It is essential to understand immigration in Italy from the point of view of women, who today represent half of the foreigners in Italy.

Gender vision allows us to address multiple problems to which migrant women seek practical solutions and not mere rhetoric. For example, the phenomenon of forced migrations and trafficking, the employment insertion and the pathways to inclusion and political and social participation.

Employment insertion remains one of the most difficult problems to solve, as emerged from the testimonies of the many Afghan women welcomed in Italy by NOVE since 2021.

Even for foreign women, who often arrive in Italy without their husbands but with minor children, it is almost impossible to work and take care of the children at the same time.

Moreover, the professional integration of migrant women is slowed down, if not prevented, by the lack of academic recognition of qualifications obtained in their country of origin. Added to this is the fact that the Italian market does not yet seem to be ready to absorb the skills offered by foreign men and women, who understandably find it difficult to find their way in the Italian institutional labyrinth.

Foreign women in Italy, go from a state of initial excitement at being welcomed by a country that respects their fundamental rights and where they believe they can rebuild a dignified existence, to the disappointment of being confronted with institutional barriers and cultural that seem insurmountable.

NOVE’s work in the area of female migration consists of supporting these women, who are no longer victims of totalitarian regimes and fundamentalist ideologies, but emancipated protagonists of their new Italian life, to get to know the reality of our country, analyse its context and accept its limits, finding their new space. With a psycho-social analysis of the skills, qualifications, work experience and ambitions of these female professionals, and with a great deal of empathy for the dramas they have experienced, it is possible to find a place for them that is in keeping with their many abilities.

However, this is only really possible if we overcome social and institutional discrimination(even the simple opening of a bank account sometimes turns into a titanic task), the almost lack of access to credit for migrant women, and with the cooperation of a private sector that knows how to recognise and accept talent.

Arianna Briganti, NOVE’s Vice President