Gender and Migration in Italy

Recent migratory flows to Europe have brought about considerable changes in many countries. Italy in particular offers a unique point of view, since it is possible to observe not only the way migration has changed specific features of the country, but also how it is intertwined with gender relations. Considering both the type of migration that has affected Italy and the consequent measures adopted by the Government, a variety of distinctive elements may be seen. By providing a broad and more complete picture of the Italian perspective on gender and migration, this book makes a valuable contribution to the wider debate. The contributions consider the problematic linkage between gender and migration, as well as analyse particular aspects including Italian colonial past, domestic work, self-determination, access to social services, second-generation migrant women, family law, multiculturalism and religious symbols. Taking an empirical and theoretical approach, the volume underlines both the multifaceted problems affecting migrant women in Italy and the way in which questions raised in other countries are introduced and redefined by Italian scholarship. The book presents a valuable resource for researchers, academics and policy-makers working in the areas of migration and gender studies.

Elisa Olivito is Associate Professor of Institutions of Public Law at the University of Rome ’La Sapienza’ Faculty of Law, Italy, where she teaches Constitutional Justice. She received her PhD in Public Law from the University of Perugia. She has been visiting researcher at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law (2004), at the Harvard Law School (2006) and at the Universidad del Cuyo of Mendoza, Argentina (2007). Former editor-in-chief of the Italian Constitutional Association web-review ’www.rivistaic.it’, Professor Olivito is member of the editorial staff of ’Democrazia e diritto’ and of the online review ’www.costituzionalismo.it’. She has written widely on affirmative action policy and gender issues, migration and multiculturalism, secularism and religious symbols, legal fictions, environmental rights and participatory democracy.