2019
Opportunities and Challenges on the Path of Labour Market Integration – The Case of Professional Women on the Move in Europe
18 October 2019 (9:00-13:00), Brussels
Major European capitals continue to attract a growing number of highly skilled[1]professionals, considered by major stakeholders as a critical element in the success of the EU economy particularly in an increasingly competitive global market for talent, innovation and economic growth in the European Union. However, despite long-standing academic credentials and work experience, professional women on the move[2]may face many difficulties in re-entering the labour market, including periods of unemployment and deskilling in the host country[3]. Moreover, despite valuable and extensive literature on intra-EU mobility and international migration, little attention has been paid to the particular challenges of integration of professional women in the EU labour market. There is, therefore, a knowledge gap which may contribute towards unfair ideas and stereotypes about a perceived life of privilege associated with the experiences of professional women on the move while rendering their pleas invisible to policymakers, potential employers and other social actors.
Assumptions, of endless opportunities for international career advancement or a life of privilege based on a deliberate withdrawal from the labour market, seems to dominate the discourse on professional women on the move in contrast to the literature on migrant women. As a result, stakeholders may be missing an opportunity to learn important lessons, and to address on-going issues related to underutilization of talent and skills generated by mismatches in the labour market, along with social problems (eg., unemployment, well-being, etc.). As a contribution to the discussion, this seminar meeting will bring forward a “snapshot” of experiences, concerns, and voices of professional women on the move. It will showcase examples of promising practices of new pathways to labour market integration and collaboration as a starting point. Discussions, therefore, will focus on the experience of professional women on the move, particularly in the context of intra-EU mobility, gender equality, and labour market integration from the perspective of movers and practitioners.
If you wish to participate and contribute in an exchange of views on this subject, please see below information on registration. This event has the support of WeWork[4].
AGENDA
8:45 Registration
9:00 Welcome
9:05 Setting the Stage: What do we know about professional women on the move in the EU?
Jarka Devine Mildorf, Social Scientist and Gender Equality Specialist, EU diplomatic spouses as tied migrants, the challenge to maintain job and independence
Publication: “The issues facing partners and spouses of European diplomats: A gender perspective“, Vypracováno v rámci projektu Rovnost žen a mužů v české zahraniční politice a rozvojové spolupráci, CZ.03.1.51/0.0/0.0/15_028/0006338
Anelise Gomes de Araujo, Migration Specialist & Here we are Belgium Focal Point, Networking, employment services, and information: Key findings from the survey on intra-EU mobility of female highly-skilled workers
Q&A/Discussion
10:15-10:30 Coffee break
10:30 Practice: What is available in support of professional women on the move? What practices do we know that could be adapted to serve this group?
VerenaHeingärtner, Co-founder VIE LESA, Vienna Local Expatriate Spouse Association, Austria
Kavitha Varathan, Founder & CEO, Expat Spouses Initiative, The Netherlands
Francesca Crivellaro, Project Manager, EUmentorSTEM, Erasmus+ Programme, Italy
Natália Leal, Coach & Trainer, The Netherlands
Jesse Colzani, Legal & Partnership Officer, The Good Lobby, Belgium
Karen Larsen, Co-founder, Thagaconnect, Denmark
Q&A/Discussion
12:45 Ways Forward: where do we go from here?
13:00 Closing
Technical Note
The event will be held in English, and no admission fee is required. There is no supporting administration procedure (i.e., letter of invitation) or funding for participation.
Registration is obligatory, and only those who registered and receive a confirmation will be able to attend given the limitation on the number of participants. Please feel free to disseminate this information to those in your network who might be interested in joining the discussion.
Registration
Please send below information until 16 October 2019 to info@highlyskilledwomen.eu
Name, affiliation, e-mail and webpage
[1]According to OECD, 2009 highly skilled migrants are defined as migrants who “have at least tertiary education, but other definitions are possible, notably on the basis of the nature of the occupation in which they are employed. One practical way of defining highly skilled migrants that have been used in some countries is by means of wages paid, with the highly skilled consisting of persons earning above a threshold value”.
[2]EU citizens and third-country nationals
[3]See works by Ankers, Iredale, Kofman, Raghuram, Riaño, and Zulauf.
[4]Thanks to the support of WeWork by providing the venue which enables this event to take place.
2013
Expat Center Vienna
Schmerlingplatz 3,
1010 Vienna
14 October 2013, 9.00 – 14.00
AGENDA
9.00- 9.15 Welcome of Participants
9.15 Opening
Prof. Christoph Reinprecht, Head of the Research Platform Migration and
Integration, Institute for Sociology, University of Vienna
Opening Seminar highly Skilled Women_Okt2013
Mag. Sabine Ohler, MBA, Head of International Services Department, Vienna Business Agency
9.30-9.45 Key Welcome Note
Dr. Marion Gebhart, Head of the Department for the Promotion and Coordination of Women’s Issues, MA 57, on behalf of Sandra Frauenberger, Executive City Councillor for Integration, Women’s Issues, Consumer Protection and Personnel, City of Vienna
9.45-10.30 Panel Discussion 1 – Mobility of Highly Skilled Women
Moderator: Neha Chatwani, Human Resources and Organisation Development Expert, DBA candidate at Grenoble Ecole de Management
Nina Lindroos-Kopolo, MscEcon and MBA, Former Senior Economic Officer, OSCE “Gender-Sensitive Migration Policy”, Vienna, Austria
Anne Frisch, Board Member, VP Treasure, Representing the European Professional Women’s Network, Munich, Germany
Women & Mobility AF October 2013
Open Discussion with seminar participants – Questions from the floor
10.30-11.00 Coffee Break
11.00 -12.45 Panel Discussion 2 – Current Situation on Mobility, Challenges and Opportunities: What do we know?
Moderator: Anelise Gomes de Araujo, Specialist International Migration, PhD Candidate, University of Vienna
Prof. Louise Ryan, Middlesex University London, Free Movement of Workers in the EU Focusing on Highly Skilled, United Kingdom
Prof. Yvonne Riaño, University of Berne, Challenges and Opportunities of Highly Skilled Female Migrant Workers, Switzerland
Riano Vienna_Challenges & Opportunities for web page
Blandine Mollard, Project Officer, IOM Geneva, The Psychosocial Impact of Underemployment in the Lives of Highly Skilled Migrant Women
Deskilling Presentation Blandine Mollard IOM Vienna
Open Discussion with seminar participants – Questions from the floor
12.45 – 13.00 Conclusion
13.00 – 14.00 Refreshments/Networking Time
Short Bio of Speakers:
Prof. Dr. Christoph Reinprecht, Head of the Research Platform Migration and
Integration, Institute for Sociology, University of Vienna – Dr. Christoph Reinprecht is Professor of Sociology at the University of Vienna, head of the interdisciplinary research platform “Migration and Integration Research and associated member at the “Centre de la Recherche sur l’Habitat”(CRH), CNRS, Paris. In 2011 he held a full visiting professor position at the University Paris 8. His research interests include issues of migration, with a special focus on the construction of well-being in the context of migration, urban and housing issues, the analysis of social inequalities, and social policy related issues. In 2012, he started a WWTF-funded project on Transnational Labour Markets and Social Differentiation in the Central European Region (together with Roland Verwiebe and Raimund Haindorfer), and a Sparkling Science project on young people and transnational urban space. He published 8 books and more than 80 scientific articles, recently on “Social Housing and the Transformation of the Social Question” (in Kath Scanlon and Christine Whitehead eds., Social Housing in Europe, Wiley 2013, forthcoming), and on “Migration and Memory” (co-editor of Revue Européennes des Migrations Internationals Vol 29/1). His widely quoted book on the first generation of labour migrants (Nach der Gastarbeit. Prekäres Altern in der Einwanderungsgesellschaft, Braumüller Verlag 2006) is in preparation for a reprint.
Mag. Sabine Ohler, MBA, Head of International Services Department, Vienna Business Agency – Since March 2012 Head of International Services, Vienna Business Agency, the official Investment Promotion Agency of the City of Vienna. Responsible for the international promotion of the business location Vienna as well as the Expat Center Vienna. Lived and worked over a decade in the US (New York, Washington, Atlanta), leading roles with a technology start-up as well as a Wall Street financial advisor specialized in the energy sector. Many years experience as Investor Relations Officer and Head of Group Communications of several listed Austrian Blue-Chip companies. Business studies in Austria, France, and the US. Passionate fan of Vienna – the City for Life.
Dr. Marion Gebhart , Head of the Department for the Promotion and Coordination of Women’s Issues at the City of Vienna MA 57 – Dr. Gebhart studied law in Graz (Austria) and has been working for the City of Vienna since 1986. From 1994 to 1999 she worked as a Vienna Children’s and Youth Ombuds-Officer and has also worked as a mediator and lecturer.
Neha Chatwani, Human Resources and Organisation Development Expert, DBA candidate at Grenoble Ecole de Management – Neha Chatwani gained her Master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Vienna and is currently a candidate for a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) in Organization Behaviour at the Grenoble Ecole de Management. She has over 15 years of experience in international profit and public sector organisations in the areas of human resource management and organisational development. Further, she is a qualified systemic coach and trainer. Her current interests in academic research are linked to all topics that are concerned about leveraging peoples true potential for the common good.
Nina Lindroos-Kopolo , MscEcon and MBA, Former Senior Economic Officer, OSCE “Gender-Sensitive Migration Policy”, Vienna, Austria – Nina Lindroos-Kopolo, MscEcon and MBA, has a longstanding international career in economic affairs, good governance, migration management, and business and industrial development. While working for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe she, among other things, developed comprehensive labour migration policy handbooks and training tools. She has organized several international events on migration policy dialogue and exchange of good practices in Europe and Central Asia, and conducted training seminars on labour migration as well as gender-senstive labour migration policies. She has also worked for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the European Free Trade Association, the Bank of Finland as well as the private sector.
Anne Frisch, Board Member, VP Treasure, Representing the European Professional Women’s Network, Munich, Germany – Anne Frisch is an accomplished CFO with 25 years of experience at the most senior level of listed international companies in manufacturing and energy sectors. She has been leading multinational turnarounds, organizational transformations, cross-cultural teams and multimillion investments, during times of both prosperity and global economic crisis. Throughout her career she has also served as an active member of the Board for international joint-ventures in highly complex and political environments, and built expertise in the governance of joint-ventures. Anne Frisch holds an MBA from HEC Paris School of Management. She also studied at MIT Sloan, Stockholm School of Economics, and McGill University in Canada. As Board Director and Treasurer of EPWN Federation, a volunteer non-profit professional women´s network of 3500+ members present in 23 European cities, Anne is dedicated to advancing women in business. A native French speaker, fluent in English, German and Spanish, Anne lived and worked across Europe, America and Asia. She currently lives in Munich Germany with her husband and 3 children. Career Milestones: PUBLICIS – CFO Germany & Austria (2012 – 2013); AREVA – CFO Enrichment Business Unit (2009 – 2011); RIO TINTO ALCAN – CFO Alcan International Network (2007 – 2009); ALCAN PACKAGING – Business Finance Director (2005 – 2007); SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT – Finance Director and Business Development (1995 -2004); and MOULINEX – Export Manager (1989 – 1994).
Prof. Louise Ryan, Middlesex University London, Free Movement of Workers in the EU Focusing on Highly Skilled, United Kingdom – Louise Ryan is Professor of Sociology and Co-Director of the Social Policy Research Centre. She has published extensively on migration and social networks, ethnicity, religion and gender. Louise’s work has appeared in international journals such as Sociology, Sociological Review, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies and International Migration. She has co-edited (with Wendy Webster) Gendering Migration: masculinity, femininity and ethnicity in post-war Britain (Ashgate, 2008). Louise has recently co-edited (with Linda McKie) the first e-special issue of Sociology on the subject of research methods in the discipline (2012). Louise has held several research grants from the Economic and Social Research Council, as well as leading projects commissioned by charitable organisations, local authorities and government departments. She is currently working on a 5 year FP7 project on Early School Leaving in the EU. She sits on the editorial board of Sociology and International Migration. Louise is Director of Publications and a member of the Executive Management Team of the British Sociological Association Council. She is Programme Leader of the MSc/ PG Cert in Professional Practice in Research and in addition is currently supervising 7 PhD students and 2 D Prof students. Louise has been interviewed about her research on national radio (BBC Radio 4 and Irish Radio) and TV (BBC and Irish national TV) as well as newspapers in Poland and Belgium.
Prof. Yvonne Riaño, University of Berne, Challenges and Opportunities of Highly Skilled Female Migrant Workers, Switzerland – Yvonne Riaño is a senior lecturer at the Institute of Geography, University of Bern (Switzerland) and an Associate Research Fellow at the Maison d’analyse des processus sociaux at the University of Neuchatel. She has carried out extensive research on migration in European and Latin American cities, from the perspective of gender and ethnicity. Her work focuses on issues of social inequality, transnational families, undocumented migrants, return migration and participatory research. She is considered as one of the world’s specialists on the issue of skilled migration and gender. Yvonne Riaño has published her work extensively in books and international journals such as Environment and Planning A, International Journal of Migration and Integration, Diversities, and Nouvelles Questions Féministes.
Blandine Mollard, Project Officer, IOM Geneva, The Psychosocial Impact of Underemployment in the Lives of Highly Skilled Migrant Women – Ms. Blandine Mollard, Project Officer, Gender Coordination Unit, International Organization for Migration has a background in international law and international relations and a specialization on development studies. She has worked in Morocco with grass-root women’s associations on the promotion of women’s rights and especially increasing rural women’s access to information on their rights. Later on, she pursued on this advocacy effort by joining an international NGO called Femmes Africa Solidarité, in Geneva whose goal is to mitigate the impact of armed conflicts on civilian women and girls and promote their active participation to conflict prevention and conflict resolution, in line with UN resolution 1325. Since 2007, she has been working in the Gender Coordination Unit of the International Organization for Migration at its headquarters in Geneva. Her work consists of providing expertise on the inclusion of gender concerns in migration management. In this capacity, she has especially worked on addressing traditional practices having detrimental effects on women’s and girls’ health such as Female Genital Mutilation, promote migrant women’s leadership and integration. Recently she coordinated the IOM publication “Crushed hopes: underemployment and deskilling among skilled migrant women”. The publication focuses on the psychosocial aspects of deskilling among skilled migrant women with case studies from the UK, Quebec and co-authored a case study on the impact of deskilling on the lives of professional migrant women in Geneva. This chapter is both published in the Crushed Hopes opus in English and as a stand-alone publication, in French.
References
Guide on Gender Sensitive Labour Migration in the OSCE Region, OSCE, 2009 http://www.osce.org/eea/45864
Gender and Labour Migration Trainer’s Manual, OSCE, 2010 http://www.osce.org/eea/67967
Riaño, Yvonne, “Drawing New Boundaries of Participation: Experiences and Strategies of Economic Citizenship Among Skilled Migrant Women in Switzerland”, Environment and Planning A 2011, Vol 43 Riano_2011_Strategies of skilled migrant women in CH
Riaño, Yvonne “Gut Ausgebildete Migrantinnen und Ihre Beruflichen Integration Schancen inder Schweiiz”, University of Bern, 2008 Brochure Gut Ausgebildete Migrantinnen 11.06.08
Crushed Hopes: Underemployment and Deskilling among Killed Migrant Women, International Organization for Migration (IOM), 2012 http://publications.iom.int/bookstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=41_7&products_id=892
Mulholland, Jon and Louise Ryan, “French Capital: A Study of French Highly-Skilled Migrants in London’s Financial and Business Sectors – A Report on Preliminary Observations”, Middlesex University (London), Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, 2013 Mulholland_Report
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