Gender Innovation and Migration in Switzerland

by Francesca Falk

Overview

This open access book analyses migration and its relation to socio-political transformation in Switzerland. It addresses how migration has made new forms of life possible and shows how this process generated gender innovation in different fields: the changing division of work, the establishment of a nursery infrastructure, access to higher education for women, and the struggle for female suffrage. Seeing society through the lens of migration alters the perspective from which our past and thus our present is told—and our future imagined.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030016258
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	11/22/2018
Series:	Palgrave Studies in Migration History
Edition description:	1st ed. 2019
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Francesca Falk is Senior Lecturer in Contemporary History at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction.- 2. Conceptual Clarifications.- 3. Changing Gendered Divisions of Work.- 4. Nurseries.- 5. Higher Education.- 6. Female Suffrage.- 7. Conclusion: An Awareness of Alternatives.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This highly informative book provides several precisely analysed historical situations highlighting migration’s crucial role for emancipatory change and hence socio-political innovation. Finally, a so far hidden perspective is being made visible and contributes a highly compelling piece for rewriting Switzerland’s history.” (Julia Nentwich, Research Institute for Organisational Psychology, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland)

“Francesca Falk's migrantisation of the history of gender equality in Switzerland proposes a necessary retouching of the country’s positive national self-image. Migration was a key factor driving innovation. It was migrant women who fought for early access to Swiss universities. It was Swiss women with experience of migration who shattered the perception of Switzerland as a pioneer of democracy and who were engaged on behalf of women's suffrage with special verve. It was working Italian women in particular who, through their wage-work in the 1950s, created the conditions for the expansion of childcare infrastructure, while their Italian husbands took over household chores, anticipating the models for reconciling family and professional work that are advocated today.” (Elisabeth Joris, Historian, Zurich, Switzerland)

“Falk convincingly shows how women with experiences of migration helped to develop and shape political and social life in Switzerland. Instead of sidelining issues of migration and gender, as is done so often, this book teaches us that these perspectives must be central to any substantial narration of Swiss history.” (Patricia Purtschert, Interdisciplinary Centre for Gender Studies, University of Bern, Switzerland)

Editorial Reviews

Francesca Falk published her book … on the historical effects of migration in gendered innovation discourses. Her work is particularly valuable for expanding the social imaginaries of countries and citizens in need of adopting more inclusive and gender-fair concepts of national identity. … The references to feminist scholarship throughout the book give further resources for the reader to reach out in a quest for a more encompassing understanding of historical facts.” (Carolina Hutmacher, Gender Campus, gendercampus.ch, March 04, 2019)

From the Publisher