Women at the Sidelines (?)

The aim of the project was to improve the status of migrant women over the age of 40, reinforce their rights, help them with their pensions, and determine their degree of integration. We used counselling, advocacy, and educational activities. In counselling, we focused on the individual advancement of the rights of migrant women in the Czech Republic. The advocacy and lobbying activities were based on arguments provided by our own analysis of the current state (including a comparison with Norway); we then approached a number of decision-making subjects with specific proposals for changes in public policies. In the area of education, we managed to spark public debate about gender in migration, where people from academia, national and local government, civil society, and the media became involved, including the European level. We approached the wider public in radio broadcasts, a blog, press, the documentary film The Women Next Door, leaflets, and our own publication. The project results have exceeded our expectations; although its implementation has been negatively affected by current changes in the social climate of the country in connection with the refugee crisis. In the long term, we expect greater interest on behalf of the state in changing the state of affairs in regard to middle-aged and retirement-aged migrant women. We expect society to be aware of their specific problems.