Women with a migration background: opportunities and challenges in Vienna

Women with a migration background: opportunities and challenges in Vienna

Wien, Österreich - In Vienna there is an alarming picture: Around 50 % of women between the ages of 15 and 64 have a foreign citizenship or are born abroad. Migrants in the health and social sector are particularly affected, where 46 % of the employees have a migration background. However, this group faces significant challenges, because despite its important role in society, many fight with poor working conditions and significant income differences. At the same level of education, women with a migration background earn an average of 500 to 800 euros less than their colleagues without a migration background, as the city of Vienna reported. The information event planned on March 8, the International Women's Day, is intended to increase the opportunities for newly immigrant women from the Integration and diversity and other organizations.

The integration of migrants into the labor market is a big challenge for Austria. According to the current integration report, 25.4 % of the population now have a migration background, with a particularly large number of Syrians, Afghans and Romanians have come to Austria since 2015. With the 30,000 asylum applications of refugees Ukrainians, the need for additional integrative measures becomes clear. Integration Minister Susanne Raab emphasized the expansion of language courses and offers on the labor market to offer these women a perspective. The chairwoman of the integration advisory board, Katharina Pabel, noted that a significant proportion of women and men were available to the labor market, especially among Syrian migrants, was currently not employed. Here, targeted need for action is necessary to better integrate these women and men, especially with regard to the recognition of qualifications acquired abroad and access to childcare.

In addition, statistics show that migrants in Austria are underrepresented in certain areas. While the vaccination rate for Austrians is 73 %, foreign nationals only reach 56 %. Special differences can be observed in the various nationalities, which also complicated the integrative challenges. The Viennese city administration and other positions are actively working on reducing these discrepancies in order to offer all women, regardless of their origin, to offer the same opportunities on the labor market, so Salzburg24.at reported.