Well-qualified female immigrants still struggle to achieve high-level jobs and careers, a study by a university consortium has shown.
Access to the German job market is exceptionally difficult for women with non-German qualifications, the study found. Moving to Germany can impact a woman’s career negatively, particularly women from Eastern Europe, it said.
However, the study also found that female immigrants from former Soviet Union states are more likely to have PhDs than German women.
The German research ministry has picked up the study, and said that action needs to be taken to harness the contribution female immigrants can make to the country.
“The integration of highly-qualified female migrants offers us a double chance,” said Annette Schavan, the research minister. “It brings exceptional professionals into our life sciences and technical fields, which we need urgently. And it has a positive effect on these immigrants and their families. This is about respecting and honouring the contribution of migrants to our society and our wealth.”
The government will change laws governing non-German qualifications on 1 April, making it easier for engineers and scientists from abroad to get their qualifications accepted on the German job market.
The government also said it would look into the study’s findings that immigrant women find it particularly hard to combine work and family life, and are expected to work more overtime than their German colleagues.
The study was undertaken by the University of Berlin, the Technical University Hamburg-Harburg and the University of Applied Sciences Aachen. It was funded by the European Social Fund.