Crossing the World: Integration of Quota Refugees in Sweden

Abstract: Afghan women, who enter Sweden as quota refugees, are mainly less educated and from lower socio-economic backgrounds. While resettlement opens up a new world for them, it creates a new challenge for them: to cope with lots of differences in language, culture, and life style. Swedish government aims to assist refugees to start an independent life in Sweden in refugee introduction program. This paper is a qualitative study about the experience of integration for Afghan women who entered Sweden as quota refugees. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with some Afghan women, and the results were analyzed according to the definition of integration by Ager and Strang (2004). The Swedish organizations which are assisting refugees in the integration process are described in this paper. There is a remarkable difference in the integration of the women according to their age, length of stay, and place of residence. While younger Afghan women are able to integrate more rapidly, older women are completely secluded and marginalized. Refugee children have a rapid progress according to the women. Afghan women face employment problems while they are interested to enter labor market. Afghan women need more time for empowerment, while some methods of intervention need to be reviewed.