Original title: Belonging as a part of the pathway to working life: immigrant women’s experiences in Sweden
Researchers interviewed 11 immigrant women from five non-European countries about their paths into working life in Sweden. They found that getting work was part of settling into a new society, but the path could be hard. Belonging involved learning Swedish and workplace customs, getting and giving support, feeling accepted, and seeing progress toward a future goal. The study suggests workplaces should support all of these parts.
Imagine joining a new team at work. You may struggle to learn how the team does things, find people you can rely on, or feel that your contribution is valued. In this paper, learning the team’s ways, building support, feeling accepted, and seeing progress toward a goal match the different parts of belonging on the path into working life.
Work can be a key part of settling into a new society, but getting there can be difficult. The findings suggest that workplaces can support immigrant women not only by helping them learn work culture and build networks, but also by making them feel accepted and valued.
The abstract describes interviews with 11 immigrant women from five non-European countries in Sweden. It does not establish that the findings apply to all immigrant women, other countries, or workplaces, and it does not report whether particular workplace measures improve integration.
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Belonging as a part of the pathway to working life: immigrant women’s experiences in Sweden — Marie Lydell, Cecilia Garell, Eva‐Carin Lindgren et al. — BMC Public Health — doi:10.1186/s12889-026-29688-w
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.