Social Services for Immigrant Women in European Nations; Including Lessons from the Council of Europe’s Project on Human Dignity and Social Exclusion

Abstract

In Europe, immigrant women and their children face varying legal situations and economic experiences by nation and region of settlement. Their economic well-being depends on a multitude of overlapping influences, including the length of time that immigrants and their descendants have spent in the host nation, the legal system and how it applies to women in general, the availability of social services, the host nation’s economic situation, as well as differences in treatment under existing legislation both in the country itself and in supra-national organizations. As far as the last influence is concerned, special attention must be given to the European Union’s efforts to create the required environment for the creation of the European Monetary Union, as regulated by the Treaties of Maastricht (1991) and Dublin (1996), which on the one hand leads to reinforcement of ‘Fortress Europe’ with respect to immigrants and asylum seekers, and on the other imposes requirements of austerity in public finance and, hence, a cutback in social services and access to these services by immigrants and their families.