ABSTRACT
The previous chapters have addressed the issues of gender and immigration from a national perspective. However, Italy's regions present quite different social, economic and political characteristics (Levy 1996). Regional case studies cannot therefore normally claim to be representative of the national picture. Nonetheless, the uniformity of migrant women's employment at the national level means that much of the evidence presented in the case study below is in fact generalisable to the national picture. Research undertaken on the experiences of migrant women domestic workers in Milan (Favaro and Bordogna 1991), Bologna (Palazzi 1990) Naples (De Filippo 1994) and Palermo (Cole 1997) all confirm this. Nevertheless, despite evidence of regional uniformity regarding migrant women's employment location, the different regional economies and service infrastructures are likely to influence not only the type of Italian families employing domestic workers but may also condition future employment opportunities for migrant women. In this chapter, I shall focus on the regional dimension of gender and immigration. The first section will address trends in Italian women's employment in the region. The second section will establish the general characteristics of incoming migration to the Lazio region, emphasising employment disparities between male and female migrants. I will then proceed to an assessment of the regional policy response to immigration. It is my view that this response has generally marginalised the experiences of migrant women. Moreover, the establishment of regional consultative bodies which have chosen to adopt a gender-blind approach is likely to signify that issues pertinent to migrant women may well remain\On the periphery of social policy proposals.
