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——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Migration through Gender, Age and Class Perspectives ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Ramona Lenz The author is a research and teaching associate at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology at Frankfurt/Main University in Germany. Currently she is working on her Ph.D. which deals with labour migration to tourist areas in Crete and Cyprus. She can be contacted at: r.lenz@em.uni-frankfurt.de. BIBLIOGRAPHY •• Anthias, F. (1989). Women and Nationalism in Cyprus, 150-67. In N. Yuval-Davis and F. Anthias (Eds.), Women-nation-state. London: Macmillan. •• Peristiany, J. G. (1966). Honour and shame in a Cypriot highland village, 173-190. In Ders. (Ed.), Honour and shame. The values of Mediterranean society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. •• Sant Cassia, P. (1992). The making of the modern Greek family: Marriage and exchange in nineteenth-century Athens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. •• Scott, J. (1995). Sexual and national boundaries in tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 22(2), 385-403. •• Trimikliniotis, N. and P. Panayiotis (2003). Mapping discriminatory landscapes in Cyprus: Ethnic discrimination in the labour market. The Cyprus Review 15(1), 121-146. •• Anthias, F. (2000). Metaphors of home. Gendering new migrations to Southern Europe, 15-47. In F. Anthias and G. Lazaridis (Eds.), Gender and migration in Southern Europe. Women on the move. Oxford and New York: Berg. •• Argyrou, V. (1996). Tradition and modernity in the Mediterranean. The wedding as symbolic struggle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. •• Beck, S. (2001). Reflexible Körper. Anmerkungen zur Transformation von Gesundheitsverständnis und Verwandtschaftsverhältnissen durch humangenetisches Wissen, 31-46. In R. W. Brednich, A. Schneider und U. Werner (Eds.), Natur – Kultur. Volkskundliche Perspektiven auf Mensch und Umwelt. Münster et al. 37 •• Bryant, R. (2002). The purity of spirit and the power of blood: A comparative perspective on nation, gender and kinship in Cyprus. Royal Anthropological Institute, 8, 509-530. •• Cyprus Mail, October 20, 2000: 'Immigration denies racism against East European brides'. •• Cyprus Mail, November 28, 2004: 'Dealing with human trafficking'. •• Cyprus Weekly, March 24, 2000: 'New study on gender issues'. •• Loizos, P. (1975). The Greek gift. Politics in a Cypriot village. Oxford: Blackwell. •• McClintock, A. (1997). 'No longer in a future heaven'. Gender, race and nationalism, 89- 112. In A. McClintock, A. Mufti and E. Shohat (Eds.), Dangerous liaisons: gender, nation, and postcolonial perspectives. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Migration Processes in Central and Eastern Europe: Unpacking the Diversity
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Migration through Gender, Age and Class Perspectives ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— 38 The Migration of Ukrainian Women to Italy and the Impact on Their Family in Ukraine ————————————————————————————— Olha Yarova During the last ten to fifteen years the topics of migration and work abroad have become very relevant for Ukrainians. Because of lower paying and unstable jobs at home, a lot of women took on the responsibility to provide for their families and went abroad to work. As Italy became more developed, it experienced an increase in the demand for domestic workers, which encouraged many Ukrainian women to travel and work there illegally as domestics. According to the Western Ukrainian Centre “Women's Perspectives”, which interrogated 441 Ukrainian labor migrants in Italy in 2003, most female migrants were 36 to 45 years old, and many were highly educated. 37 percent of their informants had university degrees, 36 percent college degrees and 22 percent had completed secondary education. Before going to Italy, 56 percent of women worked as specialists, 21 percent worked as regular workers, 9 percent were unemployed and 3 percent were students, housewives or entrepreneurs (Women's Perspectives, 2003b). 94 percent of women interviewed left behind their children in Ukraine. Usually they stay with their fathers. In cases where both parents leave Ukraine, 66 percent of children stay with their grandparents and 33 percent stay alone (Women's Perspectives, 2003b) The key question of my paper is: What is the impact of the migration of Ukrainian women to Italy on their family life in Ukraine? I have conducted qualitative research of families where fathers take care of children, documenting the changes in the Ukrainian families, caused by female migration abroad. Very often women become alienated from their own families and their transnational family may go through certain processes of transformation, as mothers no longer fit within the traditionally constructed gender roles. Therefore, I argue that migration of Ukrainian women to Italy changes family arrangements, challenges the images of mothers and fathers, and reveals the constructed gender roles within the family. Specifically, it reveals the invisible emotional work, which is a major part of the construction of women as mothers and wives. In order to answer this question, I went to Ukraine and conducted interviews with eight women who used to work as domestics in Italy for several years, as well as three men and two children whose wives and mothers currently work as domestics in Italy. I also held two interviews with the project manager and lawyer for the NGO “Women's Perspectives” that deals with the problems of Ukrainian female migrants (see Annex). Most of my female interviewees were highly educated and worked as teachers, engineers or military employees before the migration. Working as domestic workers in Italy, these women experienced “contradictory class mobility” (Parrenas, 2001: 180). On the one hand, their financial situation improved and they could provide for their families much better then before their migration to Italy. On the other hand, the women's social status decreased, as they had to work as domestics and do psychologically and physically difficult jobs, mainly looking after elderly people and cleaning. On the basis of my interviews I will first look at the dynamic of gender roles in the family before migration, during the time of the women's absence and after the women's return from Italy. Secondly, I will discuss the emotional reaction of mothers and children to separation. And finally, I will focus on the impact of the mother's migration on the children left behind. GENDER ROLES IN THE TRANSNATIONAL FAMILY Female migration often changes family roles in transnational households. Since women go to work abroad and become the main breadwinners, their husbands often have to do all of the housework. The results of my research did not support Parrenas' argument regarding husbands' failure in performing 'women's duties' (Parrenas, 2001: 147). My three informants Stepan, Roman and Dmytro did a good job taking care of children, cleaning and cooking. And although all of them traditionally consider housework to be naturally a female job, it becomes obvious from their stories that men can learn how to do this very well. For example, I came to interview Roman in his house, warning him about my visit just fifteen minutes before the interview. I was surprised to see how clean and comfortable it was in his house. Before I told him about the subject of my thesis, he went out to give his nine-year-old daughter a sweater so she would not get cold. After she came back, Roman heated the food for her and asked her to wash her hands and eat. It seems that Roman successfully took over his wife's responsibilities in caring for children and doing the household chores, although he rarely did them before. As he told me: Migration Processes in Central and Eastern Europe: Unpacking the Diversity
Page 1 and 2: Migration Processes in Central and
Page 3 and 4: Editors Alice Szczepaniková, Marek
Page 5 and 6: Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 06 INTROD
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Page 83 and 84: MULTICULTURAL CENTER PRAGUE The Mul
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