Seminar on Highly Skilled Migrant Women Integration into

1. Seminar on Highly Skilled Migrant Women Integration into the Labour Market: Challenges, Opportunities and Responses Vienna, 14 October, 2013 Gender-Sensitive Labour Migration Policies by Nina Lindroos-Kopolo

2. Feminization of labour migration % of women amongst the total number of international migrants in the following regions: Source: UNDESA http://esa.un.org/migration/index.asp?panel=1

3. Feminization of migration • Increasingdemand for foreign female labourin a variety of labour markets sectors due to i.e. ageing populations and higher participation of native-born women in the labour market in destination countries: • domestic and healthcare work • hospitality, retail and agriculture • education • doctors, lawyers, scientists … • Economic situation and limited work opportunities in countries of origin

4. What happens when gender related aspects are not considered in LMP? • It may results in discriminatory and unfair situations for female labour migrants • When admission policies are not fully reflected of the demand for labour and a preference is made for high-skilled labour in more male dominated sectors • higher percentage of irregular female than male labour migrants, due to the nature of their work (e.g. domestic labour): • worse working conditions and higher risks of exploitation and abuse (e.g. working overtime without pay, low wages, psychological/physical abuses, etc.) • little labour protection and low if any social security coverage • and they are often overqualified

5. What happens when gender related aspects of LMP are not considered? Source: Dumont J.C. and O. Monso: “Matching Educational Background and Employment: A Challenge for Immigrants in Host Countries” in International Migration Outlook. OECD, Paris, 2007

6. What happens when gender related aspects are not considered in LMP? • 2. De-skilling and down-grading of skilled and highly skilled migrant women • “Brain waste” and lost opportunities to contribute on a higher level to economic progress, innovation and R&D • Lost investment in human capital building • Financial welfare loss through lower earnings and wealth generation, lower remittances, lower consumptions, lower tax payments etc. • Social costs through family separation; personal frustration and unhappiness due to limited career development opportunities and unsatisfactory working/life conditions • SUMMARY: LOSS TO THE MIGRANT AND HER FAMILY, TO THE CoO and CoD

7. This can be mitigatedbyintroducing gendersensitive LM policies that recognize that: • Bothmen/womenmigrateforeconomicreasons / betteremployment • The migrationexperience of menandwomendiffersandfemalemigrantworkersmayexperiencemoredisadvantagesanddiscrimination • Femalemigrantworkerssignificantlycontributeeconomicallyandsociallybothtotheir countries of originanddestination and seek to: • Develop enabling policy and legislative environments • Follow a “two-way approach”, encompassing general provisions to protect migrants and specific provisions that target female migrants; • Introduce temporary special measures to compensate for past discrimination

8. FOR EXAMPLE Gender-sensitive policies can help to mitigate de-skilling, “brain waste” and downgrading • Raise awareness among employers to consider highly-skilled female migrants for a variety of job openings • Sensitize government policy-makers that certain admission criteria may have gender discriminatory effects • They can: • Provide information and resource centers for migrants with job assistance • Facilitate foreign diploma and degree recognition • Provide opportunities to complement existing education • Establish professional refresher courses • Offer on-site and distance learning courses in technical language and national specifications of a profession • They also help with integration through improved understanding of the host society, language skills and professional contribution commensurate with qualifications

9. Defining the problem Evaluating the policy Agenda Setting Implemen-ting the policy Formulating a labourmigrationpolicy Findwhoallneedsto be involved Adoptingthepolicy Gather support for introducing gender-sensitive measures How to get to GSLMP – Main Steps for introducing gender into LMP Gender Impact Assessments Determine impact of introduced measures and detect potential policy mistakes Establish Objectives Build knowledge and capacity of implementing institutions

10. Key issues • Gathering the correct data to do an in-depth gender analysis to define the problem, set the agenda and formulate a gender-sensitive policy. There are e.g. challenge of measuring irregular, informal, and short-term job arrangements • Building knowledge of the issue and a coalition of relevant stakeholders for the adoption and implementation of the new policy • Ensuring that all responsible for implementing the policy is aware of their roles and tasks and have adequate resources • Setting up a well functioning monitoring and evaluation mechanism

11. Best practice: Canada • The Canadian Federal Government adopted in 1995 its Federal Plan for Gender Equality • The Canadian Minister of Immigration is required to submit each year an Annual Report to • Parliament containing a gender-based analysis of the impact of the Immigration and Refugee Act. • Results from the CIC 2002 gender-based analysis lead to a number of changes to the points system.

12. OSCE tools Updated version 2012 Available on: www.osce.org/eea • These are some of the challenges, opportunities and solutions that the OSCE tools discuss • They have been prepared to help policymakers, government officials, social partners and migrant associations improve their understanding of the difficulties faced by female migrant workers, and how carefully developed measures can help remove them to maximise the benefits of labour migration to all • Training courses using these tools can be provided by the OSCE to interested countries and institutions.

13. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION Contact information: Nina.lindrooskopolo@gmail.com