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Women at the Sidelines (?) - Gender, Migration and Ageing

Publication at Central Library of Charles University, Faculty of Humanities |
2016

Abstract

The first part of the publication describes results of an extensive Analysis of the Position and Situation of Older Middle-Aged and Senior Migrant Women and Women with a Migration Background, which addresses the issue of older middle-aged and senior migrant women and Czech female citizens with a migration background in the territory of the Czech Republic.It focuses mainly on analysing the legislative situation and the resulting implementation practice, which impacts the life of senior (and/or older middle-aged) migrant women and women with a migration background in the Czech Republic. The second part of the publication deals with a specific group of senior migrant women in the Czech Republic.

The presented qualitative research covers a group of women aged 50+ with a refugee background coming from former Yugoslavia who have lived in the Czech Republic for more than twenty years. The research asked mainly the following questions: how women with a refugee background reflect upon their personal migration life trajectory; what importance they place in their narratives on the life in war and the beginnings of life in a new society; how they reflect upon their gender identity and its transformations in the process of migration; how they reflect upon their role and refugee experience at an advanced age and especially at retirement.

Moreover, how normative pressures influence care and emotional work of women in the process of migration. The research argues that the refugee experience of women is cyclical rather than linear, acquiring new meanings in various life stages of women and in various social (including institutions) and transnational contexts.