“We’re right here!”: The Invisibility of Migrant Women in European Women’s Movements—The Case of Italy

Abstract

These are the words of Charito Basa, NGO activist, founder of the Filipino Women’s Council, and holder of the prestigious Cavaliere della Repubblica award.1 Basa’s words echo those of many migrant women in Italy who are frustrated by their invisibility as they stand in the same spaces as Italian women but go unnoticed. 2 Migrant women in Italy are long-time activists—many have been working for women’s rights for more than twenty years—but their paths have intersected with native leaders infrequently. Migrant and native self-organizing since the 1970s has occurred in separate spaces, especially in autonomous women’s associations. The creation of independent groups for Italian and migrant women can be linked to two main factors. First, migrant women have had to confront the difficulties of integration, that is, of having access to the same rights and services as native citizens. Second, Italian and migrant women do not necessarily perceive gender oppression in the same ways. This chapter will demonstrate that Italian women failed to consider fully the implications of decolonization, globalization, and migration on their feminist theories and practices even when they began to ref lect on differences of ethnicity and culture. As a result, they missed opportunities to develop a mature, antiracist, and multicultural feminism. In what follows, I will analyze how and why this occurred.