Female Migration in Greece and Integration Issues: Access to Welfare System and Political Participation

Greece  has turned in recent years into an immigration region. While immigration  started in the early 1980s, it was only in the early 1990s that significant numbers of economic migrants started arriving and became a new destination country.  An additional important feature of the immigration process in Greece is the large proportion of women who migrate alone in search of employment.   

With regard to the integration problem  of migrant women many studies indicate that issues related to citizenship  are crucial. In particular the exclusion of women from social goods and welfare national system and  the  non-active  participation in social and political life in the countries of residence are of paramount importance.   Thus, access   to welfare goods  is associated with citizenship, while social security  and health system use are  key indicators used internationally to  measure the degree  of   social integration of transnational  migrants.  At the same time,  active  political participation  highlights the  level  of  their integration.

In the context  of the  problematic  for the social integration of women  migrants in new immigration countries a nation-wide survey on a sample of 600 economic  women migrants    who had residence and work permit  was held by EKKE (National Centre for Social Research)  in 2010.

This paper  refers  to some issues related to  the   integration  of  women migrants in our country  based on the  results of  the above survey. More concretely we will  analyze  the   access of migrant women to social - welfare services,   investigating issues related to social security   coverage and the use of  public health services.  We will also discuss  the interest of immigrant  women  in political   life,  and their  participation in collective  political activities  and  organizational schemes.