Using the potential of young migrant women from the Danube region in Graz

In Austria, about 40 percent of all immigrants come from the Danube region; over half are younger than 30. The research conducted by YOUMIG shows that the main reasons for migration of young people are higher educational opportunities and job prospects. In Graz, the high quality of life also plays a role.

Forecasts predict a massive population growth for Graz over the next 20 years. This reinforces the need to develop strategies in several policy areas of the City of Graz, which coincides with the aim of the YOUMIG project to produce strategies and recommendations in cooperation with 19 partner organizations from 8 countries.

Companies in the Graz area are confronted with the fact that there are too few young people in technical apprenticeships. To counter this situation new strategies have to be developed: among others there is great interest in training methods for girls with a migrant background.

With the dual apprenticeship model – which means that young people work and learn in companies, and attend vocational schools for 9 weeks/year - Austria offers an educational opportunity unique throughout Europe. Above all, technical apprenticeship opens up future and career opportunities for young people and is an especially important option for youth with a migration background.

These options, combined with the need to reduce pay gaps between women and men in Austria and to create employment opportunities for women that guarantee an adequate livelihood, are logical steps in developing measures that allow migrant young women and girls access to technical professions that were previously unknown to them and from which they were excluded by social barriers and norms.

This challenge is tackled in the framework of the YOUMIG project, under the leadership of the department for Women & Equality in close cooperation with the department of Education and Integration / Integration Unit and the Social Welfare Office / Work and Employment Unit in Graz.

In addition to the statistical processing of analysis results project tasks included the creation of indicators – or complex data that go deep into the core of the subject of youth migration, often in creative ways, giving insight at the local level (in this case, about Graz). For further developments in connection with youth migration in Graz, the YOUMIG project relies on three main pillars:

1. TURN MIGRANT GIRLS’ ATTENTION TOWARDS TECHNICAL APPRENTICESHIPS - PILOT PROJECT

Information and awareness raising as well as the identification of individual interests and competences are important steps for female adolescents on the way to a technical apprenticeship. The YOUMIG project’s pilot actions allow the design and testing of a good practice which can help cities provide better services for youth migrants. In Graz, the combination of young women’s empowerment and migrant integration are goals which coincide in this pilot action.

Steps of the pilot action

• Information on technical apprenticeship of girls - for parents, schools, peer groups, companies
• Interest-testing and skills analysis for young women and girls - Assessment Day
• Introduction of  job profiles
• Consulting
• Trial days and internships in technical companies

Companies in the network: Andritz AG, SSI Schaefer, Kristl & Co KG, ÖAMTC, Holding Graz

It was recognized that a variety of information and counselling services exist for girls and young women. Besides New Middle Schools and Polytechnic Schools already strongly engaged, companies have a high vested interest in informing girls about technical apprenticeships directly in schools. Girls are being engaged to determine their interests and competencies which may make them well suited to choose a technical career.

A YOUMIG “prototype” has been compiled, based on the following essential content:

• Gender-sensitive and language-independent practices for determining interest and competence
• More work with parents as they are the most important decision-makers in choosing a career
• Working with migrant communities - bottom-up cooperation with migrant education coordinators
• Work on existing images and stereotypes of women / girls and technical apprenticeship with special focus on career opportunities

2. COUNSELLING SERVICES FOR GIRLS AND WOMEN WITH A MIGRATION BACKGROUND IN GRAZ
– EMPLOYMENT AND STARTING A BUSINESS

Employment is one of the most important motivations when young women migrate from the Danube region to Graz. In order to give easy access to advice and information, an overview of women-specific offers in Graz was developed in a participatory way and compiled into a guide. Topics included employment, starting a business, financial advice for female employees, qualifications and education in the context of employment, and others. This guide is aimed at the women themselves and also at advisory organizations and companies who want to join in.

The guide was developed by the YOUMIG network in Graz, which includes the following organizations:

Employment Service Styria, Education Network Styria, CARITAS, Founder Service of the Styrian Chamber of Commerce, City of Graz / IBOBB-Cafe, inspire-thinking, ISOP GmbH, Itworks Personnel Service and Consulting GmbH (Graz), Chamber of Workers Styria, MAFALDA, nowa, OMEGA, ÖSB Consulting GmbH (Location Graz) Graz Fund for Rise and Development, Youth Coaching (ÖSB Consulting GmbH), Austrian Integration Fund Integration Center Styria, City of Graz / Department of Economic and Tourism Development, ZEBRA, Jukus, ZAM Graz.

3. TAPPING THE POTENTIALS OF WOMEN WITH A MIGRATION BACKGROUND

The results and experiences of the activities described so far are taken further so that young women’s skills could be used in other, non-technical fields, too:

• Women with university degrees are highly qualified employees and should stay in the region with their skills and competences;
• employment in care-giving and 24-hour care, with the aim of having long-term supply of qualified nurses for the City of Graz;
• and fewer women working in jobs for which they are overqualified (de-skilling) for maximum use of potential.
• The Local Status Quo Analysis - Graz, carried out at in the first year of the project, is the scientific basis for all measures.  All the collected data and the insights gained from that study are planned to lead to the phase of final strategy development.
• The regional strategies of the partner countries will be harmonized in order to interact and promote transnational cooperation in the Danube region.

Text by YOUMIG Team Graz, Department for Women & Equality