Working “With” or “On” Moroccan Migrant Mothers

Abstract

In the context of marriage migration, women are believed to be held back or constrained by their husbands, family and religion from integrating and partaking in (regular) citizenship and Dutch courses, which denies their agency as both wives and citizens. Additionally, their personal choice to become mothers is believed to exacerbate their position as passive citizens: becoming a mother supposedly leaves little time to invest in integration courses, especially since day-care services are an important threshold. As these representations and policies are often not based on rigorous research that consults these migrant women, this research aims to fill this gap by bringing together the gendered representations and policy views on marriage migration, and lived experiences and desires as articulated by migrant women themselves. Another aim is to find out how exactly Moroccan migrant women navigate these structures as affective migrant mothers, and the role of religion in this.