SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT IN EUROPE OF RUSSIAN SPEAKING MIGRANTS FROM THE CATEGORY “WOMEN-MIGRANTS ADVANCED”

Abstract

The studies, conducted by the IMAGRI Institute in Europe, allow us to answer the question about the attitude of Russian speaking migrants to European values. The Institute started its activities in 2009, in Brussels. The category of migrants WMA (Women-Migrants Advanced) has highly developed cross-cultural communication skills, but in about half the cases it does not solve the problem of self-realization in their careers and in the society – for this category these concepts are inseparable. “Our” category of migrants, whose number has increased in Europe, requires special integration programmes through entrepreneurship, as our project RESTART (2011–2014) has proved its effectiveness. This research was prompted by communication with migrants and monitoring processes that are currently activated in the Russian diaspora. Of course, the focus of our researches and monitoring is a gender (women’s) group. According to many reports, women make the majority of migrants living in Europe, being present in a significant number in all sectors of migration: family migration (both creation and family reunification), intellectual migration (both professionals and specialists as family members), and labour migration (mainly from the post-Soviet area, but not from Russia). They are the “invisible majority” (experts say) in the Russian migration to Europe. However, by working on research projects in the sphere of migrant women, establishing contacts with various community organizations, consulting experts, we drew attention to the fact that, first of all, women are not only a significant part of immigration, but also an extremely active (both socially and culturally) part of it.