Gendered Integration
On the feminisation of contemporary discourses on the cultural inclusion of immigrants in Europe
Abstract
A chief characteristic of current policies of integration is the increasing invocation of assimilationist policies and demands. Immigrants are thus more and more required not only to adopt the practices that enable them to work within the EU both at the economic and political level, but also to assume those cultural codes that are associated with “being European”. However, the role that gender plays in the current shift towards assimilationist discourses and policies regarding immigrants in European has not yet been emphasised.
This research project thus intends to shed light on the role played by gender in contemporary notions and processes of migrant integration and especially in the contemporary shifts of such policies and public discourses towards assimilation in Europe. By means of a multidisciplinary approach that links together historical, sociological and gender studies research frameworks, the project proposal undertakes a comparative analysis of both policies and cultural discourses on immigrant integration that deal with women. Drawing an analogy, we might say that the European model of female emancipation is currently playing the role against the external threat represented by immigrants, especially of Muslim origin, that the European model of democracy played during the Cold War.