination at workplaces through mainstreaming ‘gender’ and ‘integration’ needs in legislation: Testing a new analytical framework in Germany and Sweden. Women’s Studies International Forum (Vol. 81). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2020.102380.
References
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United Nations. (2002). Gender mainstreaming an overview. New York: Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, USA. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/pdf/e65237.pdf. Yin, R. K. (1994). Case study research: Design and methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Chapter 4
Theme-I: Occupational Segregation—Genderand Integration-Sensitivity of Legislation
Occupational sex segregation is a deeply prevalent discriminatory practice in the labor market throughout the world. Women over-represent certain sectors and face glass ceiling almost in the rest of the sectors (Bergmann, 2011; Moss, 2004). Often women migrants are employed by sectors such as domestic work, hospitality, gastronomy, and caregiving (Martín et al., 2016; Worbs & Baraulina, 2017). These jobs are more likely exploitative in nature and offer weak social coverage or least secure under present legislation governing employment affairs (IOM, 2009). Both horizontal and vertical sex segregations are foundations for other forms of discrimination. It is hypothesized that if the state conducts proper ‘gender’ and ‘integration’ analysis of work, gender equality, and integration-related legislation during preparatory phases or revisions, the legislation will incorporate practical and strategic (genderintegration) needs to be followed by effective implementation strategies. This will enforce the labor market to change the existing composition of women migrants in various sectors and increase their representation in different layers of management where they under-represent presently. Apart from past literature, my semantic analysis infers that different clauses of, nine ‘work-specific1 ’ and one ‘migrationspecific,2 ’ international conventions, recommendations, and guidelines call upon the states to adopt appropriate measures to address issues of horizontal and vertical ethnogender-based segregations at workplaces so that discriminatory practices should not perpetuate against women migrants in destination countries. The analysis comes up with a checklist of two practical and two strategic (gender-integration) needs. A comparison between ILF and NLF, subjective experiences of women migrants,3 and 1 Source:
(BPA+10 follow-up, 2005; BPA+15 follow-up, 2010; CESCR, 1996; DEOTWW, 1974; DR, 1958; ERR, 2006; ESC(A), 1988; NPEWN, 2011–2020; SDGs, 2015). 2 Source: (HELMPCOD, 2006). 3 See Table A1 (Annex-I).
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. W. Tahir, Responding to Women Migrant’s Needs, Contributions to Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63735-4_4
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expert opinions produce knowledge that helps learn about the level of gender- and migration-sensitivity of prevailing legislation, meant to meet the underlined needs of women migrants at workplaces in both countries.
4.1 Discourage Lower-Paid Jobs for Women Migrants This is a practical gender-integration need of women migrants at workplaces because if the state and employers work mutually to reconstruct a balanced gendered composition of the workforce through offering benefits or devising quotas or imposing sanctions on recruitment schema, incidents of horizontal segregation will decline gradually. Initially, it is imperative to study the response of existing legislation to discourage lower-paid jobs for women migrants. The comparison between ILF and NLF reveals that the reviewed German legislation do not serve targeted clauses to discourage recruitment of women migrants in lower-paid sectors. For instance, article 3(2) of the Basic Law; article 1(2)(2) of the EDET; and article 2(1) of the General Act on Equal Treatment cover the issue through general statements that women should be protected against all forms of employment-related discrimination at workplaces but do not serve exclusive clauses. Similarly, although the Swedish Antidiscrimination Act and Work Environment Act serve general, do not serve specific clauses to discourage the hiring of women migrants in lower-paid sectors. How do women migrants perceive their current jobs with respect to their qualifications and salaries in both countries? Highlights: • Gender- and migration-specific stereotypes influence hiring process at workplaces. • Lethargic accreditation processes in both states but non-compliance to EQF in Sweden coerce women migrants to accept lower-paid jobs. • Preferences in language subsidies for specific diaspora: asylum-seekers and refugees also contribute in lower-paid job of women migrants. • Germany attracts women migrants in the care sector that pays relatively low. My survey statistics yield that almost half of respondents perceive that their current jobs are in lower-paid sectors: Germany (43%) and Sweden (53%). On one side, these experiences could be associated with the absence of targeted legal protection but experts from various state institutions/agencies offer varying justifications for missing ‘direct’ legal provisions and prevailing challenges to implementing indirect clauses, meant to discourage lower-paid jobs for women migrants in both countries. The responses of experts are bifurcated into agency- and employer-specific behaviors, practices, and limitations. On the part of the agency, language barriers, higher dependency on others, and non-familiarity with host institutions can increase women
4.1 Discourage Lower-Paid Jobs for Women Migrants
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migrant’s likelihood to accept lower-paid jobs. A core issue is the accreditation of qualifications and experiences earned in origin countries because women migrants are less likely to bring academic credentials and experiences aligned to destination standards. Past literature also cites numerous barriers that women migrants face to get their qualifications accredited with destination standards. Key barriers are family obligations, delayed applications, lack of interest in language learning, and costly process of accreditation (Iredale, 2005; Vouyioukas & Liapi, 2013). Although Employment and Migration Agencies are assisting migrants for screening and identification of skill gaps in their profiles and guiding them how to write applications and fulfill preconditions of accreditation, still it is a lengthy and lethargic process (Officials, Kreisjob Center Marburg & Biedenkopf, Marburg, March 2019; Swedish Employment Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Both states have launched web portals to assist migrants on accreditation matters (Tahir, 2019), but the German Qualification Framework (GQF) has corresponded to the European Qualification Framework (EQF) since May 2013, whereas Sweden still values its system ‘the Swedish National Agency for Higher Vocational Education (NAHVE).’ Non-compliance of Sweden to EQF can be another explanation of delayed accreditation. Thus, those who want to adopt a professional career, they are coerced to accept jobs in lowerpaid sectors until they do not produce accredited documents. Moreover, the expert believes that women migrants are also choosy on the matter of employment because they less likely prefer care sector, which is offering more jobs these days (Officials, Kreisjob Center Marburg & Biedenkopf, Marburg, March 2019; Swedish Employment Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019), whereas past literature infers that the care sector offers more precarious and lower-paid jobs (Aronsson, Gustafsson, & Dallner, 2002; Chun & Agarwala, 2016; Geiger-brown, Muntaner, Lipscomb, & Trinkoff, 2004). It implies that the state machinery has also been pushing women migrants to accept low paying jobs indirectly. On the part of labor market, prevailing gender and migration-related stereotypes, absence of targeted legal provisions, and immunity of the private sector to several national legislation coerce women migrants to concentrate on lower-paid jobs in both countries. For instance, German experts admit that migrant women are discriminated at workplaces. Prevailing gender-specific stereotypes do not differently impact native or migrant women, but the later face double-sword of discrimination: being women and being migrants (Official, BMFSFJ, Berlin, January 2019), which eventually does not leave options other than lower-paid jobs. The given legal provisions are differently observed across sectors, institutions, and enterprises where various stereotypes toward women migrants persist deeply. Second, Employment Agencies offer language and professional training programs to asylum-seekers and refugees, but regular women migrants (dependent resident permit holders) are deprived of it. A Swedish expert cites an example that if you are a researcher and you bring your wife, then it is your responsibility to take care of her not the state (Official, Swedish Employment Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Because of the limited financial resources of spouses, if women migrants do not find alternative support to improve their skills up to destination standards, they start accepting jobs in lower-paid sectors. Third, both states seem neutral toward recruitment and wage criteria adopted by the
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private sector. For instance, the Swedish legislation ask employers to conduct a yearly review of pay packages to discourage certain brackets of remunerations based on different grounds such as gender, race, ethnicity, and religion. The employersemployees organizations devise recruitment criteria, salary packages, and consider gender dynamics through mutual consent under Collective Bargaining Agreements (Official, Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Thus, the state cannot influence the private sector to adhere to national legislation or to adopt gender-sensitive measures on the subject matter. Attitudes and procedures do not significantly differ in the German labor market too.
4.2 Increase Women’s Representation in Under-Represented Sectors This is also a practical gender-integration need of women migrants at workplaces, because if the labor market revisits its recruitment policies by weighing gender equality in the hiring processes, especially through discouraging sector-specific overconcentration of a particular gender, it will help alter the traditional division of occupations at workplaces. Thus, it is essential to observe the response of existing legislation toward special efforts to be made to increase women migrant’s representation in sectors where they under-represent currently. The comparison between ILF and NLF manifests that section 7(1) of the Federal Act on Gender Equality instructs the labor market to invite as many women as men for interviews to fill vacancies, if they fulfill requisite criteria, in the areas where women are under-represented. On the flip side, from Sweden, section 8 (Chapter 3) of the Discrimination Act asks the employers to promote an equal distribution of women and men in different types of work and in different employee categories, by means of education and training, skills development and other appropriate measures (Swedish Code of Statutes, 2015). Moreover, section 9 (Chapter 3) of the Act elaborates that if women and men are not equally distributed in a certain type of work or under a particular employment category, employers should adopt a special strategy while making new recruitments by preferring a disadvantaged sex in under-represented sectors. This manifests that the legal frameworks of both countries comply with instructions of international documents on the subject matter. To what extent given legal provisions are associated with the satisfaction level of women migrants on the subject matter in both countries? My survey statistics yield that a majority of women migrants has perceived existing jobs in female-dominated sectors. The situation is more questionable in Sweden (76%) in comparison with Germany (65%). A report on ‘Migrant Women in the EU Labour Force’ also authenticates horizontal segregation of women migrants across Europe (Rubin et al. 2008). These inferences contradict with reviewed legislation that encourage women’s employment in under-represented sectors, but if women migrants are more likely employed by female-dominated sectors. What warrants
4.2 Increase Women’s Representation in Under-Represented Sectors
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contribute it? Why do states fail to observe given legal provisions effectively at workplaces? Highlights: • Both countries serve gender-neutral but integration-blind clauses to discourage horizontal ethno-gender segregation. • A majority has found employment in female-specific sectors. • Political confrontation on quotas pushes women migrants toward specific sector employment in Germany. • Private sector has immunity to relevant legislation in both countries. The experts inform that women migrant’s representation is asymmetrical in certain sectors of the labor market in both countries. In their opinion, a few sectors are highly male-dominated such as construction, banks, and heavy industry. On the other hand, teaching, caregiving, and service sectors are mostly occupied by females. The helms of affair are struggling to remove already drew lines between professions through defining gender quotas for male-dominated as well as female-dominated sectors, but unfortunately these classifications still exist due to multiple barriers. For instance, a recently approved legislation titled ‘Equal Participation of Women and Men in Leadership Positions in the Private and Public Sector’ accentuates a gender quota in boardrooms of almost 100 companies in Germany, but it does not bring a visible change in executive or managerial or financial roles of women within enterprises (Burrow, Fedorets, & Gibert, 2018). In particular, existing discourse does not cover the topic of women migrant’s representation at supervisory boards or equal representation in under-represented sectors. The experts associate missing clauses for the protection of women migrant’s rights and inadequate observation of given legal provisions with differing political priorities and immunity of the private sector to several national legislation. On the other hand, the situation is more or less similar in Sweden. An expert elaborates that women migrant’s representation at workplaces does not differ in politics. Alike parliament, there is an emerging debate on quotas for employment too, but the state seems silent (Official, Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Another Swedish expert divulges that placement of women or men in certain sectors at workplaces is contingent on the employer’s priorities. Law is there but we cannot coerce employers to assign a specific gender particular duties (Official, Swedish Employment Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). This implies that interference of the state could be conflicting to a large extent that she cannot afford in the present political milieu in both countries. In light of reviewed legislation and subsequent observation mechanisms, it is concluded that native and migrant women have equal chances to be discriminated against on the subject matter in both countries.
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4.3 Identical Promotion Criteria to Ensure Equal Chances of Upward Mobility at Workplaces ILF emphasizes on formulating promotion criterion based on individual character, experience, ability, seniority, and diligence of employees at workplaces. This criterion is a strategic gender-integration need of women migrants at workplaces, because a transparent criterion will not only help eliminate gender and ethnic-based stereotypes toward women’s upward mobility, but will also challenge horizontal occupational segregations indirectly. Such arrangements can improve their confidence level, enhance their motivation relating to employment, and prolong their attachment to workplaces. Do existing legislation serve exclusive guidelines to eliminate ethno-gender-based stereotypes toward women migrants’ upward mobility at workplaces? Tip: The Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth suggest the revision of Anti-discrimination law in light of intersectionality. The ministry has been funding various NGOs or CBOs such as Demigra (founded in 2014), which is working for women migrant’s rights in different spheres of life (Official, BMFSFJ, Berlin, January 2019). The comparison between ILF and NLF reveals that in general, article 1(2) (1) (2) of the EDET discourses all forms of discriminatory practices against women concerning professional hierarchy and promotions in Germany. Similarly, section 80(1) of the Work Constitution Act designates the ‘Works Council’ a responsibility to ensure gender equality on different professional matters including promotions. Nevertheless, reviewed legislation do not include a targeted clause that accentuates the competent authorities to layout identical criterion for promotions based on above-mentioned yardstick exclusively for migrants. On the other hand, from Sweden, section 4 (Chapter 2) of the Discrimination Act and section 11 of the AMDWL articulate that if an employer does not nominate an employee for promotion, the employee can ask for information in writing about qualifications and experiences of the person who has been promoted. Besides, section 10 of the AMDWL prohibits employers to treat employees on professional matters differently, including promotions, based on their ethnic or religious orientations. The analysis infers that German legislation address the issue through indirect clauses, whereas the Swedish legislation serve targeted clauses for migrants too. How do women migrants anticipate their chances of promotion and comment on outlined promotion criteria at workplaces?
4.3 Identical Promotion Criteria to Ensure Equal Chances …
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Highlights: • Swedish legislation are ‘gender- and integration-neutral,’ but German are ‘gender-neutral’ and ‘integration-blind’ toward identical promotion criteria at workplaces. • Gender- and ethnicity-specific stereotypes influence promotions at workplaces. • Women migrants more likely experience discrimination in promotions in Sweden in comparison with Germany. • Language barriers, marginal representation in works council or employeremployee organizations, lack of supervising roles, lack of information about promotion rules, and immunity of private sector are main barriers to equity in promotions at workplaces in both countries. A majority of women migrants has reported that their employers do not leave the impression that they are not suitable candidates for positions such as supervisors, managers, or directors at workplaces: Germany (84%) and Sweden (64%). Moreover, a larger group from Germany (57%), but relatively a smaller group from Sweden (41%) has reported that their employers determine promotions based on their characters, experiences, ability, seniority, and diligence. Finally, Swedish respondents have more likely reported discrimination in promotions in comparison with German (79 and 42%). These statistics infer that although employers are less likely to express a biased attitude toward promotions, they discriminate in reality. How do experts interpret the subjective experiences of women migrants in light of given legal provisions in both countries? The expert’s narratives are clustered into different layers of barriers that explain a lack of transparency in promotions at workplaces. The layers are connected to destination societies, trade unions, work councils or employer-employee organizations, employers, and the state. First, both native and women migrants can encounter promotion biases equally due to prevailing gender-based stereotypes in destination societies. Nevertheless, women migrants do experience a few more stereotypes based on their religious or ethnic backgrounds (Rubin et al., 2008). Although employers have a soft corner for native women, they are still reluctant to employ them in anticipation of their reproductive roles and frequent or infrequent job intervals. So it does not matter, if she is white or black or a Muslim woman, she could be discriminated for promotions (Official, Federal Anti-discrimination Agency, Berlin, January 2019). Second, women migrant’s lack of familiarity with the German system, possession of traditional outlook, and trust in patriarchal norms and beliefs toward their roles and responsibilities, in combination, determine authority’s decisions relating to promotions at workplaces (Official, BMFSFJ, Berlin, January 2019). Third, both states provide language learning opportunities to newly arrived migrants but women migrants report several obstacles to avail them equally (Bendixsen & Wyller, 2019; Romiti et al., 2016). They learn destination languages but are not fully comprehend
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with them. Thus, women migrants have to struggle a lot to access relevant information and to be acquainted with procedures to be followed essentially for promotions. Hence, language-related deficiencies also reduce their chances of upward mobility at workplaces (Official, Kreisjob Center Marburg & Biedenkopf, March, 2019). Fourth, ‘Works Council’ in Germany and ‘Employer-employees Organization’ in Sweden can set ‘ethno-gender’ sensitive promotions as an agenda item in scheduled meetings, but it does not find a priority in the list of issues to be deliberated due to marginal representation of women migrants in these forums. The experts assert that several trade unions have developed various materials and methods to combat discriminatory practices at workplaces. For instance, big trade unions offer training programs to the members of the Works Council in Germany, so that they could acquire skills and learn techniques to combat discriminatory practices based on gender, race, or ethnicity at workplaces. Now because women migrants represent these forums marginally on a voluntary or involuntary basis, they rarely attend these training (Official, Federal Anti-discrimination Agency, Berlin, January 2019). So the skills deficit and marginal representation both deprive them to raise their voices against biased lethargic and biased upward mobility at workplaces. Fourth, trade unions can play a decisive role to ensure equality in promotions at workplaces. Nevertheless, experts articulate that promotion is a very general issue. The primary goal of the trade union is to sort out things relating to wages and other issues such as working hours, pension, working environment, but promotion is neither number one nor number two issue, it might be fourth or fifth agenda item (Official, Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Another fact is that trade union representatives are not fully capable to translate their concerns into agenda items due to lack of information about rules and regulations, whereas employers bargain on agenda items very professionally by having information advantage over worker’s representatives. So this is an information gap that creates a vacuum for discriminatory practices on promotions and employers take advantage of it (Official, Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Fifth, experts admit that existing legislation treat public and private sectors in both countries, differently. Both sectors are expected to include metrics of promotions based on the above-mentioned criterion in ‘Equality Plan.’ However, it is not clear if both sectors follow these instructions. In the private sector, a few employers devise and implement it, but only those who realize its importance for their economic growth (Official, Swedish Employment Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). The relevant agencies have no authority to convince employers for the inclusion of promotions in agenda items. We cannot stress the private sector to devise promotions criteria based on our wish-lists (Official, Kreisjob Center Marburg & Biedenkopf, March, 2019). On the other hand, past literature infers that a majority of migrants are employed by the private sector (Anderson, 2019; Kuhn & Shen, 2015), so if promotions are purely employer’s prerogatives, it will enhance chances of biased promotions, especially when the relevant agencies have limited authority to interfere in the private sector. Finally, employers authorize managers to take routine decisions at workplaces. Unfortunately, managerial positions are more likely occupied by men (Official, Swedish Employment Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Hence, the situation reinforces more promotions of men in comparison with women.
4.3 Identical Promotion Criteria to Ensure Equal Chances …
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These inferences reveal that both native and migrant women have equal chances to be discriminated against on promotions due to certain ambiguities in promotions criteria. Highlights: • Gender & migration identities have dual disadvantage to promotions. • Unfamiliarity with destination systems & language barriers contribute to biased promotions. • Under representation of women migrants at Work Councils or Employeremployee Organizations cause biased promotions. • Equal chances for promotions is not priority agenda of trade unions. • Different rules & regulations for public and private sectors.
4.4 Equal Participation of Women and Men in Decision-Making Forums at Workplaces This is also a strategic gender-integration need of women migrants at workplaces because if the employers will revisit gendered compositions of boardrooms by ensuring equal or at least proportional representation of women migrants in decisionmaking processes, it will enhance the likelihood of their voices to be heard on the matters relating to discrimination, the traditional classification of professions, and upward mobility at workplaces. To what extent NLF endorses ideas of equal or proportional representation of women migrants in decision-making processes in both countries? From Germany, different legislation try to tackle this issue. For instance, section 7(3) of the ‘Federal Act on Gender Equality’ asks for the constitution of selection panels based on gender equality in the public sector: where the equal representation of women and men is not possible for good reasons, the relevant reasons shall be placed on record (MJCP, 2015). For the private sector, section 1(1) of the ‘Work Constitution Act’ directs the labor market to constitute a ‘Works Council’ that employs a minimum of five permanent employees. Section 15(1) (2) of the Act elaborates that the Council should be composed of employees from different segments of the workplace and gender must constitute a proportional share. The Act empowers members to decide matters brought to the council through voting, but the Act does not offer alike representation to women with migratory backgrounds, hence their concerns could also be neglected at workplaces. On the other hand, reviewed Swedish legislation also serve various clauses on the subject matter. For instance, section 1 (Chapter 2) and 1a (Chapter 3) and section 11 of the ‘Work Environment Act’ and section 32 of the ‘Employment (Co-Determination in the Workplace) Act’ instruct the employers to invite employees for participation in organizational activities from planning to implementation stages. Moreover, section 4 of the ‘Board Representation
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(Private Sector Employees) Act’ informs that the employees are entitled to nominate two and three boards of directors in companies with less than 25 and 1000 employees, respectively. Section 6 and 12 of the Act articulates that the ‘employer-employees organizations’ will propose their nominees to bargain on agenda items under the ‘Collective Bargaining Agreement.’ On the matter of equal or proportional representation of women migrants, section 2 of the AMDWL and section 1 (Chapter 3) of the ‘Discrimination Act’ emphasize employers to make sure their representation, and imply that employers and employees are to cooperate on active measures to bring about equal rights and opportunities in working life regardless of sex, ethnicity, religion or other belief, and in particular to combat discrimination in working life on such grounds (Swedish Code of Statutes, 2015). In light of above legal provision, it is interesting to learn to what extent given legal provisions protect the right of participation of women migrants in decision-making forums at workplaces? My survey statistics manifest that given legal provisions are less likely to be observed at workplaces hence a majority of women migrants has reported that their employers do not offer them equal or proportional representation in decision-making forums at workplaces: Germany (65%) and Sweden (73%). What do limit the application of given legal provisions at workplaces in both countries? And why do German legislation not include migration-specific clauses to make sure women migrant’s equal or proportional representation in boardrooms at workplaces? Highlights: • Swedish legislation are ‘gender- and integration-neutral,’ whereas German are ‘gender-neutral’ and ‘integration-blind’ toward equal representation of women migrants at decision-making forums. • A majority of women migrants has less likely given equal or proportional representation in decision-making forums in both countries. • Main barriers are women migrant’s language skills and familiarity with designation rules and institutions, fear of financial repercussions, favoritism of employer’s due to gender or ethnic biases, lack of acceptance of equality plan by the private sector, lack of collaboration between state institutions, and no political will. Again experts underpin the role of the State and the labor market to determine women migrant’s representation at decision-making forums at workplaces. First, women migrant’s representation at decision-making forums can be stimulated by trade unions. Unfortunately, men more likely dominate trade unions, whereas women’s representation is very scarce, and women with migratory backgrounds have to fight a lot to enter and maintain their marginal representation if possible (Official, BMFSFJ, Berlin, January 2019). Nevertheless, another expert opposes it and claims that these are not trade unions, which decide to provide or deprive women migrants from membership. It is a personal choice to be active and part of such forums (Official, Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019).
4.4 Equal Participation of Women and Men …
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For instance, there are female-dominated sectors such as H&M, hotels, and restaurants where women must dominate the trade unions. Moreover, language skills also matter here because it is a mandate of the workforce to choose their representatives. If someone experiences difficulties with destination language for initial years, he or she cannot be a candidate for worker’s representatives. So it is the question of competence rather than discrimination (Official, Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Thus, employers or trade unions cannot be blamed for it. Second, there are also financial repercussions of being members of the trade union. Thus, a marginal representation of women migrants can also be linked to their financial apprehensions. A Swedish expert asserts that one of the reasons for the tiny representation of women migrants could be a membership fee and it depends if they are willing to pay for it! (Official, Swedish Employment Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). In the similar lines, the anticipation of annual appraisals and related bonuses also keep women migrants away from unions. It is because if they decide to join the union, they will not be entitled to a bonus from employers. So opposition has never been based on their color, skin, or gender, it is based on their choices in anticipation of negative administrative or financial repercussions (Official, Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Third, the representation of women and men in the second layer of decision-making forums such as the ‘Works Council’ in Germany and the ‘Employer-employees Organization’ in Sweden depends on the employer’s perspective. They closely watch rapidly changing political trends, emerging market needs, and internal organizational gender dynamics. Perhaps they may value contemporary feminist discourses or respond to CEDAW thus offer representation to women, but the chances of women migrants to represent are very scarce because migrants are a minority topic and women migrants are further marginalized topic in the national politics (Official, Federal Anti-discrimination Agency, Berlin, January 2019). Most employers are acquainted with these facts hence it has never been easy to bring women migrants into mainstreaming policy and decision-making processes. Besides, the mainstream of women migrant’s concerns is not possible by a single agency, the legislature and several institutions/agencies have to collaborate on it, whereas already we are experiencing a rise in right-wing politics that criticizes laws and policies relating to migrants (Official, Swedish Employment Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019), which further galvanizes vulnerabilities of women migrants for representing decision-making forums at workplaces. Nonetheless, the experts unanimously endorse an idea to include a ‘Training Component’ about key features of anti-discrimination policy and related legislation in the ‘Equality Plan,’ so that newly hired employees could be acquainted with minimum obligations toward gender equality and anti-discrimination during orientation sessions at workplaces. They anticipate such initiatives as a positive step toward the alteration of prevailing sex segregation at workplaces. Fourth, the inclusion of women migrants in decisionmaking forums varies between public and private sectors. Native women’s, in general, and migrant’s participation, in particular, is very imperative in the preparation of ‘Equality Plan’ to ensure gender equality at workplaces. Although legislation direct both sectors to prepare ‘Equality Plan’ with equal representation of all segments of the workforce, the public sector acts upon to some extent but the private sector enjoys
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immunity. An expert informs that there is a huge fight to implement an ‘Equality Plan’ in the private sector in the legislature. The state cannot engage the private sector in too many rules. Thus, we believe that the public sector will serve as a role model and the private sector will adhere later (Official, BMFSFJ, Berlin, January 2019). Importantly, legislation do not exclusively instruct employers to involve women migrants in the formulation of ‘Equality Plan.’ An expert articulates that there is no need to include such clauses in legislation, because it is a prerogative of employers if they want to involve women migrants or not (Official, Swedish Employment Agency, February 2019). Tip: The concept of ‘Equality Plan’ has been rephrased into ‘Written Documentation’ in the Swedish Work Environment Act since 2017. The Equality Plan was initiated 30 years ago, it was succeeded by Ethnic and Religious Harmony Plan, and now with ‘Written Documentation,’ which expects that the employers will document routine affairs all over the year. In the new procedure, you investigate, identify, analyze, and evaluate targets. The documentation emphasizes employers to include all perspectives of gender equality and makes accountable public and private sector equally (Official, Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Gothenburg, Gothenburg, February 2019).
Highlights: • Trade unions take up issues of representation with employer. • Women migrants very rarely represent trade unions. • Language barriers reduce their likelihood to represent such forums. • Anticipation of financial forfeit forbid women migrants to represent. • Employers make conscious choices to facilitate or obstruct representations. • Migration is minority topic and women migrants are marginal in political discourse. • Women migrant less likely participate in the formulation of Equality Plan at workplaces.
4.5 Ranking Reviewed Legislation for Their Gender …
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4.5 Ranking Reviewed Legislation for Their Genderand Integration-Responsiveness to Discourage Sexand Ethnic-Segregation at Workplaces4 On the matter of lower-paid jobs, three German and two Swedish legislation serve indirect clauses to discourage such practices at workplaces. Women migrants more likely to report satisfaction in Germany but less likely satisfaction in Sweden with existing job packages, which indicates effective observation of given clauses in Germany but ineffective in Sweden. Although experts underline various obstacles that must be removed to make situation ideal, given legal provisions are labeled as ‘gender- and integration-neutral’ in Germany, and ‘gender-neutral’ but ‘integrationblind’ in Sweden. For an increase in women’s representation in under-represented sectors, both German and Swedish legislation (one from each country) serve direct clauses but do not include integration perspective. Women migrants are less likely satisfied with relevant arrangements and experts also admit that the given legal provisions are ineffectively observed in both countries. Thus, reviewed legislation are perceived as ‘gender-neutral’ but ‘migration-blind’ in both countries. To devise an identical criteria for promotions, German legislation serve direct clauses but do not incorporate integration perspective, whereas Swedish legislation serve direct clauses on the subject matter. Nevertheless, the subjective experiences of women migrants do not correspond to given legal provisions, especially in Sweden when a majority is less likely satisfied with the promotion criterion in comparison with Germany. The inferences reveal that given legal provisions are ineffectively observed at workplaces due to agency, institutional, and state-level barriers in both countries. Thus, reviewed legislation are perceived ‘gender- and integration-neutral’ in Sweden, but ‘gender-neutral’ and ‘integration-blind’ in Germany. For the equal representation of women and men in decision-making forums, German legislation serve direct clauses but do not include integration perspective, whereas Swedish legislation serve targeted clauses on the subject matter. Although women migrant’s experiences are less likely satisfactory in both countries, the situation seems more critical in Sweden in comparison with Germany. The experts elaborate that numerous institutional and political hurdles limit the role of concerned agencies to observe the effectiveness of given legal provisions at workplaces. Hence, reviewed legislation are categorized ‘genderand integration-neutral’ in Sweden, but ‘gender-neutral’ and ‘integration-blind’ in Germany. Tip: A few projects initiated by civil society organizations in Germany have been addressing shortage of women in trade unions and in other decisionmaking forums at workplaces. For instance, a project ‘ASTA ddb Frau’ aims to increase women’s representation at forums deciding promotions and managerial positions at companies. Such arrangement can improve women
4 See
Table A6 (Annex-I).
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4 Theme-I: Occupational Segregation …
migrant’s bargaining positions and help acquire employment opportunities commensurate to their qualifications and experiences in destination countries.
4.6 Conclusions The analysis underlines a few similarities but more differences between ILF and NLF on the provision of gender- as well as integration-specific clauses to meet two practical and two strategic (gender-integration) needs at workplaces in both destination countries. Concerning practical needs, past literature informs that the patriarchal structure of labor markets coerce women to accept jobs in lower-paid sectors (European Commission, 2018; Redmond & Mcguinness, 2019; Rubery, Grimshaw, & Figueiredo, 2005) and women are less likely to be offered employment opportunities in male-dominated sectors (Raghuram, 2008; Wright, 2016). My analytical framework manifests that a lack of gender- as well as integration-sensitivity of given legal clauses reinforces conventional beliefs and biased attitudes toward women migrants at the workplace, institution, and the state level. At workplaces, they have deepened gender and migration-based stereotypes, which increase the probability of biased recruitment processes that often ends up with lower-paid jobs for many women migrants. At the part of institutions, responsible institutions for accreditation of qualifications and experiences are lacking with requisite manpower and financial resources, which make the accreditation processes lengthy as well as lethargic. Importantly, Sweden does not comply with the European Qualification Framework (EQF), which questions the effectiveness of the national accreditation system because of the increasing flow of migrants. Thus, women migrants start accepting jobs in lower-paid sectors in the absence of acceptable credentials. Besides, relevant agencies also push women migrants to accept jobs in lower-paid sectors such as caregiving jobs because of the increasing aging population in Germany. In the part of the state, subsidy schemes for learning destination languages are not open for all women migrants. Both countries offer asylum-seekers or refugees language learning subsidies but deprive other women migrants with different residence permits, e.g., dependent visas. Prevailing patriarchal beliefs toward women’s roles and responsibilities and subsequent limited access to financial resources within families reduce women migrant’s chances to attend payable language courses, especially in the absence of state subsidies. Therefore, they accept lower-paid jobs to provide with their families at hard times. Moreover, political confrontation on gender quotas in Germany and the immunity of the private sector to relevant national legislation under ‘Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs)’ also contribute placement of women migrants in lower-paid sectors. A report of the OSCE (2009) also informs that policy-related limitations enhance
4.6 Conclusions
43
women migrant’s concentration in ‘feminized’ sectors, which ends up with precarious working conditions, irrelevant jobs, and lower-wages (OSCE, 2009). In the context of strategic needs, past scholarship elaborates that employers are biased toward promotions. The less likely formulate an equity-based promotion criterion that often prefers males over females for upward mobility at workplaces (Cavaletto, Pacelli, & Pasqua, 2019; Lucifora & Vigani, 2016). Moreover, women are also less likely invited to represent decision-making forums within organizations (European Commission, 2018; Smith & Parrotta, 2018). My analysis yields that ‘gender- and integration-neutral’ nature of Swedish legislation but ‘gender-neutral’ and ‘integration-blind’ appearance of German legislation make women migrants vulnerable to face dual discrimination, being women and being migrants, on the matters relating to upward mobility and representation in decision-making forums in both countries. A recent report of the European Union also confirms that migrants having a secondary or tertiary level of education have lower employment rates and more sector-specific concentration rates than that of natives with similar levels of education (EU/OECD, 2016). The inability of given legal provisions to meet both strategic needs is classified into the agency, labor market, and state-specific limitations. At the part of the agency, inappropriate language skills restrict their access to requisite information essential for learning protocols and procedures to compete for promotions. Hence, men due to patriarchal bias and native women due to migration bias may earn promotion-specific confidence of authorities. Moreover, the language deficit also constitutes a representative barrier for women migrants at different levels within enterprises. Neither Works Council/Employer-employee Organization nor Trade Union perceives them suitable candidates for worker’s representation. Thus, they have very marginal representation in the decision-making forums at workplaces. The situation becomes more adverse in the private sector in comparison with the public sector in both countries. At the part of the labor market, employers often make conscious choices to encourage or discourage women migrants to be part of decision-making processes given the existing legal protection. They observe fluctuating migration policy and subsequent revisions in legislation very closely. They adjust their behaviors and select discriminatory practices by assessing maximum repercussions in bigger organizations/enterprises. Given partial legal protection and limited options to challenge employer’s choices, many women migrants accept to be neglected. Moreover, appropriate language skills and employer’s trust are prerequisites to be a part of teams working on ‘Equality Plan’ at workplaces. Women migrants lack both thus they are less likely to have listened while furnishing recommendations to implement Equality Plan at workplaces. At the part of the state, employers deprive women financially as well as administratively those who are active for their rights within enterprises/organizations. Having familiarity with this approach, many women migrants show reluctance to be part of the Works Council or Trade Union or other Forums. It is because most of them have no access to information and to relevant institutions responsible for protecting their right to combat discriminatory practices at workplaces. Moreover, relevant institutions are located centrally or in a few provinces that are not easily accessible such in Germany.
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It is concluded that the states should revise existing legislation by including ‘gender’ as well as ‘integration’ perspectives in light of recommendations made by international or regional institutions on the subject of occupational segregation. Both states should also constitute effective observation mechanisms to ensure compliance of given legal provisions at workplaces, especially in the private sector. The findings suggest that the above-mentioned needs, if are met adequately, can address vertical as well as horizontal ethno-gender occupational segregations at workplaces.
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Martín, I., Arcarons, A., Aumüller, J., Bevelander, P., Emilsson, H., Kalantaryan, S., … & Vidovic, H. (2016). From refugees to workers: Mapping labour market integration support measures for asylum-seekers and refugees in EU member states. Volume II: Literature review and country case studies. https://doi.org/10.11586/2016003. Moss, S. A. (2004). Women choosing diverse workplaces: A rational preference with disturbing implications for both occupational segregation and economic analysis of law. Harvard Women’s Law Journal, 27(1), 88. Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). (2009). Guide on gender-sensitive labour migration policies. Retrieved from https://www.osce.org/secretariat/37228?download= true on 01.10.2019 at 15:20 pm. Raghuram, P. (2008). Migrant women in male-dominated sectors of the labour market: A research agenda. Population, Space and Place, 14(1), 43–57. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.472. Redmond, P., & Mcguinness, S. (2019). The gender wage gap in Europe: Job preferences, gender convergence and distributional effects. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 81(3), 564– 587. https://doi.org/10.1111/obes.12282. Romiti, A., Brücker, H., Fendel, T., Kosyakova, Y., Liebau, E., Rother, N., … Siegert, M. (2016). Bildung und Sprache. In H. Brücker, N. Rother, & L. Schupp (Eds.), IAB-BAMFSOEPBefragung von Geflüchteten: Überblick und erste Ergebnisse (pp. 37–47). Nürnberg: Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge. Rubery, J., Grimshaw, D., & Figueiredo, H. (2005). How to close the gender pay gap in Europe: Towards the gender mainstreaming of pay policy. Industrial Relations Journal, 36(3), 184–213. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2338.2005.00353.x. Rubin, J., Rendall, M. S., Rabinovich, L., Tsang, F., Janta, B., & van Oranje-Nassau, C. (2008). Migrant women in the EU labour force summary of findings. Cambridge, UK: RAND Corporation. Smith, N., & Parrotta, P. (2018). Why so few women on boards of directors? Empirical evidence from Danish companies in 1998–2010. Journal of Business Ethics, 147(2), 445–467. https://doi. org/10.1007/s10551-015-2974-9. Tahir, M. W. (2019). Transition in gender ideology and women migrant’s empowerment in Germany and Sweden: Inclusion of ‘gender’ and ‘integration’ needs in relevant policies/legislation. Gender Issues, 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-019-09247-x. Vouyioukas, A., & Liapi, M. (2013). Coping with deskilling: Strategies of migrant women across European societies. In Paradoxes of integration: Female migrants in Europe (pp. 79–96). Dordrecht: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4842-2_5. Worbs, S., & Baraulina, T. (2017, January). Female refugees in Germany: Language, education and employment. Retrieved from https://www.bamf.de/SharedDocs/Anlagen/EN/Forschung/Kur zanalysen/kurzanalyse7_gefluchetete-frauen.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=11 on 01.02.2020 at 10:15 am. Wright, T. (2016). Women’s experience of workplace interactions in male-dominated work: The intersections of gender, sexuality and occupational group. Gender, Work & Organization, 23(3), 348–362. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12074.
International Conventions and Recommendations Council of Europe. (1988). Additional protocol to the European social charter (ESC(A)). Retrieved from https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?docume ntId=090000168007a84e on 14.08.2017 at 10:21 am. Council of the European Union. (2011, March 7). New European pact for equality between women and men for the period 2011 – 2020 (NPEWN). Retrieved from https://www.consilium.europa. eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/lsa/119630.pdf on 10.01.2019 at 09:23 am.
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International Labour Organization (ILO). (1958, June 25). R111—Discrimination (employment and occupation) recommendation (DR). Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f? p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:R111 on 05.09.2017 at 10:04 am. International Labour Organization (ILO). (1974). Deceleration of equality of opportunity and treatment for women workers (DEOTWW). Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/public/portugue/reg ion/eurpro/lisbon/pdf/74b09_727.pdf on 31.08.2017 at 11:00 am. International Labour Organization (ILO). (2006, June 15). Employment relationship recommendation (ERR). Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0:: NO::P12100_INSTRUMENT_ID:312535 on 30.08.2017 at 15:36 pm. Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), International Organization for Migration (IOM), & International Labour Office (ILO). (2006). Handbook on establishing effective labour migration policies in countries of origin and destination (HELMPCOD). Retrieved from http://www.osce.org/eea/19242?download=true on 06.09.2017 at 08:58. United Nations Human Rights Office of the Higher Commissioner (OHCHR). (1996, December 16). International covenant on economic, social and cultural rights (CESCR). Retrieved from http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx on 05.09.2017 at 15:47 pm. United Nations. (2005, February 28–March 11). Review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of the special session of the General Assembly entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”. Report of the Secretary-General, Forty-ninth session. Commission on the Status of Women (BPA+10 follow-up). Retrieved from https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/Review/english/49sess.htm on 16.07.2017 at 2:25. United Nations. (2015). Sustainable development goals (SDGs). Retrieved from https://sustainab ledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300 on 09.10.2017 at 10:24 am. United Nations. (2010, November). 15-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (2000) (BPA+15). Retrieved from https://www.cepal.org/mujer/noticias/pag inas/3/51823/Guidance_note_English.pdf on 10.08.2017 at 14:40 pm.
German Legislation Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (MJCP). (2013, April 3). General act on equal treatment. Retrieved from http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_agg/englisch_agg. html#p0012 on 08.11.2017 at 11:01 am. Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (MJCP). (2001, September 25). Work constitution act (Amended 2013, April, 20). Retrieved from http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_ betrvg/englisch_betrvg.pdf on 08.12.2017 at 10:10 am. Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (MJCP). (1949, May 23). Basic law for the federal republic of Germany. Revised on (2014, December, 23). Retrieved from http://www.ges etze-im-internet.de/englisch_gg/englisch_gg.pdf on 08.11.2017 at 11:37 am. Federal Anti-discrimination Agency, Germany (FAA). (2006, August 14). Act implementing European directives putting into effect the principle of equal treatment (EDET) (Amended 2009, February, 5). Retrieved from https://www.antidiskriminierungsstelle.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/ EN/publikationen/agg_in_englischer_Sprache.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2 on 21.09.2017 at 17:27 pm. Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (MJCP). (2015, April 24). Act on equality between women and men in the federal administration and in federal enterprises and courts
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(Federal Act on Gender Equality). Retrieved from http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_ bgleig/englisch_bgleig.pdf on 08.11.2017.
Swedish Legislation Ministry of Employment. (1987, December 17). Board representation (private sector employees) Act (Lag om styrelserepresentation för de privatanställda). Retrieved from http://www.govern ment.se/4ac877/contentassets/af2a3399726a445ea0e6655d58ac9508/19871245-board-repres entation-private-sector-employees-act on 20.11.2017 at 10:10 am. Ministry of Employment. (1976, June 10). Employment (co-determination in the workplace) Act. Retrieved from http://www.government.se/4ac87f/contentassets/bea67b6c1de2488cb454f 9acd4064961/sfs-1976580-employment-co-determination-in-the-workplace-act on 20.11.2017 at 11am. Ministry of Employment. (1977, December 19). Work environment act (Arbetsmiljölagen). Retrieved from http://www.government.se/4ac754/contentassets/86e9091526644e90b78d2ff9 37318530/sfs-19771160-work-environment-act on 20.11.2017 at 11:40 am. Swedish Riksdag. (2009, January 1). Act on measures against discrimination in working life on grounds of ethnic origin, religion or other belief (1999:130) (AMDWL). Retrieved from http://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssam ling/lag-1999130-om-atgarder-mot-diskriminering-i_sfs-1999-130 on 23.11.2017 at 13:15 pm. Swedish Code of Statutes. (2015, March 20). Discrimination act (2008:567). Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/83136/110558/F-898276411/SWE831 36SwedishConsolidated.pdf on 23.11.2017 at 10:00 am.
Expert Interviews Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ). (2019, January). An interview with official from Berlin. Germany. Kreisjob Center Marburg & Biedenkopf. (2019, March). An interview with official from Marburg. Germany. Federal Anti-discrimination Agency. (2019, January). An interview with official from Berlin. Germany. Swedish Employment Agency. (2019, February). An interview with official from Gothenburg. Sweden. Swedish Gender Equality Agency. (2019, February). An interview with official from Gothenburg. Sweden.
Chapter 5
Theme-II: Wage Inequalities—Genderand Integration-Sensitivity of Legislation
Women earn less than that of men for equal work or work of equal value throughout the world. Wage discrimination is not solely about salaries, but often women are deprived of various financial benefits associated with their work. The wage gap between both genders is a well-documented phenomenon, which reflects to other forms of discriminatory practices at workplaces, also. The gap becomes further wider based on national identities: native or migrant (Dustmann, Glitz, & Vogel, 2010; Nicodemo & Ramos, 2012). To reduce wage gaps between both genders and between natives and migrants, my semantic analysis infers that different clauses of seventeen1 ‘work-specific’ and six2 ‘migration-specific’ international conventions, recommendations, and guidelines call upon the states to reform laws and implement policies that could help eliminate gender-based wage inequalities, in general, and migration-based wage inequalities, in particular. The analysis comes up with three practical and one strategic ‘gender-integration’ needs that must be met through national legislation. A comparison between ILF and NLF’s subjective narratives of women migrants,3 and expert’s perspectives educate about the effectiveness of the state’s apparatus. This apparatus can be legislation or alternative arrangements to narrow down the wage gaps between both genders as well as between native and migrant (women).
1 Source:
(ACEOWM, 2014; BPA, 1995; BPA+15, 2010; CEDAW, 1979; CERD, 1965; CESCR, 1996; DR, 1958; DWC, 2011; DWR, 2011; ERR, 1951; ERR, 2006; ESC(A), 1988; ESC, 1961; ESC(R), 1996; MWFC, 1970; MPC, 2000; TEU, 2012). 2 Source: (CPRMWMF, 1990; DDRX, 2001; ESC(R), 1996; MWR, 1975; MEC, 1949; RPM, 2015). 3 See Table A2 (Annex-I).
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. W. Tahir, Responding to Women Migrant’s Needs, Contributions to Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63735-4_5
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5.1 Equality in Minimum Wages Equality in minimum wages is a practical gender-integration need of women migrants at workplaces. If the labor market adopts an identical criteria of minimum wages, irrespective to gender, ethnic, racial, or religious background, the employee’s apprehensions of being discriminated will be decreased while building trust with employers and enhancing their motivation level to continue employment. Thus, it is interesting to study if existing legislation regulates minimum wages in both countries. In case of yes, are given legal provisions equally applicable to natives and migrants across all sectors? The latent analysis yields that both countries have adopted varying strategies to determine minimum wages at workplaces. For instance, section 20 of the ‘Minimum Wage Act’ and section 8 of the EDET direct the employers to pay remuneration not less than the amount decided under the ‘Minimum Wage Act.’ In a similar context, section 1(1) of the ‘Minimum Wage Act’ clearly states that each worker is entitled to payment by their employer of remuneration of no less than the amount of the minimum wage (MJCP, 2016). According to Destatistics, the minimum wage is 9.35 per hour since January 2020. Also, article 1 of the ‘Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment Act (TuB)’ aims to protect full-time and part-time employees (per hour or assignmentbased rates) against all forms of discrimination at workplaces. Similarly, article 4(1) (2) of the TuB and section 18 (2) of the ‘Federal Act on Gender Equality’ pronounce that part-time and fixed-term employees should not be paid less than fulltime employees for the work of equal nature and value. On the other hand, a review of Swedish legislation reveals that there is no standard minimum wage prescribed by the state. Minimum wages are determined through different ‘Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs)’ by concerned sectors of the labor market (Teknikföretagen, 2012). The analysis implies that given legal provisions differently ensure provision of minimum wages in both countries such as direct arrangements in Germany but indirect in Sweden. Nonetheless, both countries do not serve ‘migration-specific’ clauses on the subject matter. Under the above legal arrangements, how do labor markets treat women migrants on minimum wages in both countries? My survey statistics yield that around two-third of women migrants have reported that their employers do not discriminate against those who are paid on minimum wages but one-third are paid on different tariffs in both countries. Past literature also confirms gender-based wage gaps on minimum wages both in Germany (Boll, Hüning, Leppin, & Puckelwald, 2015) as well as in Sweden (Lundborg & Skedinger, 2014). What contributes to gender wage gaps on minimum wages in both countries? Highlights: • German legislation are ‘gender-sensitive’ but ‘integration-neutral’ but Swedish are ‘gender- as well as integration-neutral’ on the matter of minimum wages.
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• Swedish labor market trusts the ‘Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs)’ on minimum wages. • One-third women migrants have reported discrimination on minimum wages in both countries. • German government regulates minimum wages annually, whereas Swedish CBAs also review wages annually that are regulated differently across various sectors. The experts serve various explanations to variations in legislative approaches and subjective experiences of women migrants relating to minimum wages. For example, an expert divulges that the Swedish labor market has a long tradition of ‘Collective Bargaining Agreements’ (CBAs) at central and sectoral levels. The CBAs are phrased differently based on sectoral needs and tariffs. The state cannot enforce the private sector to adhere to national legislation if relevant CBAs already cover maximum. Every sector initiates negotiations on minimum wages yearly. What wages should be appropriate for teachers, backers, lawyers, engineers, doctors and so on is decided by sector-specific CBAs (Official, Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Practically, CBAs determine minimum wages based on occupations, qualifications, and experiences of employees. If a CBA does not guide minimum wages for exceptional cases, the employer can decide it. Again the state cannot enforce employers to strictly act upon the CBAs. In case of disagreement, employees can go to the union, which fights for employee’s rights (Official, Swedish Employment Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). On the other hand, the German experts do not participate a lot in this conversation. The state regulates a statutory minimum wage annually but its observation may vary across sectors, enterprises, and institutions. Overall, they admit that women migrants are more or less discriminated against on minimum wages, but the grounds could vary based on agency-specific limitations or institutional barriers. Finally, the analysis concludes that legislation are driven by native’s needs but are presumed amenable for migrants.
5.2 Financial Increments Based on Genderand Ethnicity-Sensitive Criteria This is also a practical ‘gender-integration’ need of women migrants at workplaces. Fair play in financial increments based on performance-based appraisals does not only help reduce feelings of being discriminated but also reinforce their level of commitment to employment in destination countries. Thus, it is imperative to look at the state’s perspective for regulating biased free annual or occasional financial increments across public and private sectors, especially through incorporating ‘genderand integration-specific’ clauses in relevant legislation. What instructions existing legislation disseminate on the subject matter in both countries?
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From Germany, article 3(1), 6(2), 7 & 10(1) of the ‘Entgelttransparenzgesetz’ direct the employers to avoid discriminatory practices on financial increments based on sex. Moreover, article 3(3) of the Act prohibits all forms of indirect discrimination on wages. Indirect discrimination on wages is only acceptable if wage differences are justified by law or performance of employees or output-related criteria. Finally, article 4(4) of the Act accentuates the employers to develop a remuneration system that could include imperative components to discourage sex-based discrimination on wages. The system should be comprised of (1) objectively measurable activities performed by employees, (2) common wage criteria for male and female employees, (3) weight differentiation criteria without discrimination, and (4) transparency. On the other hand, reviewed Swedish legislation do not serve the targeted clause to address the issue. How do labor markets treat women migrants on financial increments in both countries? According to my survey statistics, more than half of the respondents have reported that their employers do not write appraisals for financial increments based on genderintegration sensitive criteria in both countries. However, a majority of respondents does not find themselves to be discriminated against financial increments in both countries: Germany (82%) and Sweden (59%). The subjective experiences of women migrants imply that although employers are less likely to write appraisals based on gender-integration sensitive criteria, they less likely discriminate, actually. Nonetheless, still, one-third of respondents in Germany and more than one-third in Sweden have reported discrimination on annual or occasional increments in wages. Past literature also informs that women migrants face discrimination on the matter of financial increments or rewards in destination labor markets (Daldy, Poot, & Roskruge, 2013; Wang, Guo, & Cheng, 2015). My survey statistics lead to the conclusion that relatively satisfactory experiences of women migrants with financial increments are an outcome of given legal provisions, though destination-driven in Germany. Nonetheless, Swedish respondents have also more likely shown satisfaction with the behavior of employer on the subject matter, though legislation are silent on it. How does it happen and why do still women migrants experience discrimination in increments (a small fraction) in both countries? Highlights: • German legislation are ‘gender-sensitive’ but ‘integration-neutral’, whereas Swedish are ‘gender- as well as integration-blind’ toward financial increments at workplaces. • Sweden is silent on the subject matter due to ‘Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs).’ • A positive association appears between given legal clauses and women migrant’s experiences relating to financial increments in Germany. • Language barriers and autonomy of employers are key determinants of equality in financial increments instead of an unbiased criteria.
5.2 Financial Increments Based on Gender- and Ethnicity-Sensitive Criteria
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The experts associate possible discrimination in financial increments to (1) limited application of national legislation in the private sector, and (2) inadequate language skills of women migrants, in both countries. First, a German expert informs that given clauses apply to all employees irrespective of their gender or legal residency. Thus, there is no need for separate integration-specific clauses, because the given clauses are interpreted in gender as well as integration-sensitive manners (Official, BMFSFJ, Berlin, January 2019). For a moment, if it is true then why does observation of relevant clauses vary across different sectors and enterprises? The expert finds inadequate monitoring mechanisms of concerned agencies and the immunity of the private sector to national legislation responsible for it. On the other side, a Swedish expert informs that wages and increments are tackled by employers, human resource departments, immediate supervisors, and worker’s representatives under CBAs, but legislation do not address it. Nevertheless, proactive measures chaptered in the ‘Work Environment Act’ and ‘Anti-discrimination Act’ ask for the ‘Written Documentation’ concerning gender-related wages at enterprises/organizations that employ a minimum of ten employees. If employers do not adhere to these instructions, chances of women migrants to be discriminated will increase automatically in larger setups but will be very difficult to trace in smaller units (Official, Swedish Employment Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). The situation does not seem very much different from Germany. Second, limited language skills often make it difficult for women migrants to understand organizational procedures as well as routine correspondence. This does not leave a good impression on immediate supervisors. Thus, they are less likely nominated for equal increments, though they get something (Official, Kreis Job Center, Marburg & Biedenkopf, March 2019). The Swedish experts have highlighted a similar kind of limitation on the part of the agency. Thus, it is concluded that agencyspecific limitations, independence of the private sector to many national legislation, and institutional constraints to observe the compliance of given legal provisions bring women migrants at vulnerable positions on the matter of equal financial increments in both countries.
5.3 Gender- and Integration-Sensitive Overtime Regulations and Financial Incentives This is also a practical ‘gender-integration’ need of women migrants at the workplace, because they are not only paid less for the work of equal value in comparison with men, but these differences also extend to the increased rate per hour for overtime (Antonczyk, Fitzenberger, & Sommerfeld, 2010; Cerejeira, Kizilca, Portela, & Sá, 2012; Vecchio, Scuffham, Hilton, & Whiteford, 2013). Overstay at the workplace is already a source of strain, but lower tariff based on gender or other identities can further demoralize affected women migrants. Thus, there is a dire need for effective legal measures to design gender-integration sensitive overtime regulations and subsequent equal financial incentives so that women migrants could reconcile their
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professional responsibilities with domestic and caregiving roles conveniently. The ILF expects that employers will pay special attention to consultation, formulation, and implementation of gender-integration sensitive overtime regulations at workplaces. The need is comprised of four components: (1) overtime regulations because of women’s marital status, sensitive reproductive health, and domestic and caregiving responsibilities, (2) increased rate of overtime without gender or integration biases, (3) financial subsidy for mother/father if she/he overstays but needs a substitute for childcare back home, and (4) biased free job appraisal relating to overtime. How do existing legislation perceive and react to these needs at workplaces in both countries? From Germany, for the first component, article 8(1) of the ‘Maternity Protection Act’ describes that expectant and nursing mothers should neither be engaged in overtime at night (between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.) nor on Sundays and public holidays. Nevertheless, article 8(3) of the Act allows expectant mothers to work during the first four months of their pregnancies and nursing mothers after childbirth in restaurants, bars, and hotel industry until 10 p.m. They are also allowed to perform musical, theatrical or alike performances until 11 p.m. In the similar lines, article 12(1)(2) of the ‘Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment Act’ (Teilzeit- und Befristungsgesetz, TzBfG) allows the employers to call employees on duty because of the anticipated additional workload with an advance notice of at least four days. Such arrangements must be deliberated through a mutual agreement. For the second component, articles 3 & 6(2) & 7(7) & 16(2) of ‘the Hours of Work Act’ (Arbeitszeitgesetz) serve a few instructions about an increased rate of payment for overtime. For the third component, German legislation do not serve clauses that instruct the employers to compensate parents through additional financial incentives to buy childcare services while performing overtime work. Indirectly, article 6(4) (b) of the ‘Hours of Work Act’ direct the employers to change the night shift of employees if they are only care providers to under twelve years family members. On the other hand, the Swedish legislation empowers employers and employees to decide all overtime-related matters (from 1 to 3) through ‘CBAs’ (Teknikföretagen, 2012). For the fourth component, neither German nor Swedish legislation direct employers to acknowledge domestic and caregiving compromises made by women migrants for performing overtime while writing job appraisals, based on promotions, financial increments, and wages are determined. The comparison between ILF and NLF implies that German legislation serve a few targeted clauses on the subject matter, but Swedish legislation depute this responsibility to the CBAs. Although German legislation accentuate the employers to design and implement overtime regulations because of women’s reproductive obligations, they do not offer guidelines given their marital, domestic, and caregiving responsibilities. Importantly, reviewed legislation do not serve ‘integration-specific’ clauses on the subject matter. Similarly, the Swedish legislation neither serve ‘gender-specific’ nor ‘integration-specific’ clauses to address underlined issues. How do women migrants perceive overtime regulations and subsequent financial implications in both countries? My survey statistics share very interesting inferences. An overwhelming majority of women migrants have been accepting overtime duties in both countries: Germany
5.3 Gender- and Integration-Sensitive Overtime Regulations …
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(78%) and Sweden (94%). A majority of respondents perceive overtime regulations gender-integration sensitive in both countries: Germany (65%) and Sweden (59%). The respondents are more likely paid equally for the overtime assignments in Sweden (82%) in comparison with Germany (52%). On the question of how do employers compensate overtime work? Almost one-fourth respondents are given financial incentives: Germany (22%) and Sweden (23%); others are offered flexibility or reduction in working hours on the alternative basis: Germany (61%) and Sweden (29%); and remaining are offered both options: Germany (17%) and Sweden (48%). Nevertheless, they are not offered special allowances or subsidies to purchase caregiving services for their family members back home while performing overtime in both countries. Finally, if women migrants perform overtime work, employers less likely write positive remarks in their job appraisals: Germany (52%) and Sweden (59%), but if they do not accept overtime work, the employer also less likely write negative remarks in their reports: Germany (83%) and Sweden (65%). This infers that job appraisals are more likely independent of acceptance or refusal of overtime assignments. Although the above statistics portray an acceptable picture of overtime regulations and subsequent financial incentives, the element of gender-sensitivity lacks, though has been reported by almost two-third respondents. This could be linked to the observational mechanism of given legal provisions in Germany and to dependence on CBAs in Sweden that need further research. How do experts evaluate prevailing legal provisions/arrangement and subjective experiences of women migrants in both countries? Highlights: • Both Germany and Swedish legislation re gender- and integration-neutral’ toward overtime regulations and financial incentives. • Sweden again authorizes the ‘Collective Bargaining Agreements’ to handle the issue. • Both countries do not offer financial subsidies to buy caregivers for family members back home while performing overtime duties. • A majority of women migrants seem satisfied with existing regulations of overtime. • Swedish experts do not comment on it. The experts agree that there is a need for gender as well as integration-based revision of relevant legislation to make overtime regulations more gender- and integration-sensitive, especially to accommodate women on childcare issues and to address financial inequalities in subsequent compensations. Particularly for this issue, a German expert admits that given legal clauses are mostly gender-neutral. Hence, there is a need for careful evaluation of existing legislation in terms of their applications and effectiveness (Official, BMFSFJ, Berlin, January 2019). In similar lines, the expert also invites the attention of the state toward the promotion of the
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‘shared-responsibilities model’ within households through effective legislation (Official, BMFSFJ, Berlin, January 2019). The expert admits that most women migrants come from gender regimes that more likely to endorse traditional division of labor. Thus, there is a dire of a mechanism that could offer men work flexibilities to pick up their children from childcare or schools and to take care of needy at home during general working hours or overtime of their counterparts. Although this model cannot be imposed on all units, it should be worked out wherever possible (Official, BMFSFJ, Berlin, January 2019). It will indeed facilitate working women (natives as well as migrants) to fulfill their professional responsibilities in the absence of domestic or childcare pressures. Moreover, she also endorses that women should also be paid for hiring alternative caregivers if no one is back home to charge caregiving tasks. The family unit of the Ministry should work out for such alternative options, otherwise, women migrants will suffer a lot at workplaces (Official, BMFSFJ, Berlin, January 2019). However, she has also pointed out that the public sector may adopt it but the private sector will be reluctant to pay for the increased cost of the proposal. The above narratives infer that missing gender-integration sensitive clauses perpetuate a disadvantaged position of women migrants on overtime-related matters. Partly served gender-sensitive clauses are not adequate to challenge prevailing discriminatory practices at workplaces in Germany. On the other hand, Swedish experts do not comment in this segment because overtime-related matters are tackled by ‘CBAs.’ Thus, the state cannot intervene on the subject matter.
5.4 Equal Pay for Equal Work or Work of Equal Value This is a strategic ‘gender-integration’ need of women migrants, because if labor markets decide pay packages based on qualifications, experiences, and skills independent to employee’s gender, ethnicity, race, religious denomination, etc., it will not only alter traditional beliefs of less egalitarian migrant families toward women’s employment, but also reduce incidents of women’s withdrawals on certain occasions at workplaces. Though the situation is not ideal in most destination countries of western Europe, literature reports relatively wider wage gaps in origin countries (Adsera & Chiswick, 2007; Keeley, 2015; Ortiz-Ospina & Roser, 2018). Now, it is presumed that Germany and Sweden will treat women migrants fairly on the matters relating to remuneration through serving targeted legal provisions followed by effective observation mechanisms, that can guarantee equal earning at workplaces. How effective existing legislation and subsequent observation mechanisms are in place in both countries? In Germany, various legislation instruct employers to respond effectively against wage discrimination at workplaces. For instance, article 3(1), article 6(2), and article 7 of the ‘Act on the Promotion of Pay Transparency between Women and Men’ (Entgelttransparenzgesetz) and section 1(2) & (1), and 8(8) of the EDET prohibit the employers to initiate direct or indirect discrimination in all aspects of remunerations at workplaces. In light of given clauses, an employee cannot be paid a lower salary,
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for the same or equivalent work, concerning the employee of the opposite sex. To check the compliance of labor market with expected ‘wage equality’ measures, article 10(1) of the Entgelttransparenzgesetz authorizes an employee to demand comparable documents from the management to compare his/her salary with the salary of his/her co-worker who performs same or equivalent work. However, the given clauses do not specifically perceive ‘integration’ as a determinant of wage discrimination. On the other hand, in Sweden, section 2 (Chapter 3) of the ‘Discrimination Act’ suggests both employers and employees work together to reduce wage gaps for equal work or work of equal value at workplaces. Section 10 (Chapter 3) of the Act articulates that the enterprises/institutions with more than 25 employees should schedule a survey to identify causes of existing wage gaps in every three years. Section 11 (Chapter 3) of the Act asks the employers to formulate an ‘Action Plan for Equal Pay’ based on the results of the survey. The plan should include short as well as long-term objectives, mention wage adjustment options, and propose effective measures to be taken to reduce wage inequalities at workplaces. For migrant workers, different clauses of the ‘Act on the Right to Salary and other Remuneration for Work Performed by a Foreigner Not Entitled to Stay in Sweden (ARSRF)’ emphasize the employers to pay foreign workers under ‘Employment’ or ‘Collective Bargaining Agreements.’ Section 5 of the Act elaborates that if a dispute appears between employer and foreign worker on remuneration, the salary will be determined under the ‘Minimum Wage Agreement’ or ‘Collective Bargaining Agreement’ or existing practices of relevant industry or profession. Besides, article 10 (5) of the AMDWL prohibits employers to discriminate against employees on the matter of wages on the ground of ethnic, religious, or faith-based associations. The analysis yields that Swedish legislation serve gender- as well as integration-specific clauses, whereas German legislation solely serve gender-specific clauses to narrow wage gaps. How do women perceive their wages and comment on the effectiveness of given legal clauses at workplaces in both countries? According to my survey statistics, employers have informed a majority of women migrants about their salary packages and additional financial benefits attached to their employment at the beginning in both countries. However, a majority of respondents does not perceive their salaries equal to male colleagues having similar qualifications and experiences and also does not find wages compatible to their qualifications and experiences in Sweden (41%) and (77%) in comparison with Germany (22%) and (64%), respectively. Although my sample size is limited, recent studies have also validated my inferences on wage inequalities in both countries (Ingwersen & Thomsen, 2019; Hollander, Dal, Lewis, Magnusson, Kirkbride, & Dalman, 2016). Thus, my inferences question the effectiveness of gender- as well as integration-sensitivity of legal provisions meant to address prevailing inequalities, especially enshrined in Swedish legislation. Interestingly, German legislation solely serve gender-specific clauses, but women migrants seem relatively more satisfied with the situation in comparison with Sweden. What best practices German labor market adopts in the absence of integration-sensitive clauses that the Swedish market lacks?
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Highlights: • German legislation are ‘gender-sensitive’ but ‘integration-neutral,’ whereas Swedish legislation are ‘gender- as well as integration-neutral’ toward wage equality at workplaces. • Women migrants more likely experience wage inequalities in Sweden in comparison with Germany. • Household gender dynamics, language specific limitations, and institutional barriers promote wage discrimination. Mainly, experts associate the unsatisfactory experiences of women migrants with agency-specific limitations but partly to legal constraints in Sweden. In the opinion of Swedish experts, widening gender-integration-based wage gaps can be explained by domestic gender dynamics, language skills of women migrants, information about destination labor markets, and institutional barriers. First, men are more likely to avail career development opportunities in comparison with women during the transition period from extended or joint families to nuclear families in countries of destination. It enhances the dual burden of domestic chores and caregiving responsibilities of women, which constricts their outside opportunities voluntarily or involuntarily. Outside opportunities include language learning, professional coaching, and employment offered by public or private mechanisms. At parallel, gender and migration-based stereotypes toward women’s long-term professional commitment deeply prevail in both sectors. Hence, women are neither offered opportunities for career growth nor wages equal to men who start careers together (Official, Swedish Employment Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Second, Swedish experts assert that several women migrants have no adequate information about procedures to be followed to enjoy equality on wages. The text of relevant documents is either available in Swedish or English language but a majority of women has no adequate command in both. Nevertheless, the relevant legislation is very transparent and instructs the employers to review pay packages under ‘CBAs’ in every sector. Trade unions, employer-employees organizations, and representatives of workers have the right to analyze existing or revised pay packages critically. Although the employer is a final authority, in case of dissatisfaction, anyone can express his/her reservations. Later, if the employer does not endow adequate justification, they can file a complaint with the relevant forum independently or through the trade union (Official, Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Detailed processes have already been elaborated in the proactive measures enshrined in the Anti-discrimination Act. Now it depends on individuals to what extent they are curious to be updated on legal aspects of wages. I would say existing gender gaps in wages could be linked to a lack of knowledge at the part of the employer, employee, or both sides (Official, Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). What is the perspective of women migrants on it? This is a limitation of my research because I could not consult women migrants on it due to limited financial resources and time constraints. Third, accreditation of qualifications and experiences earned in origin countries constitutes a
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plausible barrier to equal wages between natives and migrants. Although destination countries have instituted different mechanisms for accreditation of foreign qualifications and experiences with or without documentary evidences, the bureaucratic processes are very lethargic. Thus, when women migrants start looking for employment opportunities exclusively but cannot produce acceptable credentials timely, they compromise with salaries. German experts contribute here that in several cases, women migrants are significantly paid less for the work natives are paid (Official, BMFSFJ, Berlin, January 2019). The responsible agencies are lacking human resources and budget. Hence, the expert suggests the state to pay attention to rapid and adequate budgetary support to agencies responsible for accreditation process so that women migrants could join the labor market by avoiding deskilling permanently (Official, BMFSFJ, Berlin, January 2019). The above narratives imply that if women migrants experience wage discrimination at workplaces in both countries, the problematic part is the compliance of employers to given legal provisions, but not the legislation itself. It is because Sweden serves both gender- and integration-sensitive clauses to narrow wage gaps, also supplemented by additional arrangements made by CBAs, but still women migrants report wage inequalities, whereas Germany misses integration-sensitive clauses but women migrants less likely report discrimination on wages. This questions the political will, observation mechanisms, and performance of relevant agencies. Tip: The German Qualification Framework (GQF) has corresponded to the European Qualification Framework (EQF) since May 2013, whereas the Swedish legislation do not mandate the use of the EQF and support the Swedish National Agency for Higher Vocational Education (NAHVE) for accreditation of qualifications and experiences of migrants. Many women migrants have been serving as teachers in origin countries but they cannot utilize their skills in similar profession due to accreditation-related issues in destination countries (BMFSFJ, Berlin, January 2019).
5.5 Ranking Reviewed Legislation for Their Genderand Integration-Responsiveness to Narrow Wage Gaps at Workplaces4 My framework helps determine gender- and integration-responsiveness of given legal provisions aimed to meet three practical and one strategic gender-integration needs of women migrants relating to equal wages in both destination countries.
4 See
Table A8 (Annex-I).
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Highlights: • Trade unions take up issues of representation with employer. • Women migrants very rarely represent trade unions. • Language barriers reduce their likelihood to represent such forums. • Anticipation of financial forfeit forbid women migrants to represent. • Employers make conscious choices to facilitate or obstruct representations. • Migration is minority topic and women migrants are marginal in political discourse. • Women migrant less likely participate in the formulation of Equality Plan at workplaces. In the case of equality in minimum wages, German legislation serve direct clauses but overlook the ‘integration’ perspective, whereas Swedish legislation designates this responsibility to the ‘CBAs’ across different sectors. A majority of women migrants is paid on equal tariffs in both countries, which reflects the appropriate observation of given legal clauses in the German labor market and appreciable work done by CBAs in Sweden. Hence, reviewed legislation are considered ‘gendersensitive’ but ‘integration-neutral’ in Germany and ‘gender- as well as integrationneutral’ in Sweden. On the matter of equality in financial increments, a German legislation serves direct clauses but neglect the element of integration, whereas reviewed Swedish legislation are completely silent but authorize the ‘CBAs’ to decide such matters. A possible positive impact of given legal support manifests in women migrant’s subjective experiences in Germany but not in Sweden. Women migrant’s experiences and expert’s feedback indicate that given legal provisions are effectively observed in the German labor market in comparison with Swedish. Thus, given legal provisions are labeled as ‘gender-sensitive’ but ‘integration-neutral’ in Germany, whereas ‘gender- as well as integration-blind’ in Sweden. On the matter of gender- and ethnicity-sensitive overtime regulations, German legislation serve direct clauses for some components and indirect for others but ignore the ‘integration’ perspective completely, whereas Swedish legislation again trust the ‘CBAs’ to regulate overtime regulations. A majority of women migrants is satisfied with existing overtime regulations in both countries, though they are less likely to cover gendered aspects. It seems that labor markets have tried to make overtime arrangements to some extent gender- and integration-sensitive. Only German experts acknowledge gender- and integration-specific limitations of existing legislation and propose different options to make them more effective. Based on these warrants, reviewed legislation are categorized as ‘gender- and integration-neutral’ in both countries. To ensure equal pay for equal work or work of equal value, two German legislation serve direct clauses but ignore the ‘integration’ perspective, whereas three Swedish legislation serve direct clauses particularly by paying attention to ‘integrational aspects’ to discourage all forms of wage inequalities. Nevertheless, the subjective experiences of women migrants do not correspond to given legal provisions in Sweden because they have more likely reported dissatisfaction with existing arrangements
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meant to ensure equality on wages. This reflects ineffective observation of given legal clauses in Sweden in comparison with Germany. The experts point out various agency- and institution-specific limitations responsible for wider wage gaps based on gender as well as migratory status, which are directly attached to prevailing policies and legislation. Thus, given legal provisions are labeled as ‘gender-sensitive’ but ‘integration-neutral’ in Germany, whereas ‘gender- as well as integration-neutral’ in Sweden. Tip: A few projects initiated by civil society organizations in Germany have been addressing shortage of women in trade unions and in other decisionmaking forums at workplaces. For instance, a project ‘ASTA ddb Frau’ aims to increase women’s representation at forums deciding promotions and managerial positions at companies. Such arrangement can improve women migrant’s bargaining positions and help acquire employment opportunities commensurate to their qualifications and experiences in destination countries.
5.6 Conclusions The analysis manifests that the NLF complies, to some extent with expectations of the ILF, to devise effective strategies for narrowing gender as well as migrationbased wage gaps at workplaces. Several targeted clauses are missing and already given clauses partly instruct concerned authorities to meet three practical and one strategic gender-integration needs for ensuring equality on wages in both destination countries. Concerning practical needs, existing literature divulges that employers discriminate natives versus migrants and men versus women on minimum wages (Boll, Hüning, Leppin, & Puckelwald, 2015; Lundborg & Skedinger, 2014), on financial increments or fiscal rewards (Tomaskovic-Devey, Hällsten, & Avent-Holt, 2015), and overtime work and subsequent financial incentives (Blazek, 2015; Raess & Burgoon, 2015) in several destination countries. My analytical framework implies that lack of gender- as well as integration-sensitivity of given legal clauses is one of other determinants, which deprive women migrants to equal wages and additional financial incentives attached to their performance. Conversation with various experts combine agency- and state-specific limitations that hinder the expected outcome of the given legal provisions to meet said practical needs at workplaces. Once again, at the part of the agency, inadequate language skills deprive women of what they deserve. Specifically, most women migrants neither understand organizational procedures nor participate in organizational planning due to language barriers. Both states do not adopt extraordinary measures to acquaint them with rules, regulations, and procedures. Hence, employers less likely to assign them crucial roles, nominate them for skills
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development opportunities, and recommend them for upward mobility. Such reluctant behaviors affect not only equal wages but also make additional fiscal benefits controversial between natives and migrants, and between both genders. Nevertheless, inadequate language skills of women migrants are somewhat attached to shortcomings of existing language learning mechanisms that must be aligned to gender dynamics of migrant families through revising prevailing legislation/policies (already has been discussed in the previous chapter). At the end of the state, prevailing legislation more likely to cover the public sector but the private sector is exempt from several obligations, especially in Sweden due to the acceptable tradition of ‘Collective Bargaining Agreements’ (CBAs). These exemptions seem an outcome of inadequate ‘gender’ and ‘integration’ check while devising/promulgating relevant legislation. Both German and Swedish politicians are reluctant to extend the application of legislation in various domains of the private sector in anticipation of hard reactions. Thus, it is very difficult for Employment Agencies to trace out incidents of discrimination in wages or additional fiscal benefits and to propose possible remedies for narrowing gender- or integration-specific wage gaps. Unfortunately, the private sector employs more migrants in comparison with the public, which enhances their likelihood to be discriminated against on wages. A few experts believe that besides somewhat positive influence of the CBAs or Trade Unions, engagement of the private sector in this discourse through effective gender- as well as integration-sensitive legislation can narrow wage gaps significantly. In the context of strategic need, existing literature has demonstrated that labor markets less likely adhere instructions of states to ensure equal pay for equal work or work of equal value in the presence of various myths and beliefs attached to employee’s sexual orientation, ethnic backgrounds, and religious denominations (Cavaletto, Pacelli, & Pasqua, 2019; Lucifora & Vigani, 2016). My analysis manifests that ‘gender- and integration-neutral’ nature of Swedish legislation and ‘gendersensitive’ but ‘integration-neutral’ outlook of German legislation contribute vulnerabilities of women migrants toward wage discrimination at workplaces. Limitations of given legal provisions reflect in household dynamics of migrant families that determine women’s roles in new transnational places almost in both countries. Languagerelated limitations of women migrants have already been discussed in the previous chapter but how do household gender dynamics set language learning preferences and make a selection of breadwinners have never been discussed. In both countries, language subsidies offered by the state reinforce the patriarchal division of labor in most migrant families. In the presence of the state’s subsidy, many men easily convince their women to give them space and time for learning destination language because they will be the sole provider for their families in the future. Male’s suitability gains further essentiality where women are not eligible for a subsidy. Women migrants, due to lack of exposure to destination culture as well as lack of information about available opportunities, happily accept traditional labor. Exposure to destination culture and access to information are closely linked to the level of relevance and effectiveness of concerning policies and legislation, which make a lethargic transition in their autonomous statuses leading to language hardships, unemployment, and wage discrimination. Existing legislation further reinforce traditional gender
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dynamics in migrant families when legislation do not instruct competent authorities to allocate financial subsidies for mothers or fathers overstaying at workplaces but they need a substitute for caregiving responsibilities back home. Finally, both states do not allocate adequate budgetary support to institutions responsible for the accreditation of migrant’s qualifications and experiences earned in other than destination countries. Relevant institutions are under the pressure of excessive workload hence they cannot deliver timely. Thus, women migrants are often coerced to accept jobs by compromising minimum wages or with packages not compatible to their caliber. In such situations, employers do not discriminate on wages directly but enabling circumstances favor discriminatory practices. It is concluded that the revision of existing legislation seems inevitable in light of instructions made by international or regional institutions to narrow prevailing wage gaps in both countries. Both states should involve the private sector in devising strategies, other than CBAs or similar arrangements, to reach viable solutions for reducing wage-related inequalities against women migrants, especially at smaller units. Importantly, the observation mechanism of already given legal provisions should be improved by authorizing relevant agencies to access information and visit workplaces with a mandate to ensure wage equality. Nevertheless, this is not possible without revising prevailing legislation and subsequent observation mechanisms through special gender and integration lenses. The above-mentioned needs, if adequately met, can narrow wage gaps between natives and migrants as well as between women and men at workplaces.
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Council of Europe. (1996). European social charter (Revised) (ESC(R)). Retrieved from https:// rm.coe.int/168007cf93 on 12.09.2017 at 11:36 pm. EUR-LEX. (2012, October 26). Consolidated version of the treaty on European Union (TEU). Retrieved from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:2bf140bf-a3f8-4ab2-b506-fd7 1826e6da6.0023.02/DOC_1&format=PDF on 13.09.2017 at 21:39 pm. European Commission. (2014, November 27). Advisory committee on equal opportunities for women and men (ACEOWN). Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/aid_dev elopment_cooperation_fundamental_rights/opinion_on_ge_in_21st_century_2014_en_0.pdf on 23.01.2019 at 16:09 pm. International Labor Organization (ILO). (1970). Minimum wage fixing convention (MWFC). Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12 100_ILO_CODE:C131 on 29.09.2017 at 13:45 pm. International Labor Organization (ILO). (2011). Domestic worker convention (DWC). Retrieved from https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12 100_ILO_CODE:C189 14.10.2018 at 14:15 pm. International Labour Organization (ILO). (1949, July 1). C097—Migration for employment convention (MEC). Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0:: NO::P12100_INSTRUMENT_ID:312242 on 27.08.2017 at 12:22 pm. International Labour Organization (ILO). (1951, June 29). R090—Equal remuneration recommendation (ERR). Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100: 0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:R090 on 04.09.2017 at 20:14 pm. International Labour Organization (ILO). (1958, June 25). R11—Discrimination (employment and occupation) recommendation (DR). Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f? p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:R111 on 05.09.2017 at 10:04 am. International Labour Organization (ILO). (1975, June 24). Migrant workers recommendation (MWR). Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100: 0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:R151 on 30.08.2017 at 10:20 am. International Labour Organization (ILO). (2000, June 15). C183—Maternity protection convention (MPC). Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:12100:0::NO::P12 100_ILO_CODE:C183 on 04.09.2017 at 15:37 pm. International Labour Organization (ILO). (2006, June 15). Employment relationship recommendation (ERR). Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0:: NO::P12100_INSTRUMENT_ID:312535 on 30.08.2017 at 15:36 pm. International Labour Organization (ILO). (2011, June 16). R201—Domestic workers recommendation (DWR). Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100: 0::NO:12100:P12100_INSTRUMENT_ID:2551502:NO on 05.09.2017 at 14:40 pm. United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR). (1965, December 21). International convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (CERD). Retrieved from http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CERD.aspx on 02.09.2017 at 08:45 am. United Nations Human Rights Office of the Higher Commissioner (OHCHR). (1996, December 16). International covenant on economic, social and cultural rights (CESCR). Retrieved from http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx on 05.09.2017 at 15:47 pm. United Nations. (1990, December, 18). 45/158. International convention on the protection of the rights of all migrant workers and members of their families (CPRMWMF). Retrieved from http:// www.un.org/documents/ga/res/45/a45r158.htm on 25.08.2017 at 12:27 pm. United Nations. (2001, August 31–September 8). Dublin Declaration: World conference against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance (DDRX). Retrieved from http:// www.un.org/WCAR/durban.pdf on 20.092017 at 11:32 pm. United Nations. (2015, February 12). Protection of migrants (69/167): Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 2014 (RPM). Retrieved from https://www.iom.int/sites/def ault/files/UN_Documents/69th_Session/N1470710.pdf on 20.09.2017 at 14:19 pm.
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United Nations. (2010, November). 15-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (2000) (BPA+15). Retrieved from https://www.cepal.org/mujer/noticias/pag inas/3/51823/Guidance_note_English.pdf on 10.08.2017 at 14:40 pm. UNWomen. (1979). The convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW). Retrieved from https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm# article15 on 04.09.2017 at 19:35 pm. UNWomen. (1995, September). Beijing declaration and platform for action (BPA). Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/events/pastevents/pdfs/Beijing_Declaration_and_Platform_for_Act ion.pdf on 09.08.2017 at 10:44 am.
German Legislation Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (MJCP). (2016, February 17). Act regulating a general minimum wage (Minimum Wage Act). Retrieved from http://www.gesetze-im-internet. de/englisch_milog/englisch_milog.pdf on 08.11.2017 at 13:33 am. Bundesministeriums der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz. (2000, December 21). Teilzeit- und Befristungsgesetz, TzBfG. (Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment Act) (TuB). Retrieved from http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/tzbfg/TzBfG.pdf on 18.10.2017 at 09:18 am. Bundesministeriums der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz. (2000, December 21). Entgelttransparenzgesetz (Act on the promotion of pay transparency between women and men). Retrieved from https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/entgtranspg/BJNR215210017.html on 22.09.2017 at 16:57 pm. Bundesministeriums der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz. (1994, June 6). Arbeitszeitgesetz (Hours of Work Act). Retrieved from https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/WEBTEXT/37814/64928/E94 DEU01.htm on 25.09.2017 at 15:30 pm. MAYR. (2000, June 20). Mutterschutzgesetz (MuSchG) (Maternity Protection Act) (Revised on 2006, December, 5). Retrieved from https://www.mayr-arbeitsrecht.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/ 05/Maternity-Protection-Act.pdf on 28.09.2017 at 14:15 pm. Federal Anti-discrimination Agency, Germany (FAA). (2006, August 14). Act implementing European directives putting into effect the principle of equal treatment (EDET) (Amended 2009, February, 05). Retrieved from https://www.antidiskriminierungsstelle.de/SharedDocs/ Downloads/EN/publikationen/agg_in_englischer_Sprache.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2 on 21.09.2017 at 17:27 pm. Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (MJCP). (2013, April 3). General act on equal treatment. Retrieved from http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_agg/englisch_agg. html#p0012 on 08.11.2017 at 11:01 am. Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (MJCP). (2015, April 24). Act on equality between women and men in the federal administration and in federal enterprises and courts (Federal Act on Gender Equality). Retrieved from http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_ bgleig/englisch_bgleig.pdf on 08.11.2017 at 11:22 am.
Sweden Legislation Ministry of Employment. (1982, June 24). Working hours act (Arbetstidslagen). Retrieved from http://www.government.se/49d4f9/contentassets/1b29fd35b2544f13875137beab80911a/198 2673-working-hours-act.pdf on 20.11.2017 at 10:00 am.
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Swedish Riksdag. (2009, January 1). Act on measures against discrimination in working life on grounds of ethnic origin, religion or other belief (1999:130) (AMDWL). Retrieved from http://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssam ling/lag-1999130-om-atgarder-mot-diskriminering-i_sfs-1999-130 on 23.11.2017 at 13:15 pm. Swedish Riksdag. (2013, July 2). Act (2013:644) on the right to salary and other remuneration for work performed by a foreigner not entitled to stay in Sweden (ARSRF). Retrieved from http://www. ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/96595/114173/F477599759/SWE96595Swedish.pdf on 24.11.2017 at 14:30 pm. Swedish Code of Statutes. (2015, March, 20). Discrimination act (2008:567). Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/83136/110558/F-898276411/SWE831 36SwedishConsolidated.pdf on 23.11.2017 at 10:00 am.
Expert Interviews Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ). (2019, January). An interview with official from Berlin. Germany. Swedish Employment Agency. (2019, February). An interview with official from Gothenburg. Sweden. Swedish Gender Equality Agency. (2019, February). An interview with official from Gothenburg. Sweden.
Chapter 6
Theme-III: Reconciliation of Professional Work with Family Responsibilities—Genderand Integration-Sensitivity of Legislation
Often women with professional careers have to perform household chores and offer caregiving services to their family members (i.e., children and elderly) after returning homes. Three consecutive roles overburden them. Importantly, long working hours, inflexible working schedules, excessive overtime, and non-availability of childcare at or close to workplaces decisively overstrain them, if they ought to perform family (domestic as well as caregiving) responsibilities. Past literature asserts that if they fail to align professional endeavors with family responsibilities, it can affect their performance negatively; reduce their chances of upward mobility; increase wage gaps with counterparts; and compel them to terminate employment permanently (Hughes & Parkes, 2007; Ilies et al., 2007; Kühhirt & Ludwig, 2012). The situation becomes more adverse for women with migratory backgrounds because they cannot explore all possible means to manage triple roles immediately after arrival in destination countries. Thus, the state and employers are expected to respond with suitable options aimed to facilitate women migrants on the subject matter. My semantic analysis infers that different clauses of twenty-four1 ‘work-specific’ and two2 ‘migrationspecific’ international conventions, recommendations, and guidelines call upon the states to introduce laws and enact policies to offer employment opportunities under decent and flexible work options. This can help women migrants enter the labor market and continue their professional careers independent of the excessive burden of family responsibilities. Initial analysis comes up with a checklist of five needs to be met through national legislation. To what extent national legal frames respond to these needs? A comparison between ILF and NLF, subjective experiences of women (ACEOWM, 2011, 2014; BPA, 1995; BPA + 15, 2010; CEDAW, 1979; CESCR, 1996; CFR, 2000; DEOTWW, 1975; DR, 1958; DWI, 2008; DWC, 2011; ER(WF), 1965; ESC, 1961; ESC(R), 1996; FWH, 1935; HSWR, 2003;HW, 1930; MEC, 1949; MPC, 2000; MPR, 2000; NPEWN, 2011–2020; PTW, 1994; SDGs, 2015; WFRC, 1981). 2 Source: (CPRMWMF, 1990; MWR, 1975). 1 Source:
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. W. Tahir, Responding to Women Migrant’s Needs, Contributions to Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63735-4_6
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migrants,3 and expert’s narratives inform about the legal as well as institutional measures designed to meet four ‘practical’ and one ‘strategic’ needs at workplaces.
6.1 Decent and Gender-Integration Sensitive Working Hours This is a practical ‘gender-integration’ need of women migrants at the workplace, as the provision of decent working hours can enable women migrants to perform professional duties by provision of minimum burden of domestic and caregiving responsibilities. Although there are some variations in gendered role expectations across the world, origin societies are structured with rigid gender norms and values that reinforce women to perform traditional whereas men with breadwinning roles (Inglehart & Norris, 2003), which does not change after arriving in relatively genderegalitarian societies due to migration (Röder & Mühlau, 2014). These expectations make it difficult for women migrants to enter the world of work if working hours are indecent. Past studies have underlined inadequate working hours under women (Ala-Mursula et al. 2006; Rotenberg et al., 2008), especially with the migratory background (Benach, Muntaner, Delclos, Menéndez, & Ronquillo, 2011; Madhumathi, 2013; Man, 2004) have to work, which can destroy the equilibrium of their professional endeavors due to family-role expectations. The ILF categorizes this need into four components: (1) maximum forty-eight hours in a week and eight hours in a day, (2) additional working hours, if required, should not exceed 10 h in a day, (3) one or more short-breaks or a daily reduction in working hours for breastfeeding without financial forfeit, and (4) equality between natives and women migrants on working hours. Do existing legislation direct the labor markets to make sure the formulation of working hours as per outlined components in both countries? Tip: German legislation authorize employers to invite employee to perform their duties on Sundays and public holidays in the sectors such as restaurants, caregiving sectors, hospitals, religious and social events, trade fairs, exhibitions, care of animals, cleaning and maintenance services but the given clauses neither offer an alternative for caregiving nor additional financial benefits to fulfill family responsibilities. The latent analysis of NLF and comparison with ILF yields that both countries have shown a serious attitude toward all components, except the last one. From Germany, for the first and second components, article 3 of the ‘Hours of Work Act’ articulates that working hours of an employee should not exceed 8 in a day, but 3 See
Table A3 (Annex-I).
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only in specific circumstances, they can be extended up to 10. Sie kann auf bis zu zehn Stunden nur verlängert werden, wenn innerhalb von sechs Kalendermonaten oder innerhalb von 24 Wochen im Durchschnitt acht Stunden werktäglich nicht überschritten werden (FMJC, 1994). Moreover, the ‘Work Constitution Act’ allows the employer to make necessary adjustments in working hours under certain conditions. Section 87(1) (2)(3) of the Act authorizes the ‘Works Council’ to decide commencement and termination of working hours, distribution of hours, short-breaks, a temporary reduction in hours, or extension of hours on daily basis. For the third component, article 2 of the ‘Maternity Protection Act’ accentuates the employers to allow expectant or nursing mothers to take a short break during working hours whenever they need it. Article 7(1) of the Act advises employers to allow nursing mothers, on their request, for nursing breaks for an hour once or for half an hour twice daily. In the case of more than eight working hours, two nursing breaks for at least 45 min should be granted. If the workplace does not develop a nursing place, a break of 90 min should be accorded. Nursing breaks will be counted as regular working hours unless a break exceeds more than two hours. Lastly, article 7(2) of the Act clarifies that nursing mothers will never lose any financial benefit for these breaks. On the other hand, from Sweden, section 1 (Chapter 2) of the ‘Work Environment Act’ recommends designing working hours that do not expose employees to physical strain or mental stress, which can cause illness or accidents at workplaces. Moreover, section 5 of the ‘Working Hours Act’ elaborates that regular working hours should not exceed 40 per week. On-call duty (section 6) can be extended up to a maximum of 48 h per week for 4 weeks or 50 h per week for a month, whereas overtime (section 8) can be designed for 48 h per week for 4 weeks or 50 h per week for a month or 200 h in a calendar year. Lastly, section 4 of the ‘Parental Leave Act’ allows women to avail of short-breaks for breastfeeding purposes during working hours. Finally, reviewed legislation do not emphasize equality between natives and women migrants on working hours in both countries exclusively. How do women migrants perceive their working hours about given legal provisions in both countries? The survey statistics reveal that the mean working days of women migrants do not differ plausibly in both countries: Germany (4.45 days) and Sweden (5.06 days) per week. Similarly, the mean working hours also do not differ significantly: Germany (7.41 h) and Sweden (7.77 h) per day. A majority of women migrants is not offered short-breaks for breastfeeding purposes: Germany (69%) and Sweden (76%). They have also reported deductions in salaries against short-breaks: Germany (71%) and Sweden (75%). Finally, employers treat an overwhelming majority of women migrants equally on working hours with respect to their native colleagues: Germany (74%) and Sweden (94%). This reflects equal application of given legal provisions to natives as well as migrants, though has never been elaborated in respective legislation exclusively. The statistics imply that given legal provisions are effectively observed in labor markets of both countries, except short-terms breaks for breastfeeding purposes, which questions the effectiveness of given legislation. How do experts interpret this variation in both countries? The experts inform that working hours are differently regulated by public and private sectors. Numerous legislation and ordinances regulate the former, but the latter enjoys autonomy in different aspects, because it regulates
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working hours through the Works Council or mutual agreements between Employeremployees Organizations. We do not interfere in it (Official, Kreisjob Center Marburg & Biedenkopf, March 2019). Ideally, breastfeeding period is covered by parental leave, but still if a woman continues her job on a full-time or part-time basis after childbirth, the employers must facilitate breastfeeding period as per law. Nonetheless, the reality is otherwise, especially in the black market, where women migrants are vulnerable on the matter of short-breaks, but they do not complain about it (Official, BMFSFJ, Berlin, January 2019). Having said that the official turns her eyes from the state’s responsibilities for regulating the black market by revising legislation under ‘gender’ as well as ‘integration’ lens that can enable working women to accomplish breastfeeding tasks during working hours in the future. On the other side, Swedish narratives also do not differ from German, because several legislation and regulations aim to regulate short-breaks for breastfeeding purposes, but still, if women migrants are deprived of it or if remunerations are deducted against these breaks, it is due to employer’s lack of familiarity with given legal provisions or they neglect it intendedly (Official, Ministry of Employment: Gender Equality Section, Stockholm, February 2019). The subjective experiences of women migrants and the above narratives of relevant experts question the effectiveness given legal provisions in both countries. Although experts try to blame the private sector and black market for depriving women migrants from on-job breastfeeding opportunities, the state cannot escape from initiating legal revisions with the gender-integration lens and improving observation mechanisms at workplaces in both countries.
6.2 Short- or Long-Term Leaves to Reconcile Professional and Caregiving Responsibilities This is a practical ‘gender-integration’ need of women migrants at workplaces because if women migrants are granted short- or long-term leaves to combine their professional tasks with caregiving responsibilities, it will enable them to satisfy caregiving roles without plausible career interruptions for a longer period and to resume their positions after the expiry of leave at workplaces. The caregiving expectations do not limit to children but also extend to other family members back home. Past literature implies that leave intending to perform caregiving roles helps working women reconcile professional responsibilities but they encounter various complications to be entitled to such provisions (Akgunduz & Plantenga, 2013; Chen, 2016; Saraceno & Keck, 2011; Wiese & Ritter, 2012). International documents also aim to regulate caregiving leaves at workplaces. Thus, my semantic analysis divides this need into three components: (1) short- or long-term paid leaves for childcare, (2) short- or long-term paid leaves for family care, and (3) prohibition of termination of employment due to caregiving responsibility. To what extent existing legislation
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direct labor markets to comply with the afore-mentioned components at workplaces in both countries? The comparison between ILF and NLF manifests that both countries have adopted a few measures to meet this need at workplaces. From Germany, section 15 of the ‘Federal Act on Gender Equality’ suggests the employers to enable employees to fulfill their caregiving responsibilities back home. Particularly, section 80(1) of the ‘Work Environment Act’ designates the ‘Works Council’ a responsibility to promote the reconciliation of family and work (MJCP, 2001). Particularly for the childcare, section ‘Families’ of the Handbook (BMFSFJ, 2015) informs about various initiatives introduced by the federal government to help working women reconcile their childcare responsibilities with professional endeavors. For instance, the schemes such as ‘Parental Leave,’ ‘Parental Allowance,’ and ‘Parental Allowance Plus’ have been designed to provide sufficient time to working women to take care of their newborns on the long-term basis. These programs protect their wages and enable them to re-enter the labor market without significant hindrances. A parental allowance also compensates parents financially, from e300 to e1,800 per month, if they decide to stay at home completely or reduce their working hours. The allowance can be extended up to 14 months if the alternative parent also avails it for at least two months. Finally, the government has also introduced another opportunity to lengthen the duration of parental allowance. A new scheme ‘parental allowance plus’ authorizes parents to work on a part-time basis after childbirth beyond the 14th month of childbirth. The amount of allowance doubles under this category if parents work between 25 and 35 h a week. For the care of other family members, article 2 (1) (2) of the ‘Act on Nursing Period’ grants employees a right to avail of a break of ten days to stay with a relative in need of care. According to article 4(1) of the Act, a maximum duration of leave is six months. The leave will be granted on the production of a medical certificate of a person in need of care. Nevertheless, the given legal provisions do not apply in organizations with less than 15 employees. Also, article 3(1) of the Act also allows employees to take a partial break depending on the situation of a person in need of care. The beneficiary will inform the employer in advance about his/her working plan based on desired flexibility. Article 3 of the Act entitles employees to an interest-free loan to substitute his/her caregiving responsibilities under certain conditions. Another Act also offers similar support. For instance, article 2(1) of the ‘Act on Family Care Period’ grants employees partial leave for a period of maximum 24 months on the production of a medical certificate of a person in need of care. An employee has to perform his/her duties for 15 h per week. This article does not apply to organizations with less than 25 employees. According to article 2a (1) of the Act, an employee must apply for work flexibility at least eight weeks before the starting period of leave. The employee will also submit a work plan mentioning the distribution of working hours during his partial leave period. Importantly, an employee can avail above-mentioned leaves for the care of children as well as other family members under both Acts. For the prohibition of termination of the employment relationship, article 5(1) of the ‘Nursing Period Act’ articulates that the employer cannot terminate an employment relationship at the movement of
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an application submitted by an employee for nursing leave. A termination notice can only be served at least twelve weeks before the application. From Sweden, section 5 (Chapter 3) of the ‘Swedish Discrimination Act,’ through different clauses, emphasizes employers to facilitate male as well as female employees to reconcile their employment and parental responsibilities. Particularly for childcare, section 5 of the ‘Parental Leave Act’ entitles a parent to full-time parental leave for 18 months to take care of a child. A parent can avail leave until the child reaches the age of 8 or he/she starts his/her school. The leave can be availed with or without parental benefits as well as partially. Section 6 of the Act describes that during the period of time that a parent receives three quarters, one half, one quarter or one eighth parental benefit under Chapter 12 of the Social Insurance Code, the parent is entitled to a reduction of normal working hours by three quarters, one half, one quarter, or one eighth (Ministry of Employment, 1995). Nonetheless, if a parent avails leave without benefit, section 7 of the Act elaborates that a parent is entitled to a reduction of the normal working hours by up to one quarter for the care of a child which has not yet reached the age of eight years or which is older but has not yet concluded its first year of school (Ministry of Employment, 1995). Section 8 of the Act informs that a parent can avail a leave with temporary parental benefits, if a permanent child attendant is not available. In the similar lines, section 9 of the Act entitles a parent for partial (reduced working hours) leave to attend a child, if a full child-raising allowance under section 8 of the ‘Act on Municipal Child-raising Allowance’ is availed. According to section 10 of the Act, a parent may divide partial leave into three periods in a year. Finally, section 13 of the Act, the leave is contingent to an advance notice of two months but for temporary parental leave, one week notice will be sufficient. For the care of other family members, the Swedish legislation do not offer any clause alike German. Nevertheless, to prohibit termination of the employment relationship, reviewed legislation prohibits employers to initiate termination against employees under section 17 of the ‘Parental Leave Act’ that declares a notice of termination invalid, if it is served on the grounds of parental leave. How do women migrants perceive the given legal clauses in both countries and react to missing legal provisions in Sweden? The survey statistics reveal that the German labor market has been more likely supportive to women migrants on the matters of short- or long-term leave for caregiving purposes in comparison with Swedish. For instance, women migrants have found employers more generous for granting short- or long-term leaves for childcare: Germany (87%) and Sweden (65%). Similarly, short- or long-term leaves for the care of other family members have more likely been availed in Germany (30%) than that of Sweden (18%). Nevertheless, women migrants do not report any incident of termination due to short- or long-term leaves at workplaces. This reflects adequate compliance of given legal provisions for short- or long-term leaves for childcare purposes in both countries, but inadequate compliance to legal provisions for family care leaves in Germany. How do experts respond to mismatch between given legal provisions and subjective experiences of women migrants relating to leaves for family care in Germany and missing legal provisions on the subject in Sweden?
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Highlights: • Both German and Swedish legislation serve gender-sensitive and integration-neutral clauses to regulate leaves for childcare. • German legislation serve gender- and integration-neutral clauses but Swedish serve gender- & integration-blind clauses on care-specific leaves for other family members. • Women migrants are more likely satisfied with employer’s support to avail care-related leaves for children as well as family members in Germany than Sweden. • The analysis accentuates on revision of existing legislation under genderintegration lens. • Experts propose internal arrangement to regulate leaves for family care in Sweden. The narratives of experts mainly focus on parental leave, which is perceived as the most appropriate way to help women migrants to fulfill caregiving responsibilities after childbirth. A Swedish expert informs that once a woman enters the labor market, she can’t have a break for 3–4 years to reproduce or rear a child. The state offers a paid parental leave for 15 months. Any other leave specific to reproduction is not admissible except on medical grounds (Official, Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). The experts further elaborate that parental leave is more likely availed by women in comparison with men. This trend is more likely prevalent in migrant families due to varying gendered norms and values learned from origin cultures. The experts are confident that if men are to be encouraged to attend children at home and women are attracted to work after childbirth through special measures, the existing patriarchal tradition of parental leave will change (Official, Swedish Employment Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Parental leave can serve the purpose of long-term leaves but a Swedish expert informs about a provision of 12 days leave to attend a sick child at home (Official, Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Nevertheless, Swedish experts are not familiar with any option relating to short- or long-term leave particularly for attending other family members back home. They believe that such matters should be settled by Employeremployee Organizations internally. The state cannot go into such micro-levels issues (Official, Swedish Employment Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Importantly, the Swedish experts have informed that the state has revised legislation relating to parental leave. New legislation offers women migrants language learning opportunities during the parental leave period. The Swedish Employment Agency prepares a profile of women migrants, assesses their existing language as well as professional skills, and offers a language cum skills training program during parental leave period (Official, Ministry of Employment: Gender Equality Section, Stockholm, February 2019). Nevertheless, a majority of women migrants do not utilize
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given provision to advance their language skills, which can enhance their employability and ensure smooth integration with Swedish society. Finally, the German experts do not contribute to this section.
6.3 Services for Reconciliation of Professional and Caregiving Responsibilities This is also a practical ‘gender-integration’ need of women migrants at workplaces, because if women migrants are given options, other than leaves, to combine their professional tasks with caregiving responsibilities back home, it will positively correlate with their employment-related endeavors and enhance their probability to continue employment. Provision of alternative caregiving services is also imperative for women migrants due to varying norms and practices of migrant families toward childcare in comparison with natives, because women coming from relatively gender-inegalitarian regimes are perceived best child or family care providers, especially where a structured child or elderly care services are scarce (Tahir, 2017). Past literature underlines various challenges faced by women, in general (Ciccia & Bleijenbergh, 2014; Hennig & Pfau-Effinger, 2012), and women migrants, in particular (Bonizzoni, 2014; Williams & Gavanas, 2016) to find alternatives for caregiving responsibilities. Thus, my semantic analysis divides this need into three components: (1) provision of childcare services close to or at workplaces,4 (2) provision of caregiving services for other family members in need of care, and (3) provision of alternative caregiving options for participation in professional training/tours. Do existing legislation instruct employers to meet this need through the afore-mentioned components in both countries? In Germany, for childcare, the section ‘Families’ of the Handbook published by the BMFSFJ (2015) claims that the state has paid special attention to the provision of daycare services. Thus, childcare centers are available for children of different age groups, for pre- to after-school children, and for vacations. These services are subsidized based on income level of parents. The family office is responsible for the registration and placement of children in childcare centers. Especially, for working parents, a national program with the federal funding named ‘Betriebliche Kinderbretreuung’ (employer-provided daycare) has been designed to establish ‘employersupported’ daycare centers at workplaces. Although the program has not countrywide coverage, it has established 742 employer-provided daycares across the country in 2019 (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2019). Moreover, the State has paid special attention to ‘family-friendly’ hours of childcare services to align the working hours of parents, especially to handle emergencies and to provide childcare during school vacations. For the care of family members, again the section ‘Families’ of the Handbook published by the BMFSFJ (2015) mentions that different actors of the society 4 (1) Accessible, (2) affordable, (3) distance friendly, and (4) short waiting period. These services are
required for (1) nursery, (2) preschool children, (3) after-school children, and (4) school vacations.
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such as the government, industry, enterprises, and civil society have established a ‘partnership-based network’ of local alliances for families. More than 600 alliances are present to provide need-based services to individuals to reconcile their professional and family responsibilities. Again, the coverage of such initiatives is very limited. Hence, it may not help women migrants a lot. For caregiving alternative to attend professional trainings/to urs, the section 10(2) of the ‘Federal Act on Gender Equality’ suggests public sector agencies to engage employees, with family or caregiving responsibilities, in skills development programs and offer them business/professional trips. Particularly, section 10 (2) (1) of the Act implies that if childcare or caregiving responsibilities create an obstacle, the agencies should provide a substitute. Section 10 (2) (2) of the Act particularly asks for the allocation of additional allowances to meet this need. However, these provisions do not apply to the private sector, which employs a huge number of women migrants. Tip: Article 14(1) of the ‘Act on Family Care Period’ informs that the BMFSFJ sets up an independent advisory board for the reconciliation of care and work (MJCP, 2011). Article 2 of the Act informs that the advisory council will deliberate the issues relating to reconciliation of professional endeavors with family care, assess the observation level of relevant legal provisions, and submit its report to the concerned authorities. Will the advisory council consult ‘migration’ perspective too? The legislation is silent on it. On the other side, in Sweden, for childcare, reviewed legislation serve several clauses that instruct the competent authorities to provide childcare to children of different age groups. For instance, article 1 (section 2a) of the ‘Swedish School Act’ designates a responsibility of care for pre- and school-going children to local Municipalities. The Municipality offers caregiving services to children at the age of one year, and school-going children up to the age of 12 years. Article 13 (section 2a) of the ‘Parental Leave Act’ informs that the private sector such as a company, a society, a registered community, a foundation, or an individual can also offer pre- or school-child care services with prior approval. The Municipality can grant permission contingent to certain pre-requisites such as quality and security. According to article 6 (section 2a) of the Act, the duration of the care is determined based on parents’ employment or studies or child’s needs. Moreover, article 7 (section 2a) of the Act informs that the Municipality will notify the place of childcare, on the request of parent/guardian, without undue delay. As per article 8 (section 2a) of the Act, childcare facilities must be offered close to a child’s home or school to make sure adequate utilization of premises and resources. Article 10 (section 2a) of the Act informs that the Municipality will charge free from preschool children based on expenses incurred to recreational, educational, and sports activities. On the matter of financial subsidies, article 1 of the ‘Regulation (2001: 160) on State Grants to Municipalities Applying Maximum Rates in Preschool and Recreation Center
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(RSGMMRPR)’ offers a financial subsidy to Municipalities against maximum fee (maxtaxa) for places in preschool or in leisure centers. As per article 3 of the regulation, the state provides subsidy as follows (1) a monthly fee for the preschool is no more than three, two, and one percent of the household’s taxable income per month for the first, second, and third child, (2) provision of a monthly fee for the recreational center is no more than two, one, and one percent of the household’s taxable income per month for the first, second, and third child, and (3) no fee for the fourth child. For the remaining two components, the Swedish legislation do not serve targeted clauses. How do women migrants report their experiences regarding committed alternatives for childcare in both countries and family care in Germany? The survey statistics are divided into three categories concerning the response of women migrants toward available caregiving services: access, affordability, and distance friendliness. First, women migrants have more likely access to nurseries in Germany (64%) in comparison with Sweden (50%). The access to childcare for preschool is identical in both countries (55%). However, access to after-school childcare is more likely reported in Sweden (60%) in comparison with Germany (55%). Finally, women migrants have more likely accessed childcare during school vacations in Sweden (56%) in comparison with Germany (45%). Second, women migrants more likely to find Swedish childcare services affordable in comparison with Germany: Sweden (to a large extent 44% and some extent 56%), Germany (to a large extent 38% and some extent 50%). Third, there are mixed views on the distance friendliness of childcare services in both countries: Sweden (to a large extent 56% and some extent 44%), Germany (to a large extent 62% and some extent 38%). Finally, women migrants are more likely to report a shorter waiting period to find a place for children in Sweden (62%) in comparison with Germany (50%). For the second component, women migrants get less likely support for substituting family care from respective authorities in both countries. However, the reported support is a bit higher in Sweden (22%) in comparison with Germany (18%). Finally, although not ideal, women migrants have more likely reported provision of alternative caregiving services while attending professional training or business tours in Sweden (36%) in comparison with Germany (27%). These statistics infer that the subjective experiences of women migrants less likely correspond to policy statements or legal provisions outlined by German policy documents/legislation in comparison with Sweden. To understand the reasons behind these variations, the expert’s perspective is taken on record. Highlights: • German and Swedish legislation serve ‘gender-neutral’ clauses to regulate childcare services. • German legislation serve ‘gender-neutral’ but Swedish serves ‘genderblind’ clauses to regulate family care services. • Given clauses are not aligned to integration perspective in both countries.
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• Women migrants have reported more likely satisfaction with caregiving alternatives in Sweden in comparison with Germany. • Fluctuating migration priority, inadequate financial & human resources, lack of coordination between institutions & agencies, and autonomy of private sector are key barriers to balanced professional-family life in Germany. • Swedish experts find private providers, incompatibility between working shifts and provider’s schedules, and non-availability of state funds as barriers to alternative family care options. The experts associate barriers to the transition of planned initiatives into reality with state and institution-specific limitations. First, German experts admit that there is a shortage of childcare centers across the country but the state has realized its growing need with an increasing influx of migrants (Official, Kreisjob Center Marburg & Biedenkopf, Marburg, March 2019). Nevertheless, the reality does not match with the above statement when women migrants face difficulties to find places for their children without significant delays. Mainly fluctuating migration policies and legislation and lack of financial as well as human support are key barriers to expand childcare spectrum across the country. Second, ineffective coordination between employment, migration, and gender equality related institutions or agencies is also responsible for denial or delayed placement of children at daycare centers. For instance, an expert divulges that our agency prepares a skills-profile of women migrants, which underlines language and skill-specific needs to be met through particular training programs. Initially, women migrants are excited and happily give consent to join proposed training, but when they visit the family office, most of them are denied childcare on the ground that they are not willing to attend the proposed training but it is us who insist them (Official, Kreisjob Center Marburg & Biedenkopf, Marburg, March 2019). Third, the state and the private sector are not on the same page for the establishment of childcare centers at workplaces. The state can attract the private sector but cannot coerce for this initiative. Although workplace-based childcare has gained popularity but mostly in the public sector, the private sector is following doorsteps but slowly (Official, BMFSFJ, Berlin, January 2019). An expert cites her example with a statement that although I am not a gender expert, my boss (from the Grün Party) says that we need to create a Gender-sensitive Job Center. Thus, we have exclusively established a daycare facility for women migrants (Official, Kreisjob Center Marburg & Biedenkopf, Marburg, March 2019). On the other side, although Swedish legislation and respective institutions appear more gender-responsive on the subject matter, several systematic limitations restrict universal access to childcare in Swedish society. First, a Swedish expert informs that childcare issues are tackled by local Municipalities. The questions relating to finding a place, resources, capacity, delay, or waiting period can only be answered by them. The experts claim that Municipalities function quit independently thus we do not interfere in their businesses (Official, Ministry of Justice: Migration Section, Stockholm, February 2019; Official, Swedish Employment Agency, Gothenburg, February
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2019). Importantly, the Municipality offers places to children during summer vacations. For this purpose, the Municipality collects applications to assess the demand and place children in one or two places, which are not regular but could be located at different locations. Moreover, the Municipality also provides a temporary childcare place for one or two months if a working woman needs it in an emergency. More likely satisfactory experiences of women migrants could be associated with appropriate functioning of Municipalities but still almost 30–40% of women migrants have shown dissatisfaction with prevailing mechanisms, which seek further coordination, improvement, and investment. Second, another expert comes up with an alternative explanation that childcare is offered to every child at the age of one year, but if it is not accessible, it cannot constitute hurdles in professional endeavors, because under the law, the mother can work on a part-time basis (75%) with a child of up to 8 years old (Official, Swedish Employment Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Now to what extent 25% reduction in work can enable a mother of more than one child to manage her caregiving roles? Neither legislation nor expert answers it. Third, the experts find private care providers responsible for the delay, inadequate quality, or interrupted supply of services. The state has engaged the private sector to share increasing responsibilities of childcare across the country. The private care providers receive a handful amount of money against every child but do not guarantee services for the whole year (Official, Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Often they leave children unattended at critical occasions for the Municipality. The situation becomes worse during holidays, when the public providers have to provide every fucking single week (Official, Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019), whereas private providers close down for a few weeks or days. Thus, working parents suffer and struggle to find alternative care providers during days of trouble. So this is not the state who denies childcare, if parents are denied for a place, it is the private provider, which could be bank corrupt or close due to any other reasons (Official, Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Fourth, the experts elaborate that professional activities are performed under regular working hours or in shifts or at nights. One of them utters that it might be difficult for the state to alter conventional work schedules but if someone needs childcare during these schedules, it is problematic, which the Ministry must address (Official, Ministry of Employment: Gender Equality Section, Stockholm, February 2019). Hence, the Ministry wishes to engage fathers in unpaid work such as domestic chores and care of children at home, but the experts do not cite concrete proposals to achieve the desired target. Finally, the experts are very clear that everyone has to make their arrangements for the care of other family members during working hours. An expert informs that such needs cannot be paid through state funds (Official, Swedish Employment Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019).
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6.4 Flexible Working Hours Schemes It is also a practical ‘gender-integration’ need of women migrants at workplaces, because a provision of flexibility in working hours can enable working women to reconcile their professional and family responsibilities in the absence of short- or long-term leaves and alternative caregiving support. Past literature asserts that inflexibility of working hours makes it very hard for women to continue their employment in the presence of traditional familial expectations (Chung & Van der Lippe, 2018; Kurowska, 2018), and the situation further exacerbates for women with migratory backgrounds due to their lack of acquaintance with destination institutions and relevant opportunities (Carlisle, 2006; Scrinzi, 2017). My semantic analysis introduces three possibilities of flexible work schedules: (1) adjustment of arrival and departure timings based on personal suitability, (2) home-based assignments, and (3) promotion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)5 -based working culture. Importantly, these options could be readjusted across sectors and workplaces based on varying working arrangements. To what extent existing legislation meet to above needs? From Germany, section 16(1) of the ‘Federal Act on Gender Equality’ allows employees to take transit from full-time to part-time work to perform family care responsibilities unless urgent official needs prevent it. The given clause also accentuates agencies to promote telework, mobile working, family- or care-friendly employment options, and attendance-specific time models for employees with family responsibilities (MJCP, 2015). Nevertheless, the given provisions do not apply to the private sector. In similar lines, article 8(1) of the ‘Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment Act’ (TuB) authorizes employees to file a request for reduced working hours if their employment has lasted for more than six months. Article 8(2) of the Act empowers an employee to choose the distribution of working hours as per his/her convenience. Moreover, the state has also introduced a program titled ‘Erfolgsfacktor Familie6 ’ that offers different ‘flexible working hour’ packages. First, employees can work on a part-time (Teilzeit) basis, i.e., (30 h) per week. Second, they can adjust their working hours as per their convenience, (Gleitzeit) if the agency’s operational functions do not affect. Third, employees can work mainly focusing on output rather than serving on an hourly basis. In this reference, a working model called ‘trust-based working time’ (Vertrauensarbeitszeit) allows employees to work on given assignments as per their convenience to produce quality work. Fourth, the ‘home-office’ approach is another form of facilitation that enables employees to adjust their working hours as per their convenience. It is a telecommunication-based work model where employees can perform official assignments from home for a few days but spend remaining days at the workstation. Particularly, the ‘Home Work Act’ reinforces this model through various clauses. For instance, article 7a of Act directs employers to inform employees about the nature of work, remuneration, and accidental and health hazards of given assignments. Article 1 (3) (4) of the Act emphasizes employers to promote gender 5 Video 6 See
Conferencing, Skype, WhatsApp, etc. https://www.erfolgsfaktor-familie.de/.
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equality on matters such as work, salaries, legal protections, etc. Article 11 (1) (2) of the Act suggests employers constitute a homework committee that will monitor the distribution of work and remunerations as per contracts. Finally, article 9 (1) (3) of the Act expects that employers will disseminate a remuneration book that should maintain an inventory about the nature of work, remuneration rate, working days, hours, and payslips, etc. The fifth package is ‘job-sharing’ between two employees with a similar level of qualifications and experiences to perform a specific task. Both employees can reconcile their family responsibilities by adjusting their working days and hours through mutual consent. In the model, the absence of one employee does not constitute an operational predicament at the workplace. In this reference, article 13(1) of the TuB advises employers to promote practices of ‘job-sharing’ at workplaces. The last package is ‘Lebensarbeitzeit,’ an employee, under this package, can extend his/her working hours, without extra pay, daily. The employer maintains a record of his/her extra working hours and offers him/her holidays or reduced working hours for previously performed work, whenever he/she needs to spend time with family in the future. On the other hand, although reviewed Swedish legislation do not specifically instruct the labor market to promote ‘flexible working hours’ schemes, the ‘Swedish Working Hours Act’ is very flexible for working hours across all sectors. Relevant sections of the labor market can adopt it fully or partially or can replace it under the consent of ‘Collective Bargaining Agreements’ (CBAs) (Ministry of Employment, 1982). The optional nature of legislation allows individuals to negotiate on work flexibility at local levels. Moreover, section 9 of the ‘Parental Leave Act’ entitles a parent for partial (reduced working hours) leave to attend a child if a full childraising allowance under section 8 of the ‘Act on Municipal Child-raising Allowance’ is availed. A parent may divide partial leave into three periods in a year (section 10) and distribute working hours overall days in a week, or over a certain day of the week, or over different days of the week (section 12). In the recent past, one of the cities of Sweden has introduced ‘a six working hours per day’ model as an experiment in selected public and private sector workplaces (Savage, 2017). Nevertheless, the idea could not find an adequate place in the national policy. Lastly, reviewed legislation do not shed light on the use of ICTs to promote flexible work schemes across the country. The above inferences conclude that Germany offers relatively more options to women migrants if they face trouble to combine their professional and family responsibilities through multiple flexible work options in comparison with Sweden. Are given legal provisions effectively observed by labor markets? Are women migrants entitled to flexible work schemes as per given legal provisions in both countries? My survey statistics manifest that labor markets have shown flexibility toward arrival and departure timings of a majority of women migrants: Germany (65%) and Sweden (59%). Nevertheless, a majority is not allowed to take up their professional assignments from home whenever they need: Germany (56%) and Sweden (82%). Lastly, a majority is also not allowed to use ICTs to accomplish their professional assignments from the place of their convenience: Germany (61%) and Sweden (81%). How do experts react to variations between given legal provisions and subjective experiences of women migrants relating to flexible work options in both countries?
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Highlights • German and Swedish legislation serve ‘gender-neutral’ clauses for the promotion of flexible work options at workplaces, but neglect integration perspective. • German documents emphasize on the promotion of ICTs-based flexible work culture, whereas Swedish documents are silent on it. • Women migrants have reported more likely satisfaction with flexible work options in Germany in comparison with Sweden. • Ambivalence of women migrants toward sociocultural integration, state’s hesitation, lack of mutual consent between employers and employees, gradually developing digital states, and perceived negative consequences of work flexibility are main barriers toward promotions of flexible working hours culture. The experts are familiar with the importance of flexible work options to promote gender equality in their societies irrespective of integration-related objectives. Importantly, they admit that digitalization and atomization are very important initiatives to improve gender equality and reduce incidents of racism at workplaces. In this context, an expert utters that this is an area where we can intervene to help natives, as well as migrants, combine their organizational and domestic spheres conveniently (Official, Ministry of Justice: Migration Section, Stockholm, February 2019). However, the drawback of digitalization is that women migrants, who already want to stay at home, will neither come out nor integrate with Swedish society. Thus, in anticipation of their ambivalence, the state is hesitant to expand the network of digitalization aiming to promote flexible work schemes. Second, both countries are going through a ‘digital-transition’ stages but the process is significantly slower in the public sector. Thus, unsatisfactory experiences of women migrants can be linked to slow digitalization in the public sector, whereas large-scale private sector enterprises are almost digitalized, so these are small- or medium-scale enterprises, which employ women migrants but less likely promote work flexibilities (Official, Ministry of Employment: Gender Equality Section, Stockholm, February 2019). In the similar lines, a German expert also claims that we are a gradually developing digital-state (Officials, Kreisjob Center Marburg & Biedenkopf, Marburg, March 2019). Hence, flexible work options through ICTs are not concerns of women with migratory background alone, native women also suffer equally. Third, it is the employer’s attitude that determines the acceptance of work flexibility by using ICTs. Usually, employers more likely to prefer employees who can come office physically, even if assignments can be taken up through ICTs from a distance. So wherever such flexibilities are adopted, are based on mutual agreements under ‘Collective Bargaining Agreements’ or through ‘Employer-employee Organization.’ The State cannot enforce employers to opt for it. The situation is the same in my agency (Official, Swedish Employment Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Finally, flexible work options may also have a few negative effects on women migrant’s professional careers. For instance, a German
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expert articulates that the state has recently promulgated a new legislation titled ‘Teilzeit Gezetzt’ that allows employees to switch their jobs from full-time to parttime basis for three years and resume actual positions afterward. Nevertheless, it may stigmatize women migrants and push them in part-time segments permanently. Once a part-timer means always a part-timer (Official, BMFSFJ, Berlin, January 2019). Similarly, a Swedish expert informs that an employee can switch from a full-time to a part-time basis to fulfill caregiving responsibilities. The employer cannot stop it but can make it harder indirectly. For instance, an employer cannot fire someone in demand for part-time options, but can offer alternatives that do not suit him/her. The situation is least uncompromising for managerial or supervisory positions that already women less likely hold (Official, Swedish Employment Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). In anticipation of negative consequences, often women (native as well as migrants) avoid work flexibility options.
6.5 Information Package and Counseling Services for Reconciliation of Professional and Family Responsibilities This is a strategic ‘gender-integration’ need of women migrants at workplaces. My semantic analysis suggests that if employers introduce a two-steps strategy: (1) inclusion of a session in orientation programs to educate employees how to combine professional and family responsibilities through various techniques and (2) provision of permanent counseling services to reduce the stress of overburden caused by triple roles, this will improve their task-management skills, improve their capabilities to utilize available resources, improve their bargaining skills with counterparts at home and with immediate supervisors/employers at workplaces, and motivate them to continue employment without the fear of familial reactions or termination of employment. To what extent existing legislation promote meet these needs in both countries? Highlights: • German and Swedish legislation are ‘gender- as well as migration-blind’ towards introduction of educational programs and counseling services for reconciling professional and family responsibilities at workplaces. • Two small fractions of women migrants: one from Germany and second from Sweden have reported prevalence of former and latter facilities. • German expert informs that it is not state’s priority but Swedish experts are silent on it.
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My latent analysis reveals that reviewed legislation neither accentuates employers to introduce relevant segments in orientation sessions not stress to constitute counseling services for employees (native as well as women migrants) at workplaces in both countries. Nevertheless, when we consult the survey statistics, it has been noticed that one-third of women migrants have attended sessions that aimed to guide them on how to manage professional, household, and caregiving responsibilities in Germany, but only one respondent has reported availability of such opportunities in Sweden. Besides, none of the respondents confirms the provision of counseling services on the subject matter in Germany, but 27% of respondents have reported its presence in Sweden. These statistics indicate that although the situation is not appreciable, a few segments of labor markets have initiated such educational and counseling services in the absence of legal directions. How do experts look on the matter and offer explanations for missing legal provisions and how do they react to subjective experiences of women migrants in both countries? Only a German expert responds to these questions. In her opinion, the proposal needs a lot of money to be mature. These types of initiatives will be beneficial for native as well as women migrants equally. There are a few programs in place that help migrants to orient with Germany but these programs do not include the afore-mentioned targeted components. On the other hand, employers led orientation courses are target specific, thus they do not guide women on how to reconcile work and domestic lives using adequate techniques. Despite realizing its importance, the expert utters that I am not sure if such proposals could be made obligatory by law (Official, BMFSFJ, Berlin, January 2019). The Swedish experts do not comment on it. Highlights: • Trade unions take up issues of representation with employer. • Women migrants very rarely represent trade unions. • Language barriers reduce their likelihood to represent such forums. • Anticipation of financial forfeit forbid women migrants to represent. • Employers make conscious choices to facilitate or obstruct representations. • Migration is minority topic and women migrants are marginal in political discourse. • Women migrant less likely participate in the formulation of Equality Plan at workplaces.
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6.6 Ranking Reviewed Legislation for Their Genderand Integration-Responsiveness for Reconciling Professional and Family Responsibilities of Women7 My framework, through qualitative and quantitative data analysis, determines genderand integration-responsiveness of reviewed legislation meant to meet four practical and one strategic ‘gender-integration’ needs of women migrants for reconciling their professional and family responsibilities in both countries. On the matter of decent and gender-sensitive working hours, both German and Swedish legislation serve direct gender-specific clauses but are not aligned with the ‘integration’ perspective. Nevertheless, labor markets have been treating women migrants equally on working hours, but exceptionally well in Sweden. Although reported working days and hours are well aligned with the recommendations of ILF, a majority of women migrants is deprived of short-breaks for breastfeeding purposes in both countries. This malpractice can be an outcome of inadequate gender and integration analysis of relevant legal measures. Hence, my analytical framework categorizes reviewed legislation as ‘gender- as well as integration-neutral’ in both countries. On the matter of short- or long-term leaves of caregiving purposes, both German and Swedish legislation serve direct gender-specific clauses to regulate leaves (short- or long-term) relating to childcare. Nevertheless, more likely satisfactory experiences of women migrants correspond to the given legal provisions in both countries. Moreover, the German legislation also serve direct gender-specific clauses to regulate leaves for the care of other family members, whereas the Swedish legislation are silent on it. Here subjective experiences of women migrants are less likely satisfactory in both countries, though the situation is relatively better in Germany, which could be an outcome of given legal provisions. Nonetheless, given legal clauses do not align ‘integration’ perspective exclusively. Thus, my analytical framework ranks reviewed legislation as ‘gender-sensitive’ and ‘integration-neutral’ to regulate childcare leaves in both countries, but ‘gender- and integration-neutral’ in Germany and ‘gender- and integration-blind’ in Sweden to regulate leaves for family member’s care. Regarding caregiving services, the German policy document includes transparent instructions and Swedish legislation serve direct clauses for the provision of childcare services at or close to home/workplace. Although the situation is not ideal, women migrants have reported more likely access to childcare at nurseries, for after-school, for vacations, and professional training or tours in Sweden. The waiting period is also shorter and services are affordable relatively in Sweden. This reflects adequate observation of given legal provisions in Sweden than that of Germany. Besides, the Swedish legislation are silent, but the German policy document engages the private sector and civil society to evolve substitution for the care of other family members back home. In contrast to given legal provisions, women migrants are less likely to find alternative caregiving options for family members in Germany,
7 See
Table A8 (Annex-I).
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whereas Swedish respondents have reported more likely access to family care alternatives in the absence of legal support. Lastly, Swedish legislation overlook but German legislation serve direct clauses to engage women in professional trainings through providing a substitute or financial support to buy caregiving services. Nevertheless, the subjective experiences of women migrants differ from given legal provisions because a majority has shown dissatisfaction with available options. Importantly, the given legal clauses overlook the ‘integration’ perspectives. Various state and institution-specific limitations deprive women migrants of adequate alternatives to accommodate their caregiving responsibilities. Hence, reviewed legislation are ranked as ‘gender-sensitive but integration-neutral’ for the provision of childcare services in both countries, but ‘gender-neutral’ and ‘integration-blind’ in Germany and ‘gender- as well as integration-blind’ in Sweden for the provision of alternatives for family care. In the context of flexible working hours, German legislation serve direct clauses, whereas Swedish legislation offer indirect clauses to promote flexible work options at workplaces. Importantly, German legislation and policy documents realize the importance of ICTs for introducing a transition from conventional to smart working hours, but Swedish legislation overlook it. A majority of women migrants has reported less likely satisfaction with arrangements made by employers to promote flexible work options in both countries, especially in Sweden. Experts come up with a lack of political will and various institutional barriers to explain the mismatch between given legal provisions and complaints of women migrants. Based on these inferences, reviewed legislation are categorized as ‘gender-neutral’ but ‘integration-blind’ in both countries. For introducing educational and counseling services at workplaces, both German and Swedish legislation do not serve direct clauses. Although not appreciable, a visible proportion of women migrants have participated in such sessions in Germany, whereas an almost similar number of women migrants has indicated the prevalence of counseling services on the subject in Sweden. Swedish experts are silent on the subject, whereas a German expert has perceived this proposal a good inclusion in the discourse of gender equality and integration in Europe, but the expert anticipates a limited scope of this proposal in national politics. Hence, reviewed legislation are ranked as ‘gender- as well as integration-blind’ to meet this need in both countries.
6.7 Conclusions It is concluded that reviewed legislation comply, to some extent, with guidelines/recommendations of the international documents to make necessary arrangements for working women (migrants), so that they could reconcile their professional endeavors with family responsibilities adequately. Mostly reviewed legislation come up with neutral clauses, sometimes include ‘gender’ but more likely ignore ‘integration’ perspectives. Concerning practical needs, past literature from gender and migration discourses implies that natives and women with migratory backgrounds have to work under
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precarious conditions that make it complicated to combine professional and family responsibilities. The precarious working conditions involve long working hours (Platzer, 2010; Schmiz, 2013), complications in leave approval (Evertsson & Grunow, 2012; Matysiak & Steinmetz, 2008), difficulties in breastfeeding during working hours (Galtry, 2003; Kottwitz, Oppermann, & Spiess, 2016), scarcity of childcare at or close to the workplace (Oliver & Mätzke, 2014; Williams & Gavanas, 2016), non-availability of care substitute for family members (Härenstam & Bejerot, 2001; Künemund, 2006), and inflexible work schedules (Cousins & Tang, 2004; Lott, 2018) in Germany as well as Sweden. Both gender and ethnicity8 -based discriminatory practices contribute to precarious working conditions. My inferences highlight the strengths and weaknesses of national legal frames (NLF) for addressing gender and ethnicity-based discrimination that can address or constitute further complications for women migrants to reconcile their professional duties with family responsibilities in both destination countries. First ‘gender- and integration-neutral’ nature of German and Swedish legislation help make working hours decent in public sector and empower the ‘Works Council’ or the ‘Employer-employees’ Organizations’ to design acceptable working hours, breaks, rest period, reduction in regular hours, etc. in the private sector. However, regulations of working hours are inadequately observed and cause complications in enterprises that do not constitute participatory internal decision-making forums, but largely employ women migrants. The analysis identifies ‘gender’ and ‘integration’ gaps in reviewed legislation that aimed to regulate working hours, overtime, and night duties because of expectant or nursing mother’s situation, but they do not acknowledge the additional burden of marital roles, domestic duties, and caregiving expectations imposed on women migrants, which somewhat differ from native women’s experiences due to varying gender regimes and ideologies such as the stronger institution of marriage in many origin countries but replacement of marriage with cohabitation in destination countries. Also, reviewed legislation discourage any form of professional as well as financial discrimination for availing short-breaks9 during working hours but the reality is otherwise, because women migrants have reported deduction in their salaries against short-breaks. The situation implies that observational mechanism seems adequate on the matter of ‘decency of working hours’ but gendered aspects are overlooked at workplaces. Moreover, there is a higher likelihood of women migrants to be deprived of such provisions based on their ethnic or religious identities. Hence, the analysis predicts a gender- as well as integrational biases in the formulation of given legal clauses that are observed in patriarchal manners at workplaces. Finally, there is no adequate mechanism to observe the effectiveness of given legal provisions, which does not solely question the role and responsibilities of employment, migration, and gender equality agencies or institutions, but also the political will of both countries. Second, theoretically ‘gender-sensitive’ and ‘integration-neutral’ nature of legislation meant to regulate short- or long-term leaves for childcare purposes should 8 It
includes ethnicity, race, and religion-based discrimination. rest or breastfeeding purposes.
9 Usual
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address women migrant’s needs adequately. Although many women migrants have been availing parental leaves in both countries, perhaps country-wide coverage of parental and other leaves or the state’s observation mechanisms are more effective in Germany, thus they have reported more satisfaction with available options in Germany than that of Sweden but with slight variations. Importantly, a Swedish expert wishes for additional measures to be taken to attract men migrants for availing parental leave but it is more likely availed by women migrants. Nonetheless, existing legislation do not guide toward ‘ideal’ measures if they are to be taken shortly. Present parental leave has been designed based on the nursing needs of native women after childbirth under destination cultural dynamics that sometimes also convince native men to share it with partners. Men migrants coming from relatively inegalitarian regimes often perceive it as a challenge to their masculinities. The outcome of patriarchy appears in Swedish migrant families where women migrants do not come out for learning state-subsidized Swedish language during parental leave. This shows that existing legislation and subsequent arrangements do not consult varying cultural dynamics of origin and destination societies while enforcing current parental leaves. This needs a proper ‘gender- as well as integration’ analysis of existing legal provisions to combine varying cultural norms, religious doctrines, and political preferences for revisiting existing parental leave provisions. It is expected that new parental leave derived from origin-destination perspectives may happily be welcomed not only by migrants but also by native men in transnational societies. Nonetheless, the legal provisions have empowered women migrants to avail short- or long-term leaves for childcare without the fear of termination of employment in both countries. For the second component, ‘gender-neutral but integration-blind’ German legislation and ‘gender- as well as integration-blind’ Swedish legal provisions intending to regulate family care leaves do not benefit women alike childcare leaves in both countries. Although, there is a statistical superiority of German respondents for availing family care leaves in comparison with Swedish, almost two-third majority is deprived of it. There might be internal mechanisms that offer casual leaves or unpaid leaves as a substitute to fulfill said responsibilities, but the legislation and experts do not endorse it. This indicates a ‘gender’ gap in relevant legislation because German legal provisions are not applicable at workplaces, which do not employ workers on a recommended threshold. Thus, women migrants fail to combine their professional endeavors with family care roles, if they work with small-scale organizations/agencies having a total strength of less than 15 or 25, respectively. Finally, although reviewed legislation are not properly aligned to the ‘integration’ perspective, experts believe that they are equally applicable to women with migratory backgrounds in both countries, whereas the outcome differs, plausibly. Third, unfortunately ‘gender-sensitive’ but ‘integration-neutral’ nature of legislation could not provide most women migrants with alternative childcare services at workplaces or in nearby areas. Available options rarely exist at workplaces in both countries. Particularly in Germany, the state-driven project of ‘workplace-based’ childcare is an ideal attempt to reduce the hardships of working women (migrants), but lack of cooperation of the private sector and limited coverage within the public reduce their accessibility. As a consequence, distance and time unfriendly childcare
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options constitute additional travel burden for working women (migrants). However, legal support for alternative childcare options while attending professional training or being a part of official tours is an ideal move toward gender equality in Germany, but the reality is opposite because a larger proportion of women migrants is deprived of it. It is because the public sector and larger units of the private sector adhere to relevant legislation, medium- or small-scale enterprises often neglect them. On the other hand, although the situation seems relatively better in Sweden due to its small population size and engagement of the private sector in the care business, adopted strategies to overcome relevant issues raise still many questions. For instance, in contrast to expert’s statements, the functioning of Municipalities is not ideal because although not the majority, still many women migrants have reported similar challenges such as incompatible timing, longer waiting period, affordability, long-distance, etc. In case of non-availability of place, women migrants are advised to avail of a reduction in working hours (100 to 70%), but how much could it help to manage the care needs of one or more children back home? The question is left unanswered by experts. A malpractice of the private providers on childcare matters has been reported, but why does the state not revise legislation that will come up with stricter rules that could impose sanctions or penalties to improve their functioning? The experts want to involve fathers in caregiving roles to reduce the demand for childcare, but what can encourage fathers? They do not offer a concrete route map. There are also evidences of feeble coordination between state institutions to address relevant issues in the labor market, which reflect that present features of legislation are an outcome of fluctuating political will to prioritize ‘gender’ as well as ‘integration’ issues. For the alternative family care options, ‘gender-neutral’ but ‘integration-blind’ nature of German and ‘gender- as well as integration-blind’ nature of Swedish legislation fail to provide working women (migrants) with suitable alternatives for family care during working hours. Although reviewed German documents have focused the issue by suggesting the private sector and civil society come up with joint workable proposals, a few projects are insufficient to fulfill growing needs of working women (migrants), especially when there is no proper guidance about financial implications of such initiatives or subsidies offered by the state are blurred. Once again reviewed legislation/documents are not aligned to ‘integration’ needs but experts claim that they are equally applicable to women with migratory backgrounds. It is concluded that childcare seems a state’s priority but family member’s care is a private sphere of employees in both countries. The situation alarms as well as demands for revision of existing legislation and policies under intensive ‘gender’ and ‘integration’ lenses and asks for more efforts and resources to be allocated to enable women migrants to reconcile their professional assignments with caregiving responsibilities. Finally, ‘gender-neutral’ but ‘integration-blind’ nature of reviewed legislation seem helpless to constitute institutional mechanisms that could facilitate women migrants to enjoy flexibilities in working hours wherever possible. German legislation more likely to propose conventional methods to make working hours flexible such as the transition from full-time to part-time jobs, but the use of ICTs is not emphasized across the public and private sector equally. Swedish legislation are silent on it and depute these responsibilities to individual employers and employees
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through mutual consensus under ‘Collective Bargaining Agreements’ across various sectors. Both countries are tilting toward digitalization but the process is very slow. Importantly, inferences also reflect an ethnic bias toward women migrants because the Swedish state is reluctant to promote ICTs-based working culture in anticipation of the ambivalent behavior of women migrants to join mainstream society. Moreover, there could be two possibilities if both states are hesitant to promote ICTs culture at workplaces: Either employers do not promote ICTs work culture intendedly or the nature of work does not allow home-based or ICTs-based assignments. On the other hand, there are also positive contributions of existing legislation such as they clearly instruct to reduce wage gaps between part-time and full-time employees, discourage all forms of discrimination on financial matters, and protect part-time employees from illegal termination in both countries. Finally, reviewed legislation do not consult the ‘integration’ perspective exclusively, but experts believe that they are equally applicable to working women (migrants) in both countries. Regarding strategic gender-migration need, ‘gender- as well as integration-blind’ nature of legislation neither support an on-job training program to sensitize women and men on equal sharing of household work, childcare and elderly care responsibilities, nor realize the need of permanent counseling services for employees that could help them cope with stress, depression, and anxiety caused by triple roles. A few initiatives taken by individual employers in both directions are appreciable but an overwhelming majority has indicated its absence at workplaces. There is a limited scope of such proposals in national politics at present but they might find a place soon. It is concluded that although legal frames of both countries accentuate employers to promote decent working hours, initiate flexible working schemes, reduce the engagement of women in overtime activities, facilitate parental leaves, and make part-time jobs more attractive for both genders, the given legal provisions are more likely structured given native’s needs but ignore many needs of women migrants, which seeks an appropriate ‘integration’ analysis of given legal provisions. Importantly, both countries do not outline a monitoring plan to observe the implementation of given legal clauses intending to help women migrants reconcile their professional and family responsibilities. This galvanizes the vulnerabilities of women migrants in both countries. A report of the OSCE (2009) also informs that if existing legislation do not support a gender-conducive flexible working option, it may create a hurdle for women migrants, especially with dependent residence permits, to combine their family and professional responsibilities.
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Expert Interviews Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ). (2019, January). An interview with official from Berlin. Germany. Kreisjob Center Marburg & Biedenkopf. (2019, March). An interview with official from Marburg. Germany. Ministry of Employment. (2019, February). An interview with official from gender equality section, Stockholm. Sweden. Ministry of Justice. (2019, February). An interview with official from migration section, Stockholm. Sweden. Swedish Employment Agency. (2019, February). An interview with official from Gothenburg. Sweden. Swedish Gender Equality Agency. (2019, February). An interview with official from Gothenburg. Sweden.
Chapter 7
Theme-IV: Sexual Harassment—Genderand Integration-Sensitivity of Legislation
Sexual harassment has appeared as the main barrier to women’s empowerment on several matters including employment. The phenomenon is deeply prevalent in all sectors of the labor market. Nonetheless, types and intensity of harassment vary, which they experience while performing professional duties (Dionisi, Barling, & Dupré, 2012; Keplinger, Johnson, Kirk, & Barnes, 2019; Kormanik, 2009). Labor markets seem largely vulnerable in gender-inegalitarian regimes but partly vulnerable in relatively egalitarian regimes to eliminate incidents of harassment against women. Importantly, past studies conclude that contemporary equal protection doctrine toward sexual harassment more likely benefits men in comparison with women (Baer, 2009). Moreover, relevant literature also elaborates that migration from the former to latter regimes do not change harassment-related experiences plausibly, because being a woman plus migrant increase their likelihood to face harassment, in general, and sexual harassment, in particular at workplaces (Andrade-Rubio, 2016; Ho, Dinh, Bellefontaine, & Irving, 2018; Howe, 2016; Rodríguez-Martínez & Cuenca-Piqueras, 2019). My semantic analysis infers that different clauses of four1 ‘work-specific’ international conventions, recommendations, and guidelines call upon the states to adopt effective measures to reduce incidents of sexual harassment at workplaces so that working women could continue their jobs without the fear of harassment. Nevertheless, reviewed international documents neither stress the states to assess the level of sexual harassment faced by women migrants nor propose exclusive remedies in destination countries. Therefore, it is interesting to learn if national legal frameworks of both destination countries incorporate exclusive directions to combat sexual harassment against women migrants at workplaces. A comparison between ILF and NLF, subjective experiences of women migrants,2 (BPA, 1995; BPA + 15, 2010; CEDAW, 1979; ESC(R), 1996). Table A4 (Annex-I).
1 Sources: 2 See
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. W. Tahir, Responding to Women Migrant’s Needs, Contributions to Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63735-4_7
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and expert’s observations produce knowledge about the state’s intentions and efforts aimed to meet two ‘practical’ and two ‘strategic’ gender-integration needs for the elimination of sexual harassment at workplaces.
7.1 Clear Definition of Sexual Harassment Along with Operational Indicators This is a practical ‘gender-integration’ need of women migrants at workplaces, because the provision of a clear definition along with transparent operational indicators in relevant legislation can guide relevant authorities to propose measures and procedures, which could help assess the types and intensity of harassment covering micro-, meso-, and macro-aspects at workplaces. Said definition of sexual harassment can bring a plausible change in the behaviors of employers as well as colleagues toward the sexual orientation of co-workers within professional arenas. Existing literature implies that if the state lacks the transparent definition of sexual harassment, perpetrators appear beneficiaries of the judicial system instead of victims (Cortina & Berdahl, 2008; McDonald, 2012; Saguy, 2000; Welsh, Carr, MacQuarrie, & Huntley, 2006). To what extent German and Swedish legislation meet this need? A comparison between ILF and NLF reveals that the German legislation adopt a transparent definition of sexual harassment under article 1(3)(4) of the EDET; sexual harassment shall be deemed to be discrimination in relation to Section 2(1) Nos 1 to 4, when an unwanted conduct of a sexual nature, including unwanted sexual acts and requests to carry out sexual acts, physical contact of a sexual nature, comments of a sexual nature, as well as the unwanted showing or public exhibition of pornographic images, takes place with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of the person concerned, in particular where it creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment (FAA, 2006). On the other hand, the Swedish legislation define sexual harassment under various clauses such as section 4 (5) (Chapter 1) of the Discrimination Act defines sexual harassment as a conduct of a sexual nature that violates someone’s dignity (Swedish Code of Statutes, 2015). Section 9a of the AMDWL defines it as an act of occupationally violating the dignity of a job applicant or employee, which is related to ethnicity, religion or other beliefs (Swedish Riksdag, 2009). Section 4a of the PDWLSO defines it as a behaviour in working life that violates the dignity of a job applicant or an employee and which is connected with sexual orientation (Government of the Sweden, 2005). The comparison concludes that German definition seems more transparent with easily measureable indicators than that of Swedish. Nonetheless, the Swedish legislation further consider possibilities of sexual harassment based on the migratory status of employees, which German legislation overlook.
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7.2 Education of Employees on Different Dimensions of Sexual Harassment at Workplaces This is a strategic ‘gender-integration’ need of women migrants at workplaces, because the provision of educational programs on certain dimensions of sexual harassment can bring a visible change in the attitudes of male co-workers toward the dignity of female co-workers at workplaces. Past literature does not only highlight the scarcity of educational programs on sexual harassment at workplaces but also underlines various bottlenecks in their design and dissemination methods if they are available (Antecol & Cobb-Clark, 2003; Campbell & Chinnery, 2018; Dobbin & Kalev, 2019). This raises a question of how to improve the design of relevant educational programs and subsequent dissemination methods at workplaces. In this context, semantic analysis of various international documents accentuates the employers to inform employees about following components of sexual harassment through a structured or unstructured manner at workplaces: (1) conceptual and operational definition of ‘consent’ in the context of male–female professional relationships, (2) sensitization of men on acts that are perceived as ‘harassment’ by women, (3) informing men about consequences of harassing women, and (4) acquainting women with prevention methods. Nevertheless, the latent analysis of NLF concludes that neither German nor Swedish legislation serve a clause that instructs the competent authorities to design and disseminate educational programs on the aforementioned dimensions of sexual harassment at workplaces. The attitude of labor markets also conforms to the missing legal clauses in both countries, because an overwhelming majority of employers do not schedule educational programs on sexual harassment during orientation or special sessions. For instance, a tiny proportion of women migrants has uttered that their employers educate male co-workers on the conceptual and operational definition of ‘consent’ in terms of male–female relationships: Sweden (25%) and Germany (9%); employers sensitize men about their actions that women may perceive harassment: Sweden (19%) and Germany (0); employers inform men about consequences of harassing women: Sweden (13%) and Germany (5%); and employers educate female coworkers how to prevent themselves from incidents of harassment: Sweden (25%) and Germany (5%). These statistics manifest that the Swedish labor market, to some extent, seems sensitive to the subject matter, even in the absence of targeted legal provision. Thus, perhaps a few organs of the Swedish labor market have been trying to sensitize all actors on sexual harassment through the structure or unstructured means. This situation raises two questions to be answered by experts: (1) Why do labor markets less likely to consult the above-identified components to design educational programs on sexual harassment? and (2) how do experts interpret incongruity of existing legislation to this need in both countries? The experts come up with varying explanations toward mismatch between ILF and NLF and subsequent exposure of women migrants to educational programs on sexual harassment in both countries. The situation is not ideal, but is relatively instigating in Sweden in comparison with Germany. So first we consult the perspective of
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Swedish experts, which summarize that the legislation are very clear on the subject matter. This seems an ambitious statement in light of reviewed legislation. An expert insists that it is the responsibility of employers to educate employees about working relationships that do not perpetuate any form of harassment under the ‘Work Environment Act’ and ‘Anti-discrimination Act.’ He also cites a clause 3(6) of the latter Act that instructs the employers to disseminate comprehensive guidelines to prevent harassment about all discriminatory grounds at workplaces. He further advises to read a given clause concerning preparatory work done before the promulgation of legislation and proactive measures outlined in the relevant section of the legislation. In that case, the legislation will be clearer about employee’s education on sexual harassment. Nobody can conclude by reading a single phrase of the legislation, because the Swedish Anti-discrimination legislation has 3–4 times minimum text in comparison to German or American or Australian legislation (Official, Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). However, the above explanations may have some coherence about the sensitivity of legislation, but the ground reality is quite different because it is very hard for employers to read main legislation, why will they place additional efforts to extract implicit meanings of given legal clauses by consulting additional material? Especially if they are least concerned about gender equality or migrant’s integration at workplaces. Therefore, another expert slightly contradicts him and elaborates that a structural educational program on sexual harassment has never been an employer’s priority, but the legislation cannot be blamed for it. It is a challenge for agencies responsible to observe implementation of legislation such as we are (Official, Swedish Employment Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). So the conversation has led toward the reinforcement of agencies’ roles, provision of more autonomy and resources to observe present legislation at workplaces instead of the inclusion of additional clauses in relevant legislation. Nevertheless, there is an expert who agrees with the revision of legislation through the inclusion of imperative components such as ‘national information campaigns’ or ‘information packages’ for employers and employees to sensitize all parties about their rights and duties to combat sexual harassment at workplaces. A new sanctions or I would say strong sanctions are required to observe compliance of relevant legislation at workplaces (Official, Ministry of Employment: Gender Equality Section, Stockholm, February 2019). Finally, the conversation with Swedish experts also invites attention toward some positive initiatives taken by the state in the recent past to address issues of gender-based violence and sexual harassment in society. The fine examples are language conducive online applications and face-to-face orientation courses intending to educate women migrants about their rights, duties, and opportunities under given legal protections to live in Sweden. Highlights: • German and Swedish legislation are silent about educational programs on sexual harassment at workplaces.
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• A very small proportion of women migrants has reported relevant education in Germany in comparison with Sweden. Latter’s labor market seems bit sensitive on it. • Swedish experts contradict with each other on exclusion or inclusion of targeted clauses in legislation, whereas German experts perceive it a new concept that must be included in legislation. • Implicit given legal provisions, ineffective observation mechanism, and lack financial support to concerned agencies are main constraints to inauguration of educational programs on sexual harassment at workplaces. On the other hand, German experts admit that legislation do not serve explicit clauses on the subject matter. The idea seems new to them. Thus, they have taken a deep interest in it. A German expert informs that it is a highly concentrated subject nowadays because almost every woman is a victim of sexual harassment in German society. Today, we discuss things that have never been discussed before. Although legislation are silent on sexual education at workplaces, they must include it shortly (Official, Kreisjob Center Marburg & Biedenkopf, March 2019). In her opinion, chances of women migrants or native women are almost identical to be harassed at workplaces. Another expert articulates that you may have sexism on the streets that is bad too, but you can go away, but if you are at the workplace, you are in a permanent threat (Official, BMFSFJ, Berlin, January 2019). Both experts believe that the state must work on it because such initiatives will equally be beneficial for natives as well as migrants. In this context, one of them anticipates that the ‘Anti-discrimination Agency’ will design a new project to do schooling on sexual harassment at workplaces, but she also seems skeptical due to the less egalitarian attitude of the state and recent political milieu toward migration, which may not encourage such proposals. The agency already lacks human and fiscal resources that are imperative to mature such proposals.
7.3 Internal Mechanism to Combat Sexual Harassment at Workplaces This is also a strategic ‘gender-integration’ need of women migrants at workplaces because formulation and strengthening of an internal mechanism meant to combat sexual harassment will provide victims an easy access to justice at doorsteps and make male co-workers vigilant about their attitudes and actions, which are perceived harassment by female co-workers at workplaces. Past literature cites the prevalence of similar arrangements mostly made by the public sector in comparison with the private sector at workplaces, but women’s representation at these forums always remains a question (Landstedt & Gillander Gådin, 2011; McDonald, 2012; Wolmerath, 2013; Zippel, 2006). My semantic analysis bifurcates this need into two components: (1)
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formulation of internal sexual harassment committee (ISHC), and (2) equal or proportional representation of women migrants at ISHC. It is hypothesized that the prevalence of ISHC and equal or proportional representation of women migrants will not only improve understanding of committee members toward actual procedures and means of sexual harassment but also empower women members to take part in relevant decisions intending to actualize a gender-conducive working environment at workplaces. Moreover, the constitution of ISHC on the instructed format will also provide women migrants easy access to legal information and justice in time and cost-effective manners, which will improve their confidence level on the management and enhance their likelihood to continue employment in the absence of fear of sexual harassment. To what extent existing legislation accentuate labor markets to constitute ISHC and ensure equal or at least proportional representation of women migrants in both countries? My latent analysis manifests that the reviewed legislation neither propose a formulation of ISHC nor discuss women migrant’s representation in such forums in both countries. What are women migrant’s experiences regarding the prevalence of ISHC? Do they represent such forums if they prevail? My survey statistics confirm the absence of relevant legal provisions because a majority of women migrants has reported that their employers do not formulate sexual harassment committees at workplaces; Sweden (71%) and Germany (89%). Wherever such committees exist, the employers less likely encourage women migrant’s equal or proportional representation: Sweden (40%) and Germany (23%). This infers that the situation appears relatively better in Sweden in comparison with Germany. How do experts interpret missing legal provisions regarding the existence of ISHC with adequate representation of women migrants at workplaces in both countries? Highlights: • Both countries’ legislation are gender- and integration-blind toward constitution of ISHC at workplaces. • Reviewed legislation also do not accentuate on equal or proportional representation of women migrants in such forums. • A huge proportion of women migrants reports that neither ISHC exist nor they are represent equally or proportionally wherever such arrangements are made at workplaces. • There is no political will, gender and integration are not priority agendas, and private sector cannot be enforced to constitute ISHCs. The experts have diverse opinions about missing targeted clauses in legislation on the subject. A German expert elucidates that such committees already exist in several public sector institutions, but the legislation cannot coerce the private sector to replicate these models. The conversation guides that there is no political will thus it is not easy to engage the private sector for the constitution of ISHCs with equal representation of women, especially with migratory backgrounds. Although
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men already dominate such forums wherever they exist, the opponents can still demand that there is a need for men’s equal representation too (Official, BMFSFJ, Berlin, January 2019). The current situation will highlight this question because already women’s quota is a controversial topic and involves diverse discussions across Germany, but migrant’s quota is not a topic of priority (Official, BMFSFJ, Berlin, January 2019). The lead political parties are hesitant to interfere in the business of the private sector. Already given political support to migrants has reduced the popularity of allies. Hence, such proposals cannot be floated at this stage. Contrary to the above explanation, another German expert informs that the ‘Federal Antidiscrimination Agency’ has introduced a few initiatives to encourage the private sector to formulate such committees, internally. It is because the agency believes that sexism must jointly be tackled (Official, Federal Anti-discrimination Agency, Berlin, January 2019). The agency has been extending its cooperation, resources, and technical support to the private sector on the subject matter. Nonetheless, the absence of legal support and lack of coordination with other relevant public institutions may undermine such proposals. It could be one of the other reasons if the subjective experiences of women migrants (in-employment) do not match with individual efforts of the ‘Anti-discrimination Agency.’ On the other hand, a Swedish expert cites the establishment of such committees at workplaces but with different nomenclatures. For instance, the ‘Work Environment Act’ and ‘Discrimination Act’ stress the employers to constitute ‘Work Environment Committees’ to address issues related to the work environment and equal treatment, locally. An expert divulges that a lot of workplaces have combined given legal instructions through formulating a single committee but many do not do (Official, Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Such committees also take up issues relating to sexual harassment, if they manifest. The state cannot involve the private sector through legislation due to certain exemptions under the ‘Collective Bargaining Agreement’ (CBAs).
7.4 Access to Justice and Transparency in Penalties Against Sexual Harassment This is a practical ‘gender-integration’ need of women migrants at workplaces because if the competent authorities or employers facilitate victims of sexual harassment to have easy access to fair justice and ensure penalties conferred by authorities, this will set examples for other co-workers to behave appropriately toward female co-workers at workplaces. Existing literature also guides toward complications faced by victims of sexual harassment to access easy and affordable justice (Askanius & Hartley, 2019; Hörnle, 2017), especially by victims with migratory backgrounds in destination countries (Nasri & Tannous, 2014; UNODC, 2015). Nonetheless, my semantic analysis of international documents suggests two components of this need: (1) information about legal support/options to access justice, and (2) transparent
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punishments/penalties for perpetrators. The previous section has already concluded that internal vigilance or justice system relating to sexual harassment rarely exist at workplaces, especially in the private sector. Thus, it is presumed that human resource departments or national grievance rectification mechanisms (such as Ombudsman) may have made some arrangements to provide victims with information packages for exploring legal options, filing a petition, and managing resources to proceed with their cases. Also, it is expected that if competent authorities will impose a penalty, the workplaces will implement it accordingly. Now it is interesting to learn if prevailing legislation comply with this need? My latent analysis reveals that a victim can file a complaint with competent authorities, for easy access to justice against sexual harassment, as per article 13(1) of the EDET in Germany. If the employers do not take appropriate action to stop sexual harassment, section 14 of the EDET empowers the victim to refuse performance without loss of pay insofar as this is necessary for their protection (FAA, 2006). Second, different sections of the ‘German Civil Code’ propose various punishments against perpetrators of sexual harassment, in general, and in official relationships, in particular. For instance, section 174(1)(2) suggests imprisonment of three months to five years for sexual harassment against under 18 years employees. Section 174b(1) infers imprisonment of three months to five years against perpetrators of sexual harassment at official positions. Section 177 implies different penalties against various types of sexual assaults (use of force, threat, use of a weapon, rape) such as imprisonment from one to ten years. Section 178 proposes ten years of imprisonment against perpetrators of sexual assault leading to the death of victims, and section 184(1) suggests one year of imprisonment or fine against the distribution of pornography. On the other hand, sexual harassment is also perceived as another form of discrimination in Sweden. The reviewed legislation address both components through ‘indirect’ and ‘direct’ clauses. First, the ‘Swedish Act Concerning the Equality Ombudsman’ deputes the Discrimination Ombudsman a duty to adopt adequate measures to protect people from all forms of discrimination. Section 2 of the Act informs that the Ombudsman will advise individuals who seek assistance against discrimination. Section 3 of the Act instructs the Ombudsman to schedule field activities to inform, educate, and discuss different aspects of discrimination with authorities, companies, organizations, and individuals. In the similar lines, section 2 of the ‘Discrimination Act’ empowers victims to file a complaint with the Equality Ombudsman if they experience harassment at workplaces. Second, section 1 (Chapter 6) of the ‘Swedish Penal Code’ elaborates that a person who by violence or threat which involves, or appears to the threatened person to involve an imminent danger, forces another person to have sexual intercourse or to engage in a comparable sexual act, that having regard to the nature of the violation and the circumstances in general, is comparable to enforced sexual intercourse, shall be sentenced for rape to imprisonment for at least two and at most six years (Government Office of Sweden, 1999). Particularly, for the protection of women migrants against sexual harassment, two Acts (PDWLSO & AMDWL) instruct the employers to prevent employees from sexual harassment originated based on origin, religion,
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belief, or sexual orientation at workplaces (section 4a of the PDWLSO and section 6 of the AMDWL). The given legal provisions infer that a victim of sexual harassment can file a complaint with national Ombudsman/Agencies, but the workplaces are not bound to offer such opportunity internally. Besides, the legislation do not guide information packages about existing legal support and procedures to file a complaint with competent authorities in both countries. Although Swedish legislation serves indirect clauses that assign this task to the Discrimination Ombudsman, which seems an ambitious goal at the national level. Second, although given legal provisions address the second component comprehensively in both countries, the outlined punishments will only apply to perpetrators, if they are found guilty before the law. Nevertheless, the ground reality is different in most cases. Why do legislation not stress the employers for the provision of information packages, which include information about available legal support and procedures to proceed with their causes against sexual harassment? How do experts interpret given legal provisions and differences concerning instructions of international forums on the subject in both countries? Highlights: • German legislation serve gender-sensitive clauses about penalties against sexual harassment but are silent about provision of information packages on sexual harassment at workplaces. • Swedish legislation address the former issue through gender-sensitive clauses but latter issue through gender-neutral clauses. • Non-availability of gender expert as well as migration expert while drafting legislation cause exclusion of needed clauses in both countries. • Relevant agencies are under threat of roll back. Thus, they are tackling issues of sexual harassment vigilantly at workplaces. German experts associate missing targeted clauses in legislation with the absence of ‘gender’ as well as ‘migration’ experts while drafting concept papers, policy proposals, and legal drafts. A few legal documents go through proper ‘gender’ check before deliberation at cabinet meetings or in the parliament. Hence, in the absence of targeted legal provision, women migrants lack with information about available legal support, they face biased attitudes of management attached to the reputation of the workplace, they encounter gender and migration-based stereotypes, they are at high risk of precarious job placements, and they have no sufficient financial means to precede their cases. These obstacles often enforce victims to be silent after having exposure to sexual harassment at workplaces. Prevailing legislation partly address these stimulators of sexual harassment because the state institutions have no ‘ethnicity or migration’ experts’ who could double-check the proposed policy measures or legal clauses along with ‘gender experts’ during formulation phases (Official, Federal Anti-discrimination Agency, Berlin, January 2019). Hence, the state less likely foresees the possible consequences of proposed legal
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measures on both genders. The same is true for programs or projects meant to combat discrimination and sexual harassment at workplaces. One can say that there is ‘gender’ or ‘migration’ check but how good it is, is another story (Official, Federal Anti-discrimination Agency, Berlin, January 2019). Moreover, the expert criticizes the prevailing mechanisms responsible to observe the effectiveness of the state’s measures to combat sexual harassment loudly. For instance, a few initiatives such as ‘National Action Plan on Racism,’ ‘New National Action Plan on Integration,’ and ‘Sensitization on Racism’ include a component of sexual harassment but cannot produce desirable outcome due to expansion in their scopes and lack of concentration on one agenda (Anti-discrimination Agency, Germany, Official, Berlin, February, 2019). The government largely relies on the annual report ‘gleichstellungsbericht’ published by the BMFSFJ or the state-funded surveys3 to observe a decline in the incidents of sexual harassment, which may not reflect ground realities. Importantly, here noncooperation of the BAMF for an in-depth interview with me authenticates the shared fact by expert. Finally, the expert elaborates that the agency’s central office is located in Berlin and sub-offices are located in four other states, but the remaining eleven states do not have a facility. Thus, victims often find themselves reaching out to irrelevant services, consultancies, or offices, which do not fit their concerns. If people find us, which is very seldom, we help them within existing possibilities, which are not fantastic (Anti-discrimination Agency, Germany, Official, Berlin, February, 2019). On the flip side, Swedish experts narrate that sexual harassment is dealt with by existing legislation through indirect clauses or under other nomenclatures. Sexual harassment is a sensitive topic that must be tackled by political and civil society elites jointly. Both should share responsibilities to regulate the labor market, to ensure gender-conducive work environment, to promote gender equality measures, to stimulate the integration process, and to eliminate gender or migration-based violence in society. Joint efforts will help automatically reduce incidents of sexual harassment, in general, and against women migrants, in particular. Although ‘Discrimination Act’ perceives sexual harassment as another form of discrimination and serves indirect clauses to address it, the expert believes that incidents of harassment galvanize when many employers do not properly implement this law, they just talk about it (Official, Ministry of Employment: Gender Equality Section, Stockholm, February 2019). Moreover, the state seems reluctant to continue working relationships with agencies particularly working on gender issues. For instance, the current government has made a substantial cut in its annual budget, thus the agency is striving to find its suitable place within the governing body (Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Official, Gothenburg, February 2019). The labor market keeps itself up to date with governmental priority and decisions. Hence, the agency’s position could be more complicated if she will coerce labor market to adhere to the law against sexual harassment more effectively. Finally, the expert admits that access to justice is an underdeveloped 3 See (https://www.antidiskriminierungsstelle.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/publikationen/ Factsheets/factsheet_engl_sexuelle_Belaestigung_am_Arbeitsplatz.pdf?__blob=publicationFile &v=5).
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reality at present (Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Official, Gothenburg, February 2019). Highlights • Trade unions take up issues of representation with employer. • Women migrants very rarely represent trade unions. • Language barriers reduce their likelihood to represent such forums. • Anticipation of financial forfeit forbid women migrants to represent. • Employers make conscious choices to facilitate or obstruct representations. • Migration is minority topic and women migrants are marginal in political discourse. • Women migrant less likely participate in the formulation of Equality Plan at workplaces.
7.5 Ranking Reviewed Legislation for Their Genderand Integration-Responsiveness to Discourage Sexual Harassment at Workplaces4 Based on qualitative and quantitative inferences, my framework guides toward gender- and integration-responsiveness of reviewed legislation meant to meet two practical and two strategic ‘gender-integration’ needs of women migrants for combating sexual harassment at workplaces in Germany and Sweden. On the matter of definition, a German legislation includes a transparent definition with operational indicators, whereas the Swedish definition is more likely subjective by nature that invites an unending debate on operationalization. On the other hand, the German definition ignores the ‘integration’ perspective, whereas the Swedish definition incorporates it. Thus, reviewed legislation are categorized as ‘gender-sensitive’ but ‘integration-blind’ in Germany, and ‘gender-neutral’ but ‘integration-sensitive’ in Sweden. In the context of the educational program on sexual harassment, both German and Swedish legislation are silent. A very small faction of women migrant, especially in Sweden, has reported prevalence of structured or unstructured mechanisms5 meant to educate employees, especially males, on a few outlined components of sexual harassment. German experts do not hide eyes from missing gender-specific provisions, but a Swedish expert tries to cover it by referring additional documents attached to relevant legislation, which may promote varying interpretations of given clauses and might not make sense for employers. Thus, reviewed legislation are
4 See
Table A9 (Annex-I). infers to ‘proper educational program,’ whereas unstructured implies to ‘occasional information’.
5 Structured
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considered ‘gender- as well as integration-blind’ in both countries. For the constitution of internal sexual harassment committees, both German and Swedish legislation do not serve targeted clauses. A majority of women migrants also confirm absence of such committees at workplaces. However, they less likely represent these forums, wherever they exist. In this situation, decision-makers will less likely listen to them on the subject matter. The overall situation seems partly acceptable in the public sector, but there is no political will to engage the private sector, which employs a huge number of migrants. Based on the above, the reviewed legislation are ranked as ‘gender- as well as integration-blind’ in both countries. For the provision of access to justice and transparent penalties for perpetrators, both German and Swedish legislation serve direct clauses relating to penalties but serve indirect clauses to design and share information packages that include guidance about existing legal support and procedures to file complaints against sexual harassment at workplaces. The experts point out multiple complications at the state, institutional, and workplace levels, which limit their authority to observe compliance of national legislation at workplaces. Hence, the reviewed legislation are categorized as ‘gender-neutral’ but ‘integration-blind’ in both countries.
7.6 Conclusions It is concluded that reviewed legislation do not fully comply with instructions of international documents to address issues attached to the provision of two practical and two strategic ‘gender-integration’ needs, essential for combating sexual harassment at workplaces. Although reviewed legislation serve a few clauses to address selective components of identified practical or strategic needs, they ignore other aspects of sexual harassment at workplaces in both countries. Concerning practical needs, past literature has indicated certain ambiguities in the subjective definition of sexual harassment in legislation (Cortina & Berdahl, 2008; McDonald, 2012; Saguy, 2000; Welsh et al., 2006) that makes it difficult to interpret an incident as sexual harassment, objectively. It creates further hurdles for victims to proceed with their cases and for judiciary/competent authorities for prosecution of perpetrators and to impose penalties (Askanius & Hartley, 2019; Hörnle, 2017). My latent analysis yields that the ‘gender-sensitivity’ of German legislation sets out the basic definition of sexual harassment with measurable indicators. The legislation also proposes different penalties for perpetrators depending on the nature of the assault. But their ‘gender-neutrality’ and ‘integration-blindness’ toward information packages for employees on sexual harassment make the reality different, especially when women migrants are not properly guided about procedures to pursue harassmentrelated cases. The experts associate these shortcomings to the absence of proper ‘gender’ or ‘integration’ analysis of relevant state measures. Suppose if there are so-called checks, they are not up to recommended criteria and procedures of gender mainstreaming. Mainly, the state relies on own funded surveys or reports for the revision of legislation or other measures on the subject matters. Thus, most measures
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have broader coverage but lack of focus. This is the reason, why the transparency of the definition of sexual harassment does not translate into effective measures to meet this practical need. On the other hand, ‘gender-neutral’ but ‘integrationsensitive’ nature of the Swedish definition also does not produce a different outcome than Germany. Conceptual definition of ‘sexual harassment’ without outlining operational indicators set foundations of non-availability of educational programs on sexual harassment and absence of internal vigilance committees at workplaces. The ‘gender-neutral’ nature of subsequent clauses makes it difficult for victims to access justice in cost and time effective manners. Often, if anyone needs to report incidents of sexual harassment, while the workplace less likely facilitates, the victim has to approach concerned national institutions such as Ombudsman, which seems an ambitious goal at the national level. The legislation prescribes a complete process of prosecution including penalties for perpetrators, but employers are not forced to equip employees with legal information forehand. The Swedish experts do not place the whole responsibility of legal discrepancies on the state. They find politicians and civil society equally responsible for the present situation. They wish for the emergence of specific pressure groups within civil society that could encourage the state for incorporating missing clauses in legislation and for introducing initiatives that are essential to eliminate sexual harassment at workplaces. The responsible agencies have shown a commitment to protect women migrants against sexual harassment, but the state is reluctant to work with these agencies. These agencies are under consistent threat of administrative limitations and budgetary cuts due to recent political right-wing moves. Thus, they propose to make joint efforts to reduce incidents of sexual harassment at workplaces because only Employment, Migration, Gender Equality Agencies cannot make it possible in isolation. Finally, although given legal provisions are very transparent toward penalties for sexual harassment, the punishments can only be applicable, if perpetrators are found guilty before the law. Nevertheless, the ground reality is very different in most cases because existing arrangements are not fully transparent, especially for women migrants due to lack of information, procedural complications, gender or migration-based stereotypes, and uncertain migration policy in both counties. Concerning strategic needs, there are rare evidences of educational programs on sexual harassment at workplaces (Antecol & Cobb-Clark, 2003; Campbell & Chinnery, 2018; Dobbin & Kalev, 2019) and workplaces also less likely constitute internal harassment vigilance units with adequate representation of women (Landstedt & Gillander Gådin, 2011; McDonald, 2012; Wolmerath, 2013; Zippel, 2006). My latent analysis manifests that gender- as well as integration-blindness of reviewed legislation indirectly empowers employers to ignore crucial aspects of sexual harassment at workplaces. For instance, public sector institutions, although rarely constitute internal harassment committees, the private sector does not. The legislation neither takes up these variations nor emphasizes to constitute it. A few agencies such as the ‘German Anti-discrimination Agency’ initiate a few measures to engage the private sector at its own, but cannot expand such initiatives countrywide due to lack of political, bureaucratic, and financial support. Moreover, women migrant’s representation is already very marginal in other forums at workplaces
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such as the Works Council in Germany and Employer-employee Organizations in Sweden. Such trends reduce women migrant’s chances to represent the sexual harassment committee too. According to experts, if a few public sector institutions have constituted such committees and perhaps if a few larger industries/enterprises have also made some alternatives, still women migrant’s representation is a very rare and novel idea. Identified legal limitations also restrict responsible agencies to take appropriate actions against non-compliers on the subject matter such as immunity of the private under CBAs in Sweden. These legal limitations indicate a lack of political will and the least priority of gender and integration issues in both countries. On the other side, the gender- as well as integration-blindness of reviewed legislation also reduces the chances of the educational programs on sexual harassment during orientation or through special initiatives at workplaces in both countries. These initiatives if are initiated, will add additional financial burden, demand more resources, and seek additional efforts, which are often perceived useless by employers. Importantly, such initiatives will empower employees, particularly women, about their rights and acquaint them with procedures to combat incidents of sexual harassment at workplaces, which is against unwritten patriarchal norms under most workplaces operate. Thus, any initiative that alters the traditional hierarchy of workplaces will be declined. In the absence of legal support and the patriarchal ideology of workplaces, most women migrants do not report any effort made by employers on the subject matter in both countries. Lack of transparency in legislation promotes a contradiction between Swedish experts on the ‘exclusion’ of targeted clauses in legislation. A few have tried to defend existing legislation in its current form but others have accepted gender as well as integration gaps. Nonetheless, the reaction of Germany experts is quite the opposite because they seem determined for the ‘inclusion’ of educational programs on sexual harassment at workplaces. To what extent they will succeed with it, it depends on the state’s support and financial approvals in the future. Finally, it is concluded that institutional limitations to observe and respond to incidents of sexual harassment at workplaces are closely associated with missing legal provisions, whereas lack of political will, least priority of gender equality agenda, and fluctuating migration policy are also outcomes of missing legal provisions. This reflects that existing legislation mainly focus on penalties against sexual assaults rather than adopting adequate preventive measures to protect women migrants against sexual harassment at workplaces. Lastly, the legislation of both countries do not strengthen its agencies/institutions to constitute an effective observation/monitoring mechanism to combat sexual harassment at workplaces. Hence, the revision of existing legislation based on gender and integration sensitivity is inevitable for making workplaces free of sexual harassment.
References
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References Andrade-Rubio, K. L. (2016). Victims of trafficking: Migrant women, farm work and sexual harassment in Tamaulipas. CienciaUAT, 11(1), 22–34. https://doi.org/10.29059/cienciauat.v11 i1.654. Antecol, H., & Cobb-Clark, D. (2003). Does sexual harassment training change attitudes? A view from the federal level. Social Science Quarterly, 84(4), 826–842. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.00384941.2003.08404001.x. Askanius, T., & Hartley, J. M. (2019). Framing Gender Justice: A comparative analysis of the media coverage of #metoo in Denmark and Sweden. Nordicom Review, 40(2), 19–36. https://doi.org/ 10.2478/nor-2019-0022. Baer, J. A. (2009). Feminist theory and the law. In R. E. Goodin (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of political science (pp. 1–15). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Campbell, H., & Chinnery, S. (2018). What works? Preventing & responding to sexual harassment in the workplace. Retrieved from https://www.care.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/STOPRapid-Review.pdf on 28.01.2020 at 12:19 pm. Cortina, L. M., & Berdahl, J. L. (2008). Sexual harassment in organizations: A decade of research in review. In J. Barling & C. L. Cooper (Eds.), A Sage handbook of organizational behavior (pp. 469–497). London: Sage. Dionisi, A. M., Barling, J., & Dupré, K. E. (2012). Revisiting the comparative outcomes of workplace aggression and sexual harassment. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 17(4), 398. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029883. Dobbin, F., & Kalev, A. (2019). The promise and peril of sexual harassment programs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(25), 12255–12260. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.181 8477116. Ho, I. K., Dinh, K. T., Bellefontaine, S. M., & Irving, A. L. (2018). Cultural adaptation and sexual harassment in the lives of Asian American women. Women and Therapy, 41(3–4), 281–297. https://doi.org/10.1080/02703149.2018.1430300. Hörnle, T. (2017). The new German law on sexual assault and sexual harassment. German Law Journal, 18(6), 1309–1330. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2071832200022355. Howe, J. (2016). Examining a temporary migrant worker’s ability to make a complaint of sexual harassment. Alternative Law Journal, 41(2), 102–104. https://doi.org/10.1177/1037969X1604 100207. Keplinger, K., Johnson, S. K., Kirk, J. F., & Barnes, L. Y. (2019). Women at work: Changes in sexual harassment between September 2016 and September 2018. PLoS One, 14(7), 1–20. https://doi. org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218313. Kormanik, M. B. (2009). Sexuality as a diversity factor: An examination of awareness. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 11(1), 24–36. https://doi.org/10.1177/1523422308329369. Landstedt, E., & Gillander Gådin, K. (2011). Deliberate self-harm and associated factors in 17year-old Swedish students. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 39(1), 17–25. https://doi.org/ 10.1177/1403494810382941. McDonald, P. (2012). Workplace sexual harassment 30 years on: A review of the literature. International Journal of Management Reviews, 14(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2011. 00300.x. Nasri, A., & Tannous, W. (2014). Access to justice for migrant domestic workers in Lebanon. Retrieved from http://www.oit.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—arabstates/—ro-beirut/documents/ publication/wcms_395802.pdf on 20.01.2020 at 18:49 pm. Rodríguez-Martínez, P., & Cuenca-Piqueras, C. (2019). Interactions between direct and structural violence in sexual harassment against Spanish and unauthorized migrant women. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 48(2), 577–588. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-018-1265-9. Saguy, A. C. (2000). Employment discrimination or sexual violence? Defining sexual harassment in American and French law. Law and Society Review, 1091–1128. https://doi.org/10.2307/311 5132.
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United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). (2015). Combating violence against migrants. Retrieved from https://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/ UNODC_Combating_Violence_against_Migrants.pdf on 15.01.2020 at 15:00 pm. Welsh, S., Carr, J., MacQuarrie, B., & Huntley, A. (2006). “I’m not thinking of it as sexual harassment” understanding harassment across race and citizenship. Gender and Society, 20(1), 87–107. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243205282785. Wolmerath, M. (2013). Workplace bullying and harassment in Germany. In Y. Sugeno & K. Ppip. (Eds.) Workplace bullying and harassment (pp. 77–90). Japan: The Japan Institute for Labour Police and Training. Retrieved from https://www.jil.go.jp/english/reports/documents/jilpt-rep orts/no.12_germany.pdf on 25.01.2020 at 18:12 pm. Zippel, K. S. (2006). The politics of sexual harassment: A comparative study of the United States, the European Union, and Germany. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
International Conventions/Recommendations Council of Europe. (1996). European social charter (Revised) (ESCR). Retrieved from https://rm. coe.int/168007cf93 on 12.09.2017 at 11:36 pm. UNWomen. (1979). The convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW). Retrieved from https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm# article15 on 04.09.2017 at 19:35 pm. UNWomen. (1995, September). Beijing declaration and platform for action (BPA). Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/events/pastevents/pdfs/Beijing_Declaration_and_Platform_for_Act ion.pdf on 09.08.2017 at 10:44 am. United Nations. (2010, November). 15-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (2000) (BPA + 15). Retrieved from https://www.cepal.org/mujer/noticias/paginas/3/ 51823/Guidance_note_English.pdf on 10.08.2017 at 14:40 pm.
German Legislation Federal Anti-discrimination Agency, Germany (FAA). (2006, August 14). Act implementing European directives putting into effect the principle of equal treatment (EDET) (Amended 2009, February 5). Retrieved from https://www.antidiskriminierungsstelle.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/ EN/publikationen/agg_in_englischer_Sprache.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2 on 21.09.2017 at 17:27 pm. Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (MJCP). (2002, January 2). German civil code (Amended 2013, October 1). Retrieved from https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_bgb/ englisch_bgb.pdf on 07.12.2017 at 09:14 am.
Swedish Legislation Government Office of Sweden. (1999, May 1). Swedish penal code. Retrieved from http://www. government.se/contentassets/5315d27076c942019828d6c36521696e/swedish-penal-code.pdf on 27.11.2017 at 17:23 pm.
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Ministry of Employment. (1982, June 24). Working hours act (Arbetstidslagen). Retrieved from http://www.government.se/49d4f9/contentassets/1b29fd35b2544f13875137beab80911a/198 2673-working-hours-act.pdf on 20.11.2017 at 10:00 am. Swedish Code of Statutes. (2015, March, 20). Discrimination act (2008:567). Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/83136/110558/F-898276411/SWE831 36SwedishConsolidated.pdf on 23.11.2017 at 10:00 am. Swedish Riksdag. (2009, January 1). Act concerning the equality ombudsman (2008:568). Retrieved from http://www.do.se/other-languages/english-engelska/act-concerning-the-equalityombudsman/ on 23.11.2017 at 13:22 pm. Swedish Riksdag. (2009, January 1). Act on measures against discrimination in working life on grounds of ethnic origin, religion or other belief (1999:130) (AMDWL). Retrieved from http://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssam ling/lag-1999130-om-atgarder-mot-diskriminering-i_sfs-1999–130 on 23.11.2017 at 13:15 pm. The Government of Sweden. (2005). Prohibition of discrimination in working life because of sexual orientation act (1999:133) (PDWLSO). Retrieved from http://www.equalrightstrust.org/ertdoc umentbank/8389f16e.pdf on 23.11.2017 at 13:30 pm.
Expert Interviews Federal Anti-discrimination Agency. (2019, January). An interview with official from Berlin. Germany. Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ). (2019, January). An interview with official from Berlin. Germany. Kreisjob Center Marburg & Biedenkopf. (2019, March). An interview with official from Marburg. Germany. Ministry of Employment. (2019, February). An interview with official Gender Equality Section, Stockholm. Sweden. Swedish Employment Agency. (2019, February). An interview with official from Gothenburg. Sweden. Swedish Gender Equality Agency. (2019, February). An interview with official from Gothenburg. Sweden.
Chapter 8
Theme-V: Monitoring Mechanism to Observe the Compliance of Relevant Legislation
Past scholarship infers that if public policies and legislation are prepared and implemented without instituting an effective monitoring mechanism in advance, they less likely bring anticipated changes in situations for which interventions are planned (Astorga Gatjens, 2011; Avdeyeva, 2009; Mkenda-Mugittu, 2003; Moser & Moser, 2005). Effective monitoring activities can produce reliable data to guide changes in implementation strategies, if outputs do not align well with anticipated targets. In this context, different clauses of eight work-specific1 and four migration-specific2 international conventions, recommendations, and guidelines call upon the states to take appropriate measures to design effective monitoring mechanisms to observe compliance of work and migration-related policies and legislation that intend to facilitate entry of women migrants at workplaces and to streamline their smooth integration with destination countries. My semantic analysis identifies three ‘gender-integration’ needs to be met through existing legislation. To what extent existing legislation instruct the competent authorities to take appropriate steps to meet these needs? A comparison between ILF and NLF, subject experiences of women migrants,3 and experts’ viewpoints answer this question.
1 Source: (BPA, 1995; BPA + 5, 2000; BPA + 10, 2005; ESC(A), 1988; HELMPCOD, 2006; OSHC,
1981; SPFR, 2012). (ACEOWM, 2011; APITCN, 2016; DDRX, 2001; MFLM, 2006). 3 See Table A5 (Annex-I). 2 Source:
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. W. Tahir, Responding to Women Migrant’s Needs, Contributions to Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63735-4_8
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8.1 Establishment of Internal Monitoring Units at Workplaces This is a practical ‘gender-integration’ need of women migrants at workplaces, because if states will instruct the employers to constitute internal monitoring units to observe the compliance of relevant policies and subsequent legislation at workplaces, it will share the burden of state’s institutions/agencies, keep employers updated about gender or integration-based disparities, and align labor market’s functioning with UN’s and ILO’s conventions/recommendations. Ultimate achievements will increase productivity of women migrants and their smooth career growths without the fear of discriminatory attitudes and practices based on gender, race, ethnicity, and religious denominations. This need includes four components: (1) clear guidelines about monitoring procedures, (2) appointment of staff with requisite knowledge and capabilities, (3) allocation of adequate funds for monitoring activities, and (4) empowerment of monitoring staff to propose penalties on violation of the legislation. Do existing legislation propose a constitution of internal monitoring units at workplaces? If yes then, do they emphasize labor markets to consult the above-mentioned components for designing internal monitoring units in both countries? From Germany, reviewed legislation do not instruct the labor market to constitute internal monitoring units to observe the compliance of reviewed legislation at workplaces. However, two legislation serve indirect clauses that expect certain institutions/agencies to take up monitoring roles. For instance, article 9(2) of the ‘Social Code Book-III’ suggests that the ‘Employment Agency’ should set up a monitoring mechanism to increase the transparency of labor market processes, improve the effectiveness of relevant legislation/policies, and maintain a central control. Similarly, article 17(1) (2) (5) of the ‘Hours of Work Act’ suggests the ‘Employment Agency’ to schedule inspections to observe the compliance of given legal provisions at workplaces. The commissioner can inspect the workplace during working hours and employers have to take necessary actions on the recommendations of the inspection team. Nevertheless, both legislation are silent on the formulation of monitoring guidelines, appointment of relevant staff, and allocation of financial as well as human resources. This infers that the ‘Employment Agency’ has to make its arrangements to comply with general instructions relating to monitoring activities. Nonetheless, Swedish legislation come up with encouraging clauses such as the ‘Work Environment Act’ serves different clauses that accentuate the labor market to formulate effective monitoring and follow-up mechanisms within the organizations/industries (section 2a, Chapter 3; section 4, Chapter 6; section 9, Chapter 6; section 1 & 5 & 7 & 15, Chapter 7; section 1 & 5, Chapter 8). Besides, many legislation also empower public sector institutions/agencies to observe the compliance of given legal provisions intending to integrate women migrants in the destination labor market. For instance: (1) the ‘Discrimination Act’ in its section 1 (Chapter 4) authorizes the ‘Equality Ombudsman’ to monitor the compliance of given legal provisions at workplaces, but it is also expected that the ‘Equality Ombudsman’ will encourage the labor market to comply with legal provisions voluntarily. Section 4 of the Act
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proposes financial penalty if the concerned individual/party does not comply with its instructions; (2) ‘Ordinance on Support for Integration into Employment’ instructs the ‘Employment Agency’ to observe the implementation of legal provisions in the labor market (section 22; section 23; section 24; section 25); (3) ‘Ordinance on Job Guarantee for Young People’ authorizes the ‘Employment Agency’ to observe the implementation of given legal provisions at workplaces; (4) ‘Ordinance on Special Employment Support’ also deputes the ‘Employment Agency’ to oversee the utilization of allocated funds under the ‘special support for employment’ at workplaces (section 51, 52, 53 & 54); (5) ‘Act on Measures against Discrimination in Working Life on Grounds of Ethnic Origin, Religion or other Belief’ assigns a duty to the ‘Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination’ to observe the compliance of given legal provisions at workplaces (section 22); (6) the ‘Prohibition of Discrimination in Working Life because of Sexual Orientation Act’ authorizes the ‘Ombudsman against Discrimination’ to observe the compliance of labor market with the Act (section 16); (7) the ‘Working Hours Act’ (section 20 & 21 & 23 & 24) and ‘Work Environment Strategy for Modern Working Life 2016-2020 (WESMWL)’ task the ‘Employment Agency’ to inspect working hours at workplaces; (8) ‘the ‘Parental Leave Act’ authorizes the Municipal authorities to inspect the environment, activities, and working conditions of private sector childcare centers and impose financial penalties if they do not maintain a recommended standard (article 15, section 2a; article 16, section 2a); and (9) ‘Regulation on State Grants to Municipalities applying Maximum Rates in Preschool and Recreation Center’ authorizes the ‘School Department’ to observe the effective use of financial subsidies allocated to Municipalities for childcare purposes (article 10; article 11; article 12). The above information reveals that both German and Swedish legislation instruct various public institutions/agencies to devise mechanisms to observe the compliance of legislation prepared for the integration of women migrants, particularly with the labor market. Nonetheless, only Swedish legislation serve a few clauses that encourage the labor market to ensure observation of relevant national legislation through constituting internal monitoring units, whereas German reviewed legislation are silent on it. Do internal monitoring units exist at workplaces, at least at medium- or large-scale enterprises? How do women migrants report it from both countries? The survey statistics reveal that a majority of women migrants have no information if their employers have constituted internal monitoring units to observe the compliance of national policies and legislation to ensure parity in working relationships at workplaces in both countries. Nonetheless, if a few employers have established internal monitoring units, they are not fully equipped with qualified staff followed by adequate financial allocations. Moreover, respondents have no information if existing monitoring units are authorized to point out irregularities and to propose specific penalties on violation of regulation at workplaces. How do experts perceive the idea of internal monitoring units at workplaces and to what extent they find it compatible with national legislation relating to gender equality and the smooth integration of women migrants in both countries? German experts have no information if existing legislation emphasize the establishment of internal monitoring units at workplaces intending to observe compliance
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of given legal provisions relating to employment, gender equality, and integration. In their opinions, different agencies such as Employment Agency, Migration-related Offices, and the Federal Ministry (BMFSFJ) are operating under restricted rules and regulations, which do not encourage extensive monitoring activities to observe the compliance of national legislation across public and private sectors. Only actions are taken based on complaints made by victims or in reaction to accidental events (Official, Federal Anti-discrimination Agency, Berlin, January 2019). In their opinions, there are two possibilities of the non-existence of internal monitoring units to observe the compliance of national legislation: no political will or capacity issues. Another expert confirms the former that politicians dislike the idea of monitoring (Official, Kreisjob Center Marburg & Biedenkopf, March 2019). The conversation also underlines that employers expect the least restrictions from the state because they want to perform autonomously to compete in the dynamic global market. Thus, they are hesitant to welcome external as well as internal monitoring activities. On the other hand, Swedish experts admit that labor market does not promote the idea of internal monitoring units, though a legislation endorses it. For instance, on the matter of sexual harassment at workplaces, an experts shares that since the escalation of ME TOO campaign in January 2018, our Ministry has arranged several dialogues with people to address the issue and to find multiple solutions (Official, Ministry of Employment: Gender Equality Section, Stockholm, February 2019). After reviewing the whole legal system and key legislation such as the ‘Discrimination Act,’ ‘Work Environment Act,’ several relevant Ordinances Ministry has concluded that the needed legislation are in place, but they are not properly implemented. The main issue is legal illiteracy that deeply prevails because employers as well as employees are not familiar with legal provisions on various subject matters (Official, Swedish Employment Agency, Gothenburg, February 2019). Thus, most agencies or enterprises do not comply with transparent instructions of the ‘Work Environment Act’ to constitute internal monitoring units. Furthermore, another expert claims that one has to read legislation with additional commentaries and chapter of pro-active measures to analyze the situation and risk factors involved (Official, Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Gothenburg, Gothenburg, February 2019). It seems an ambitious desire especially when most employers are not familiar with fundamental legislation. Lastly, they do not completely deny the possibility of the existence of internal monitoring units at large enterprises or state institutions, but no one can imagine such units at mediumor small-scale workplaces (Official, Swedish Gender Equality Agency, Gothenburg, Gothenburg, February 2019). These inferences reflect that both labor markets are not ready to constitute internal monitoring units. Highlights: • German legislation are ‘gender- & integration-blind,’ whereas Swedish legislation are ‘gender-neutral but integration-blind’ toward constitution of internal monitoring units at workplaces.
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• Women migrants have more likely reported absence of internal monitoring units at workplaces in both countries. • Lack of political will, legal illiteracy of employers and employees, and immunity of private sector are key barriers to such initiatives.
8.2 Promotion of Tripartite Consultation on the Constitution of Monitoring Mechanisms This is also practical ‘gender-integration’ need of women migrants at workplaces, because if the State encourages employers to promote tripartite consultation (state representatives, employers, and employees) to design monitoring mechanisms to observe the compliance of relevant national legislation, it will not only enhance the effectiveness of monitoring activities but also increase the likelihood of women (migrants also) to present their perspectives toward optimal monitoring activities, especially for the preparation of guidelines, and executing plans. My semantic analysis divides this need into two components: (1) formulation of monitoring plans with consultation of employers, employees, and state representatives and (2) representation of women migrants in tripartite consultations. How do existing legislation guide and promote such consultations? Highlights: • German and Swedish legislation serve ‘gender-neutral’ clauses toward institution of tripartite consultations on monitoring mechanisms at workplaces. • Women migrants have neither reported prevalence of such consultation nor their representation. • This is a quite new idea for experts of both countries but they find it bit complicated to implement it through legislation due to labor market complexities. From Germany, although given legal provisions do not serve direct instructions on the subject matter, different legislation indirectly suggest competent authorities to observe the compliance of given legal provisions through cooperation at workplaces. For instance, section 89(2)(1) of the ‘Works Constitution Act’ authorizes the ‘Works Council’ or its designated members to inspect the workplaces concerning measures adopted for the safety of employees against occupational health hazards and accidents. Second, article 14(1) (2) of the ‘Act on Family Care Period’ asks the ‘BMFSFJ’ to establish an independent advisory board to observe the implementation of given legal provisions relating to reconciliation of care and work. Third, article 6(1) of
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the ‘Act on the Promotion of Pay Transparency between Women and Men’ articulates that employers, collective bargaining parties, and the ‘Works Council’ should jointly take part in designing and implementing initiatives aimed to ensure equal pay between women and men at workplaces. Nevertheless, this legislation do not accentuate women migrant’s representation in tripartite consultations. On the other hand, except the constitution of the safety committee at the workplace under the ‘Work Environment Act,’ the reviewed legislation neither endorse tripartite consultations nor emphasize representation of women migrants to design monitoring activities in Sweden. It seems that the Swedish labor market also trusts on ‘Collective Bargaining Agreements’ to initiate such proposals, though legislation do not elaborate it. The survey statistics also confirm that employers do not involve women migrants in the formulation of monitoring plans, if monitoring mechanisms do exist somewhere at workplaces. Experts perceive the overall monitoring system very feeble that needs to be improved from multiple dimensions, especially from a coordination perspective between state institutions/agencies in both countries. It is because presently they have no clues about tripartite consultations for the promotion of effective monitoring systems at workplaces in both countries.
8.3 Appointment of Gender and Integration Experts for Designing Monitoring Plans This is strategic ‘gender-integration’ need of women migrants at workplaces because if relevant agencies and labor markets consult gender as well as integration experts for designing and implementing monitoring plans, it will precisely underline prevailing gender or ethnicity-based discriminatory practices at workplaces, and help narrow relevant gaps in prevailing monitoring mechanisms. My semantic analysis divides this need into two components: (1) appointment of gender and integration experts at workplaces and (2) inclusion of objectively verifiable ‘gender-integration’ sensitive metrics in monitoring plans. To what extent existing legislation coerce the labor market to meet this need in both countries? Highlights: • German and Swedish legislation serve ‘gender- and integration-blind’ clauses for constituting monitoring systems through gender and integration experts. • Women migrants do not report prevalence of such expertise at workplaces. • This is also a quite new idea for experts of both countries. Neither German nor Swedish reviewed legislation serve targeted clauses to convince relevant authorities to appoint gender and integration experts for designing monitoring activities, by incorporating ‘gender’ as well as ‘integration’ perspectives,
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for effective observation of legal provisions meant to eliminate gender and ethnicitybased discrimination at workplaces. My survey statistics reveal that only one woman migrant has reported that her employer consults a ‘gender expert’ to formulate operational plans at her workplace but if does he give input for designing and implementing a ‘Monitoring Plan’ at the workplace, she has no idea about it in Sweden. Although experts claim that various public sector institutions appoint gender as well as integration experts to have their feedback in organizational matters, they have never cited such practices for designing monitoring plans at workplaces in both countries. Highlights: • Trade unions take up issues of representation with employer. • Women migrants very rarely represent trade unions. • Language barriers reduce their likelihood to represent such forums. • Anticipation of financial forfeit forbid women migrants to represent. • Employers make conscious choices to facilitate or obstruct representations. • Migration is minority topic and women migrants are marginal in political discourse. • Women migrant less likely participate in the formulation of Equality Plan at workplaces.
8.4 Ranking Reviewed Legislation for Their Genderand Integration-Responsiveness to Improve Effectiveness of Monitoring Mechanisms at Workplaces4 My framework determines gender- and integration-responsiveness of reviewed legislation meant to meet two practical and one strategic ‘gender-integration’ needs of women migrants for improving overall monitoring mechanism to observe the compliance of given legal provisions with national legislation targeting to eliminate gender, race, ethnicity, or religion-based discrimination at workplaces in both countries. For the establishment of internal monitoring units, Swedish legislation initiate an idea for the establishment of internal monitoring units at workplaces through direct clauses but German legislation are silent on it. Moreover, legislation do not include clauses relating to integration. Most legislation promote external monitoring activities through various institutions/agencies. A very few women migrants have reported the existence of internal monitoring units. Although experts welcome the idea, they do not see the political motivation behind it in the near future in both countries. Thus, reviewed legislation are ranked as ‘gender- as well as integrationblind’ in Germany, but ‘gender-neutral’ and ‘integration-blind’ in Sweden. For the 4 See
Table A10 (Annex-I).
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promotion of tripartite consultation on monitoring issues, German legislation serve indirect clauses but Swedish legislation are silent on it. Not a single women migrant has reported prevalence of such consultations or their representation at these forums. For experts from both sides, it is quite a new idea hence they have no information if existing legislation can regulate it presently or how could it be incorporated in legislation shortly! Hence, reviewed legislation are categorized as ‘gender-neutral’ but ‘integration-blind’ in Germany, and gender- as well as integration-blind in Sweden. For hiring gender and ethnic expertise to improve the effectiveness of monitoring plans, both German and Swedish legislation do not serve direct clauses. This is also a new idea for interviewed experts. Hence, they have not participated in relevant discussions. Thus, reviewed legislation are ranked as ‘gender- and integration-blind’ in both countries.
8.5 Conclusions It is concluded that reviewed legislation do not comply with the guidelines/recommendations of international documents to improve the effectiveness of monitoring mechanisms for observing the compliance of given legal provisions, meant to ensure gender equality and reduce discriminatory practices at workplaces in both countries. ‘Gender- and integration-blind’ nature of German legislation deputes the core responsibly of monitoring to the ‘Employment Agency,’ but does not elaborate on how to structure effective monitoring mechanisms transparently, e.g., no information about guidelines, staffing, resources, coverage, and authority is available. The constitution of internal monitoring units to observe the compliance of national legislation is not a priority of existing legal frames. This reduces the likelihood of workplaces to be strengthened internally to ensure gender equality and to eliminate discriminatory practices against women migrants on professional matters. On the other hand, ‘gender-neutral and migration-blind’ nature of Swedish legislation also do not make a significant difference at the ground, because despite clear legal instructions, a huge part of labor market does not institute internal monitoring units to observe the compliance of relevant legislation. The legislation also less likely encourage the private sector to institute monitoring mechanisms at workplaces. Although various legislation depute this responsibility to a few state agencies, relevant agencies are not equipped with guidelines, budget, manpower, and autonomy to operate independently. Lack of political will, institutional capacity issues, limited mandates, legal illiteracy of employers and employees, and ambivalence of the private sector are key barriers to the constitution of internal monitoring units at workplaces. Second, ‘gender-neutral but integration-blind’ clauses of German legislation and ‘gender- as well as integration-blind’ clauses of Swedish legislation have made it difficult to initiate tripartite consultations to design and implement effective monitoring mechanisms to observe the compliance of relevant legislation at workplaces. Thus, there is
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no concept of women migrant’s representation at such forums at workplaces. Conversation with experts reveals that this is a quite new idea and has never been part of discussions at national legislatures or other decision-making forums in both countries. A few experts have a close connection with trade unions but they have never listened about tripartite consultations on the subject matter, which indicates a lack of coordination between state, institutions, trade unions, and employers to launch gender-integration sensitive monitoring units. Besides, ‘gender- and integrationblind’ nature of legislation in both countries reflects that there is no space for ‘gender’ as well as ‘ethnic’ experts for designing monitoring plans meant to observe the compliance of relevant legislation at workplaces. A report of the European Union realizes the need for ‘gender’ experts with special focus on migration to devise and implement public policies and legislation for regulating employment affairs at workplaces (OSCE, 2009). Nonetheless, present legislation as well as institutions do not acknowledge its importance, which can set foundations of inadequate gender impact assessment of relevant legal or policy measures during promulgation and implementation phases. Finally, the Swedish legislation more likely advocates ‘supervision’ instead of a ‘monitoring’ mechanism through external observers at workplaces.
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European Commission. (2016, June 7). Action Plan on the integration of third country nationals (APITCN). Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/what-wedo/policies/european-agenda-migration/proposal-implementation-package/docs/20160607/com munication_action_plan_integration_third-country_nationals_en.pdf on 12.09.2017 at 19:40 pm. International Labour Organization (ILO). (1981, June 22). C155—Occupational safety and health convention (OSHC). Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:12100:0::NO: 12100:P12100_INSTRUMENT_ID:312300 on 05.09.2017 at 10:04 am. International Labour Organization (ILO). (2006). Multilateral framework on labour migration Nonbinding principles and guidelines for a rights-based approach to labour migration (MFLM). Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—asia/—ro-bangkok/documents/pub lication/wcms_146243.pdf on 29.08.2017 at 15:48 pm. International Labour Organization. (ILO). (2012, June 14). R202—Social protection floors recommendation (SPFR). Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB: 12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:R202 on 06.09.2017 at 09:46 am. Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE); International Organization for Migration (IOM); International Labour Office (ILO). (2006). Handbook on establishing effective labour migration policies in countries of origin and destination (HELMPCOD). Retrieved from http://www.osce.org/eea/19242?download=true on 06.09.2017 at 08:58 am. United Nations. (2000, June 5–9). Five-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Beijing + 5) held in the General Assembly (BPA + 5 follow-up). Retrieved from https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/followup/beijing+5.htm on 14.08.2017 at 16:00 pm. United Nations. (2001, August 31–September 8). Dublin declaration: World conference against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. (DDRX). Retrieved from http://www.un.org/WCAR/durban.pdf on 20.092017 at 11:32 pm. United Nations. (2005, February 28–March 11). Review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of the special session of the General Assembly entitled “Women 2000: Gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century” (BPA + 10 follow-up). Retrieved from https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/Review/english/ 49sess.htm on 16.07.2017 at 14:25 pm. UNWomen. (1995, September). Beijing declaration and platform for action (BPA). Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/events/pastevents/pdfs/Beijing_Declaration_and_Platform_for_Act ion.pdf on 09.08.2017 at 10:44 am.
German Legislation Bundesministeriums der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz. (1994, June 6). Arbeitszeitgesetz (Hours of Work Act). Retrieved from https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/WEBTEXT/37814/64928/E94 DEU01.htm on 25.09.2017 at 15:30 pm. Bundesministeriums der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz. (1997, March 24). Sozialgesetzbuch (SGB) Drittes Buch (III) - Arbeitsförderung - (Artikel 1 des Gesetzes vom 24. März 1997, BGBl. I S. 594) (Social Code Book-III). Retrieved from https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTR ONIC/46596/98437/F832423862/DEU46596.pdf on 14.02.2018 at 14:25 pm. Bundesministeriums der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz. (2000, December 21). Entgelttransparenzgesetz (Act on the promotion of pay transparency between women and men). Retrieved from https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/entgtranspg/BJNR215210017.html on 22.09.2017 at 16:57 pm. Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (MJCP). (2001, September 25). Work Constitution Act (Amended 2013, April, 20). Retrieved from http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/eng lisch_betrvg/englisch_betrvg.pdf on 08.12.2017 at 10:10 am.
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Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (MJCP). (2011, December 6). Gesetz über die Familienpflegezeit (Familienpflegezeitgesetz-FPfZG). (Act on Family Care Period) (Amended 2014, December, 23). Retrieved from https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/fpfzg/FPfZG.pdf on 19.10.2017 at 09:02 am. Mayr. (2000, June, 20). Mutterschutzgesetz (MuSchG) (Maternity Protection Act). (Revised on 2006, December, 5). Retrieved from https://www.mayr-arbeitsrecht.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/ 05/Maternity-Protection-Act.pdf on 28.09.2017 at 14:15 pm.
Swedish Legislation Government of the Sweden. (2005). Prohibition of discrimination in working life because of sexual orientation act (1999:133) (PDWLSO). Retrieved from http://www.equalrightstrust.org/ertdoc umentbank/8389f16e.pdf on 23.11.2017 at 13:30 pm. Government of the Sweden. (2008). Discrimination act (2008:567). Retrieved from http://www. government.se/4a788f/contentassets/6732121a2cb54ee3b21da9c628b6bdc7/oversattning-diskri mineringslagen_eng.pdf on 23.11.2017 at 13:30 pm. Government Offices Legal Databases (Sweden). (2013, December 27). Ordinance (2013:1157) on support for integration into employment. Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELE CTRONIC/96599/117872/F-1551015764/SWE96599SwedishConsolidated.pdf on 23.11.2017 at 12:40 pm. Ministry of Employment. (1977, December, 19). Work environment act (arbetsmiljölagen). Retrieved from http://www.government.se/4ac754/contentassets/86e9091526644e90b78d2ff9 37318530/sfs-19771160-work-environment-act on 20.11.2017 at 11:40 am. Ministry of Employment. (1982, June, 24). Working hours act (Arbetstidslagen). Retrieved from http://www.government.se/49d4f9/contentassets/1b29fd35b2544f13875137beab80911a/198 2673-working-hours-act.pdf on 20.11.2017 at 10:00 am. Ministry of Employment. (1995, May, 24). Parental leave act (Föräldraledighetslagen). Retrieved from http://www.government.se/4ac87f/contentassets/d163a42edcea4638aa112f0f 6040202b/sfs-1995584-parental-leave-act on 20.11.2017 at 10:40 am. Ministry of Employment and Integration. (2015). A work environment strategy for modern working life 2016–2020. Retrieved from http://www.government.se/499cd0/contentassets/95678f8dfcea 4ece916e5b7950f2260f/a-work-environment-strategy-for-modern-working-life-20162020 on 22.11.2017 at 14:00 pm. Riksdag. (2001, March 29). Regulation (2001: 160) on state grants to municipalities applying maximum rates in preschool and recreation center. Retrieved from https://www.riksdagen.se/ sv/dokument-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/forordning-2001160-om-statsbidragtill_sfs-2001-160 on 28.11.2017 at 15:25 pm. Swedish Riksdag. (2007, November 8). Ordinance on job guarantees for young people. Retrieved from http://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/forord ning-2007813-om-jobbgaranti-for_sfs-2007-813 on 12.04.2018 at 09:20 am. Swedish Riksdag. (2009, January1). Act on measures against discrimination in working life on grounds of ethnic origin, religion or other belief (1999:130). Retrieved from http://www.rik sdagen.se/sv/dokument-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/lag-1999130-om-atgardermot-diskriminering-i_sfs-1999-130 on 23.11.2017 at 13:15 pm Swedish Riksdag. (2015, December, 29). Ordinance (2015:503) respecting special employment support. Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/101740/122723/F288015536/SWE101740SwedishConsolidated.pdf on 23.11.2017 at 11:10 am.
128
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Expert Interviews Federal Anti-discrimination Agency. (2019, January). An interview with official from Berlin. Germany. Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ). (2019, January). An interview with official from Berlin. Germany. Kreisjob Center Marburg & Biedenkopf. (2019, March). An interview with official from Marburg. Germany. Ministry of Employment. (2019, February). An interview with official from gender equality section, Stockholm. Sweden. Ministry of Justice. (2019, February). An interview with official from migration section, Stockholm. Sweden. Swedish Employment Agency. (2019, February). An interview with official from Gothenburg. Sweden.
Chapter 9
Conclusions
The study contributes to the discourse of liberal and post-colonial feminism through new methodological and empirical insights. Empirically, the framework underlines gaps and constraints to meeting mainstream gender- and integration-specific needs in the relevant legislation, which promotes discriminatory practices against women migrants in the workplace in Germany and Sweden. The findings reveal that reviewed legislation ‘partly’ comply with the recommendations of international/regional forums to incorporate gender- and integration-specific needs to combat discriminatory practices at destination workplaces. German legal provisions have appeared more ‘gender-sensitive’ in comparison with Sweden’s within the scope of abovediscussed five thematic areas, but the outcome is disappointing in terms of integrationresponsiveness in both countries. The inferences refer back to criticisms of ‘Eurocentric’ or ‘Civilization’ approaches to western policy-makers and legislature that underlay most legislation designed for regulating employment affairs. These are mainly driven by destination cultural and political discourses, but overlook gender and integration needs of women migrants that differ, slightly or largely, from native women’s needs in destination labor markets. For instance, my inferences yield that: Selective legal support through ‘subsidized’ language programs only for refugees or asylumseekers, deprive women migrants with other residence permits to improve their employability, especially in families where men are preferred for advancing their language skills under limited financial but competing circumstances. In anticipation of women migrant’s ambivalence for mainstreaming in host societies, state’s discouraging attitudes towards work flexibility by using ICTs might solely deprive native women of home based work, but will reinforce traditional roles of women migrants struggling to reconcile professional and family responsibilities due to language, information, residence, and travel related constraints at beginning.
The reviewed legislation have also appeared with certain limitations for protecting ‘equal rights’ of native women. Perhaps, therefore protection of women migrants’
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. W. Tahir, Responding to Women Migrant’s Needs, Contributions to Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63735-4_9
129
130
9 Conclusions
rights at workplaces is a lower priority for states, especially in light of the rising xenophobic milieus in destination politics. In the presence of such attitudes, women migrants cannot enter the labor markets or continue employment like native women do. This indicates that the provision of legal clauses only cannot guarantee protection against discrimination, but additional measures are required to achieve ‘equalityspecific’ milestones, especially by improving coordination between the state and the labor market to address underlying shortcomings in existing legislation. On the part of state, partial inclusion of gender- and integration-specific needs in relevant legislation results in several ‘neutral’ or ‘blind’ clauses that accentuate, directly or indirectly, patriarchal as well as xenophobic traditions and practices at institutions/agencies responsible for gender equality and smooth integration of women migrants. These include; (1) selectivity in language learning subsidies that contributes to the employability of many women migrants, (2) lengthy and lethargic accreditation procedures for educational credentials and experiences of women migrants earned in origin countries, (3) slower transition of community- to workplace-based childcare in Germany and frequently interrupted services provided by the private sector in Sweden, (4) frequent refusal of childcare places to women migrants enrolled in state subsidized skills development programs, (5) neglect of care needs of women migrants for other family members back home, (6) unattractive parental leave for men due to inadequate gender-based cost and benefits analysis of the package, (7) promotion of external but limited monitoring or supervisory roles instead of well-coordinated ‘Internal Monitoring Units’ to observe the compliance of relevant legislation in the workplace, (8) limited and complicated access to institutions responsible for justice against discriminatory practices, (9) Persistent threats to relevant institutions/agencies of shutdown, asymmetry in rules & regulations, and budgetary constraints, (10) immunity of the private sector to legislation under certain agreements/conditions, and (11) lack of coordination between concerned ministries and agencies responsible for regulating employment, gender equality, and integration affairs in the workplace. On the part of the labor market, given gender-integration -neutral or -blind clauses give responsibility to these authorities (employers and management) to devise operational mechanism that more likely uphold the interests of employers by compromising numerous gender and integration needs of women migrants at workplaces. These include; (1) reinforcing gender and migration-based stereotypes toward women migrant’s suitability as productive employees, (2) marginalizing women migrant’s representation in the Works Council or employer-employee’s organizations or Trade Unions, (3) neglecting constitution of Internal Vigilance Committee on sexual harassment, (4) omitting provision of educational programs on sexual harassment for men and women in the workplace, (5) depriving women migrants of promotions or supervisory roles, (6) avoiding provision of training and counseling services in the workplace for understanding how to reconcile professional and family responsibilities, (7) discouraging ICTs-based work culture from the place of convenience, (8) neglecting determinants of ethno-gender-based wage gaps, and (9) constraining short-term leaves for breastfeeding purposes.
9 Conclusions
131
The above shortcomings are the products of inadequate understanding on behalf of policy- and law-makers with regard to gender dynamics of migrant families that join them in destination countries. Unfortunately, existing legislation do not enhance the capacity of relevant institutions to be compatible with varying gender ideologies in transnational places, which could meet the gendered needs of all women but also integration needs of women migrants. Moreover, relevant institutions also find themselves vulnerable to meet the rapidly diversifying needs of natives, migrants, and labor markets due to fluctuating political commitments to under equality and integration policies. My inferences conclude that in order to meet gender- and integrationrelated needs within relevant legislation in compliance with international/regional forums and to constitute effective observation strategies for labor market, the involvement of the private sector and relevant stakeholders must be whole-hearted. These are preliminary steps to bring women migrants in the labor market and to maintain their confidence for the continuation of employment in both destination countries. Methodologically,1 this study introduced a ‘gender-integration analysis framework’ to observe the gender- as well as integration-responsiveness of reviewed legislation in Germany and Sweden. The framework categorizes the targeted legal provisions based on their textual meanings, the interpretation of experts, and their effectiveness into three upshots: gender-sensitive, gender-neutral, or gender-blind. The framework itself demonstrates a few strengths and shortcomings during the testing phase. With reference to strengths, past literature either discerns the genderresponsiveness of development initiatives such as program/projects (e.g., Harvard; POP; Moser; GAM; C&V and Women’s Empowerment) or delve into possible association of legal provisions with integration processes in destination countries. My framework amalgamates both approaches to evaluate the gender-integrationresponsiveness of prevailing legislation to combat discriminatory practices against women migrants at workplaces in both destination countries. Second, previously developed frameworks exclusively pay attention on micro-level barriers, hence accounting for roles and responsibilities of women, highlighting relevant gender needs, and come up with interventions meant to empower women in a specific dimension (cited above). They overlook the macro-level implications of legislation on women’s empowerment, particularly on the matter of entry in the labor market. This framework presents new analytical techniques to underline gender and integration needs of migrants outlined in the international/regional conventions and recommendations to ensure gender-conduciveness of workplaces in destination countries, so that discriminatory practices could be neutralized at the macro (state), meso (institutions/agencies) and micro (workplace) levels. Third, previous frameworks are typically used to schedule assessment or evaluation studies before or after the implementation of particular interventions such as programs/projects (cited above). This framework helps observe the compliance of national legislation with guiding principles of international/regional conventions and recommendations to facilitate
1 Also
discussed in (Tahir, 2020).
132
9 Conclusions
the entry of women migrants in workplaces in destination countries. This is important, despite many destination countries having promised to respond appropriately to ensure migrants are on equal footing in their societies. Fourth, previous frameworks provide guidelines to design new or make important changes to ongoing programs or projects. This framework generates knowledge by underlining neutrality or blindness within reviewed legislation and offers cumulative data sets from micro (workplaces), meso (institutions), and macro (state) levels to revise the given legislation on genderas well as integration-sensitive lines. Finally, most legislation are promulgated under ‘Eurocentric’ and ‘civilization’ approaches for integration of women migrants with destination countries, especially for their entry into labor markets. This framework directs towards different practical and strategic needs of women migrants in destination labor markets due to their frequent and persistent exposure to origin as well as destination cultures, which can cause disturbance in their gender role behaviors and preferences. The framework introduces a systemic procedure to learn variations and to restructure institutional and legislative approaches for the smooth integration of women migrants into the labor markets of destination countries. As for shortcomings, the framework reviews more than cited national legislation to highlight ‘direct’ or ‘indirect’ clauses aiming to meet relevant needs in the workplace, but still, there could be an additional layer of legislation, which I could not consult due to the limited scope of research. This shortcoming has been addressed through expert interviews from relevant institutions. Second, the first tool of the framework provides a baseline to compare national legislation with identified gender and integration needs in the workplace, but these obligations only apply to countries bound by such international agreements. Thus, if binding documents are only consulted, the outcome of legislation may differ. Third, the effectiveness of given legal provisions is observed through reported experiences of women migrants (in-employment) or experts from selected state institutions/agencies. The framework does not include the employer’s perspective, which has not been addressed here. Nonetheless, the participation of works councils or trade unions could produce reliable knowledge about prevailing discriminatory practices, observation of given legal provisions, and alternative combating strategies in the workplace. Fourth, the sample size of women migrant is small, it is because only 20 percent of the total sampling frame was found working in both countries. A relatively bigger sample may cause some variations in reported discriminatory experiences. Finally, politicians are key stakeholders in the discourse of public policies and legislation. Although the framework includes experts’ perspective, it does not consult politicians. The inclusion of the politician’s perspective may help to unveil the precise reasons for existing gaps in legislation and identify alternatives to addressing them at the legislature.
9.1 Limitations
133
9.1 Limitations 1. The study is cross-sectional by nature, mainly supported through a post-doc research fellowship, hence trends over time or changes in legislation does not fall under its purview. 2. Past literature infers that the experiences of all migrant women are not the same— there is a difference between ‘refugees’ migration, and ‘economic’ migration, as well as concerning survival and educational skills. Nevertheless, it was very difficult to approach women migrants (in-employment) across Germany and Sweden. Hence, the statistical analysis based on varying residential statuses is not possible due to small sample size. 3. The quantitative analysis neither extends to origin countries nor includes demographic variables of women migrants. It solely concentrates on percentage of specific discriminatory practices faced by women migrants at workplaces, again due to limited sample. 4. The scope of generalization is limited due to the inclusion of an online sample. 5. The expert’s analysis does not include the perspective of BAMF from Germany. 6. Some policies/legislation may have been inadvertently overlooked while conducting this analysis.
Reference Tahir, M. W. (2020). Combating discrimination at workplaces through mainstreaming ‘gender’ and ‘integration’ needs in legislation: Testing a new analytical framework in Germany and Sweden. Women’s Studies International Forum (Vol. 81). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2020.102380.
Annex-I
See Tables A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, A9, and A10.
Table A1 Occupational sex- and ethnic-segregations Needs
Options
Germany Sweden
Do you perceive your current job in the lower-paid sector?
Yes
10 (43%) 9 (53%)
No
13 (57%) 8 (47%)
Yes
15 (65%) 13 (76%)
No
8 (35%)
Do you perceive your current job in the female-dominated sector?
4 (24%)
Does your employer give you the impression that you are not More likely 6 (26%) 6 (36%) suitable for managerial or supervisory position, with respect Less likely 17 (84%) 11 (64%) to your colleagues (native women, men) at your workplace? Do you think that you are given equal chances of promotion More likely 13 (57%) 7 (41%) based on your character, experience, ability, diligence, and Less likely 9 (43%) 10 (59%) seniority at the workplace? Have you ever faced discrimination on the matter of promotion at your workplace?
Yes
8 (42%)
No
11 (58%) 3 (21%)
Do women equally represent the decision-making forums along with men at your workplace?
More likely 15 (65%) 11 (73%) Less likely
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. W. Tahir, Responding to Women Migrant’s Needs, Contributions to Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63735-4
7 (35%)
11 (79%)
6 (27%) 135
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Annex-I
Table A2 Wage inequalities Needs
Germany
Sweden
If your contract is based on Yes minimum wage, are you paid No less than the committed amount?
Options
4 (40%)
3 (33%)
6 (60%)
6 (67%)
Does your employer write an Yes appraisal for financial No increments or rewards based on gender- and integration-sensitive criteria at the workplace?
8 (47%)
8 (47%)
9 (53%)
9 (53%)
Do you experience wage discrimination with respect to your colleagues (native women, men) at your workplace?
Yes
8 (36%)
7 (41%)
No
14 (64%)
10 (59%)
Do you perform overtime duties Yes at the workplace? No
18 (78%)
16 (94%)
5 (22%)
1 (6%)
Do you find overtime regulations gender- and ethnic-sensitive?
Yes
15 (65%)
10 (59%)
No
8 (35%)
7 (41%)
Are you equally paid for overtime assignments in comparison to your male and native colleagues?
Yes
12 (52%)
14 (82%)
No
11 (48%)
3 (18%)
How does your employer compensate for your overtime duties?
Financial incentives
5 (22%)
4 (23%)
Flexibility or reduction in working hours
14 (61%)
5 (29%)
Both options
4 (17%)
8 (48%)
Does your employer offer special allowances or subsidies to purchase caregiving services for your family members back home while performing overtime duties?
Yes
–
–
No
23 (100%)
17(100%)
Does your employer write positive remarks in their job appraisals for performing overtime duties?
More likely
11 (48%)
7 (41%)
Less likely
12 (52%)
10 (59%)
Does your employer write negative remarks in their job appraisals for performing overtime duties?
More likely
4 (17%)
6 (35%)
Less likely
19 (83%)
11 (65%)
(continued)
Annex-I
137
Table A2 (continued) Needs
Options
Germany
Sweden
Did your employer inform you about your salary package and other financial benefits attached to your employment before the beginning of your job?
Yes
16 (73%)
12 (71%)
No
6 (27%)
5 (29%)
Is your salary equal to your colleagues, especially male colleagues, who are performing similar duties with the same qualifications and charging the same designation at the workplace?
Yes
12 (52%)
3 (18%)
No
5 (22%)
7 (41%)
I don’t know
6 (26%)
7 (41%)
Is your salary compatible with your qualifications and experience?
Yes
8 (36%)
4 (23%)
No
14 (64%)
13 (77%)
Table A3 Reconciliation of professional work with family responsibilities Needs
Options
Germany
Sweden
Mean working days per week
–
4.45
5.06
Mean working hours per day
–
7.41
7.777
Does your employer offer you a short-term break for breastfeeding purposes during working hours?
Yes
7 (31%)
4 (24%)
No
16 (69%)
13 (76%)
If yes then does your employer deduct salaries against short-term break?
Yes
5 (71%)
3 (75%)
No
2 (29%)
1 (25%)
Does your employer treat you equally on working hours with respect to their native or male colleagues?
Yes
17 (74%)
16 (94%)
No
7 (26%)
1 (6%)
Are you entitled to short- or long-term leaves for childcare purposes?
Yes
20 (87%)
11 (65%)
No
3 (13%)
6 (35%)
Are you entitled to short- or long-term leaves for family Yes care purposes? No
7 (30%)
3 (18%)
16 (70%)
14 (82%)
Do you find a caregiving facility for your children or Yes your family members back home close to your home or No at your workplace?
11 (58%)
11 (85%)
8 (42%)
2 (15%)
If yes then, please underline the available caregiving facility as follows; for nursery
Yes
7 (64%)
5 (50%)
No
4 (36%)
5 (50%)
If yes then, please underline the available caregiving facility as follows; for pre-school children
Yes
6 (55%)
5 (55%)
No
5 (45%)
4 (45%) (continued)
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Annex-I
Table A3 (continued) Needs
Options
Germany
Sweden
If yes then, please underline the available caregiving facility as follows; for after-school children
Yes
6 (55%)
6 (60%)
No
5 (45%)
4 (40%)
If yes then, please underline the available caregiving facility as follows; for during school vacations
Yes
5 (45%)
5 (56%)
No
6 (55%)
4 (44%)
If yes then, how do you perceive caregiving giving facility in terms of; affordability
To large extent 3 (38%)
4 (44%)
To some extent 4 (50%)
5 (56%)
Not at all
–
If yes then, how do you perceive caregiving giving facility in terms of; distance friendly
1 (12%)
To large extent 5 (62%)
5 (56%)
To some extent 3 (38%)
4 (44%)
Not at all
–
–
If yes then, how do you perceive caregiving giving Long facility in terms of; waiting period (after applying for a Short place)
4 (50%)
3 (38%)
4 (50%)
5 (62%)
If yes then, please underline the available caregiving facility as follows; for elderly or sick family members
Yes
2 (18%)
2 (22%)
No
9 (82%)
7 (78%)
Does your employer offer you an alternative caregiving Yes facility while attending professional training or No business tours?
3 (27%)
4 (36%)
8 (73%)
7 (64%)
Does your employer offer you flexibility towards arrival and departure timings at the workplace?
Yes
15 (65%)
10 (59%)
No
8 (35%)
7 (41%)
Does your employer allow you to take up your professional assignments from home whenever you want?
Yes
10 (46%)
3 (18%)
No
13 (56%)
14 (82%)
Does your employer allow you to use ICTs to accomplish your professional assignments from the place of your convenience?
Yes
9 (39%)
3 (18%)
No
14 (61%)
14 (82%)
Does your employer offer you a training aiming to sensitize men and women on equal sharing of household work, childcare, and elderly care responsibilities?
Yes
4 (33%)
1 (8%)
No
8 (67%)
11 (92%)
–
3 (27%)
Does your employer offer you a training aiming to offer Yes counseling services to employees for combining No professional, domestic, and caregiving responsibilities if they need?
12 (100%) 8 (73%)
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139
Table A4 Protection against sexual harassment Needs
Germany
Sweden
Does your employer design an educational program to Yes improve your and your male colleagues’ understanding No of the meaning of ‘consent’ in the context of male-female professional relationships?
Options
2 (9%)
4 (25%)
22 (91%)
12 (75%)
Does your employer design educational programs to sensitize men about their actions that women perceive as ‘harassment’?
Yes
0 (0%)
3 (19%)
No
22 (100%) 13 (81%)
Does your employer design an educational program to inform men about the consequences of harassing women sexually?
Yes
1 (5%)
3 (13%)
No
21 (95%)
13 (87%)
Does your employer design an educational program to inform you (women) about preventive measures that can help avoid sexual harassment?
Yes
1 (5%)
4 (25%)
No
21 (95%)
12 (75%)
Does your employer formulate the ‘Sexual Harassment Yes Committee’ at the workplace? No
2 (11%)
4 (29%)
17 (89%)
10 (71%)
Does your employer ensure equal representation of women in the decision-making forums that design policies and propose measures to combat sexual harassment at the workplace?
Yes
5 (23%)
6 (40%)
No
5 (23%)
5 (33%)
I Don’t Know 12 (54%)
4 (27%)
Table A5 Monitoring of the implementation of migration and work policies/legislation Needs
Options
Germany Sweden
Does your employer establish a ‘Monitoring Cell’ to observe Yes – 4 (25%) the implementation of national policies and laws relating to No 6 (33%) 5 (31%) employment and gender equality at your workplace? I don’t know 12 (67%) 7 (44%) If yes then, does your employer equip ‘Monitoring Cell’ with qualified staff and provide an adequate financial resource?
Yes
–
2 (33%)
No
–
1 (17%)
I don’t know 4 (100%) 3 (50%)
If yes then, does your employer empower ‘Monitoring Cell’ Yes – – to propose penalties for violation of regulation at the No – 1 (14%) workplace? I don’t know 4 (100%) 6 (86%) Does your employer involve employees’ organizations or employees in designing and implementing the ‘Monitoring Plan’ at your workplace?
Yes
1 (10%)
–
No
3 (30%)
2 (22%)
I don’t know 6 (60%)
7 (78%)
Does your employer consult a ‘gender expert’ while designing and implementing a ‘Monitoring Plan’ at your workplace?
Yes
–
1 (11%)
No
2 (20%)
2 (22%)
I don’t know 8 (80%)
6 (67%)
Strategic needs
Practical needs
Germany
Equal participation of women and men in decision-making forums at workplaces
identical promotion criteria to ensure equal chances of upward mobility at workplaces
Increase women’s representation in under-represented sectors
Discourage lower-paid jobs for women migrants
Gender-integration Baseline needs indicators
Address ‘integration’ in legal provision
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
Direct Indirect No Direct Indirect No
Address ‘gender’ in legal provision
Table A6 Occupational segregation: gender- and integration-sensitivity of legislation Observation level
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
Neutral
Neutral
Neutral
Neutral
(continued)
Blind
Blind
Blind
Neutral
Integration
Gender-integration legislation outcome
More More Effective Ineffective Gender likely likely satisfied unsatisfied
Women migrant’s experiences
140 Annex-I
Strategic needs
Practical needs
Sweden
Equal participation of women and men in decision-making forums at workplaces
Identical promotion criteria to ensure equal chances of upward mobility at workplaces
Increase women’s representation in under-represented sectors
Discourage lower-paid jobs for women migrants
Gender-integration Baseline needs indicators
Table A6 (continued) Address ‘integration’ in legal provision
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
Direct Indirect No Direct Indirect No
Address ‘gender’ in legal provision
Observation level
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
Neutral
Neutral
Neutral
Neutral
Neutral
Neutral
Blind
Blind
Integration
Gender-integration legislation outcome
More More Effective Ineffective Gender likely likely satisfied unsatisfied
Women migrant’s experiences
Annex-I 141
Practical needs
Sweden
Strategic needs
Practical needs
Germany
Equality in minimum wages
Equal pay for equal work or work of equal value
Gender- and integration-sensitive overtime regulations and financial incentives
Financial increments based on gender- and ethnicity-sensitive criteria
Equality in minimum wages
Gender-integration Baseline indicators needs
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
Direct Indirect No
Address ‘integration’ in legal provision
√
√
Direct Indirect No
Address ‘gender’ in legal provision
Table A7 Wage inequalities: gender- and integration-sensitivity of legislation Observation level
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
Neutral
Sensitive
Neutral
Sensitive
Sensitive
(continued)
Neutral
Neutral
Neutral
Neutral
Neutral
Integration
Gender-integration legislation outcome
More More Effective Ineffective Gender likely likely satisfied unsatisfied
Women migrant’s experiences
142 Annex-I
Strategic needs
Equal pay for equal work or work of equal value
Gender- and integration-sensitive overtime regulations and financial incentives
Financial increments based on gender- and ethnicity-sensitive criteria
Gender-integration Baseline indicators needs
Table A7 (continued)
√
√
√
√
√
√
Direct Indirect No
Address ‘integration’ in legal provision
Direct Indirect No
Address ‘gender’ in legal provision
Observation level
√
√
√
√
Neutral
Neutral
Neutral
Neutral
Blind
Integration
Gender-integration legislation outcome
More More Effective Ineffective Gender likely likely satisfied unsatisfied √ √ Blind
Women migrant’s experiences
Annex-I 143
Practical needs
Sweden
Strategic needs
Practical needs
Germany
Gender-integration needs
Family
Child
Family
Child
Breastfeeding
Days & hours
Decent and gender-integration sensitive working hours
Breastfeeding
Days & hours
information package and counselling services for reconciliation of professional and family responsibilities
Flexible working hours schemes
Services for reconciliation of professional and caregiving responsibilities
Short- or long-term leaves to reconcile professional and caregiving responsibilities
Decent and gender-integration sensitive working hours
Baseline indicators
√
√
√
√
√
Direct
√
√
Indirect
√
√
√
No
Address ‘gender’ in legal provision Direct Indirect
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
No
Address ‘integration’ in legal provision
√
√
√
√
More likely satisfied
√
√
√
√
√
√
More likely unsatisfied
Women migrant’s experiences
√
√
√
√
Effective
√
√
√
√
√
Ineffective
Observation level
Table A8 Reconciliation of professional work with family responsibilities: gender- and integration-sensitivity of legislation
Neutral
Blind
Neutral
Neutral
Sensitive
Neutral
Sensitive
Neutral
Gender
(continued)
Neutral
Blind
Blind
Blind
Neutral
Blind
Neutral
Neutral
Integration
Gender-integration legislation outcome
144 Annex-I
Strategic needs
Gender-integration needs
Family
Child
Family
Child
Information package and counselling services for reconciliation of professional and family responsibilities
Flexible working hours schemes
Services for reconciliation of professional and caregiving responsibilities
Short- or long-term leaves to reconcile professional and caregiving responsibilities
Baseline indicators
Table A8 (continued)
√
√
Direct
√
Indirect
√
√
√
No
Address ‘gender’ in legal provision Direct Indirect
√
√
√
√
√
√
No
Address ‘integration’ in legal provision
√
More likely satisfied √
√
√
√
√
More likely unsatisfied
Women migrant’s experiences
√
√
Effective
√
√
√
Ineffective
Observation level
Blind
Neutral
Blind
Sensitive
Blind
Sensitive
Gender
Blind
Blind
Blind
Neutral
Blind
Neutral
Integration
Gender-integration legislation outcome
Annex-I 145
Strategic needs
Practical needs
Germany
Internal mechanism to combat sexual harassment at workplaces
Access to justice and transparency in penalties against sexual harassment
Clear definition of sexual harassment along with operational indicators
Gender-integration Baseline needs indicators
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
Blind
Neutral
Sensitive
More More Effective Ineffective Gender likely likely satisfied unsatisfied
(continued)
Blind
Blind
Blind
Integration
Gender-integration legislation outcome
Direct Indirect No Direct Indirect No
Observation level
Women migrant’s experiences
Address ‘gender’ in legal Address provision ‘integration’ in legal provision
Table A9 Sexual harassment: gender- and integration-sensitivity of legislation
146 Annex-I
Practical needs
Sweden
Clear definition of sexual harassment along with operational indicators
Education of employees on different dimensions of sexual harassment at workplaces
Gender-integration Baseline needs indicators
Table A9 (continued)
√
√
√
√
Neutral
More More Effective Ineffective Gender likely likely satisfied unsatisfied √ Blind
(continued)
Sensitive
Blind
Integration
Gender-integration legislation outcome
Direct Indirect No Direct Indirect No
Observation level
Women migrant’s experiences
Address ‘gender’ in legal Address provision ‘integration’ in legal provision
Annex-I 147
Strategic needs
Education of employees on different dimensions of sexual harassment at workplaces
Internal mechanism to combat sexual harassment at workplaces
Access to justice and transparency in penalties against sexual harassment
Gender-integration Baseline needs indicators
Table A9 (continued)
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
Blind
Blind
More More Effective Ineffective Gender likely likely satisfied unsatisfied √ Neutral
Blind
Blind
Blind
Integration
Gender-integration legislation outcome
Direct Indirect No Direct Indirect No
Observation level
Women migrant’s experiences
Address ‘gender’ in legal Address provision ‘integration’ in legal provision
148 Annex-I
Sweden
Strategic needs
Practical needs
Germany
Appointment of gender and integration experts for designing monitoring plans
Promotion of tripartite consultation on the constitution of monitoring mechanisms
Establishment of internal monitoring units at workplaces
Gender-integration Baseline Needs indicators
Address ‘integration’ in legal provision
√
√
√
√
√
√
Direct Indirect No Direct Indirect No
Address ‘gender’ in legal provision
Observation level
√
√
Blind
Neutral
Blind
(continued)
Blind
Blind
Blind
Integration
Gender-integration legislation outcome
More More Effective Ineffective Gender likely likely satisfied unsatisfied
Women migrant’s experiences
Table A10 Monitoring mechanism to observe the compliance of relevant legislation and policies
Annex-I 149
Strategic needs
Practical needs
Appointment of gender and integration experts for designing monitoring plans
Promotion of tripartite consultation on the constitution of monitoring mechanisms
Establishment of internal monitoring units at workplaces
Gender-integration Baseline Needs indicators
Table A10 (continued) Address ‘integration’ in legal provision
√
√
√
√
√
√
Direct Indirect No Direct Indirect No
Address ‘gender’ in legal provision
Observation level
Blind
Blind
Blind
Blind
Blind
Integration
Gender-integration legislation outcome
More More Effective Ineffective Gender likely likely satisfied unsatisfied √ √ Neutral
Women migrant’s experiences
150 Annex-I