Project description
Women migrants’ role in post-war north-western European economies
A common misconception about post-war migration in Europe is that almost all migrants from southern Europe to the booming economies of north-western Europe were men. However, post-war migration to north-western Europe included 25 to 30 % women, whose contributions in factory and domestic work are often overlooked. The ERC-funded FeMMiWork project will create a counter-archive of documents, oral histories and creative writings to reconstruct the histories of women migrants. It will compare the experiences of women from southern Europe (Italy and Yugoslavia) and Turkey, who lived and worked in France and West Germany between 1955 and 1985. The study will explore counter-geographies of globalisation and shift the focus of European history to marginalised migrant women.
Objective
A key assumption about postwar migration in Europe is incorrect – that nearly all who moved from the European South to work in the booming northwestern European economies were men. In fact, anywhere between 25 and 30% were women, but their role was erased by policy-makers, and subsequently by researchers, who framed labour migration as male. The resulting epistemological fog has led to claims that the feminisation of migration is a recent phenomenon.
Women’s work trajectories, and experiences of work, were distinctly gendered. Rectifying the record involves not only rescuing the forgotten stories of women working legally in factories. It also involves rethinking the notion of labour migration by focusing on invisible and informal, and yet crucial, labour, such as domestic work by women classified as dependents.
By creating a counter-archive comprised of documents, oral history, and creative writing, this project will reconstruct the histories of women migrants. Four researchers will engage in systematic comparison of the trajectories and experiences of women from southern Europe (Italy, Yugoslavia) and Turkey, living and working in two destination states (France, West Germany) between 1955 and 1985. Using a transnational framework that considers relationships to multiple places, we will examine how gender and ethnic/national difference intersected to shape women’s experiences. By recognizing and analysing the central place of women from Southern Europe and Turkey in building the northwestern European economies in the postwar boom years, the study examines the genesis of what sociologists call “counter-geographies of globalization.” In de-centering European history by focusing on migrant women from Europe’s periphery, it will change our understanding of the evolution of Europe after the Second World War. Through interdisciplinary critical engagement, it promises to generate new insights into the evolving role of gendered labour in globalization processes.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities history and archaeology history
- social sciences other social sciences development studies development theories global development studies globalization
- social sciences sociology demography human migrations
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-COG
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6200 MD Maastricht
Netherlands
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