African Migrant Women & Political Participation : An Intersectional Study on Barriers, Opportunities & Inclusion

Sammanfattning

This thesis investigates how African migrant women experience political participation in Sweden and how they perceive that structural factors influence their opportunities to participate. Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with African migrant women living in Sweden and were analysed using thematic analysis. An intersectional approach combined with the resource model of political participation forms the theoretical perspective used in this paper. The intersectional approach is useful for uncovering interactions among gender, race, migration status, and socio-economic class, whereas the resource model reveals how intersectional factors influence participation through the intermediate factors of time, civic skills, and social networks. The results show that political participation was present among the respondents, but that it took different forms. Voting was the most common and easily attainable form of participation, but participants also mentioned community dialogues, demonstrations, organisational involvement, informal support, and political awareness. The conclusion drawn by the study is that the political participation of African migrant women in Sweden is influenced by inequality in the availability of resources, representation, language, and institutions.