Federal Institute for Population Research

Women with a migration and refugee background - an often neglected group in family and education policy

Content and Objectives

Against the background of the increasing proportion of mothers living in Germany who have a migrant or refugee background, the project is developing new empirical findings on family and education policy issues of this population group. On the basis of three Research focuses on aspects that are important for family and education policy but have hardly been examined in the literature to date. The first focus is on issues relating to the division of family and paid work within families with a migration or refugee background, the attitudes towards this and how these differ according to country of origin. In this context, the aim is to causally analyse whether for example, faster recognition of professional qualifications and the associated easier labour market integration, the division of paid and unpaid work between couples with migration background. The focus here is on couples with children, especially mothers of the analyses.

In a second study focus, the school and home support potential of mothers with a migration and refugee background towards their children. This also involves the expectations of these women with regard to their children's educational success. The focus is on the question of the influence of the children's German citizenship on expectations, support and educational success. Previous literature on this topic has mainly focussed on parental employment and integration. By analysing the interdependencies with regard to maternal support, this project aims to provide new insights.

The third focus of the project is on women who live without a partner and with young children fled from Ukraine to Germany. Their special situation and the potential support from child daycare services will be provided in the third phase of the project analysed. Answering the questions is particularly important with regard to the integration of mothers with a refugee background. In answering the research questions, the project benefits from the co-operation of two research groups: Research Group "Education and Human Capital" and Research Group 2.1 "International Migration", each contributing to the project with their expertise in the areas of education, reconciliation, childcare on the one hand and migration on the other.

Data and Methods

Various secondary data will be used in the project, in particular: the Family Demographic Panel (FReDA), Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (pairfam), Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), microcensus as well as the IAB-BiB/FReDA-BAMF-SOEP survey on refugees from Ukraine and the official data of the microcensus.

Duration

10/2022–11/2024

Partners

  • Prof. Dr. Katharina Wrohlich, Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW, Berlin)

Funding

Stiftung Ravensburger Verlag

Selected Publications

Gambaro, Ludovica; Spiess, C. Katharina; Wrohlich, Katharina; Ziege, Elena (2023):

Comparative Population Studies 48.

Gambaro, Ludovica; Neidhöfer, Guido; Spieß, C. Katharina (2021):

Labour Economics, Volume 72, Article 102053.

More Publications

Marcus, Jan; Spieß, C. Katharina; Waights, Sevrin; Judy, Andrew (2021):

DIW Wochenbericht 88(45): 739–747.