Search

Il saggio è dedicato al movimento anti-gender e al suo impatto sia sul discorso pubblico, sia sull’implementazione di progetti di educazione al genere in differenti contesti educativi e scolastici italiani. Nel ricostruire i principali nodi e istanze delle campagne “contro il genere”, vengono presentati gli aspetti più problematici del rapporto fra scuola e famiglie, richiamando la necessità di costruire strategie volte a favorire una nuova alleanza tra le principali agenzie di socializzazione.

In spite of increasing numbers of vacancies for highly skilled jobs in innovative sectors of the economy, the migration patterns in Italy do not seem to provide an answer to these labor market requests. In fact, while an increasing number of young talents leave the country, the highlyskilled migrants that arrive are often discriminated against their qualifications. These patterns are even stronger for highly skilled migrant women, in particular those with a STEM profile. As testified by previous literature, much of their talent is wasted due to macro-, organizational- , and individual-level barriers that prevent highly skilled migrant women finding a job that is up to their qualification level and sector. Adopting an intersectionality approach, in this work we illuminate the employability barriers that these women face in the STEM job market in Italy and the resources available to them. We draw on extensive qualitative data gained from indepth interviews and focus groups with women from different countries and STEM qualifications. By highlighting the complexities of being a woman, a migrant, and a STEM professional, we identify relevant areas for policy intervention to valorize migration in support of innovation and labor outcomes in Italy and in other countries.

This E-book is a result of the H2020 PLOTINA project Final Conference, ReGendering Science. For an inclusive research environment, held in the Università di Bologna (27th-28th of January 2020, https://www.plotina.eu/plotina-final-conference/). It includes the abstracts selected thanks to the call for abstracts that the Consortium – in collaboration with scholars from different European institutions – launched in October 2019. PLOTINA: Promoting gender balance and Inclusion in Research Innovation and Training (G.A. 666008) aimed at identifying and addressing the obstacles hampering gender equality in Research Performing Organizations.

In its transposition from so called “developing countries” to “post-industrial” Italy, microcredit has become a means ‒ rather than an end in itself ‒ that the welfare arena has welcomed to foster socioeconomic inclusion of vulnerable categories. Its “translation” into a contemporary social finance strategy and its implementation by not for profit organizations, have made it a financial tool that resists any affiliation to the market and commodities exchange. Is this enough to challenge Godbout’s (1993) assertion that we do not give back a gift, the way we give back money? Or does Italian microcredit’s specific reconfiguration allow us to (re)think about this financial strategy from the gift perspective? Moving from the question “What circulates in microcredit transactions?”, the paper explores the possibility of using the category of the gift to analyse microcredit practices. Grounding on both the presentation of Italian microfinance most relevant features and the description of a specific microcredit project carried out in Northern Italy, the paper specifically focuses on the peculiar shapes that the gift has taken in Italian microcredit transactions.

Grounding on an anthropological research carried out in Ravenna with migrant parents coming from different European and Extra-European countries and childcare professionals, the paper explores ‒ from a gender perspective ‒ the imaginaries on childhood emerging from the compared analysis of adults’ representations on parenting, care and educational relationships. Conflicting or alternative interpretations of the child-adult relationship, as well as different views on parenting and care allows disclosing those assumptions and ideologies that make “childhood” a plural, situated, socio-cultural construct. Keywords: childhoods, education and care relationships, migrant parenting and childrearing, gender., AG About Gender - Rivista internazionale di studi di genere, V. 6, N. 12 (2017): Infanzia, educazione e genere. Costruzione delle culture di genere tra contesti scolastici, extrascolastici e familiari

Il contributo presenta, da una prospettiva di genere, i dati quanti-qualitativi raccolti nell'ambito della ricerca promossa dalla Fondazione Gramsci Emilia-Romagna sul tema dei giovani (18-34 anni) e il lavoro a Bologna.

Il paragrafo presenta la metodologia d'indagine utilizzata per la realizzazione della parte qualitativa della ricerca promossa dalla Fondazione Gramsci Emilia-Romagna sui giovani (18-34 anni) e il lavoro a Bologna.

Alla crisi della nozione di “sviluppo” – propria al pensiero della modernità – che appariva riservata ai soli paesi cosiddetti “del Terzo Mondo”, è subentrata una crisi economico-finanziaria di portata globale che viene da molti considerata una crisi dello stesso stile di vita globalizzato, in grado cioè di investire dimensioni sociali e culturali degli stessi paesi ricchi e post-industriali. Nell’ambito di questa ennesima “crisi della rappresentazione” del pensiero occidentale si è rinnovato l’interesse per esperienze alternative di cooperazione internazionale e di lotta alla povertà (sia nei paesi “in via di sviluppo” che in quelli “ricchi” dove, specie negli ultimi anni, emergono nuove forme di vulnerabilità socio-economica), come le esperienze di microcredito. Il successo riscosso da Muhammad Yunus (premio Nobel 2006) in Bangladesh, ha favorito negli ultimi decenni la moltiplicazione delle esperienze di microcredito in tutto il mondo. A partire dagli anni Novanta, il microcredito è stato adottato dalle organizzazioni internazionali di sviluppo quale strategia privilegiata non solo nella lotta contro la povertà, ma anche nella promozione dei processi di empowerment delle donne, considerate come facilitatrici dello sviluppo delle comunità locali. Il testo esplora le retoriche utilizzate nel momento in cui si riflette sulla sostenibilità del microcredito e sul suo impatto sulle comunità locali. Nello specifico, particolare attenzione è dedicata agli studi di caso riguardanti la relazione fra accesso al credito da parte delle donne e processi di empowerment.

For anthropologists working in their own home country, the ethical dilemmas brought about by the relationship with the community they study are different – although not entirely "other" – compared to those that anthropologists working in so called “exotic” fields face (Tarabusi 2014). When the field is "at home" (Jackson 1987; Peirano 1998), the subjects who participated in the research «surround the anthropologist at her or his desk» (Mosse, 2006: 937), “they read what we write” (Brettell 1993), sometimes claiming the possibility to raise objections and challenging the ethnographer’s authority (Mosse 2006, 2015). Our stakeholders – whether the sponsors or the other informants and interlocutors – may also feel somehow "betrayed" by the ethnographic representation (Brettell 1993; Fabietti 1999; Scheper-Hughes 2001; Rossi 2003; Semi 2010); they cannot recognize themselves and their practices in the ethnographic account of their experience (Sorgoni 2011). Reactions to the anthropological writing can be extremely emotional: they, in fact, have to do with «the relationship between professionals [...] to descriptions of their organizational work» (Mosse 2015: 131). Publishing is, therefore, a particularly delicate moment in the relationship between the anthropologist and his interlocutors. Drawing on empirical experience, this paper describes the negative reactions to writing. The purpose is twofold: exploring the issue of ethical dilemmas involved in the negative reception of an ethnographic account; and outlining the possible strategies that allow limiting the risks that Applied and “at home” Anthropology entail.

Il saggio descrive l'impatto della crisi economica nel contesto bolognese a partire da una prospettiva di genere.

La ricerca antropologica approfondisce lo studio delle esperienze di microfinanza in rapporto a specifici contesti culturali. Il contributo intende fornire una rassegna ragionata degli studi antropologici sul microcredito con particolare attenzione alla ricerca etnografica e di campo. Gli studi antropologici sino ad ora esaminati, quantitativamente scarsi e di natura spesso “liminale” rispetto alle altre scienze sociali, si sono concentrati prevalentemente su ricerche condotte in paesi in via di sviluppo, in particolare in Bangladesh dove lo strumento del microcredito ha conosciuto una notevole diffusione ed ha maturato un’esperienza trentennale. Confrontando questi studi con le ricerche che hanno costruito nei paesi industrializzati il proprio campo di ricerca emerge la stretta connessione esistente fra comunità, cultura e microcredito dimostrando l’influenza delle dimensioni culturali sulla molteplicità di forme che questo strumento acquisisce nei differenti contesti in cui viene applicato. Dall’esplorazione della letteratura antropologica è possibile notare una prevalenza di studi il cui “sguardo” di ricerca privilegiato corrisponde alle valutazioni dell’impatto che l’introduzione dello strumento finanziario del microcredito produce avviando processi di trasformazione socioculturale. Uno degli ambiti di analisi della ricerca etnografica più interessanti è quello dedicato ai processi di empowerment delle donne vissuti dalle donne che hanno avuto accesso al credito. Questi studi dimostrano un uso del microcredito, e un suo impatto sulle realtà locali (e globali) secondo forme diversificate a seconda del contesto culturale: se nei paesi industrializzati l’empowerment femminile viene interpretato nell’ottica di una maggiore presenza nel mercato del lavoro delle donne in situazione di marginalità, nei paesi in via di sviluppo come il Bangladesh l’empowerment delle donne viene letto in termini di processo di emancipazione rispetto a norme socioculturali fortemente discriminanti.

Finding a common definition of «microcredit» is difficult both in the operative and in the academic field. Acknowledging that difficulty is a first step towards recognizing the specificity and plurality of microfinance experiences today. The multiplication of many completely different models enables us to describe microfinance as a sort of «galaxy». The phenomenon has consolidated itself in the course of time and has spread on a planetary scale; even though it is certainly more prominent in developing countries, it is also rapidly spreading in post-industrial countries, too. Far from trying to give an exhaustive definition of microfinance, one should remember that forms of microfinance, roughly definable as such, existed in the past of our country and still do in many countries, too. They are not exclusively used as tools in the struggle against poverty but rather, as forms of mutual assistance in favour of marginal or vulnerable categories, as for example, mutual benefit societies, cooperative banks, informal self help groups, etc. From the social-anthropological research on microcredit that we have carried out, there seem to emerge two new fields of analysis. The first field considers the impact of microcredit experiences on the new relationships between local communities and economic globalization processes. In a world in which there are widespread, and at times, dramatic processes of labour transformation (rights, precariousness, work flexibility), what opportunities does access to microcredit disclose in order to sustain vulnerability situations? In post-industrial countries, what weight should the «group» and women, as a privileged target of microcredit? How can microcredit be an instrument of female emancipation even in «wealthier» countries where, in spite of their social and political affirmation, it is still difficult for women to get in to the labour market? A second field of analysis should in reconsider the validity of the microcredit instrument in facing the new impoverishment processes even in post-industrial countries and in the current global financial crisis. Who are the «new» poor today? What does it mean to lose your job in a world of intense specialization? What is poverty in contexts of severe welfare crisis? What impact can microcredit have as a strategy for promoting education? Is microcredit an efficient instrument in the struggle against “new poverty” in «post industrial» countries?

This E-book is a result of the H2020 PLOTINA project Final Conference, ReGendering Science. For an inclusive research environment, held in the Università di Bologna (27th-28th of January 2020, https://www.plotina.eu/plotina-final-conference/). It includes the abstracts selected thanks to the call for abstracts that the Consortium – in collaboration with scholars from different European institutions – launched in October 2019. PLOTINA: Promoting gender balance and Inclusion in Research Innovation and Training (G.A. 666008) aimed at identifying and addressing the obstacles hampering gender equality in Research Performing Organizations.

Despite increasing numbers of vacancies for highly skilled jobs in innovative sectors of the economy, highly skilled migrants are often discriminated against despite their qualifications. This discrimination represents a relevant issue, especially for women with a background in male-dominated and highly regulated fields, such as science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM). We draw on qualitative data collected in Northern Italy from in-depth interviews and focus groups with women from different countries and STEMM qualifications. Adopting an intersectionality approach, we illuminate the macro-, organizational-, and individual-level barriers that prevent highly skilled migrant women from finding a job that measures up to their qualification level and sector, and we highlight the resources available to them to overcome these barriers. By emphasizing the intersectional ties of being a woman, a migrant, and a STEMM professional, we identify relevant areas for policy intervention to valorize migration in support of innovation and labor outcomes in Italy and in other countries.

La famiglia è stata riconosciuta quale utile entità concettuale a partire dalla quale analizzare l’esperienza migratoria di donne e uomini che articolano il proprio ciclo di vita e scelte riproduttive tra contesti culturali differenti. Nel discorso pubblico, le pratiche delle famiglie migranti sono spesso costruite come minaccia alla coesione sociale dei paesi d’approdo in quanto ricondotte a sistemi valoriali giudicati incompatibili con la “modernità occidentale”. A partire dai dati raccolti in un’etnografia realizzata a Ravenna, il contributo indaga l’evoluzione dei ruoli di genere e di cura all’interno delle famiglie migranti. Focalizzando lo sguardo, in particolare, sui modi in cui padri e madri rinegoziano – in un più ampio processo di riconfigurazione delle rappresentazioni delle relazioni di coppia e di genitorialità – norme, visioni e pratiche legate alla cura dei figli, il saggio mira a restituire il carattere dinamico dei ruoli familiari che il discorso pubblico tende ad oscurare. Research has acknowledged the family as a useful conceptual entity to analyse the migration experience of women and men whose life cycle and reproductive choices span between different cultural contexts. Migrant families’ practices, are often constructed in public discourse as a threat to the social cohesion of the receiving countries, as they are deemed incompatible with “Western modernity”. Drawing on ethnographic research carried out in Ravenna (Italy), the paper addresses the issue of evolving gender and care roles in migrant families. By specifically focusing on the ways in which migrant fathers and mothers renegotiate norms, visions and practices related to children’s care within a broader reconfiguration process of the representations underpinning couple and parenting relationships, the contribution aims to shed light on the dynamic nature of family roles.

While global economies are in a tremendous need for talented workers that could fill vacancies in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, available evidence shows that highly skilled migrants with a background in these fields are not protected from brain waste and deskilling. In this paper, we add to the previous literature on the employability of highly skilled migrant women from the specific&mdash, and under-investigated&mdash, perspective of labor market intermediaries. We specifically investigate what the barriers and resources are for employability of highly skilled migrant women in STEM, as perceived by labor market intermediaries&rsquo, professionals, and what the training needs are that labor market intermediaries&rsquo, professionals perceive to effectively work with this target group. We use unique explorative survey data collected in 2018 in five countries (Greece, Hungary, Italy, Sweden, United Kingdom) from professionals working in diverse labor market intermediary organizations. We find that these professionals perceive the employability of migrant women in STEM as rather low, and strongly determined by migrant women&rsquo, s psychological capital. Professionals in Southern Europe perceive structural barriers as more important than those in other countries. Professionals display training needs related to ad-hoc mentoring and networking competences for this specific target group. We discuss theoretical and practical implications.

Il microcredito rappresenta una pratica finanziaria globalmente diffusa: dal Bangladesh, dove è stata sperimentata in modo sistematico a partire dagli anni Settanta, ha conquistato un ruolo di primo piano, inizialmente nei paesi in via di sviluppo come intervento privilegiato della cooperazione internazionale e successivamente nei paesi post-industriali come strategia di inclusione socio-economica delle categorie più vulnerabili. A partire da un’etnografia condotta nel Nord Italia, questo testo si propone di riflettere criticamente sulle modalità con cui gli attori del welfare mix si appropriano di questo strumento: da un lato si esplorano i processi attraverso i quali attori differentemente posizionati costruiscono la categoria di soggetto vulnerabile e la rappresentazione di microcredito che informa le pratiche di intervento, dall’altro si esaminano gli effetti che le politiche di inclusione sociale hanno sui soggetti da esse toccati.

Microcredit is a financial tool targeting poor people or people defined as “not bankable”, that is, excluded from formal financial credit institutions because unable to provide collaterals to get a loan. Loans are given to allow poor people starting small business activities that will enable them achieving economic autonomy and “breaking poverty vicious circle”. This is the philosophy underpinning Muhammad Yunus’ Grameen Bank, the first “bank for the poor” founded in Bangladesh in 1976. Yunus decided to promote microcredit programmes in rural areas and to target poor women. Since the Seventies, microcredit programs spread all over the world both following Yunus’ success in Bangladesh, both independently from it. Starting from the Nineties, International Development Organizations increasingly adopted microcredit as a strategic tool not only to fight extreme poverty, but also to support women’s empowerment: access to credit has become one of the privileged strategies to foster women’s emancipation (both social and economic in many development countries. In the last decade, microcredit programs were progressively introduced in post industrialized countries by different institutions (e.g. bank foundations, not for profit and for profit organizations, cooperatives, etc.) to foster socio-economic and financial inclusion of marginalized categories, such as single mothers, welfare recipients and migrants. The paper will explore to which extent microcredit programmes actually helps promoting women empowerment. Specifically, data from an ethnographic research carried out in Northern Italy will be taken into account in order to describe how migrant women empowerment and integration in the receiving country was pursued by a social cooperative through the promotion of microenterprise.