On Equal Grounds? Migrant Women’s Participation in Labour and Labour Related Activities (EQUALPART)

Compared to other countries, the Norwegian welfare state allocates relatively significant resources to refugees and immigrants who have recently arrived in the country. Nevertheless, a significantly higher proportion of people with an immigrant background are outside the labor market compared to the general population, and this has been the case for an extended period. This is particularly true for women and refugees. The EQUALPART project investigates how this group receives support to be included in the labor market beyond/after the introductory program, with assistance from the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) (qualification program, social assistance), labor-oriented measures, and through cooperation with the voluntary sector. One of our overarching questions is: What ambitions does the Norwegian state have for inclusion beyond the introductory program? The project connects different perspectives, actors, and levels to illuminate this, and places particular focus on the context in which individual actions and rationalities arise. Legal considerations play a central role in the analyses of the project's empirical data. We examine how rights that exist on paper are upheld in practice. The project contributes new knowledge about the reasons why women with an immigrant background are more likely than others to be outside the labor market. We examine the interplay between established practices, legislation, and the actors involved – the women themselves, street-level bureaucrats, project managers, political and administrative leadership in municipalities, employers, social entrepreneurs, and the voluntary sector. In the project, we also study the effects of measures targeted at the target group (NorA in Bergen), and conduct long-term ethnographic studies of the efforts made to promote labor-oriented inclusion. Furthermore, the project contributes new perspectives on how the welfare state appears in its role as an employer when the goal is work and inclusion. For many women with an immigrant background, health and social care services are an important workplace. Municipalities and county municipalities around the country have become aware of immigrant women and the opportunity to solve staffing problems with their available workforce. They have developed educational programs, qualification courses, and recruitment strategies to fill this gap with these "new hands." However, the health and social care sector has historically been a sector characterized by part-time work and zero-hour contracts.Through ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with both employers and employees, EQUALPART investigates whether municipal health and social care services serve as a good inclusion arena for women with an immigrant background. We ask- (how) are they truly included?