Migrant women from non-EU countries are at high risk of inactivity and unemployment. In 2019, the EU-27 activity rate for women born outside the EU (63.5 %) was 20.4 percentage points lower than that recorded for men (83.9 %). In Slovenia, the majority of the immigrant population comes from the former republics of Yugoslavia. In 2018, the inactivity rate of women from this demographic was 73.6% while 92.4% of men from the same population were employed. Work is not only important for economic integration but also for mental health, social inclusion, and well-being. Current research addresses the importance of migrant women’s integration in the labor market for achieving equity, reducing socioeconomic gaps, and increasing the integration of migrant families and children. Yet, concerning the latter point, it is important to note that to achieve the sustainable development goal of gender equality, SDG5, research should address the potentials of migrant women as an independent human force and not define them in relation to their male partners or families. Migrant men usually arrive in the EU alone, while migrant women arrive subsequently through family reunifications programs, which excludes them from certain policies for integration. This complies with the initial integration program in Slovenia, where migrant women who come through family reunifications programs are entitled to fewer educational hours for integration than receive beneficiaries of international protection. Yet, it is important to note that recent decades have witnessed an increase in the feminization of labor migration, along with the increased agency of women migrating on their own, as migrant workers, students, or refugees for example.
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