Gender, civic stratification and the right to family life : problematising immigrants’ integration in the EU

Across Europe, family related migration has moved to the centre of public debates about migration and integration and associated debates about multiculturalism and diversity. In these debates the migrant family is problematised as an obstacle to integration, as a site characterised by patriarchal traditions and other illiberal practices and characterised by problematic gender relations; and, the migrant family is problematised as a failing institution unable to provide adequate care and support to sustain their frail members. Family migration derives its political significance from the fact that it has become one of the main (and sometimes the only) legal means to find admission in European countries. The comparative research project this article draws upon has shown how the ability of migrants to re-constitute their families and to reproduce transnationally is increasingly stratified: contemporary family migrations thus have to be seen in the context of a proliferation, fragmentation and polarisation of different statuses and related bundles of rights with regard to admission, residence, work, social rights, and other domains. Conditions attached to family reunification, narrow rules on the eligibility for family reunification and the often tedious practical administration of family reunification means that access to family reunification is highly uneven. In designing conditions for admission as family members due account of the different social positioning of individuals should be taken. As has been demonstrated in this study, resources and resource requirements have different implications for men and women, in particular if child care obligations are involved.