The stories of immigrant women on a common platform in Katrineholm: marginalization, disappointment and stereotypes

Abstract: The social-liberalist definition of citizenship is used in the interviews as the official definition to interpret the personal experiences and positions of immigrant women regarding the status of their citizenship. Feminist critiques argued against the social-liberal definition of citizenship, as it constitutes norms that exclude other groups from achieving their full status of citizenship. It has also been argued throughout the study that the women's movements and gender research constitute elements of ethnocentricity. The study also shows that the Swedish policymakers fail in matters concerning integration, as it does not benefit immigrant women compared to ethnic Swedes. Furthermore, language and stereotypical images of immigrant women are used to marginalize them within the public discourse, indicating that they are considered to be second-class citizens. The interviews were conducted in Katrineholm, a small town in Sweden where women told their stories about marginalization, disappointment, as well as the ethnocentricity which still exists in the contemporary Swedish society. The stories of these women are used as case studies, which, within the gender dimension, have not been carried out very often by Swedish research; the authentic voices of immigrant women to highlight issues concerning citizenship have been ignored. The result of the interviews indicates that the formal theory of rights and possibilities, which are supposed to work on the practical level, have collapsed and is contradictory, as it has not been successful concerning immigrant women and their status of citizenship; the study shows that immigrant women are not able to use their citizenship status fully in their adopted home country, Sweden.