Please cite this paper as: Liebig, T. (2018), “Triple Disadvantage? : A first overview of the integration of refugee women”, OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 216, OECD Publishing, Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/3f3a9612-en OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers No. 216 Triple Disadvantage? A FIRST OVERVIEW OF THE INTEGRATION OF REFUGEE WOMEN Thomas Liebig JEL Classification: F22, J15, J16 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development DELSA/ELSA/WD/SEM(2018)15 For Official Use English - Or. English 1 January 1990 DIRECTORATE FOR EMPLOYMENT, LABOUR AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS EMPLOYMENT, LABOUR AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE Triple Disadvantage? A first overview of the integration of refugee women JEL Classification: F22, J15, J16 Keywords: Integration, Refugees, Immigrants, Women, Gender Authorised for publication by Stefano Scarpetta, Director, Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Thomas Liebig – Tel +33 1 45 24 90 68 – [email protected] www.oecd.org/els/workingpapers This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. 2 │ DELSA/ELSA/WD/SEM(2018)15 OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers www.oecd.org/els/workingpapers OECD Working Papers should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its member countries. The opinions expressed and arguments employed are those of the author(s). Working Papers describe preliminary results or research in progress by the author(s) and are published to stimulate discussion on a broad range of issues on which the OECD works. Comments on Working Papers are welcomed, and may be sent to [email protected]. This series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected labour market, social policy and migration studies prepared for use within the OECD. Authorship is usually collective, but principal writers are named. The papers are generally available only in their original language – English or French – with a summary in the other. This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. The Republic of Cyprus is recognised by all members of the United Nations with the exception of Turkey. The information in this document relates to the area under the effective control of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus. © OECD 2018 You can copy, download or print OECD content for your own use, and you can include excerpts from OECD publications, databases and multimedia products in your own documents, presentations, blogs, websites and teaching materials, provided that suitable acknowledgment of OECD as source and copyright owner is given. All requests for commercial use and translation rights should be submitted to [email protected]. TRIPLE DISADVANTAGE? A FIRST OVERVIEW OF THE INTEGRATION OF REFUGEE WOMEN For Official Use DELSA/ELSA/WD/SEM(2018)15 │ 3 Acknowledgements This report has been prepared Thomas Liebig (OECD) and Kristian Rose Tronstad (Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research, at the time of writing on secondment to the OECD). It benefited from comments by Carlotta Balestra, Francesca Borgonovi, Yves Breem, Jean-Christophe Dumont, Lara Fleischer, Philippe Hervé, Elisabeth Kamm, Charlotte Levionnois, Mark Pearson, Claire Rossi-de Vries and Stefano Scarpetta. A draft version has been presented at the OECD Working Party on Migration on 26 June 2018 in Paris. The authors would like to thank the members of the OECD Working Party on Migration, as well as Maria Bond, Maria Cheung, Ida Holmgren and Dan Grannas from the Swedish Ministry for Employment, for their useful comments and support. The report would not have been possible without the generous provision of data through special requests by the National Statistical Offices of Denmark, Norway and Sweden; the Swedish Ministries of Finance and Employment; the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees; and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. The report also benefited from financial support by the Swedish Ministry for Employment in the context of the Swedish presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers. Preliminary findings were presented at a Conference of the Nordic Ministers of Employment on 13 April 2018 in Stockholm. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the OECD member countries Contact: Thomas Liebig International Migration Division Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs OECD Email: [email protected] TRIPLE DISADVANTAGE? A FIRST OVERVIEW OF THE INTEGRATION OF REFUGEE WOMEN For Official Use 4 │ DELSA/ELSA/WD/SEM(2018)15 Executive summary 45% of refugees in Europe are women, yet little is known on their integration outcomes and the specific challenges they face. This report summarises prior research on the integration of refugee women, both compared with refugee men and other immigrant women. It also provides new comparative evidence from selected European and non- European OECD countries. Refugee women face a number of particular integration challenges associated with poorer health and lower education and labour market outcomes compared to refugee men, who are already disadvantaged in comparison with other migrant groups. They also show a peak in fertility in the year after arrival. A large fraction has come from countries where gender inequality is high and employment of women tends to be low. However, there is little correlation between indicators such gender differences in participation and employment in the origin and in the host country, suggesting that the integration issues can be addressed by host-country employment and education policy instruments. The report also finds that building basic skills in terms of educational attainment and host-country language training bears a high return in terms of improving labour market outcomes. It also provides intergenerational pay-off for their children. Against this backdrop, structured integration programmes such as the ones in the Scandinavian countries seem to be a worthwhile investment. TRIPLE DISADVANTAGE? A FIRST OVERVIEW OF THE INTEGRATION OF REFUGEE WOMEN For Official Use DELSA/ELSA/WD/SEM(2018)15 │ 5 Résumé 45% des réfugiés en Europe sont des femmes, mais leur situation en matière d’intégration et les défis spécifiques auxquels elles sont confrontées restent largement méconnus. Ce rapport résume les recherches menées précédemment sur l’intégration des femmes réfugiées, à la fois comparée avec celle des hommes réfugiés et celles des autres femmes immigrées. Il apporte également de nouveaux éléments comparatifs en provenance de pays européens et non européens de l’OCDE. En raison de leur état de santé moins bon et de leurs niveaux d’éducation et situation sur le marché du travail relativement défavorables, les femmes réfugiées sont confrontées à des défis spécifiques en matière d’intégration comparés aux hommes réfugiés, qui sont eux-mêmes déjà désavantagés comparés aux autres groupes de migrants. Elles connaissent également un pic de fécondité dans l’année suivant l’arrivée. Elles viennent dans une large proportion de pays où les inégalités de genre sont élevées et le taux d’emploi des femmes est plutôt faible. Cependant, la corrélation est faible entre des indicateurs tels que les inégalités de genre dans la participation et l’emploi dans le pays d’origine et le pays de destination, ce qui amène à penser que la problématique de l’intégration peut être résolue par des politiques d’emploi et éducatives menées dans le pays d’accueil. Le rapport constate également que l’acquisition de compétences élémentaires (niveaux d’éducation, maîtrise de la langue du pays d’accueil) contribue largement à améliorer la situation sur le marché du travail. Cela s’avère bénéfique non seulement pour la génération directement concernée par les mesures mais également pour leurs enfants. D’après ces observations, les programmes structurés d’intégration tels que ceux qui existent dans les pays scandinaves apparaissent comme des investissements rentables. TRIPLE DISADVANTAGE? A FIRST OVERVIEW OF THE INTEGRATION OF REFUGEE WOMEN For Official Use 6 │ DELSA/ELSA/WD/SEM(2018)15 Table of contents Triple Disadvantage? A first overview of the integration of refugee women .................................. 1 OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers ............................................................ 2 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ 3 Executive summary ............................................................................................................................... 4 Résumé ................................................................................................................................................... 5 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 8 2. The presence and characteristics of refugee women .................................................................... 13 Refugee women – a sizeable and growing group .............................................................................