{"id":2933,"date":"2022-03-03T14:58:10","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T14:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/?p=2933"},"modified":"2022-03-03T14:58:11","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T14:58:11","slug":"the-important-flipside-of-immigration-in-switzerland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/2022\/03\/03\/the-important-flipside-of-immigration-in-switzerland\/","title":{"rendered":"The important flipside of immigration in Switzerland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cImmi\u00adgrant.\u201d What comes to your mind when you hear that word? Per\u00adhaps you think of \u201cunfa\u00admil\u00adiar,\u201d or \u201cdif\u00adfer\u00adent.\u201d In the media migra\u00adtion is often con\u00adno\u00adtat\u00aded neg\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly. A study<\/a> by the School for Com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion and Jour\u00adnal\u00adism con\u00adfirms that TV por\u00adtray\u00adals of immi\u00adgrants are most\u00adly neg\u00ada\u00adtive and affect view\u00aders\u2019 atti\u00adtudes towards them. Immi\u00adgrants are assumed to be poor, une\u00add\u00adu\u00adcat\u00aded, and unable to speak the native lan\u00adguage of the coun\u00adtry they came to. But this image is mere\u00adly one side of a much more nuanced story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accord\u00ading to the Swiss Fed\u00ader\u00adal Office for sta\u00adtis\u00adtics<\/a>, more than every third per\u00adson in Switzer\u00adland has a migra\u00adto\u00adry back\u00adground. There\u00adfore, Switzer\u00adland and its econ\u00ado\u00admy are heav\u00adi\u00adly influ\u00adenced by migra\u00adtion. A lot of peo\u00adple from for\u00adeign coun\u00adtries come here to find work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is com\u00admon knowl\u00adedge that more female immi\u00adgrants than Swiss women work in low-wage occu\u00adpa\u00adtions such as nurs\u00ading, sales, and cater\u00ading. Stud\u00adies by the SFO<\/a> con\u00adfirm this. Labour short\u00adages can be alle\u00advi\u00adat\u00aded through immi\u00adgra\u00adtion \u2014 espe\u00adcial\u00adly in the event of rapid eco\u00adnom\u00adic upswings. Immi\u00adgra\u00adtion helps to steady the econ\u00ado\u00admy, as there are more work\u00aders at disposition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How\u00adev\u00ader, many peo\u00adple do not realise that immi\u00adgrants are more like\u00adly to be affect\u00aded by dis\u00adqual\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion than Swiss cit\u00adi\u00adzens, as shown in research car\u00adried out at the Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty of Berne in 2007<\/a> Dis\u00adqual\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion means that they can\u00adnot find any work suit\u00aded for their qual\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion and as a result must work in a dif\u00adfer\u00adent field. This is also called \u00abbrain waste\u00bb, as they can\u00adnot use nor apply their knowl\u00adedge to its full extent. So, even though they are high\u00adly edu\u00adcat\u00aded, they can\u00adnot find work that suits their lev\u00adel of edu\u00adca\u00adtion and must opt for low\u00ader wage jobs. This is par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly true for women, who tend to expe\u00adri\u00adence even greater hur\u00addles in the job mar\u00adket, as research pub\u00adlished in the Inter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal Jour\u00adnal of Inter\u00adcul\u00adtur\u00adal Research<\/a> has confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite these bar\u00adri\u00aders, immi\u00adgrant women work in many areas of the job mar\u00adket and earn their own incomes. Their work ranges from care-work to high\u00adly qual\u00adi\u00adfied posi\u00adtions like CEOs of companies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spoke to 10 immi\u00adgrant women who live in Switzer\u00adland and work in high\u00adly qual\u00adi\u00adfied, most\u00adly man\u00adage\u00adment, posi\u00adtions. They come from dif\u00adfer\u00adent coun\u00adtries in Europe. The age at which they came to Switzer\u00adland ranged from 24 to 35. When asked why they came to Switzer\u00adland, 50% moved because of a job oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty or stud\u00adies and approx\u00adi\u00admate\u00adly 50% moved because of fam\u00adi\u00adly rea\u00adsons. Regard\u00adless of the rea\u00adson, they all came to be work\u00ading in high\u00adly qual\u00adi\u00adfied posi\u00adtions. When asked if they would still decide to come live in Switzer\u00adland if they had the pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty to go back and rethink their mov\u00ading here, all answered yes. Like\u00adwise, they all con\u00adfirmed that Switzer\u00adland lived up to the expec\u00adta\u00adtions of a bet\u00adter career life than in their coun\u00adtry of ori\u00adgin. These women are a per\u00adfect exam\u00adple of a lot of female immi\u00adgrants who came to Switzer\u00adland with an excel\u00adlent edu\u00adca\u00adtion and now work in respectable posi\u00adtions. These women tend to be over\u00adlooked, hid\u00adden behind the neg\u00ada\u00adtive stereotypes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I inter\u00adviewed Mari\u00adna Richter, an aca\u00add\u00ade\u00adm\u00adic at the Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty of Fri\u00adbourg spe\u00adcial\u00adis\u00ading in Geog\u00adra\u00adphy and Soci\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy who has writ\u00adten arti\u00adcles for the Fed\u00ader\u00adal Migra\u00adtion Com\u00admis\u00adsion. She is the author of a research report<\/a> con\u00adcern\u00ading the impact of female immi\u00adgrants and their poten\u00adtial. When asked about the per\u00adcep\u00adtion of female immi\u00adgrants in soci\u00adety she said: \u201cI think a lot of work could be done on that image. We often talk about deficits, but you can also turn it around. In real\u00adi\u00adty, they<\/a> actu\u00adal\u00adly bring a lot with them, maybe we are just not able to inte\u00adgrate their skills and knowl\u00adedge. They have made a sub\u00adstan\u00adtial dif\u00adfer\u00adence, but it is just not on the radar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fur\u00adther\u00admore, stud\u00adies by the SFO<\/a> show that, con\u00adtrary to the pre\u00advail\u00ading stereo\u00adtypes, female immi\u00adgrants are on aver\u00adage bet\u00adter edu\u00adcat\u00aded than Swiss women. Addi\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly, there are sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant\u00adly more female immi\u00adgrants in lead\u00ading posi\u00adtions (22%) than Swiss women (15%). More\u00adover<\/a>, stud\u00adies reveal that female immi\u00adgrants in gen\u00ader\u00adal earn more than Swiss women, which is par\u00adtial\u00adly explained by the fact that they work more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, Switzer\u00adland has long been influ\u00adenced by female immi\u00adgrants, who have had a sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant impact on the econ\u00ado\u00admy. Simul\u00adta\u00adne\u00adous\u00adly, migra\u00adtion to Switzer\u00adland is often seen as a chance for eman\u00adci\u00adpa\u00adtion for women. In the past, Switzer\u00adland was one of the first coun\u00adtries to admit women to high\u00ader edu\u00adca\u00adtion, and as a result many young female immi\u00adgrants moved to Switzerland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How\u00adev\u00ader, this his\u00adto\u00adry has not changed the dom\u00adi\u00adnant image of an immi\u00adgrant in Swiss soci\u00adety. How can this image be improved? When asked this impor\u00adtant ques\u00adtion, Mari\u00adna Richter answered: \u201cOne must approach it on var\u00adi\u00adous lev\u00adels. The job mar\u00adket is a reflec\u00adtion of<\/a> the degree to which immi\u00adgrants are recog\u00adnised and accept\u00aded in soci\u00adety. For exam\u00adple, in job inter\u00adviews, the image in people\u2019s minds plays a cru\u00adcial role. Chang\u00ading this image means a long social process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is impor\u00adtant to make clear that immi\u00adgrants are a diverse group. They work in all kinds of jobs, some more vis\u00adi\u00adble and some less. Most of us do not realise just how depen\u00addent our whole soci\u00adety is on for\u00adeign workers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cImmi\u00adgrant.\u201d What comes to your mind when you hear that word? Per\u00adhaps you think of \u201cunfa\u00admil\u00adiar,\u201d or \u201cdif\u00adfer\u00adent.\u201d In the media migra\u00adtion is often con\u00adno\u00adtat\u00aded neg\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly. A study by the School for Com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion and Jour\u00adnal\u00adism con\u00adfirms that TV por\u00adtray\u00adals of immi\u00adgrants are most\u00adly neg\u00ada\u00adtive and affect view\u00aders\u2019 atti\u00adtudes towards them. Immi\u00adgrants are assumed to be\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2933"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2933"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2958,"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2933\/revisions\/2958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmiu.ch\/rgnews2022\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}