‘In and out’ of the labour market: Immigrant and minority women in Europe

This article explores the role of women migrants in the increasingly complex migration arena that is Western Europe. Women can no longer simply be considered within the framework of family reunification. Women's proportion in the migration flow is increasing overall and within some ethnic groups women are now more numerous than men. And compared with indigenous women in the receiving countries, immigrant/minority women display a high level of labour market participation. The changed political map of Europe as a whole, and political and economic pressures in the sending countries, combine to augment migration pressure while ‘Fortress Europe’ continues to erect external barriers. The result is increasing flows of undocumented migrants, for whom precarious and low‐paid work outside the formal economy is often the only option. Women in this situation are particularity vulnerable, not least to exploitation in the sex ‘trade’. The article argues that it is time for Western Europe to acknowledge its responsibility, both to the settled minority groups, and to migrants and refugees who flee intolerable conditions.